Okay, it’s not official, but several news outlets are reporting that the bigwigs over at ABC’s daytime chatfest “The View” have finally chosen two females to fill in the empty seats at the “Hot Topics” table.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd are about to hop into the hot seats. A formal announcement by show creator Barbara Walters is expected next week.
The report comes after a year of musical chairs amongst the co-hosts. Star Jones Reynolds left the show in true drama queen fashion (she says she quit, producers say she was fired). In contrast, Meredith Vieira’s move to bigger and better things (like reporting about the rancor over at her old stomping grounds) at NBC’s “Today” show was classy and understated. But neither quite compares with O’Donnell’s now famous departure from the show following her on-air shouting match with fellow co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck?
According to the L.A. Times, Goldberg and Shepherd have yet to sign on the dotted line, but are in final negotiations with the show.
Frankly, I am surprised they went with Goldberg. Yes, she’s a big name and a comic like O’Donnell, but of all the times I have seen her host she seemed like she wanted to be somewhere else. And, I doubt that she is going to go head-to head with the likes of Donald Trump. (Ratings shot up when O’Donnell feuded with her adversaries on air.) What’s more, Goldberg shies away from the media (a rarity in Hollywood) and she clearly looks bothered when she has to ask celebrity guests about their private lives when she herself rarely does interviews. Strange choice. I say she lasts a year-—tops.
Sherri Shepherd, on the other hand, clearly had the co-host gig wrapped up from the start. She has been a guest host on “The View” more than a dozen times, five times this month alone. Bottom line: Viewers love her and it’s easy to see why. She’s no shrinking violet, yet she is not overpowering. Moreover, I think her self-deprecating humor is hilarious. To be quite honest, Walters would have been a fool not to hire Shepherd.
Some media outlets are speculating that the changes would also give the show some ethnic diversity. (There were rumors that the all-female panel would be getting a male co-host.) On more than one occasion, executive producer Bill Geddie told reporters that he was looking to add at least one African American voice.
“We have, really, two positions open, I think people forget,” Geddie said in June. “We got a lot of hiring to do here. So the chances of us hiring two white women … not very likely.”
The chances of hiring two African American women—very likely.
What do you think about the new choices?