The View (talk show)

Broadcast journalist Barbara Walters created the series and co-hosted it from 1997 to 2014.

The View premiered with four co-hosts: Meredith Vieira as moderator, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, and Barbara Walters.[18] Joy Behar, who was announced to be filling in as the fourth co-host when Walters was unavailable, soon became a full-time co-host.[19] The five women were the first group that auditioned for the panel, with Behar describing them as having immediately clicked.[20] Following Matenopoulos's firing in December 1998, broadcast journalist Lisa Ling was brought on as a new co-host in 1999.[21][22] Ling departed the show in December 2002 to host the series National Geographic Explorer.[22] Former Survivor: The Australian Outback castaway Elisabeth Hasselbeck replaced Ling beginning November 24, 2003, after Hasselbeck, television personality Rachel Campos-Duffy, and actress Erin Hershey Presley each received a week-long on-air tryout.[23][24]

In April 2006, Vieira announced that she was leaving the show to become co-anchor of the NBC morning program Today;[25] her final episode aired on June 9.[26] That same month, Jones announced her departure on air but stated that she would remain on the show through July. Despite this, Walters stated the following day that Jones would no longer appear, publicly claiming feeling "betrayed" by Jones for unexpectedly making the announcement two days ahead of schedule.[27] She also said ABC executives had decided not to renew Jones' contract due to diminished approval for Jones through their market research.[28] Jones later claimed the decision to leave was not hers and that producers informed her that they would not be renewing her contract in April.[29]

During the 33rd Daytime Emmy Awards in April 2006, it was announced that entertainer Rosie O'Donnell would be co-hosting the show for its tenth season;[30] she made her debut as the new moderator on September 5.[31] In April 2007, O'Donnell announced she would be leaving the show when her contract expires due to failed renewal negotiations.[32] The following month, ABC stated that O'Donnell had asked to be let out of her contract three weeks before its expiration and that she had been granted permission to depart immediately.[33]

The co-hosts interview U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen and his wife, Deborah, on November 24, 2010

In August 2007, Walters announced that entertainer Whoopi Goldberg would be replacing O'Donnell as moderator for season 11.[5] Goldberg debuted during the season premiere on September 4.[34] Actress Sherri Shepherd joined as a permanent co-host beginning September 10.[35] Hasselbeck went on maternity leave from October 2007 to January 2008 and again from August to October 2009, with rotating guest co-hosts filling in during the latter.[36][37][38][39] In August 2009, Walters, Behar, Hasselbeck, Goldberg, and Shepherd won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host.[40][41] Walters took a hiatus after undergoing open-heart surgery in May 2010 and returned on September 7 during the season 14 premiere broadcast.[42][43]

In March 2013, Behar announced that she was leaving the series at the end of season 16.[44] That same month, Hasselbeck was reported to be departing alongside Behar due to market research finding both of their views too "polarizing", which Walters denied.[45][46] Walters announced in May that she would be retiring in May 2014.[47] Despite Walters' earlier denial, Hasselbeck announced on July 10 that she was indeed departing to join the Fox News morning program Fox & Friends and that it was her last day on the show.[48] Behar's final episode, a This Is Your Life-style tribute to her, aired on August 9.[49] Actress Jenny McCarthy became a co-host the following season and debuted on its premiere broadcast on September 9.[50] Walters made her final appearance as co-host on May 16, 2014.[51] Shepherd and McCarthy announced their departures the following month and made their final appearances on August 11.[52][53]

After making guest appearances during the previous season, actress Rosie Perez as well as former White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace permanently joined the series in its 18th season,[54] establishing Perez as the series' first Latina co-host;[55] the two debuted as co-hosts alongside O'Donnell, who permanently returned, and Goldberg during the season premiere on September 15, 2014.[56] Perez took a hiatus at the end of the year to rehearse for her role in the play Fish in the Dark and returned on February 3, 2015.[57] That same month, representatives for O'Donnell confirmed that she would once again exit the panel due to "personal reasons"; her final appearance aired on February 12.[58] Actress Raven-Symoné joined the series full-time in June after frequently guest co-hosting,[59] and the following month, comedian Michelle Collins, who had also frequently guest co-hosted, was announced as a permanent addition for the following season.[60] Perez and Wallace exited at the conclusion of the 18th season in August.[61][62]

Entertainer Whoopi Goldberg has co-hosted and moderated the series since 2007.

