With ABC’s The View making big changes ahead of its new season hitting the upcoming TV schedule, it feels like a ripe time for reflecting on the long-running chat show’s roots. To that end, O.G. co-host Debbie Matenopoulos shared her thoughts on The View’s current era, as moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, as compared to the early years when creator Barbara Walters was running things.
Walters, who passed away in 2022, was initially joined at the table by Matenopoulos, Star Jones, Joy Behar and Meredith Viera, though none were still on the panel during the esteemed journalist’s final season. Having been involved during only the first two seasons, Matenopoulos can certainly speak to the ways the project started out as compared to how the episodes are laid out on TV in recent years. And she thinks it’s pulled a complete 180 from what her former boss intended.
Speaking with Michael Fairman about her temporary stint on General Hospital and its skincare tie-in website, Matenopoulos touched on why she thinks The View feels so different from the original plan laid out by Barbara Walters and former executive producer Bill Geddie. In her words:
It’s such a different show now. I believe it is not what (the late) Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie (ex-EP, The View) intended it to be, ever. Barbara was protective of her political beliefs that she would never say one way or another, whether she was Republican or Democrat because she felt it was inappropriate when she’s trying to interview people.
Though it may sound like she’s being overtly judgmental with that assessment, this isn’t exactly similar to instances where former hosts have railed against The View such as Meghan McCain. Matenopoulos is more or less pointing out the obvious here, since it’d be hard to deny her statement with all the political coverage covered on a mostly daily basis.
She continued, positing that difference isn’t necessarily a bad thing:
I don’t think Barbara would have ever allowed the show to be what it is today. Now having said that, it has evolved in so many ways, and it has become a completely different program. It is very political and arguably the most influential political daytime show, which is not a bad thing. It’s just a different show than it was when I was on. It was more of a lifestyle program, then.
The former Home & Family host has spoken out against the The View’s more political nature in the past, but with the context that she herself is not one to readily get into confrontations. Thus, she’s not a fan of conversations that lead to arguments and angst.
For Debbie Matenopoulos, the point of the show was what Barbara Walters set out for it to be: a laidback spot for women to get together and gab about whatever interested them. And it was meant to be in opposition to programming where more political content could readily be found. She continued:
Barbara came from news, and her idea of making The View was it was her time to have fun and have girlfriends and not have to think about all of that hard news that she was coming from on a daily basis. It was her place to relax. That’s really why she did it. She did it because she wanted to have fun and she wanted people to see her in a different light.
Would Barbara Walters have welcomed Deadpool’s mom to the show? Probably not. Okay, I guess that was technically just Ryan Reynolds’ mom who appeared and not the woman who birthed the Merc with the Mouth, but still.
The View is set to return to ABC with its new Hudson Square stage set-up this fall, with an exact premiere date yet to be revealed. And fans can catch Matenopoulos’ two-episode guest spot on General Hospital with a Hulu subscription.
