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The View (talk show)

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For other uses, see The View (talk show) (disambiguation).
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 a Emmy Award-winning American daytime television talk show on ABC created by Barbara Walters, Bill Geddie, and Jessica Guff and featuring a panel of women as co-hosts. It is moderated by Rosie O'Donnell, with co-hosts Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and 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 lightweight commentary on the day's top headlines in politics and entertainment; the segment's popularity soon led it to expand.

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.

Initial reviews

A New York Times review[1], published ten days after the show premiered, describes what critic Caryn James thought was distinctive about the show:

The idea of women talking to one another on daytime television is not exactly radical. The idea that those women should be smart and accomplished is still odd enough to make The View seem wildly different. It actively defies the bubbleheads-'R'-us approach to women's talk shows....
If it keeps its mildly renegade spirit, The View should only grow stronger. It is easy to tease Barbara Walters; we've all done it. (She hasn't made anyone cry on the air yet.) But she and her production company deserve full credit for guiding this show in such a smart direction. During hot topics, it is often her voice that marks out some complicated middle ground and prevents The View from becoming Crossfire for Girls. This show dares to assume that any woman, in any walk of life can have a mind of her own.

After a year on the air, a review of the show from Salon.com[2] attempted to summarize what had made the show a "(very guilty) pleasure" for its mostly female audience:

The View has caught on with viewers because it gives expression to feelings more complicated, and real, than its detractors realize. Like the Rat Pack, it's all about freedom in an uptight world. Vieira, Walters, et al., have confessed to a lot of things on the show that women are supposed to feel guilty about: forgetting to vote, being too lazy to exercise, hating skinny models, letting the kids watch too much TV, admiring Hollywood's latest hunk. And, apparently, they don't care what people think. Look, I'm not holding them up as role models. And I'm not saying they're representative of the death of feminism, or the rebirth of feminism, or anything like that. I just like the way they don't give a damn. If the Rat Pack was Everyman's id, The View is Everywoman's. These chicks do it their way, and are very inspirational to all women.

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 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.

Younger Co-host Changes

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

Season 10 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[5]. Several candidates were rumored to replace Vieira, including Patricia Heaton, Connie Chung and Soledad O'Brien, but on April 28, 2006, the announcement was made[6] 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 the result of a dispute between O'Donnell and Jones Reynolds; O'Donnell has made public remarks suggesting that Jones Reynolds had not been honest when discussing her dramatic weight loss. Jones Reynolds had publicly stated that the weight loss was a result of diet and exercise, but O'Donnell's comments implied it was a result of gastric bypass surgery[7]. (For her part, Jones Reynolds said on Larry King Live she had always been honest about her weight loss, that it was, in fact a byproduct of surgery.)

On June 27, 2006, Jones Reynolds surprised the audience and her co-hosts by announcing her departure from the show. Reynolds was to stay with the show until July, but on June 28, 2006, just one day after Jones made her announcement, 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 in no way related to the hiring of O'Donnell. In an interview with People magazine Jones Reynolds claims the decision to leave was hardly hers, and that producers told her that her contract would not be renewed as early as April.[8] According to an interview with the Associated Press, Ms. Walters stated that ABC executives had apparently decided not to renew Jones Reynolds' contract as early as last fall due to sagging 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 2 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".[9]

Many media outlets have reported that Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey's best friend might take over for Jones[10], although King denied the reports in an interview with Access Hollywood in April.[11] Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has publicly stated her interest in the role, during an interview with The Insider. Meanwhile, The New York Daily News reports[12] 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 and lasting until the season finale in August, the show used guest co-hosts to fill Jones Reynolds' 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[13] magazine, the show is using 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 will begin looking for a replacement for Jones Reynolds beginning in the fall of 2006.

