Barbara Walters' celebratory departure from ABC's The View last month has paved the way for a total reset of the 17-year-old talk show's panel of gabby women.
Sherri Shepherd is exiting after a seven-year run, failing to reach terms on a new contract, and Jenny McCarthy has been fired after a single season, tweeting late Thursday that "my view will be changing too." That leaves Whoopi Goldberg — who has been on the show since 2007 — as the sole returning panelist.
Neither Shepherd nor McCarthy has left yet: They're under contract to return to the show the week of July 7 for five more weeks of original episodes. (Next week's shows have already been taped.)
But ABC plans to introduce a new lineup when the show returns for an 18th season on Sept. 15. And when it does, there's a strong possibility The View will complete its makeover by moving to a new home: a neighboring New York studio vacated by Katie Couric's talk show, where theater-style seating allows the hosts to interact more with the audience.
The departures represent new ABC management's desire to shake up the show, a plan made easier when Walters stepped aside last month. (She told USA TODAY in April that both Shepherd and McCarthy would "definitely be back" next year.) In a statement, the network said it has "made decisions to evolve the show creatively." But executive producer Bill Geddie, who created the show with Walters in 1997, is expected to stay.
"It's not unusual for them to go through changes in the panel," says Bill Carroll, an analyst who follows daytime programming at Katz Television Group. Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck left last year. "Barbara added a certain stability to The View, a certain properness, that when she wasn't there it was a lot more out of control," he says. And adding new faces can "potentially bring some fresh viewers to sample the show," and achieve the network's goal of moving away from its sometimes crass discourse.
This season the show is averaging 3.1 million viewers (down 2% from last year), and has dipped 5% among its target audience of women ages 18 to 49, even as many other daytime shows have gained. Since 2011, its audience has fallen 32% among younger women (and 16% overall). The show risks losing more ground with Walters' departure.
ABC declined to comment on potential candidates, but rumored replacements include Laila Ali, Bachelorette Andi Dorfman and Rosie O'Donnell, a 10th-season co-host who frequently sparred with Hasselbeck. It's unclear how much input Walters will have, but in the April interview she hinted at changes, promising another conservative voice and a strong possibility of adding the first permanent male panelist to fill a fifth seat. (Several have appeared as guest co-hosts.) "We can make other choices, take other chances," she said.
The View has featured 11 permanent hosts filling five seats since it premiered. Apart from Walters and Behar, who appeared in the show's first 16 seasons, Hasselbeck was the longest-tenured panelist, at 10 years, followed by Meredith Vieira and Star Jones, with nine apiece.
The View co-hosts:
Barbara Walters (1997-2014)
Meredith Vieira (1997–2006)
Star Jones (1997-2006)
Joy Behar (1997–2013)
Debbie Matenopoulos (1997-1998)
Lisa Ling (1999–2002)
Elisabeth Hasselbeck (2003–2013)
Rosie O'Donnell (2006–2007)
Whoopi Goldberg (2007- )
Sherri Shepherd (2007-2014)
Jenny McCarthy (2013-2014)
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