TVSquad

ABC in turning things around on The View -- at least for one day. In what a cynic might call a stunt, The View is going to broadcast one show from the next two weeks from backstage. Essentially, what they're doing, is a rerun, but in a way you never saw the show.

On Friday, May 30, the experimental episode will show how The View is made, by lifting the curtain so you can see how the magic happens. They've chosen to show the upside down, backstage View on that Friday - and don't worry about marking it in your calendar. You can expect plenty of reminders from Barbara Walters (if she's there), Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. With all that behind the scenes footage, only half of the show as seen originally -- from the camera's point of view -- will be seen.

View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is coming back to the ABC show on Monday with her new son Taylor Thomas, who I believe used to star on Home Improvement.

Hasselbeck has been on maternity leave since October and has been living in Arizona (her hubby Tim is a quarterback with the Arizona Cardinals, who didn't make the playoffs). The daytime show has been using a lot of celebrity guests to fill in Hasselbeck's seat (and/or Barbara Walters' seat, when she takes the day off from the show) including Dana Delany and Jessica Simpson (and many others, but they were the cohosts on the days I actually watched the show). This will be the first time all five hosts will be back together in a few months.

Ex-Survivor: Australian Outback castaway and current The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck called her daytime talk show to let her co-workers know the name of her baby boy born over the weekend.

Although it's November sweeps, I doubt she planned the timing of the birth to boost ratings. Perhaps the phone call, though! In her call to the show she told them that Taylor Thomas Hasselbeck was born at 7:52 am on Friday morning.

Elisabeth's husband is Tim Hasselbeck, a back-up quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cavemen are starting to make the talk show circuit to promote the new ABC sitcom Cavemen (which premieres tonight at 8 after a hefty recasting and retooling). One of the Cavemen made an appearance on The View to promote the show, and quickly made it known he had little time for people who don't believe that cavemen exist, that they ever existed, or that the world is flat.

If you haven't been following, he's talking directly to View co-host Sherri Shepherd, who famously said that she's "never thought about" whether the Earth is round or not and doesn't believe in evolution.

The caveman also breaks a little news and reveals what famous singer is actually a caveman. Video after the jump!

Can someone explain to me why Rosie O'Donnell even cares about this now that she has left The View and has moved on to other things?

ABC released a statement saying that ratings for the show are up 16% since she left the show and Whoopi took over her spot. But Rosie questions those numbers on her blog (in a post titled TRUTH IN ADVERTISING BABY!!) and gives the "real deal" when it comes to the ratings. Her post is rather confusing, using lots of numbers and plus and minus symbols and percentages. She points out that younger viewers are down and older viewers are up, which isn't good for the show.

It's 2007. We no longer use leeches in medical procedures, we don't dip people in water to see if they're witches, and television has gone from black and white to color and HD. So why are there still people who aren't sure if the world is flat or round?

I bring this up because of the video after the jump. It's from The View (shocker!), and shows the ladies talking about whether or not new co-host Sherri Shepherd thinks the world is flat. Shepherd, who also doesn't believe in evolution, says she doesn't know because she's "never thought about it." I guess this is the part of the story where I'm supposed to say "everyone's entitled to their opinion," but I just can't in this case.

Prediction: Jimmy Kimmel will be all over this tonight.

I'm not at all amazed that another week brings another controversy to The View, but I am a little surprised at who is involved this time.

Singer Barry Manilow has refused to appear on the show today because he didn't want to be interviewed by Elizabeth Hasselbeck. At first I thought this was one of those "taken out of context" things, but Manilow himself told TMZ.com: "I strongly disagree with her views. I think she's dangerous and offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her." He explains more on his site.

It's a little odd because he actually was on the same stage with her more than once the past few years. Maybe he sided with Rosie in the Daytime Talk Show Wars (TM). I'm sure the gals on the show will be talking about this today and tomorrow. And all you readers can begin leaving your many comments below right about....now.

Well, in the end, it's really not that much of a surprise, is it?