The 19th season saw the return of Behar as well as the addition of actress Candace Cameron Bure and broadcast journalist Paula Faris as co-hosts alongside Goldberg, Raven-Symoné, and Collins,[63] the lattermost of whom departed in June 2016.[64] The following season began with eight rotating co-hosts: Behar, Goldberg, Raven-Symoné, Bure, Faris, television host Sara Haines, lawyer Sunny Hostin, and television personality Jedediah Bila.[65][66] Additionally, Behar began moderating on Fridays in Goldberg's place.[67] On October 27, Raven-Symoné announced her exit from the series to star in a spin-off of the sitcom That's So Raven.[68] On December 8, Bure announced that she was leaving the program, citing the commute between coasts and her commitments to other television projects as reasons;[66] her final episode as co-host aired the following day.[69]

While Goldberg initially considered leaving after season 20,[65] she remained as moderator for season 21, with Behar, Faris, Haines, Hostin, and Bila all returning as co-hosts.[70][71] On September 18, 2017, Bila announced her exit from the show on air.[72] Television personality Meghan McCain subsequently joined the show after leaving her position at Fox News,[73] debuting as co-host on October 9.[74] After giving birth to a daughter in December 2017, Haines returned from maternity leave in March 2018.[75] Faris departed in July.[76] In the same month, Haines announced on air that she would be exiting to co-host ABC's new third hour of its morning program Good Morning America;[77] she made her final appearance during the season's penultimate broadcast on August 2.[78]

Broadcast journalist Abby Huntsman joined the panel in season 22, making her debut during the season premiere on September 4, 2018.[79] Following an absence due to the death of her father, McCain returned on October 8.[80] Television personality Ana Navarro joined the show as a weekly guest co-host the following month.[81][82] Goldberg began a hiatus from co-hosting on February 7, 2019, due to pneumonia and sepsis, and returned on March 14.[83][84] Huntsman took maternity leave beginning in May.[85][86] Behar, Goldberg, Hostin, McCain, and Huntsman all returned for the 23rd season, which premiered on September 3.[87] In January 2020, Huntsman announced her departure to become a senior advisor to her father's 2020 Utah gubernatorial election campaign;[88] she made her final appearance as co-host on January 17.[89]

Haines returned as a guest co-host beginning in March 2020 and permanently rejoined the panel for the 24th season.[90][91][92] McCain gave birth to a daughter in September 2020 and returned in January 2021 after a three-month maternity leave.[93][94] After four years on the series, McCain departed at the end of the 24th season.[95] She attributed her decision to her desire to raise her daughter in Washington D.C., to which she had relocated.[96] McCain later cited the "toxic, direct and purposeful hostility" she experienced at the show as the reason for her exit.[97] In April 2022, Goldberg took an extended hiatus from co-hosting to film the Amazon Prime Video series Anansi Boys.[98] Starting in season 26, Navarro, who has been a weekly guest co-host since 2018, and political strategist Alyssa Farah Griffin joined the show permanently. With the additions, the panel comprises six co-hosts.[99]

Rosie O'Donnell was involved in multiple controversies during her time as moderator of The View.

