The View is going back to its roots bringing back the second longest-running cast member (after Barbara Walters) as Joy Behar returns for season 19. Also joining next month, Good Morning America weekend co-anchor Paula Faris and former child actor Candace Cameron Bure. Raven-Symoné and Michelle Collins, who joined mid-season, will also return, with Whoopi Goldberg remaining moderator. Goldberg has been with the show since 2007.
The View, which is now overseen by ABC News, returns Sept. 8 with the mostly new cast and five live shows each week (Friday’s episodes had been pre-taped ). At this time last year, Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie Perez and Nicolle Wallace were set to join Goldberg on the venerable daytime talker. But over the course of the last several months, all three departed as Raven-Symone and Collins filled the gaps.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in,” said Behar, who departed The View in 2013 after 16 years with the show . “I’m happy to be back home. And I’m looking forward to sticking my two cents into the hot topics, especially now that Hillary and the Donald are in the spotlight.” During her first stint on The View, Behar also hosted a show for several years on HLN and, later, Current TV.
“I’m humbled and excited to have not one, but two dream jobs,” said Faris, who will remain with Good Morning America weekend. “What I love about the The View is that no topic is off the table and every viewer can feel like they have a voice on the show. I can’t wait to connect with the audience in a new way as I take a seat alongside this exceptional group of women.”
“Starting in September we begin another exciting chapter of The View as we welcome an enormously accomplished group of new voices to the table, all led by our moderator Whoopi Goldberg,” said ep Bill Wolff. “We’re looking forward to even more pop culture, more politics, more humor and more of the hot topics our audience loves.”
The show will also add contributors including former co-host Sherri Shepherd, Padma Lakshmi and Ana Navarro, a CNN political commentator Ana Navarro:
Excited that I’ll be joining #Season19 of @TheView as a political contributor. Looking forward to talking all things 2016 w/the ladies.
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) August 25, 2015