Whoopi Goldberg Is About to Make View History — Find Out Why
Let’s take a little time to reflect on the history of The View.
The venerable ABC talk show — which has its Season 28 premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 3 (at 11/10c) — has had a whopping 24 (!) co-hosts since its 1997 premiere, including current panelists Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro. And this year, Goldberg will set a View record when she returns for her 18th consecutive season on the dais, beating the record previously held by the series’ creator, the late, great Barbara Walters, who stayed through Season 17.
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Behar, who has been a fixture for almost the entirety of The View’s run, ultimately comes in third place, having initially been let go after 16 seasons. This fall, she begins the 10th season of her second run, which started with Season 19.
Scroll down to review every View co-host who has appeared at the Hot Topics table over the past 27 years, then hit the comments and tell us who has been your favorite (and least favorite) one of all.
Joy Behar — 26 Seasons
Behar has appeared in all but two seasons, having been let go after Season 16, then reinstated at the start of Season 19. She acknowledged her sabbatical-of-sorts at the start of The View’s Season 27 premiere when she said, “We’ve been here for 27 years. I was here for all of it, except for two, when they canned me. They sacked my behind.” But all has been forgiven.
Whoopi Goldberg — 18 Seasons
The EGOT winner joined the dais in Season 11, on the heels of Rosie O’Donnell’s initial departure. She has been a fixture on The View since 2007.
Barbara Walters — 17 Seasons
The woman who started it all remained at the Hot Topics table until she retired in 2014.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck — 10 Seasons
The Survivor vet served as the conservative voice at the table for a full decade, beginning with Season 7. She was let go after Season 16 and went on to co-host the Fox News morning show Fox & Friends.
Meredith Vieira, Star Jones & Sunny Hostin — 9 Seasons
Along with Walters and Behar, Vieira and Jones were part of the original panel. Both ladies left after Season 9. Hostin, meanwhile, has been on the panel since Season 20.
Sherri Shepherd & Sara Haines — 7 Seasons
Before she was dishing hot topics on her own daytime talk show, Shepherd was taking part in spirited discussions at The View‘s Hot Topics table. Her seven-year hosting stint came to an end in 2014. Haines, meanwhile, served as a co-host for Seasons 20 and 21, departed to host GMA3, then returned for Season 24. She remains on the panel for Season 28.
Lisa Ling & Meghan McCain — 4 Seasons
Ling was the first in a long line of replacements. She succeeded original panelist Debbie Matenopoulos in Season 3, and remained through Season 6. McCain, meanwhile, spent most of her tenure dodging rumors of her exit, so it came as no surprise when she finally called it quits after Season 24.
Raven-Symoné, Paula Faris, Alyssa Farah Griffin & Ana Navarro — 3 Seasons
Symoné was enlisted for Season 18 and left during Season 20 to headline Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home; Faris was a fixture for Seasons 19 through 21; and Griffin and Navarro joined the panel in Season 26.
Debbie Matenopoulos, Rosie O’Donnell, Candace Cameron Buré, Jedediah Bila & Abby Huntsman — 2 Seasons
The two-season club is a colorful cast of characters. Matenopoulos was replaced after Season 2; O’Donnell spent Season 10 feuding with Hasselbeck, then returned for a brief stint in Season 18; Buré bailed as soon as Fuller House got off the ground; Bila returned to Fox News; and Huntsman resigned to run her father Jon Huntsman’s failed reelection campaign for governor of Utah.
Jenny McCarthy, Nicolle Wallace, Rosie Perez & Michelle Collins — 1 Season
And now, the one-season wonders! McCarthy was there for Walters’ final season; Wallace and Perez entered the scene following McCarthy and Walters’ departures; and Collins succeeded Wallace and Perez. All of them came and went between Seasons 17 and 19 — clearly the rockiest era in the gab fest’s storied history.
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