The View alum Meredith Vieira admits show would have been ‘CANCELED’ in season 1 if not for key person
MEREDITH Vieira has confessed that The View might not have made it past the first season without one key player in the hot seat.
The broadcast journalist starred in the daytime talk show from 1997 until 2006.
Now Meredith, 68, has come clean about the fate of The View after a rocky first season.
The TV personality opened up about her time on the controversial show in a conversation with
When it came to finding a new audience for the program, the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire star admitted that it was a daunting task.
"We really didn't know our audiences for that first year. They would bus them in wherever they could find them. I think they were dragging them off the street! Lots of people with oxygen tanks," she revealed.
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"We would go, 'Where did they get them from?' Or people who did not speak English who were obviously on a tour of New York, and they loaded them on a bus. I don't know if they told them what they were gonna go see."
Meredith continued: "If we had not had [creator] Barbara Walters, I'm sure that show would've been canceled.
"But because of Barbara, ABC kept it on the air," she explained.
In regards to whether she could see herself returning to a hosting role on The View, the TV star said: "You know, there's a time for everything, I like to say, and I kinda did my time."
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"That sounds like a prison term, actually," she laughed.
"I did nine years and I loved it. The show has evolved and it's a different show and I think it's fantastic."
THE FIRST VIEW
Meredith served as The View's first moderator at the time of the show's creation in 1997.
She sat alongside co-hosts Barbara Walters, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulous, and Joy Behar.
Now the show is currently in its 25th season, still starring Behar alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, and Sara Haines.
WATCHING WHOOPI
Despite her 15-year stint on The View, Whoopi has come under fire lately as fans call for her retirement.
Viewers have been spotting the moderator making more mistakes, as well as having more arguments with the other co-hosts, over the past few weeks.
On Monday, Whoopi flubbed her words and forgot a key detail during the show’s first broadcast from the Bahamas, where the hosts are currently located to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary.
This was only the tip of the iceberg, fans said, of the moderator’s recent issues on the show, and they’ve had enough.
Many think it’s time for the 66-year-old to say goodbye to the role she’s held since 2007.
FAN COMPLAINTS
One tired fan insisted of Whoopi: “I think it’s just time for her to retire.
“She can’t hear an opposing view, she filibusters segments, it’s become very frustrating.
“And yes those rants, sometimes I have no idea what’s she’s trying to say!”
They added: “Even Joy [Behar] seems like she’s getting annoyed with it and Joy is the queen of decorum.”
Another View fan suggested: “Whoopi needs someone in her ear to cut her off when her rants begin to make you ask ‘what is she talking about?’
“Because when she fumbles on getting to the point, she almost never recovers lol.”
A third said that “it’s rarer that she makes sense than doesn’t.”
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A fourth fan said they felt Whoopi was a nice “counterbalance” to Meghan McCain, but with the fired host no longer on the show, they don’t think Whoopi works as well on the program.
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“Now that [Meghan’s] gone [Whoopi’s] just argumentative with everyone lmao,” the user added.