The show's tenth season was embroiled in controversies,[157] such as O'Donnell "speaking in mock Chinese" as well as her public feud with businessman and later U.S. president Donald Trump.[158][159][160] On May 17, 2007, O'Donnell sparked accusations of "equating American soldiers with terrorists" in relation to the Iraq War by asking, "655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists?"[159][161] Following frequent debates involving O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a confrontation ensued between the two on May 23 due to O'Donnell's issue with Hasselbeck's lack of willingness to defend her right to criticize the war.[162] O'Donnell also stated that the media would portray her as "big, fat, lesbian, loud Rosie attacking innocent, pure, Christian Elisabeth" and that Republican pundits were mischaracterizing her statements; Hasselbeck responded by telling O'Donnell to defend her own insinuations.[157] O'Donnell exited the series two days later, three weeks earlier than scheduled.[33] She later attributed her early exit to the use of a split screen during the confrontation.[163]

During a discussion about the 89th Miss America pageant on September 14, 2015, Michelle Collins called contestant Kelley Johnson's monologue about her occupation as a registered nurse "hilarious", stating that Johnson "read her emails out loud", while Behar referenced Johnson's attire and questioned why she had on "a doctor's stethoscope".[164] The remarks resulted in an immediate social media backlash from the nursing profession, including the hashtag #NursesUnite.[165][166] Two days later, Collins and Behar addressed the controversy on air.[167] Consequently, pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson and egg company Eggland's Best pulled their sponsorships from the series,[168] later followed by food company McCormick & Company, laundry brand Snuggle, and party store chain Party City.[169]

On February 13, 2018, while analyzing television personality Omarosa's comments in regards to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's religiosity, Behar stated: "It's one thing to talk to Jesus, it's another thing when Jesus talks to you. That's called mental illness, if I'm not correct, hearing voices."[170] Content analysis organization Media Research Center subsequently launched a campaign demanding an apology from Behar and urging viewers to do the same, resulting in 40,000 calls to ABC as well as 6,000 complaints to the show's advertisers.[171] Pence himself responded and accused the show of expressing "religious intolerance".[170] The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger later stated that Behar has directly apologized to Pence.[172] On March 13, Behar issued an apology on air and said: "I think Vice President Pence is right; I was raised to respect everyone's religious faith, and I fell short of that. I sincerely apologize for what I said."[173]

In February 2022, president of ABC News Kim Godwin suspended Goldberg from the show for two weeks after she stated during an episode that the Holocaust was "not about race".[174]

A New York Times review, 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.[18]

In a 2001 profile of Barbara Walters for Vanity Fair, James Wolcott called The View a "genius bit of television."[185] The following year, Virginia Heffernan of Slate complimented the chemistry between Walters, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Joy Behar, writing that the women "have eased completely into the stock sensibility of middle-aged talk shows, embracing the imperatives that one be healthy, careful, temperate, charitable, and moderately cutesy while at the same time skeptical, ribald, and world-weary."[22] Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised the show in 2007, writing that it "does for daytime what The Daily Show does for nighttime: It reflects the pent-up frustrations, pleasures, and hostilities its audience has toward pop and political culture."[186]

Despite being credited for helping the show achieve higher ratings, Rosie O'Donnell received criticism from "viewers and interest groups" that disagreed with her viewpoints.[33] The Atlantic's Kevin O'Keefe deemed O'Donnell's hiring as moderator "somewhat curious" due to her being "such an outspoken individual".[160] Conversely, Helena Andrews of Politico praised O'Donnell for making the show "actually watchable—something no longer relegated to the ether of TiVo or sneaked through head phones at work when we should be watching CNN."[187] In 2014, Michael Schulman of The New Yorker highlighted O'Donnell's first tenure, elaborating that she "pushed the limits of what cheery daytime chatter could sustain, and The View became more heated and more interesting as a result."[7]

Jenny McCarthy's appointment as a co-host attracted backlash due to her anti-vaccination views.[188][189] Writing as a senior science editor for HuffPost, David Freeman referenced science communicator Bill Nye's concern that McCarthy would "encourage parents to prevent their kids from getting vaccinated" as well has his hope that her views would be "discredited."[190] Alex Pareene of Salon criticized the decision, writing that McCarthy "isn't just quirky—she spreads lies that hurt people."[191] Jill Filipovic remarked on The Guardian that McCarthy "has no record of political activism or even serious engagement with the world" other than her anti-vaccination stance.[192] The New Yorker's Michael Specter asserted that ABC executives "should be ashamed of themselves for offering McCarthy a regular platform on which she can peddle denialism and fear to the parents of young children who may have legitimate questions about vaccine safety" and that her hiring was a "strike against reason and progress and hope."[193]

