According to Politico, The View is having all kinds of trouble finding someone to replace Meghan McCain and fill their ‘Republican spot’ on the show:
Before taking off for the holidays, the four long-standing hosts of “The View” had a message for executive producer BRIAN TETA: We’re tired of the rotating cast of Republican guest hosts.
When MEGHAN MCCAIN departed in August, Teta initially told the Wrap that he was “taking a little time” to find a replacement. Since then, ABC has tried out a variety of conservative fill-ins, including S.E. CUPP, ALYSSA FARAH, MORGAN ORTAGUS, CONDOLEEZZA RICE, CARLY FIORINA, and GRETCHEN CARLSON.
Nearly six months in, the show has yet to settle on a permanent replacement. And now, the longtime co-hosts — JOY BEHAR, WHOOPI GOLDBERG and SUNNY HOSTIN — are upping the pressure to pick a successor, and voicing their displeasure at having to introduce new guest hosts week after week in a seemingly endless process that they find disruptive to the flow of the show.
“Right now, we still do need a really conservative voice,” Hostin told New York Magazine in November. “And we need someone that’s not duplicative of anyone else on the panel.”
According to a spokesperson for “The View,” the program will continue to audition potential hosts in the new year, bringing some women back for a second turn. Farah will return in January, and the show will bring in other big names, like BARI WEISS and LISA LING — neither of whom exactly fit the “conservative” label — while the network continues to conduct focus groups on the audience’s reaction.
The View executives will not consider….
Sources close to the show said that the search has stalled as executives struggle to find a conservative cast-member who checks all the right boxes. They will not consider a Republican who is a denier of the 2020 election results, embraced the January 6 riots, or is seen as flirting too heavily with fringe conspiracy theories or the MAGA wing of the GOP. But at the same time, the host must have credibility with mainstream Republicans, many of whom still support DONALD TRUMP.
Maybe I’ve missed it, but I don’t know of any Republican or conservative woman who has “embraced the January 6th riots”. I don’t even know what that means. It sounds like they are creating a list of criteria so narrow that they’ll only end up with a Never Trumper.
But they don’t want a Never Trumper, which is why they haven’t offered Ana Navarro the job:
“The problem is that they bring people on under the mantle that this woman is a conservative, when they’re ‘Never Trump,’ so they don’t represent the country,” said one of the rotating guest hosts.
At the same time, the anti-Trump conservative can’t be seen as too chummy with the other co-hosts, as the network’s market-research shows that the audience wants to see the women spar. Sources said that this has hurt the chances of ANA NAVARRO, a regular fill-in on the conservative chair who worked as a surrogate for JOE BIDEN in 2020: She is perceived by the producers as too friendly with the other hosts and not a traditional Republican.
“They are really looking for a unicorn,” said a former show staffer. “They want someone who is going to fight — but not too hard, because they don’t want it to be ugly and bickering.”
It doesn’t help that there’s a perception that whoever sits in the conservative host slot is on borrowed time, with prominent Republican former co-hosts like NICOLLE WALLACE, ELIZABETH HASSELBECK, ABBY HUNTSMAN and McCain leaving the show with claims of being bullied by their co-hosts and ABC executives on-set and off, while veterans like Goldberg and Behar have thrived.
Executives reportedly offered the job to Kat Timpf, but she turned them down:
Sources said that the show was eager to recruit young libertarian KAT TIMPF, but she turned them down because of the show’s reputation for treating conservatives poorly and her contract with Fox. Timpf declined to comment to Playbook. Others have said that the show has a responsibility to fill the conservative chair with a strong Republican co-host ahead of the midterms if they are going to be a credible political talk show.
“Our plans are on track as we continue to look for the right person to join our panel of smart, dynamic women,” said a “View” spokesperson. “We look forward to welcoming guest co-hosts for return appearances and introducing new names into the mix in the new year.”
I love that Timpf turned them down. And I feel no sympathy for these fools looking to fill their token Republican chair. We’ve all seen how they treated McCain and that is their reputation, which is why they are constantly having to find someone new. They can’t handle someone who disagrees with them.
You want my attention? Get TWO solid conservative woman and bump Behar.