The View is staging a reunion! All of the past and present hosts of the ABC talk show are getting together on May 15 to honor the creator of The View, Barbara Walters. Walters, 84, is retiring from daily television after decades in the business, so the hosts are coming together to commemorate the occasion.
The celebrated journalist will reunite with her original cohosts, Today show personality Meredith Vieira, longtime host Star Jones, actress Debbie Matenopoulos, and comedian Joy Behar. The current panel, made up of Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, and Jenny McCarthy, will host the event live on ABC. Also joining the reunion will be Lisa Ling, who worked on the show in the late ’90s and early ’00s, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who appeared on The View for ten years, and Rosie O’Donnell, who served as the show’s moderator in the mid-’00s.
The May event will mark the first time that all 11 View alums — some of whom famously clashed — will be together onstage. The reunion will be Walters’ second-to-last appearance on The View, which began airing in 1997. While she will no longer be onscreen after the final May episode, Walters will still serve as the executive producer of the program.
“Barbara Walters’ status as a trailblazer, a legend and an icon are undeniable,” President of ABC Entertainment Paul Lee said in a release. “By creating a talk show panel with multiple hosts she changed the daytime landscape with a concept that is now widely emulated. It’s a true testament to her legacy. We are grateful to her and recognize her enormous contribution to ABC Entertainment and the indelible mark she has left on television.”