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The View (talk show)

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For other uses, see The View (talk show) (disambiguation).
For the British band see The View (band)
The View
The View title card
Created byBarbara Walters
Bill Geddie
Jessica Guff
StarringBarbara Walters
(1997–present)
Joy Behar
(1997–present)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
(2003–present)
Rosie O'Donnell
(2006–present)
Star Jones Reynolds
(1997–2006)
Meredith Vieira
(1997–2006)
Debbie Matenopoulos
(1997–1999)
Lisa Ling
(1999–2002)
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes2,070, as of June 12, 2006
Production
Running time60 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseAugust 11, 1997 –
Present

The View is an Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show on ABC created by Barbara Walters, Bill Geddie, and Jessica Guff. The show features a panel of women as co-hosts, as of September 2006 consisting of Rosie O'Donnell, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Barbara Walters, who also acts as the show's co-executive producer. The show premiered on August 11, 1997. It is produced and videotaped at ABC's television studio on West 66th Street in New York City, and is the first and only show on ABC's daytime schedule to broadcast in high definition.

The concept of The View is to showcase women with a range of perspectives, as they speak with each other as well as with their guests. An early version of the show's opening credits, with voice-over from Walters, captured the premise:

I've always wanted to do a show with women of different generations, backgrounds and views: a working mother; a professional in her 30s; a young woman just starting out; and then somebody who's done almost everything and will say almost anything. And in a perfect world, I'd get to join the group whenever I wanted ...

The show opens each day with "Hot Topics," in which the co-hosts provide their commentary on the day's top headlines in politics and entertainment.

The year 2006 saw the departure of two of the show's original co-hosts: Meredith Vieira on June 9 and Star Jones Reynolds on June 27. As of February 2007 there is an open co-host slot to be filled.


Changes in co-hosts

File:TheViewOriginal.jpg
The original panel of the View; Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos and Barbara Walters in 1997.

The show premiered with four co-hosts: Meredith Vieira, Star Jones Reynolds, Debbie Matenopoulos, and Barbara Walters. Walters and Behar initially took turns as the fourth co-host, an approach that at least one TV critic considered disconcerting:

"The comedian Joy Behar, who appears on the days when Ms. Walters is off, is truly funny but hasn't blended in yet; at times it seems as if a Joan Rivers clone had parachuted in."[1]

Behar soon became a regular co-host, with the panel expanding to five when Walters joined in.

Young co-host changes

The show's youngest co-host has changed twice during the show's history.

Season 10 (2006-7) changes

File:TheViewCurrent.jpg
The current panel includes, Rosie O'Donnell, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck in 2006.

Vieira announced on April 6, 2006 that she was leaving The View in order to replace Katie Couric as the co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show[4]. Several candidates were rumored as possible replacements for Vieira, including Patricia Heaton, Connie Chung and Soledad O'Brien, but on April 28, 2006, the announcement was made[5] that former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell would be joining the show at the start of the tenth season in September 2006.

The announcement that O'Donnell was joining the show fueled speculation that Jones Reynolds would leave the show when her contract expired in August. Much of the source for this speculation was due to a dispute regarding O'Donnell's public remarks about Jones Reynolds' dramatic weight loss. (Jones Reynolds had publicly stated that the weight loss was a result of diet and exercise, but O'Donnell suggested that she was not being truthful, and that it was a result of gastric bypass surgery).[6]

