ABC’s daytime show “The View,” which has failed to catch fire following an overhaul this fall, is switching to the network’s news side after being part of ABC’s entertainment operation for 18 years.
Following the retirement of Barbara Walters from an on-air role at the show she started, ABC brought in Rosie O’Donnell, Nicolle Wallace and Rosie Perez to join holdover Whoopi Goldberg. A new production team was named led by Bill Wolff, Rachel Maddow’s former producer.
The new “View” got off to a fast start with people sampling but ratings have flattened, said Bill Carroll, an expert on the syndication market for Katz Media.
Through the end of last week, “The View” has averaged 2.9 million viewers, similar to the 2.92 million average during the same period last year, the Nielsen company said. There’s a sharper drop (712,000 to 652,000) among viewers aged 18-to-49 years old, a group prized by advertisers.
It may have something to do with a new group trying to gel or a slow news period, but the show “doesn’t have the same energy, the same spark,” Carroll said.
A chief competitor to “The View,” CBS’ “The Talk” has seen its ratings dip slightly from 2.67 million to 2.6 million, Nielsen said.
Associated Press
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