Rosie O'Donnell is officially returning to The View as the ratings-hit morning talk show begins its newest season this Monday.
The next two weeks will also be vital, as its guest co-hosts will be auditioning for the slots left by its previous co-hosts Jenny McCarthy and Sherri Shepherd, who stepped down last month. More importantly, the show is also looking for a replacement for Elisabeth Hasselbeck, reports the New York Daily News.
Insiders have revealed that one of the show's top priorities is to find a conservative co-host who can get along with O'Donnell, which the conservative Hasselbeck failed to do when O'Donnell first hosted the show back in 2007.
Though the talk show's ratings hit an all-time high because people were tuning in to watch O'Donnell and Hasselbeck go head-to-head with their opinions, a source comments that "no one was making any salient points-they were just fighting."
Among the guest co-hosts vying for the slot are right-wingers, including Daily News contributor S.E. Cupp and Fox News host Juliet Huddy, reports the New York Daily News. Abby Huntsman from MSNBC network is also looking to be cast in the show.
The insider says that the head honchos of ABC are looking for a conservative host who can be as opinionated as Hasselbeck but is "less predictable."
"When Elisabeth would open her mouth, you knew she was going to check the Republican box all the way down the line," says the insider.
A potential host was seen in Meghan McCain, the daughter of Senator McCain, when she appeared as a guest co-host on The View earlier this month, but McCain refused the position as she was already committed to a similar show called TakePart Live (which airs in the cable channel Pivot), and hosting was not something she wanted to do full time.
"Network execs really wanted her. She was going to be their 'new' Elisabeth Hasselbeck because of her Republican stance, but with a much younger reach and more open stance on social issues," reports Radar Online.
Whoever ends up getting the gig, the talk show host is sure to be a big hit once again now that O'Donnell is back on the helm, in tandem with Whoopi Goldberg. What do you think, who should be the next The View host?