On June 27, 2006, Jones Reynolds surprised the audience and her co-hosts by announcing her departure from the show on the air. Reynolds said she would remain on the show through July, but the next day Walters announced that Jones Reynolds would no longer be a part of The View except for previously recorded segments. Both ABC and Jones Reynolds have publicly stated that the decision to not renew her contract was not related to the hiring of O'Donnell. In an interview with People magazine Jones Reynolds claimed the decision to leave was not hers, and that in April producers told her that her contract would not be renewed.[7] According to an interview with the Associated Press, Walters stated that ABC executives had apparently decided not to renew Jones Reynolds' contract as early as the previous fall due to diminished approval for the co-host which was showing up in their market research. Walters said, "We tried to talk them [network executives] out of it, and we tried to give Star time to redeem herself in the eyes of the audience, and the research just kept getting worse." Walters has publicly commented about feeling "betrayed" by Jones Reynolds, since Jones Reynolds unexpectedly made the announcement two days ahead of schedule. "I love Star and I was trying to do everything I possibly could — up until this morning, when I was betrayed — to protect her".[8]

Many media outlets have reported that Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey's best friend, might take over for Jones[9], although King denied the reports in an interview with Access Hollywood.[10] Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph publicly stated her interest in the role, during an interview with The Insider. The New York Daily News reported[11] that Jones Reynolds is reportedly meeting with executives at CBS, Court TV and the E! network.

File:THEVIEWCASTS.jpg

Following Jones Reynolds' departure in June 2006 and lasting until the season finale in August, the show used guest co-hosts to fill her chair. They included actresses Renee Elise Goldsberry, Kelly Monaco, Susan Lucci, Robin Givens, Mo'Nique and Shannen Doherty; singer Brandy Norwood; American Idol contestants Katharine McPhee and Kellie Pickler; Indy race car driver Danica Patrick; television personalities Carrie Ann Inaba of Dancing with the Stars, Extra's Tanika Ray, Deborah Roberts of ABC News and one of the original View co-hosts, Debbie Matenopoulos of the E! network.

According to People[12] magazine, the show used the guest spots as auditions, and may offer one of the guests hosts a full-time hosting position. In an interview with the New York Times, Walters said the show would begin looking for a replacement for Jones Reynolds beginning in the fall of 2006.

According to AOL TV News[13], Kathy Griffin, Gayle King, and Brandy were rumored as replacements and particular fan favorites to replace Jones. Walters told AOL that while there is no front-runner, they are committed to the idea that Jones Reynolds’ successor as co-host be a member of a minority, so that the panel will be more reflective of society. Walters told AOL that she personally "miss(es) an African-American voice at the table". She also added that co-hosts brought on to guest co-host were both trying out and some were not in contention for Jones' spot.

On September 5, 2006, Rosie O'Donnell made her debut as a co-host. For her first day, she received an extravagant bouquet from her former crush Tom Cruise. On that same show, Rosie gave away cruise tickets to all the audience members.

With the new changes in place, September 2006 brought in record ratings. A total of 3.1 million viewers watched that month, the highest total viewership the program has ever seen. The talk show also surged 34% in the advertiser-friendly "women aged 18-49" demographic, and sustained its early season success with its best ever November sweeps period. [14]

Industry insiders are claiming that Sherri Shepherd is the frontrunner for the final co-host spot. She has been asked to co-host more than any guest co-host, and has tested well among other co-hosts. Sheppard is said to be competing with two or three other co-hosts and an announcement regarding the finalists for the spot is expected by the end of February 2007 during sweeps.[citation needed]

Season 10 tryouts

All tryouts sat in for Barbara Walters unless otherwise stated.

Guest hosts

The show occasionally uses guest hosts to substitute if one of the panel is out. Past guest hosts have included: Stacy Keibler, Lisa Loeb, Monica Lewinsky, Myrka Dellanos, Felicity Huffman, James Denton, Daisy Fuentes, Ann Coulter, Mariah Carey, Hilary Duff, Marcia Cross, Kathie Lee Gifford, Amanda Bynes, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Maria Sharapova, Anna Kournikova, Bo Bice, Rosie O'Donnell, Robin Roberts, Constance Marie, Melania Trump, Mario Cantone, Mariska Hargitay, Wanda Sykes, Brooke Shields, Kim Catrall, Mila Kunis, Ricardo Chavira, Lauren Graham, Dennis Miller, Teri Hatcher, Terrence Howard, Eva Longoria, Rachel Dratch, Nicolette Sheridan, Patricia Richardson, Lynda Carter, Chandra Wilson, Sara Ramirez. Deborah Roberts, Beverly Sills, and various All My Children cast members including Rebecca Budig.

