Wedged between Let’s Make A Deal and General Hospital in the US daytime TV ratings is the The View, a venerable, sometimes contentious forum for gossip, banter and political debate. To some, it’s an inspired cultural phenomenon; to others a blundering mess. Sometimes both.
Either way, it has been on since 1997 after being created by expert guest tear-inducer and news legend Barbara Walters around the premise of women of different generations – ‘the ladies” – debating headlines of the day.