According to AOL TV News[14], 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 what is now a panel of four white women 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, with life partner Kelli Carpenter-O'Donnell in the audience. 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 18-49 demographic, and sustained its early season success with its best ever November sweeps period. [15]

Industry insiders are claiming that Sherri Shepherd is the current frontrunner for the final co-host spot. She has been asked to co-host more than any guest co-host, and she's testing extremely well amongst other co-hosts. Sheppard is said to be battling it out with two or three other co-hosts and an announcement regarding the finalists for the spot is expected by the end of February 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 women 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 nothing for the ratings, and the show was finally put to rest in 1982.
  • A similar show was produced in the 1960s called Girl Talk. Hosted and moderated by Virginia Graham, it consisted of three celebrity women discussing current events, politics, women’s issues and their feelings about each other. Guests the caliber of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Lee Remick and Totie Fields felt free to express their opinions and let the fur fly.
  • Barbara Walters had hosted a similar program in the 1971 called Not For Women Only. A panel of four experts, moderated by Walters, would discuss serious topical issues of the day.

After The View

The View format has been replicated by other television shows:

  • In 2002, 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, alternatively handling various duties. At the time, CBS News tried to lure former View host Meredith Vieira to head up the broadcast, but she declined. [16]. 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 show'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've never won.

Criticism

While some people feel The View is an intelligent show, there are others who feel it is nothing more than trivialized gossip.[17] Specific criticisms include the belief that hosts are either selected for or told to portray a certain personality instead of being genuine, that Barbara Walters is old and out of touch, that Star 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. They were also parodied in The Simpsons with the show being called "Afternoon Yak" where the members of Afternoon Yak resemble the members of The View. The studio audience have also been compared to seals, as there are many breaks for applause during the show.[citation needed] 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".[18] Near the end of the skit, a guest on The View warned Walters that "this show will sink you like a stone."

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 Elisabeth Hasselbeck is an outspoken pro-life conservative.[19]

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 The View hosts and ridiculed by actress Katey Sagal in the following segment.[20]

Joy Behar has said that conservatives are "so annoying," but that she would likewise take on liberals if they were in power [21]. Nevertheless, conservative bloggers contend that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is the only conservative on the show, as opposed to the powerful presence of Behar and the new co-host, Rosie O'Donnell.[citation needed]

Controversies

The show itself has faced numerous controversies over the years. Some of the more well-known cast change controversies include the "firing" of original co-host Debbie Matanopolous and Star Jones Reynolds (at different times), the exiting of Meredith Vieira who left the show to replace Katie Couric on the Today show, the hiring of Rosie O'Donnell as Vieira's replacement, the ongoing curiosity about who the new 5th co-host will be, and if O'Donnell will remain with the show past the 10th season.

Star Jones Reynolds left the show, or was fired, after ratings seemed to drop and public opinion seemed to argue that it was time for a change on the View panel. Star claimed she was fired and made a shocking announcment on live television on the View that she would be leaving the show, which stunned both ABC and Barbara Walters. Star was then told she would not be appearing on the show again, and was therefore fired. Since the controversy broke Star has made reference to the hiring of Rosie O'Donnell as being suspicious and seems to be at odds with most people associated with The View except for Elisabeth Hasselbeck who sent her a card.[citation needed] -->

Since joining the show, Rosie O'Donnell has been at the center of many controversial incidents. Since joining the View, O'Donnell has had run-ins with various guests from Bill O'Reilly to Live co-host Kelly Ripa. Ripa phoned into The View after Rosie remarked that Ripa's comments on LIVE regarding Clay Aiken putting his hand over her face and mouth were homophobic. Ripa denied the accusations and told O'Donnell that she should be more responsible. Ripa also said that the accusations were outrageous and that Rosie should know better. The two have since reconciled, according to Barbara Walters.[citation needed] Also, according to reports, Rosie agitated Oprah when she made comments about Oprah and Gayle King being gay (a popular tabloid topic that Oprah denies being true)- but since then Gayle has appeared on the view and all seems to have been forgiven. Rumors about her not getting along wth co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck have been squashed by O'Donnell herself on her personal blog for now.

Hasselbeck is no stranger to controversy herself; her often conservative views tend to create friction in discussions about such topics as gun control, abortion, premarital sex, and women's rights. Hasselbeck also went on air fuming-mad after a recent episode of Law & Order in which she concluded that a fictional character with a similar name to her own was being stalked and later murdered by the crazed assailant.[citation needed] Hasselbeck claimed to never want to sit next to any member of the cast after the show aired, to which Barbara Walters countered that the cast is welcome on The View at any time.

