The View has been struggling to find itself as several stalwart hosts have left over the years. With the departure of Rosie O’Donnell in February the show was in need of somebody new to fill the host's chair. This morning it was announced The View has found its new permanent host. Former Cosby Show kid Raven-Symone has joined the morning show.
The new job is not too surprising, as Raven-Symone has been a frequent guest host in the months since O’Donnell’s departure. Rosie ended her second stint on the show this year, citing health concerns and the need to reduce stress as her reasons for leaving. Deadline reports Raven-Symone may be the first of several new hosts to be announced, as most of the remaining hosts do not have contracts for next season, either. The rest of the current panel includes Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie Perez, and Nicolle Wallace. Goldberg is the only longterm host on the show, having been a part of The View since 2007. The other two ladies joined the daytime talk program in 2014. She is also the only one who is set to return next season. Although one expects Raven-Symone’s deal will be for more than just the current season.
At 29, Raven-Symone is the youngest host currently on the show by over a decade (although Elisabeth Hasselbeck was 26 when she began hosting in 2003). Depending on your age, you likely remember Raven-Symone as the youngest child on The Cosby Show in the early 90s or as the star of That’s So Raven on The Disney Channel in the mid 2000s. Most recently she had a recurring role as Olivia in the Fox series Empire.
If The View is about to go through a major shift in hosting expect Raven-Symone and Goldberg to bookend the hosts and any replacements to fill in at different ages between the two. The panel often includes as broad of a spectrum as possible in order to appeal to the most viewers. Even with the revolving door of hosts in recent years, The View, currently in its 18th season, is still doing well enough in the ratings to stick around. It's been on the air so long, in fact, that Raven-Symone performed on the show when she was promoting the Disney Channel Movie The Cheetah Girls when she was 15 years old. Everybody please proceed to feel really old.
Time will tell if the new host will have a major impact on the show or the ratings. For now, The View isn't going anywhere, even if it bares little resemblance to itself a year from now. Hopefully, Raven-Symone will be hanging around for a few years in order to help give the show a bit more stability.
Photo Credit@ABC
