TVSquad

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Con: Another vampire movie. Pro: It involves Clueless director Amy Heckerling and Krysten Ritter from Veronica Mars and Breaking Bad. I'm so conflicted!
• Good thing Ian McKellen is so graceful, otherwise, he probably would have drop-kicked Elisabeth Hasselbeck during his recent appearance on The View.
• Is it just me, or does The Men Who Stare at Goats look amazing? See if it lives up to the hype by reading Cinematical's review.
• Cinematical takes a look at some of the best and worst biopics, and I really enjoy the ones on the "best" list. Of course, I also love a few on the worst list, like Evita.
• I really want to see Precious, but I'm also terrified of it. Oprah told me I need to go see it though, and I don't like to defy Oprah. You can read Cinematical's review of Precious here.

One last Halloween post. Bill O'Reilly appeared on The View on Friday, dressed as Dracula. It's a basic costume, but it suits him. Of course, the talk turned to the Fox News vs. the White House story, and then O'Reilly, for some bizarre reason, calls Whoopi "jealous" because he has a best-selling book. But what's equally odd is Whoopi's response, where she lists the awards she has won. I think that has been boiling inside her for a while (that part happens about 7:48 in).

And what's with all the weird mugging and looking around that Whoopi is doing? She's actually kinda of an odd person, isn't she?

[Watch The View and other shows on SlashControl.]

Those combative ladies on The View have another bee floating around in their Marge Simpson size bonnets. This story, however, caused perhaps the most egregious and heated debate/clusterf#*$ of noise in the show's history.

Cookie Monster has been in "cookie rehab" of sorts for about three years now. The View ladies finally caught wind of it and went off on a three minute tear about it using voices that are normally reserved for members of WTO protests or people who are on fire.

How bad did it get? Elisabeth Hasselbeck was the "good cop."

It was inevitable. Ever since Rosie O'Donnell grew a second head and spit venom at Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View has been on the radar. Even without current host Rosie O'Donnell, there's been buzz with new co-host Whoopi Goldberg. Hasselbeck keeps causing trouble on the set with her lone conservative voice, Whoopi is outspoken in her own right, Joy Behar is a lunatic and even Barbara Walters has been known to snag a headline or two. Of course Lifetime wants a piece of that buzz. And to get it they're grabbing ... uh ... Sherri Shepherd?

Doesn't Sherri Shepherd think she'll fall off the edge of the earth if she goes too far? I thought she was still there because they didn't want to have to rebuild the table with one fewer chair. Huh, I guess I was wrong. Lifetime picked up Sherri Shepherd's sitcom Sherri for 12-episodes.

I don't know if the rumors about View host Elisabeth Hasselbeck going to Fox News Channel are true or not (Hasselbeck and the show deny it), but at this point I wouldn't blame her one bit.

Hasselbeck has had a lot of battles on the show with her co-hosts, from Rosie O'Donnell months ago to Barbara Walters. But today was the day I actually felt bad for her. The group was talking about the election, and how nasty the election could soon get in the final few weeks (Joy wasn't on the show today, so it was Elisabeth, Whoopi, Sherri, and Barbara). After playing the funny debate sketch from Saturday Night Live, the women discussed Governor Palin's attack on Barack Obama over the weekend, linking him to Bill Ayers (probably a desperate gambit by McCain but a fully legitimate one, I believe). Now, this has been brought up before, most notably by George Stephanopoulos in a debate and also by Hillary Clinton if I remember correctly, but the McCain campaign is bringing it up again.

So when the women discussed it, you can pretty much guess what happened.

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]