WOMEN+POWER 2025: The Women of "The View"

Photo courtesy ABC / Story by Josh Jakobitz

"Repulsive. Uninformed. Disgusting."

These are the comments left on credible news Web site comment sections in stories related to ABC’s women of “The View.” Perhaps, unironically, these are the same terms used to condemn women for centuries. The faces change, but the critics just recycle their tired verbiage and insults.

In the 1600s, women were burned, boiled, hanged, put in stocks or marked with letters identifying their cultural crimes (think: “The Scarlet Letter”). Today, loud, opinionated, passionate women are simply mocked by critics online, threatened behind the scenes and on social media and stalked as they go about their daily (private) lives. And, to be clear, the comments on credible new sites are tame compared to what exists out there in the world of Quora, Twitter and Reddit.

Back in 1997, when the late Barbara Walters conceptualized and formed “The View,” she must have known it would immediately be five-alarm-level drama. As the show’s first moderator, she hand-picked the rotating cast of women co-hosts until her retirement in 2014. For 28 years, the show has provided women of all generations a platform to debate politics, pop culture and lifestyle issues. Season 1 starred Meredith Vieira as moderator, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, and Walters as the four permanent co-hosts, with Joy Behar filling in during Walters’ absences. Behar’s comedic personality quickly endeared her to fans, and before long, she joined “The View” full time as the fifth co-host.

The Ladies

Today, “The View” is moderated by the EGOT-winning (inflammatory, polarizing, radical, hilarious, passionate) Whoopi Goldberg, who’s joined by Sunny Hostin, Sara Hines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro and, of course, cast original Joy Behar. Goldberg appears in this same issue of Polo Lifestyles’ WOMEN+POWER as an individual for her personal contributions to media and philanthropy. Don’t miss her profile starting on page XX.

Hostin began her career as a law clerk to retired Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals Robert M. Bell and later became a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division. Hostin left the Antitrust Division to become a federal prosecutor, specializing in child sex crimes. She began corresponding on network television as a legal analyst for The O’Reilly Factor, eventually moving to CNN and later “The View.”

In 2009, Haines became NBC Today’s fourth-hour›s contributing correspondent until departing in 2013. In 2013, she became an ABC News correspondent as well as the pop news anchor for the weekend editions of Good Morning America. After multiple appearances as a guest co-host, Haines joined “The View” as a permanent co-host in 2016. She left briefly to purse other media projects, but returned full-time for the 24th season of “The View.”

Griffin was the White House director of strategic communications and Assistant to the President in 2020. In addition to appearing on CNN as a commentator, her work as a co-host of “The View” earned for a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award.

Born in 1971 to a wealthy land-owning agricultural family in Nicaragua, Ana Navarro and her family sought asylum in the United States while her father stayed behind to fight with the Contras movement, supported by the Reagan administration. During her first year in university, Navarro campaigned for aid to the Contras. As a law student, Navarro successfully fought to keep Nicaraguan refugees from being deported during the mid-90s. She served in a number of Republican administrations, including as part of the transition team for Florida Governor Jeb Bush in 1998 and also as his Director of Immigration Policy. She also served as ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. She later served as the National Co-Chair of the Hispanic Advisory Council for John McCain in 2008 and Jon Huntsman Jr. in 2012. In February 2014, she became a political commentator for ABC News. In addition, she is also a political commentator on CNN and CNN en Español. Navarro became a contributor on “The View” in 2013.

Behar has spent her entire career in entertainment. She started in the early 1980s as a receptionist and later a producer on Good Morning America. She was a stand-up comedian and made appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America and The New Show. In 1987, she hosted a variety talk show on Lifetime Television called Way Off Broadway that included Larry David as a writer and performer. She also hosted the show Live from Queens; was a regular on NBC’s Baby Boom; and continued to work the comedy club circuit. She had minor film roles including Cookie, This Is My Life, and Manhattan Murder Mystery. In the early 1990s, she hosted a talk-show on 77 WABC radio in New York City. She also made appearances on HBO comedy specials One Night Stand and Women of the Night 2. She joined “The View” in its inaugural season in 1997 as a guest co-host, filling in for Walters.

Ratings

The U.S. presidential election results weighed heavily last November on “The View” hosts — and perhaps its viewers as well, as they tuned in en masse to give the daytime talker its best week-long ratings in more than three and a half years. According to ABC analysis of Nielsen data, “The View” averaged 3.078 million viewers during the week of Nov. 4, making it the tops among daytime broadcast network talk and news shows.

Specifically on Wednesday, Nov. 6 — the day after the election — “The View” attracted 4.470 million viewers, which made it the show’s most-watched episode since Barbara Walters’ farewell episode on May 16, 2014.

Year-to-year, “The View” was up 24% in total viewers (3.078 million vs. 2.489 million), up 22% with women 25-54 (270,000 vs. 221,000) and up 33% with women 18-49 (270,000 vs. 145,000). This season, “The View” has been up year-to-year in nine of ten weeks. All told, the show is up 9% in total viewers (2.614 million vs. 2.406 million) season to date compared to last year.

“The View” also continues to be No. 1 in households and total viewers among daytime broadcast talk shows and news programs for the fifth straight season, according to ABC.

Goldberg, Behar, Hostin and Haines are all returning to The View for Season 27, and many of them have signed on to continue in the near future. Navarro and Griffin are also expected to return for Season 27. 

As “The View” rapidly approaches its 30th anniversary, the formula proves it’s a winning one: a table of six professionals and experts with contradictory ideas and ideals, opinions and experiences. It’s like having brunch or dinner with five of your friends, getting into it, disagreeing, walking away from the table to cool off in the bathroom; but still able to depart as friends after the check is settled.