TVSquad

Some people don't think this should be a "top story" of 2007, as I've heard it decried already around the interwebs, but the fact remains that this feud was all over the news, garnered high ratings and made The View one of the most buzzed about shows of 2007. Regardless of if you think Rosie was being a bully or Elisabeth was being a baby or if both were being words we don't say in polite company, it was a big deal. I know when I heard she was joining the show for its tenth season, my first thought was "The View is still on the air?"

We first told you about this back in August, and now the complete list is out: Turner Classic Movies is letting celebrities program the network for the month of November. Each celeb is picking three or four films, and here are a few of the more interesting choices (it started Thursday with Alfred Molina's picks).

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.

• A dose of reality: The 2007 American Idols Live tour isn't selling tickets.
  
• Whoopi Goldberg got of to a controversial start as a panelist on The View by defending Michael Vick.
  

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?)

Turner Classic Movies has asked several well-known celebrities to pick their favorite movies, which will be shown every night throughout November, and I have to say I'm very impressed with their picks.

Some of the choices fit the celeb. For example, Martha Stewart picked Enchanted April, Madame Bovary, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and Anna Karenina, which you can imagine Martha watching at home, a bowl of popcorn in her lap (and critiquing the job Mr. Blandings did), and James Ellroy's picks (Stakeout On Dope Street, The Lineup, Armored Car Robbery, and Murder By Contract) stay along the lines of his noir/mystery background. But a few picks are interesting. Access Hollywood co-host Maria Menounos picked the 1932 cult classic Freaks, and Food Network icon Alton Brown picked the Lee Marvin classic Point Blank. As for non-human celebs, Kermit The Frog picked Singin' in the Rain and The Band Wagon.

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]

Variety reports that negotiations to have actress Whoopi Goldberg join The View (she's been a guest host several times) are close to being finalized, though the network has made no official announcement just yet.

ABC is also apparently talking with comedian Sherri Shepherd about the possibility of joining the show. Currently the only three permanent hosts are Barbara Walters, Joy Behar and Elizabeth Hasselbeck.

Goldberg would replace Rosie O'Donnell, of course, who left the show a couple months ago.

When I was a bright, young journalism student back at Rutgers University (Go Scarlet Knights!) I remember a mantra that my professors bore into our brains each and every week: check your sources. If you verify your facts with at least two or three other sources you are good to go. Apparently, the news editors over at WJZ, Baltimore's CBS affiliate, missed that day in class. And, because they did they ended up in an extremely embarrassing situation.

Earlier this week they reported that Michael Richards appeared in blackface at a roast honoring Whoopi Goldberg. They reported this as breaking news not once, but twice, and attributed the story to the website Dateline:Hollywood. Well, it seems that the news department over at WJZ didn't realize that the site satirizes Hollywood. Needless to say, they were red-faced about the entire blackface situation (place groans here) and they ran a brief correction during their 11 p.m. newscast. What they should have really done was fired the staff member(s) who discovered that information and didn't read further about Britney's private areas wanting to talk to the press. They may have gotten and idea that it wasn't a legitimate news site then.

Oh, and someone's internal alarm should have gone off when they saw that story, since it is so familiar to something that happened back in 1993. That's when Ted Danson, who was dating Whoopi Goldberg at the time, appeared in blackface at a Friar's Club roast. Really, it wasn't that long ago, newsies.