The View hosts have had their fair share of controversy over the years, on the air and behind the scenes. Whether it’s Meghan McCain and Whoopi Goldberg constantly clashing or co-hosts leaving ABC’s daytime talk show over the years, there was, apparently, enough content to fill the pages of Ramin Setoodeh’s book, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of ‘The View’. Now, The View hosts’ constant drama is getting turned into a scripted TV show based on the book.
Ramin Setoodeh’s Ladies Who Punch chronicled the inner workings of The View and is based on 150 interviews, including hosts from the past and present. The book is a New York Times bestseller, so is it any surprise that it’s being turned into a TV series? According to Variety, the scripted TV adaptation will be a miniseries that will be produced under Erik Feig’s PictureStart media company. The series will reportedly cast a high-profile star to play Barbara Walters and her co-hosts in the TV adaptation.
Considering that the TV miniseries was only recently greenlit, this means that information about the show is still relatively sparse. As of right now, it looks like casting someone to play Barbara Walters is the priority. That said, it’s possible that the miniseries will return to the talk show’s early years when Walters co-hosted The View alongside Rosie O’Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Star Jones, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who was fired from the daytime talker in 2013.
In a statement, PictureStart’s executive VP of production Ryan Lindenberg expressed excitement for bringing Ramin Setoodeh’s book about The View to life in a scripted series. In his words:
It started as a bet nobody thought would ever work, but when icon Barbara Walters created The View 23 years ago, she also began a conversation that has not ceased in breaking ground, pulling in audiences and guests around the world and remaining a cultural juggernaut. Ramin’s amazing book is the perfect fodder for an addictive, juicy, wickedly smart and provocative series that will have viewers on the edge of their seats, wanting more.
Barbara Walters created The View in 1997 as a platform for women to discuss a myriad of topics that ranged from politics to entertainment. Walters left the ABC series in 2014, but the long-running roundtable talk show is still going strong, and has seen a massive ratings boost in its 23rd season.
A scripted TV show about The View won’t be the first time a series has covered the world of daytime talk shows. Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, which stars Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, and Reese Witherspoon tackled the world of daytime TV and all the behind-the-scenes drama that can come along with it. Former Today show host Katie Couric had some thoughts about the series, and I’m positive that the women of The View will also have something to say about the scripted TV adaptation of their show when it eventually premieres.
The View’s scripted TV adaptation does not yet have a scheduled release date, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates. The daytime talk show currently airs weekdays at 11:00 a.m. ET on ABC. For more on what to watch, be sure to check out our handy summer TV premiere guide.