Similar shows

Before The View

  • Leave It To The Girls was a program that aired in various incarnations over four decades. Beginning on radio in 1945, the show began to simulcast on television in 1948. The premise was simple: three celebrity women discussed a relationship topic from a woman’s point of view. A fourth member of the panel was a man, to represent the male point of view. The program ceased production in 1963. However a new version was resurrected in 1981 (under the title Leave It To The Women). This time taboo subjects of the 1980s began to be discussed, in an effort to be more contemporary. The change in subject matter did not help the ratings, and the show ended in 1982.
  • Barbara Walters hosted a similar program in 1971 called Not For Women Only. A panel of four experts, moderated by Walters, discussed serious topical issues of the day.
  • Equal Time was a political discussion show from a woman’s point of view featuring commentators and Washington insiders. Two women co-hosted the CNBC program, each representing the liberal and conservative viewpoint. Representing the liberal viewpoint as co-host were Jane Wallace (1993-1994), Dee Dee Myers (1995-1997), and Stephanie Miller (1998-1999). Representing the conservative viewpoint as co-host were Mary Matalin (1993-1996) and Bay Buchanan (1996-1999). Torie Clarke was a regular fill-in when Buchanan was absent.

After The View

The View format has been replicated by other television shows:

  • In 2002, CBS News's The Early Show eliminated the traditional morning-show formula of a male/female anchor team with a weatherman and a newsreader. The revamped version had four hosts: Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, Julie Chen and Rene Syler. CBS tried to hire then View co-host Vieira to head up the broadcast, but she declined. [15]. The four-anchor format lasted for four years, and ratings increased slightly. Despite that, CBS was still not satisfied with the numbers. In December of 2006, anchor Rene Syler announced her departure from the program in what is expected to be a series of changes to the four-person team.

Awards

The View's longtime director Mark Gentile received a Daytime Emmy Award in its first year and again in 2004. The show's producers shared the "Outstanding Talk Show" Emmy in 2003 with The Wayne Brady Show.

Since 1999, the show's hosts have received Emmy nominations every year, although they have not won.

Criticism

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While some people feel The View is an intelligent show, there are others who feel it is trivialized gossip.[16] Specific criticisms include the belief that hosts are either selected for or told to portray a certain personality instead of being genuine, that Walters is old and out of touch, that Jones Reynolds was pretentious and hypocritical, that the panelists spend too much time talking about trivial, superficial subjects such as celebrity babies and not enough time on important topics like politics and social issues, and that the discussions veer too much into the area of toilet humor and titillation.[citation needed]

Because of this perceived lowest-common-denominator appeal and triviality of some topics, "The View" has often been likened to a "Hen House" full of clucking chickens[citation needed], an image that was parodied by both the sketch comedy program MADtv and the animated comedy series Family Guy. Saturday Night Live parodied Walters' original introduction to the show's hosts as "a working mom, a sassy black woman like I’ve seen on TV and a total idiot".[17] Near the end of the skit, an actress playing Cokie Roberts warned Walters that "this show will sink you like a stone."

The show has faced numerous controversies over the years including the firing of co-hosts Matenopolous and Jones Reynolds as well as Jones Reynolds' sudden departure. Since joining the show, O'Donnell has made controversial on-air comments about Bill O'Reilly, Live co-host Kelly Ripa, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, and Danny DeVito, leading to speculation about whether she will remain with the show past the 10th season.[citation needed] Hasselbeck's often conservative views have also created conflict on the show. [citation needed]


Accusations of bias

While diverse in terms of host age and backgrounds, the show has been criticised by many conservatives for what is seen as a liberal bias and a lack of diversity in political views. [citation needed] For its part, the show has had several conservative guest hosts (e.g., Ann Coulter, Dennis Miller, Kathie Lee Gifford) and Hasselbeck is an outspoken pro-life conservative.[18]

