I’m no fan of Elisabeth Hasselbeck. But her departure from “The View” on Wednesday was really a matter of “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?” ABC announced that she was leaving at 7pm on Tuesday, well after every deadline had passed and when most web reporters on the East Coast thought they were done for the day.
The next morning, Hasselbeck not only announced she was leaving “The View” for Fox, but was leaving at that very moment. It was mid week, mid month, and right in the middle of sweeps. Couldn’t they have had her finish out July? The show goes ‘dark’ until Labor on July 31st.
But Hasselbeck’s exit was long in coming. I told you in March that she was out when Joy Behar announced she, too, was going from “The View.” When the news about Hasselbeck broke, Barbara Walters announced on the show that it wasn’t true, sort of. She said if her co-hosts wanted to leave they could, and they would announce it in their own time.
I filed this item: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/03/11/the-view-elisabeth-hasselbeck-gets-short-reprieve-to-come-up-with-an-out
I can tell you that the people with “The View” have been waiting patiently for Hasselbeck to make her own announcement. And when she did, they didn’t hesitate to remove her right away. Watching her farewell speech was astonishing. In a way, it was worse than Ann Curry’s infamous exit from “Today.” The look on Bill Geddie’s face was priceless. And I did love Hasselbeck calling Sherri Shepherd “my sister in Christ.” Shepherd hadn’t even bothered to come in that day.
And as far as Barbara Walters saying they were going to “take their time” replacing Hasselbeck: both Brooke Shields and Jenny McCarthy have been under consideration since March. There won’t be empty seats at the desk when “The View” returns in September.
