She said she’s expecting a smoother time than her previous eight months on “The View,” which ended in 2007. In part that’s because longtime producer Bill Geddie is out, replaced by Rachel Maddow’s former producer, Bill Wolff.
“We had a different idea of what the show could or should be,” she said about her first tenure. “But when someone invites you into their house for dinner, you don’t rearrange the furniture. This is a new house with a new owner, and I was invited to consult on what the furniture should be.”
O’Donnell was the ringmaster during commercial breaks, taking a microphone and interacting with the audience. It created some moments funnier than what appeared on the air, like when one onlooker asked whether someone else might be added to the four-person cast.
“This isn’t enough for you?” she joked. “Get the (expletive) out.”
Onscreen, she played a brief game with an audience member and Perez, asking them to guess which Rosie had said or done certain things. Also Monday, Kristin Chenoweth came on for a song in tribute to the late Joan Rivers.
Walters, who invented the format nearly two decades ago, watched the proceedings from offstage. She filmed an awkward show-opening segment seated in a “throne” where the four hosts briefly approached and bowed before her. Wolff said he talked to Walters a couple of times a week to get advice.
The new executive producer, brought on midway through the show’s makeover, said he was largely responsible for hiring Perez and Wallace.
“This is our chance to take our leap forward creatively,” Wolff said. He said he hoped the audience would recognize that the four cast members are all smart, accomplished, able to have vigorous conversations and disagree with one another while still liking each other at the end.
It’s a work in progress: Except for one practice run-through, Monday was the first time all four women had been together.
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