On January 21, 2003, Jennifer O'Neill was a guest on the show promoting her "Silent No More" campaign with the goal of reducing teenage abortions. Having had an abortion herself, O'Neill spoke about her personal experience. Conservatives believed she was handled harshly by hosts and ridiculed by actress Katey Sagal in the following segment.[19]

Joy Behar has said that conservatives are "so annoying," but that she would likewise take on liberals if they were in power [20]. Nevertheless, conservative bloggers contend that Hasselbeck is the only conservative on the show, as opposed to the liberal presence of Behar and tO'Donnell.[citation needed]


Trivia

  • The show was originally called The View From Here. However, there was already a program airing in Canada with the same name, and ABC execs decided to change the name to simply The View. [citation needed]
  • Their first day on-air was August 11, 1997 with Tom Selleck as their first guest; Regis Philbin was the first guest in their pilot episode.
  • The co-hosts used to sit around a full-circle table. However, it was very difficult to interact with the audience with half of them having their backs against the audience; the table was quickly changed. [citation needed]
  • Their set was actually a leftover set from a cancelled soap opera, The City. ABC didn't commit to their own set until their fifth season. [citation needed]
  • Since the show's premiere, The View has been the subject of numerous parodies. One such was a recurring skit on Saturday Night Live in the late 90s, portraying Jones Reynolds (Tracy Morgan), Vieira (Molly Shannon), Behar (Ana Gasteyer) and Walters (Cheri Oteri) as jealous older women and Matenopoulos (played by Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Michelle Gellar and by Matenopoulos herself) as a simple-minded bimbo who was consistently being punished for making stupid comments. In 2005, MADtv parodied the show in a sketch, exaggerating the women's speech as simultaneous bickering and featuring Michael McDonald as a farmer treating the women as hens, tossing chickenfeed on the ground and producing eggs from the women's seats. The role of Walters was played by Stephanie Weir. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz from the animated show Family Guy, was another parody where the women were heard clucking like chickens, with Jones Reynolds laying an egg. They were also parodied in The Simpsons with the show being called "Afternoon Yak" where the members of Afternoon Yak resemble the hosts of The View. The studio audience has also been compared to seals, as there are many breaks for applause during the show.[citation needed]
  • Executive producer Geddie has evolved into an on-air foil, especially for Walters and, before her departure, Vieira. Sometimes he is asked to answer factual questions, other times brought in for a male point of view. Nevertheless, he rarely joins the hosts on stage.

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference nytimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Good View" (html). eonline.com. 1999. Retrieved 1999-05-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ The View Eyes Elisabeth, a November 2003 story about Hasselbeck's selection from E! Online
  4. ^ Vieira Selected as Couric's Successor at Today, an April 2006 Los Angeles Times article
  5. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042800002.html
  6. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=7&cat=534
  7. ^ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/1401AP_TV_The_View_Reynolds.html
  8. ^ Reynolds' Announcement Upsets Walters, a June 27, 2006 Associated Press story via ABC News
  9. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194349,00.html
  10. ^ http://rebeccawright.com/2006/05/10/star-jones-leaving-the-view/
  11. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/430176p-362666c.html
  12. ^ http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1209757,00.html
  13. ^ http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/on-the-view-new-face-new-dynamics/20060921124609990001
  14. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955333.html?categoryid=1275&cs=1
  15. ^ "Vieira Makes ABC Her Final Answer" (html). eonline.com. 2002. Retrieved 2002-04-24.
  16. ^ Poll on JumpTheShark.com
  17. ^ Rachel Giese (2006-08-14). "Women on the Verge" (html). cbc.ca. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  18. ^ http://newsbusters.org/node/5522
  19. ^ http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030122.asp#7
  20. ^ http://www.pr.com/article/1019

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