The View has cycled through its fair share of hosts over its 21 years on the air so far. The most recent panel of hosts was comprised of Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Meghan McCain, and Sara Haines, but Haines is set to depart next month, opening the door for a brand new woman to join the dais. That new woman will be none other than Abby Huntsman, best known for her role as Fox & Friends Weekend co-host.
Abby Huntsman will contribute to the panel debates as a conservative voice. She'll be the second conservative voice on the current cast of The View, joining Meghan McCain. Interestingly, Meghan McCain was also a Fox News contributor before landing the spot on The View. The addition of Hunstman comes shortly after former View host Candace Cameron Bure suggested that the show really needs more than one conservative panelist to "balance out that table." Mediaite reports that Huntsman will leave Fox & Friends Weekend behind to make the move to ABC for The View.
Fox & Friends Weekend will say goodbye to Abby Huntsman after this upcoming weekend's broadcast. No date has yet been released about when Huntsman will make her View debut as a host, but viewers probably don't have too terribly long to wait. Huntsman is coming in to replace host Sara Haines, who will begin her new job of co-anchoring an hour of Good Morning America with Michael Strahan on September 10. It should be interesting to see how Abby Hunstman fits into the panel compared to how Sara Haines fit into the panel.
The new View will see a lineup comprised of Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Meghan McCain, and Abby Huntsman. The hiring of Huntsman won't come as a huge surprise to any who keep tabs on the latest View news, as rumor had it back in July that Huntsman was in the running to fill Sara Haines' vacancy. Another name rumored to be toward the top of the list of potential replacements was conservative CNN commentator Ana Navarro, who is no stranger to The View as a guest host. Any fans who were hoping Navarro would get the job may be disappointed, but there's no reason why she can't still appear on the talk show every now and again.
If Abby Huntsman settles in to The View, perhaps she'll stick around for the long run. Gone are the days when hosts would come and stay for years and years on end. In fact, since Sherri Shepherd left in 2014, no new host has stayed on board for more than three years. Could Huntsman be the one to break the mold and settle in for the long haul? Or will The View not prove to be the best fit for her? We'll have to wait and see.
Tune in to ABC on weekdays at 11 a.m. ET to catch new episodes of The View. If you need some ideas of how to expand your primetime lineup in the coming months, take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
