The recent Daytime Emmy win by the ladies of The View as Outstanding Talk Show Host -- their first ever -- was no fluke.
Since their first year of eligibility in 1998, the ever-evolving quintet have suffered repeated defeats at the hands of Rosie O'Donnell (1997-2002), Wayne Brady (2003-2004) and Ellen DeGeneres (2005-2008). That misfortune was reversed after the show finally hit upon the most balanced, engaging and oft-controversial group of hosts in the show's history.
She Had this Idea for a Show
When the show began in 1997 on ABC, co-creator and co-executive producer Barbara Walters shared a rather tame roundtable with the ever-genial Meredith Vieira, the vocal Star Jones, the brash Joy Behar and the widely-ridiculed Debbie Matenopoulos -- who was dismissed by the end of 1998.
The far more aware and knowledgable Lisa Ling was brought on the following spring. At the end of 2002, Ling departed to host National Geographic Explorer. A year later, former Survivor Elizabeth Hasselback and her unexpectedly conservative slant took over Ling's spot at the table. During this time, the show was generating some heat through the regular exchanges between Behar and Jones.
It was announced in the spring of 2006 that Vieira would be departing the show for the morning glory of NBC's Today Show. Former "Queen of Nice" Rosie O'Donnell, in a high-profile return to daytime, was selected to take over Vieira's moderator seat. The show by this time began to generate some attention among general audiences outside of their highly targeted female demographic.
Fever Pitch
The View made national headlines following Vieira's departure when the increasingly unpopular Star Jones unexpectedly announced her departure live on the air after it was decided not to renew her contract for the following season, the show's tenth. Jones was immediately fired and no longer appeared on the show as of the next day's telecast.
Just as the Jones Controversy was dying down, O'Donnell began her highly rated, well-publicized reign during which she quickly became embroiled in very public battles with such personalities as Donald Trump and Kelly Ripa. However, it was her regular bouts with co-host Hasselback that all but became regular segments on The Soup, Extra, and Access Hollywood. The most well-known of these bouts was the infamous "split-screen" argument in May of 2007 that led the already-departing O'Donnell to exit the program prior to the official expiration of her one-year contract.
A Winning Combo
By the end of the summer of 2007, Whoopi Goldberg had been selected to take over O'Donnell's moderator chair and Sherri Shepherd had been hired to fill the long-vacated Jones position -- ending sixteen very tumultuous on-air months for Behar, Hasselback and Walters.
The dynamic between the current group of hosts works because you still get controversy (and ratings) without the polarization and alienation. Unlike O'Donnell, Goldberg does not come across as if she is has an agenda or a point to prove. When Goldberg expresses an opinion, there isn't an air of activism behind it. The result is a lively, spirited and open discourse where other opinions are expressed instead of defended.
While, Star Jones squandered her initial appeal on a controversial weight loss and an obnoxiously lavish wedding, The recently bikini-clad and divorced Shepherd brought a fan base with her from many appearances on Everybody Loves Raymond as well as a supporting role on ABC's Less Than Perfect from 2002-2006 that she has leveraged into a Lifetime sitcom based on her own life experiences.
The addition of Goldberg and Shepherd to The View actually make the show more balanced than it has ever been -- if not in terms of slant, then at least in terms of knowing exactly where each host stands on the issues when they sit to discuss them.
At the center of it all, is the eternally neutral Walters -- who knows so many people in this world from her decades as a newswoman and an interviewer that she no longer allows herself to have much of an opinion on anything. Her insistent centrism actually works in maintaining the balance between the Behar/Goldberg liberalism and the Shepherd/Hasselback conservatism.
Why the current mix works is because each of them have their own appeal and fan bases outside of the show that they've built while on the show. Love or hate any or all of them, they've gotten our attention and they are getting us talking.
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