Ellen hopes jail
changes Hilton

Ellen DeGeneres hopes Paris Hilton changes her ways when the partying socialite gets out of jail.

Hilton is expected to be released on June 25 after serving about 23 days of a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. The hotel heiress told Barbara Walters in a recent jailhouse phone call that she wants to stop acting dumb because ''that act is no longer cute.''

''She's not getting anywhere doing that,'' DeGeneres said backstage Friday night at the Daytime Emmy Awards. ''If that really is an act, if she really was playing dumb, than what does that say about our society that we're celebrating someone who was successful because they're not smart?

''I just think it's a bad sign, and she shouldn't contribute to that. It's just amazing if that was an act the whole time.''

DeGeneres said she would be willing to have Hilton as a guest on her daytime talk show and tell her the same thing.

''Hopefully, she means what she says,'' DeGeneres said. ''I hope she is reading good books, and I hope she comes out and changes her life a little, because she needed to.''

DeGeneres scored her third consecutive victory as a talk show host, keeping The View cohosts Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and the recently departed Rosie O'Donnell winless.

''I really am shocked,'' DeGeneres said before acknowledging The View ladies and O'Donnell's controversial yearlong stint. ''I thought Rosie brought a lot of new viewers to daytime television, and it was interesting.''

DeGeneres joked that she planned to take a page from The View on her show.

''And I want to just start with something controversial right now to kick it off and I know this might not be popular and I don't care because that's what I'm doing,'' she said. ''I just want to say it--I think Bob Barker is a quitter.''

Barker laughed along with the rest of the audience. (AP)