Report: "The View" To Add Candace Cameron Bure and Paula Faris as Co-Hosts

[JamesG]

"The View" To Add Candace Cameron Bure and Paula Faris as Co-Hosts (EXCLUSIVE)
7/23/15
by Ramin Setoodeh


As “The View” heads toward its summer hiatus, ABC is in final negotiations to add Candace Cameron Bure and “GMA Weekend” anchor Paula Faris as co-hosts of the daytime talk show in the fall, Variety has learned.

Both personalities have previously filled in on the show, and if the deals close, the women would complete the Hot Topics table for season 19, which will feature moderator Whoopi Goldberg, Raven Symone and comedian Michelle Collins.

A spokesperson for ABC declined to comment on staffing changes, as did talent reps.





According to a source, Faris’ deal would feature her on “The View” for four days a week: Monday through Thursday, and she would take Fridays off so that she can juggle her second gig as the co-anchor of “GMA Weekend”.

The network is hoping that Faris can fill the show’s “journalist spot,” by offering the perspective of a news personality. But those familiar with Faris’ thinking note she wants to continue her news career, in the same way that Barbara Walters did, which is why she’s keeping her day job.





As for Cameron Bure, she’s being courted for the show’s Republican seat, although her schedule makes joining “The View” more complicated. There are still details that need to be ironed out, because she’s starring in the Netflix's “Fuller House,” which shoots through November in Los Angeles while “The View” tapes in New York.

How can D.J. Tanner be at two places at once? ABC wants Cameron Bure to appear on “The View” for some weeks and then she’d have to jet to Los Angeles (where she currently lives) to reprise her role on the Netflix series on other weeks.

ABC executives are hoping the former child actress can give a boost to the “The View” by espousing more controversial opinions on the show’s signature Hot Topics segments. She’s impressed network bosses on a recent show where she defended an Oregon bakery for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding, an exchange that went viral on social media.





The network is fully aware that “The View” has been missing buzz this season, after seeing ratings dip by 16 percent in the second quarter compared to 2014 when Walters retired from the show.

Viewers have witnessed an exodus of co-hosts in the last months with Rosie O’Donnell departing in February over health concerns, and Rosie Perez (“The View’s” first Latina co-host) and Nicolle Wallace (the conservative) booted at the end of their one-year contracts.





There are more changes coming to “The View,” which switched management in October from daytime to the news division under the mandate of Disney/ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood.

On Thursday, ABC announced a new director—Sarah De La O (“Bachelor Pad”)—for “The View” after the last one bailed. And sources tell Variety that ABC is considering making the Friday edition of “The View” live next season, which would allow the hosts to deal with Hot Topics in the news. (“The View” is live all other days of the week.)

It’s not clear if this change would help make “The View” fresher. It’s easier to book celebrity guests on the pre-taped shows, and the fourth-hour of “Today” with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb pre-tapes its Friday shows without any problems.





To help make jugging schedules possible for Cameron Bure and Faris, “The View” will be instituting a panel of contributors, who will pop up on the program as substitute co-hosts from time to time.

Those in the running for the part-time gigs include Molly Sims, former co-host Sherri Shepherd, stylist Stacy London and Wallace, who hasn’t decided if she’ll continue on the show in the smaller role.

If Cameron Bure doesn’t for some reason close a deal to co-host, she’ll be considered as a contributor, according to sources, but ABC doesn’t have another Republican lined up for the co-host job.

As head of the news division, Sherwood added Lara Spencer and Josh Elliott to “Good Morning America,” and he hopes the collection of new faces can rescue “The View.” The next season premieres in mid-September.

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-...is-1201547199/