Danny DeVito appeared on the show hungover from a night of partying with George Clooney and appeared to still be drunk. DeVito later denied that he was drunk, but did admit to having a few too many at a restaurant with pal, Clooney. He later called and apologized to Barbara Walters who joked about the incident on the show the following day.[citation needed] However, Rosie spoke of the incident later on in the week, noting the story's preeminence in the entertainment media. She said outlets "as far as China" were talking about it, in which she said she heard "Ching chong chong ching ching Danny DeVito, ching chong chong ching The View." This drew extensive criticism from Asian-American groups and the media as a whole, with Rosie refusing to back down.

None of these controversies were as large as the current feud between Rosie and Donald Trump. Rosie frosted Trump after he publicly gave Miss USA a second chance at finishing her duties and claimed it was all a publicity stunt. She also claimed that Trump had at least two affairs with the products of those affairs being two children and that Trump went bankrupt. Trump responded with an uncensored appearance on various entertainment news shows blasting Rosie for providing viewers inaccurate financial information about him and numerous other angry comments. He said she was a loser and planned to sue O'Donnell for the remarks, going so far as to say he would have one of his friends take Rosie's girl friend Kelly away from her. Rosie responded to Trump on her blog where she cited Wikipedia's entry about Trump's alleged bankruptcy. Careful reading of her Wikipedia quote will reveal that despite her implication of Trump's personal bankruptcy, he was never bankrupt. One of the businesses he ran did go bankrupt, but Trump never did. The two continue to be estranged.[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 women used to sit around a full-circle table. However, it was very difficult to interact with the audience with half of the women 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. Arguably the most famous of which was a recurring skit on Saturday Night Live in the late 90s. It potrayed Star Jones Reynolds (Tracy Morgan), Meredith Vieira (Molly Shannon), Joy Behar (Ana Gasteyer) and Barbara Walters (Cheri Oteri) as jealous older women and Debbie Matenopoulos (played by Claire Danes, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Michelle Gellar and even 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. The sketch featured 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 Barbara Walters was played by Stephnie Weir. In The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz from the animated show Family Guy, another parody where the women were heard clucking like chickens was shown, with Star Jones Reynolds even laying an egg.
  • 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 simply for the male point of view. Nevertheless, he rarely joins the hosts on stage.
  • A large letter "V" is taken by some (such as author Dan Brown) to be a symbol of womanhood. Coincidentally or otherwise, the program's logo features a prominent, oversized "V".

References

  1. ^ a b Feet on the Ground, Heads Without Bubbles, an August 21, 1997 review from The New York Times
  2. ^ August 1998 review of the show from Salon.com
  3. ^ "Good View" (html). eonline.com. 1999. Retrieved 1999-05-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ The View Eyes Elisabeth, a November 2003 story about Hasselbeck's selection from E! Online
  5. ^ Vieira Selected as Couric's Successor at Today, an April 2006 Los Angeles Times article
  6. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042800002.html
  7. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=7&cat=534
  8. ^ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/1401AP_TV_The_View_Reynolds.html
  9. ^ Reynolds' Announcement Upsets Walters, a June 27, 2006 Associated Press story via ABC News
  10. ^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194349,00.html
  11. ^ http://rebeccawright.com/2006/05/10/star-jones-leaving-the-view/
  12. ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/430176p-362666c.html
  13. ^ http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1209757,00.html
  14. ^ http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/on-the-view-new-face-new-dynamics/20060921124609990001
  15. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117955333.html?categoryid=1275&cs=1
  16. ^ "Vieira Makes ABC Her Final Answer" (html). eonline.com. 2002. Retrieved 2002-04-24.
  17. ^ Poll on JumpTheShark.com
  18. ^ Rachel Giese (2006-08-14). "Women on the Verge" (html). cbc.ca. Retrieved 2006-11-14.
  19. ^ http://newsbusters.org/node/5522
  20. ^ http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030122.asp#7
  21. ^ http://www.pr.com/article/1019


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