EXCLUSIVE'The View' Staff At War Over How To Honor Barbara Walters When She Dies
Nov. 25 2020, Published 3:33 p.m. ET
The drama just never ends at The View! With Barbara Walters' health reportedly on the decline, there are serious conversations happening backstage at the show about how to handle the death of the TV legend and woman who created the show back in 1997, OK! has learned.
"Joy Behar — the only original cast member who was hand-selected by Barbara — and the old-timers at ABC want to devote an entire pre-taped show to Barbara when she passes. They are already pulling together clips of some of Barbara’s most iconic moments from the show. However, not everyone agrees that this is the way to go, but instead would rather follow the Kelly Ripa approach after Regis Philbin died — do a live tribute at the top and then move on," a source exclusively tells OK!.
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"The younger staff members don’t think The View has a very different audience than when Barbara was the main host. They are not sure why they need to devote an entire hour to her. They mean no disrespect to Barbara and her legacy, but TV is a ratings business and old clips of her won’t work today," adds an insider.
However, Behar will most likely not be happy if Walters' segment is short and sweet. "Joy owes her entire career to Barbara. Joy would still be playing small comedy clubs if it wasn’t for Barbara. Barbara changed her life and millions of other women around the world. Barbara broke glass ceilings for every woman sitting at the table today," reveals a friend. "Regis was great and deserved all the tributes he got. But Barbara changed the world. She was a trail blazer, and to not devote one hour to her is a disgrace."
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Meanwhile, the morning talk show made headlines last week after Behar and Sunny Hostin were nowhere to be found at the top of the show on Thursday, November 19. As a result, Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines were the only two on the small screen. A rep for the show told OK! that "Joy's and Sunny's systems needed to be rebooted."
The following day, Behar was still missing from the show, but a rep told OK! the comedian had previously scheduled to take the day off.
