Julie Chen visited the King of all Media to promote ‘The Talk’ and she admirably answered the shock jock’s probing questions with honesty (except for the nose job one). One such question was whether ‘The View’ made a mistake with its new, non-politics direction. Howard Stern then asked about Jenny McCarthy, and Chen insisted that McCarthy is more suited for a pop culture format, and since ‘The View’ has always been known for hard-hitting topics, she simply doesn’t fit in.
The interesting irony of Julie Chen’s comment is that Jenny McCarthy is no more suited to discuss politics than Survivor contestant Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In fact, it might actually be more interesting to hear the former playmate’s take on harder topics. It’s unfortunate; however, that Jenny McCarthy got caught in the cross-hairs of a more interesting debate. Is it true that ‘The View’ made a mistake with it’s new format? Though it pains me to say this, the answer is yes.
ABC fell victim to a common error with its revamp. They listened to the public. While it’s true that public opinion matters, a major network should be led by their opinion, not bound to it. Elisabeth Hasselbeck was too contentious and off-putting, and she made ‘The View’ uncomfortable to watch while unwinding. That being said, just because one person is poisonous, that doesn’t mean the format should be entirely trashed. There are a million resources for pop-culture, and I have zero interest in watching a group of women debate what I can find in any other forum imaginable. But try finding a show that discusses political issues with entertaining, non-experts and a spoonful of sugar (there aren’t many).’The View’ was a resource to learn about intricate political topics with ease, and they have now become a bunch of girls gabbing about gunk. I get it. They want to be one with the times. Hopefully they will learn what those times actually are before it’s too late.