The AP is reporting that Sherri Shepherd is indeed the fifth host on ABC's The View. The network will officially make the announcement on Monday morning, according to a source close to the show. Shepherd has already co-hosted the show several times, both during Rosie's reign and post-Rosie, and she had been rumored to be in the top two or three choices to be the fifth host on the show (Whoopi Goldberg started this week).

If things go the way they usually do, Shepherd will not be controversial AT ALL and we'll never report or anything that she says AT ALL. If there's one thing we can say about The View is that it's a show where nothing really happens.

So, let's pretend that you've been given the hosting job on The View (yeah, a longshot, but the way they go through hosts over there you never know). What would you talk about on your very first day?

Whoopi Goldberg decided to defend Michael Vick for his dogfighting. And what logic did she use to defend him? "There are certain things that are indicative to certain parts of our country [the South]...this is part of his cultural upbringing." (I wonder what other activities were part of the South, Whoopi?)

Yeah, so do I.

Were you watching The View the other day and wondering why they announced Whoopi was joining the gang but didn't say anything at all about Sherri Shepherd? TV Guide's Michael Ausiello says it's because she wants a lot more money than ABC wants to pay her. In fact, she wants to make at least what Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are making. ABC is reportedly looking at other celebs, including Kathy Griffin and Jacquie Reid from CNN.

This is the same woman who pretty much no one even knew until she started to guest host on The View, right? And the same woman who doesn't believe in evolution? Yeah, I thought so.

[via TV Tattle]

The search for Rosie's replacement continues.

Ivanka Trump, Donald's daughter, says that she has no interest in being on The View because she's much too busy and co-hosting a daily talk show just doesn't fit into her plans at this time. She was actually considering it, because she had a good time on The View before Rosie was on it and would probably have a good time now that Rosie is gone.

Maybe they shouldn't even get a full-time, permanent host. The ratings seem to be good since Rosie left and they've had a rotating group of guest hosts. Maybe that can be their "thing," a new, mysterious guest host each day.

By the way, remember when Rosie said she wasn't going away completely, that she'd still show up now and then to guest host? Yeah, right.

Rumors continue to fly as more and more people speculate who will take over Rosie O'Donnell's spot on The View. I haven't paid much attention to the ever-expanding list, but the two most recent names managed to catch my eye: Mario Cantone from Sex and the City and Ross "the Intern" Mathews from, most recently, Celebrity Fit Club. The View has always been about showcasing varying women's points of view, so how do Cantone and Mathews fit in there? Are they possible candidates just because they're gay men? Come on.

I might be a bit of a masochist for putting Paris Hilton and The View in one post, but here goes...

Barbara Walters says she'd like to see the currently jailed hotel heiress as a guest host on the show when she gets out of jail. But not so fast! Even though it would seem that Walters would have the final say on guest hosts, that might not be the case. The executive producer of the show says there's no way Hilton will guest host.

Executive producer Bill Geddie was on Walters' SIRIUS radio show this week and disagreed when Walters said she could be on the show. Geddie said "Let me answer that: No." That prompted Walters to say "Let me answer that: Yes."

Can a week go by without some controversy on this show?

I know that the most devastating news that came out of the recent network upfronts was that NBC didn't announce when or if The Apprentice was coming back. I think I actually saw people crying and screaming on the street that day, shaking their fists to the heavens. But then NBC said it wasn't canceled, they just hadn't decided what to do yet. And then Donald Trump "quit" before they could "fire" him.

But wait! Trump told Larry King the other night that NBC wants to do another season of the show and he wants to do it too. He also criticized the network, saying they ruined the show by putting it all over the schedule (yeah, OK). So I guess they'll be another season.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Jordin Sparks has told the press she's had no professional voice training, but a woman who claims to be her former voice coach says otherwise.
  
• Rosie fans are circulating a petition to have Elisabeth booted from The View.
• CMT is bringing us a new rodeo reality show, where we can see our least favorite celebrities bucked off bulls.
  

The video's embedded below (we'll have the downloadable files soon). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.