While it may be true that no job in the entertainment industry can be called easy, hosting a live talk show might be one of the most difficult on-camera gigs there is. Not only do hosts have to connect with their audience and guests, but if you happen to be on a panel show, you also have to connect with your co-hosts on a certain level. As it turns out, according to former The View host Raven-Symoné, the job can actually be harder and more stressful because of way more than just that.
What Did Raven-Symoné Say About Her Experience Hosting The View?
That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home lead Raven-Symoné may have survived her time as a child star, but it sounds like hosting The View may have scarred her for life. The actress, who’s also appeared on shows like black-ish and in movies like The Cheetah Girls franchise, was recently interviewed by fellow child star Josh Peck on his Good Guys podcast, and when he asked if she could disabuse him of the notion that hosting a daily show would be a “dream”...man, did she ever go in on how hard it is. Symoné responded:
Let me make it a nightmare for you really quick. One, do it with a really big company like ABC, that has multiple lawyers and requires a lot of views on a daily basis. … Get hired, knowing that you’re going to be talking about pop culture, but then have them switch it up on you and it be the most thick political climate that could ever have happened, when you were supposed to be on air talking about pop culture.
The “Backflip” singer co-hosted along with Whoopi Goldberg (whom she later revealed gave off “lesbian vibes” while they worked together), Joy Behar, Rosie O’Donnell, Candace Cameron Bure and others while on the ABC hit from June 2015 through October 2016. I was right there with a lot of viewers when the show launched in 1997, and talking politics was always a part of it, but it’s not impossible that Symoné was unaware of that, or was specifically told that relatively light “pop culture” topics would be the focus.
As we know, very few co-hosts of this particular live daytime television show have come away with totally positive experiences. Though that is likely true for most jobs of any kind, we’ve heard a lot about things like Bure claiming that part of the reason she agreed to host was because producers told her, “We’re not really gonna talk about politics that much,” and the fact that working there gave her “PTSD” from the “stress and anxiety.”
Some of that, as you might imagine came from having to voice her opinions on various hot-button topics, and the now too old for Doctor Dolittle talent added to that, and noted:
And, also, I have to be careful how I say this. When you’re preparing for a live telecast, you have to make sure you have a point of view that is crafted, and you stick to that. And then, as an actor, just make sure like, ‘Hey, it might contradict somebody else’s, so be ready for that conflict on air.’ … And [you have to] continue that and make sure that you get everything you’ve ever wanted to say out of your mouth within the 30 seconds that you’re allowed to speak with a whole bunch of other people on the panel. And make it make sense so that the entire world doesn’t come for you.
Yeah. I’m nowhere near this situation and I’m getting the flop sweats just thinking about the potential stress this could cause. While Goldberg herself has previously down-played the rumors about backstage fighting, the simple truth is that one of the things The View is known for is the co-hosts engaging in intense verbal sparring on live TV.
Aside from that, they all have to open up about deep topics in a way that will expose them to critiques from viewers, and about everything from their point of view to how they express it, something Goldberg and former host Sherri Shepherd both spoke about. Symoné continued:
I had the really bad mindset that that was a safe space [laughs]. Anytime there’s a camera or microphone in front of you, it’s not a safe space, guys. … And [you] say things that you would say in the comfort of your own home, because you’re on a panel with women that you love and you talk shit with them outside of the show. It’s just really scary for someone who grew up having a written script their whole life.
I must say, I believe this would also be “really scary” for someone who has never spoken from a script as well! Luckily, Raven-Symoné made it across to the other side and can laugh about some of her experiences there now.
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