Julie Chen says Jenny McCarthy on ‘The View’ is a mistake

Julie Chen and Sharon Osborne went on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show on Wednesday to discuss their CBS morning show, “The Talk.” But things soon turned to the prospect that “The Talk,” which has been on the air since only 2010, would soon surpass its ABC forerunner, “The View,” in the ratings. And that naturally prompted Stern to ask Chen and Osborne point-blank if it was a mistake for “The View” to have hired Jenny McCarthy as a panelist.

Chen surprisingly answered yes. But then she went on to explain her thinking.

“What made ‘The View’ so popular and so good was that you had five different women from different walks of life discussing politics. And when... Joy [Behar] left and when Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] left, and they got Jenny in, I think they were trying to lighten the mood at the table. More gossip, more fun, more laughs. Jenny is beautiful and funny and talented and smart. In my opinion, ‘The View’ doesn’t know what it is now.”

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She continued, “What put them on the map and made them good and famous, they don’t do that anymore. No one wants to listen to Jenny McCarthy talk about the New York mayoral race or politics.”

“They knew what their path was,” Osborne added. “You knew what to expect. You watched it for their different opinions, and now it’s kind of all over the place. It’s not one or the other.”

But that’s not say that Chen sees no value in McCarthy. She in fact agreed with Stern that McCarthy would be better suited to “The Talk,” which steers clear of political waters.

“The Talk” has been on the ratings rise lately, with it recently completing its best-ever November sweeps period with an average of 2.81 million viewers. That was 20% higher than the previous year.

“The View,” meanwhile, averaged 2.97 total viewers during the first week of November sweeps.

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