Daytime talk show “The View” has gone through many iterations since its debut in 1997. The ABC mainstay has cycled through multiple hosts, with each bringing their own opinions and personalities to the table. Now, the program is going back to its roots for the 25th season.
That means bringing back some of the most popular hosts from seasons gone by. People reported that beginning in February, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck will be joining current panelists to guest co-host “The View.”
All three women represent some of the longest-running hosts in the show’s history. Vieira, 68, and Jones, 59, are two of the original cast members who were there for the August 1997 premiere. Hasselbeck, 44, hosted from 2003 until 2013, and returned for a guest spot in 2020.
Legendary broadcast journalist Barbara Walters created the show as a place for several generations of women to come together and discuss issues of the day. The original panel included Vieira, Jones, and Walters, along with Joy Behar and Debbie Matenopoulos.
Conservative viewpoints have always been in the minority on “The View.” The most recent conservative on the panel, Meghan McCain, exited the talk show in 2021 citing a “toxic work environment.”
According to Entertainment Weekly, McCain made a joke after returning from maternity leave, saying, “You must have missed me so much,” during a segment. Behar replied with a biting, “I did not miss you.”
“If you watch the clip, her reaction is very sharp,” McCain told EW while explaining she was experiencing postpartum anxiety at that time. “I did end up being able to go back on-air … After the show, I went back to my office and I had a panic attack,” the former host continued. “I couldn’t stop crying, and I’m not always crying. I couldn’t compose myself.”
Hasselbeck didn’t fare much better as a conservative voice on “The View.”
In 2019, she said that an ABC exec told her the show was “going in a less political direction,” so they wouldn’t be renewing her contract, USA Today reported.
“I could not breathe — literally, could not breathe,” she explained, saying she even “asked permission” to go get her inhaler. “I was bent over — shock, asthma and betrayal all stealing my wind.”
After McCain left her position, co-hosts have kept changing. The New York Post reported that a former ABC News executive said, “It’s driving Whoopi [Goldberg] crazy. Having people come in and out with no one permanent interrupts the flow.”
But so far, the search to find a conservative who’s willing to take on the outspoken, unabashed liberal co-hosts on the show has been challenging for the network.
“Don’t underestimate how mean some of the people at the table can be,” the former executive said. “There are those who won’t want to sign on because of that.”
“‘The View’ hasn’t had a conservative host in a long time,” Daily Wire’s Candace Owens told the Post.
“It was kind of a joke to hire Meghan McCain in the Trump era. She was not reflecting the views of conservatives in the country and she was lambasting us. They have a fear of having a true conservative on the network. These ladies aren’t exactly the most intellectual ladies. I don’t think they work in truth.”