Following Walters' retirement, the show became known for constant changes in its lineup of co-hosts,[63][194] including the brief tenures of O'Donnell, McCarthy, Rosie Perez, Nicolle Wallace, and Michelle Collins.[195] In July 2015, Daniel D'Addario of Time suggested that it was time for ABC to end The View, citing the show's inability to sustain a consistent panel as a factor.[196] The following year, Deadline Hollywood's Lisa de Moraes wrote that the series was "gaining a reputation as one of the riskier gigs for on-air talent."[195]

In 2017, David Bauder of the Associated Press attributed the series' resurgence in viewership to its political discussions.[6] HuffPost's David Hinckley opined that The View has been successful in implementing its original premise and maintaining "a balance in areas like ethnicity and ideology" in regards to its co-hosts.[197] Writing for The New York Times in May 2019, Amanda FitzSimons cited the fascination with the co-hosts as what sets the show apart from other entertainment and news programs and noted that it "remains one of the few places on TV where audiences can watch authentic human drama."[198] Lorraine Ali of the Los Angeles Times praised the series for being "one of the few places left on TV where liberal, conservative and moderate voices pose questions that real folks might ask" and generating "raw moments that are as authentic as they are viral."[199] In July 2021, Variety columnist Daniel D'Addario found that the show had lost its "crackling electricity" and that the co-hosts had "veered into a place that wasn't even good TV" due to the limitations of taping remotely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[200]

The tenth season of The View averaged 3.5 million viewers per episode, with the season premiere being the series' most watched at 4.4 million viewers.[32][201] In November 2008, the show's post-election day telecast garnered the biggest audience in its history at 6.2 million in viewers, becoming the week's most-watched program in daytime television.[202] It was surpassed by the broadcast on July 29, 2010, which featured President Barack Obama's first appearance as a guest and garnered 6.6 million viewers.[203] In 2013, the show averaged 3.1 million daily viewers, which outpaced rival talk show The Talk.[204][205] It averaged 4.1 million viewers during Walters' final week in May 2014, with the episode featuring a farewell to Walters on May 16 garnering 5.2 million viewers and ranking as the show's fourth most-watched broadcast.[206]

The season 18 premiere in September 2014 drew the show's second largest season premiere audience to date of 3.902 million viewers.[207][208] The ratings declined following the premiere, with those in the demographic of women 25–54 "pacing downward for the fourth straight season" and being 30 percent lower from five years prior.[209] The ratings in the same demographic in January 2015 were down nine percent from the year prior.[210] Season 19 averaged 2.757 million viewers per episode.[211] The show averaged 2.94 million viewers during the first week of November 2016.[141] Its viewership during season 20 had been up five percent from the previous season by April 2017.[211]

The 21st season attained the show's highest ratings since Walters' retirement, averaging 2.9 million viewers per episode.[82] Its 5,000th episode, which aired in November 2019, garnered 3.021 million viewers.[212] The series was one of the top five daytime talk shows in the U.S., with an average of 2.5 million daily viewers, as of January 2020.[213] During the November 2020 sweeps period, it averaged 3.048 million viewers.[214] The View was the daytime talk or news program to obtain the highest number of total viewers during its 24th season, averaging 2.743 million viewers.[215] As part of the 2022–2023 television season, the 26th season averaged 2.375 million viewers and ranked No. 1 in total viewers amongst all daytime talk programs. It was the series' third consecutive year in the position.[216]

Since debuting in 1997, The View has garnered numerous awards and honors, among them are 31 Daytime Emmy Awards,[205] which include Outstanding Talk Show,[217] Outstanding Informative Talk Show,[218] and Outstanding Talk Show Host for Walters, Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd,[40][41] and three NAACP Image Awards.[219][220][221] In addition, the show has received nominations for three People's Choice Awards,[222][223][224] three GLAAD Media Awards,[225][226][227] and a Critics' Choice Television Award.[228]