Too Fun to Check: Even Bob Iger’s Tired of The View

Actually … how difficult is this to believe, really? Hasn’t everyone tired of this show?

Fresh off their attempt to cover up Joe Biden’s cognitive impairment, and not long after setting a record for the number of on-air retractions in a single show, the women of The View have been put under scrutiny by Disney bosses. And when we say Disney bosses, we mean the Mouseketeer di tutti Mousketeeri. According to the Daily Beast and the New York Post, none other than Bob Iger has intervened to tell the cast to cool their political jets.

Good luck with that, Bob:

Disney CEO Bob Iger and ABC News boss Almin Karamehmedovic have urged the hosts of the left-leaning daytime talk show “The View” to scale back their political commentary, particularly their frequent criticisms of President Trump, according to a report.

The move has sparked tension behind the scenes at the show, whose outspoken panel has become known for tackling political issues head-on, the Daily Beast reported Wednesday. …

But top executives at Disney, including Iger and Karamehmedovic, are reportedly looking to shift the show’s tone.

Karamehmedovic reportedly met recently with the hosts and Teta to suggest a broader, less politically driven agenda.

Maybe Iger should have gotten involved before the Biden episode, which turned into a disaster. The cast all rallied to hail Biden and defend him, while Biden struggled to keep up with the questions. When he was specifically asked about allegations of cognitive issues, Biden ended up losing his thoughts and Jill Biden had to answer the question for him. It was painful to watch, and it was an apt demonstration of how the Protection Racket Media struggled to pull Biden across the finish line until his withdrawal after his disastrous performance in the presidential debate. 

Do you think that passed unnoticed by Iger, who’s already fighting Trump and the FCC over Disney’s DEI policies? 

On the other hand, it’s good to be a little skeptical about this. For one thing, the show’s ratings aren’t sliding like MSNBC’s after Trump’s election. Their viewership has actually increased slightly year-on-year, and The View still wins its time slot:

The ABC program averaged 2.62 million viewers during the first quarter — up 4% from the 2.51 million viewers the show averaged during the same quarter last year — according to Nielsen, marking the seventh consecutive time that “The View” has grown its total viewing audience from the quarter a year prior. “The View” also averaged 157,000 viewers among women 18-49, up 11% from the same quarter last year. …

Averaging a 1.77 household rating, “The View” closed out the first quarter as the No. 1 program among daytime network talk shows and news in both rating and total viewers. Viewership for “The View” surpassed NBC’s “Today Third Hour,” which averaged a 1.28 rating and 1.97 million viewers, “Today With Jenna & Friends,” which averaged a 0.86 rating and 1.33 million viewers, and “NBC News Daily,” which averaged a 0.82 rating and 1.25 million viewers.

“The View” also outpaced viewership for “The Faulkner Focus” across several key demos in the quarter, with Harris Faulkner bringing in 2.39 million total viewers, 91,000 viewers among women 18-49 and 127,000 viewers among women 25-54, though “The Faulkner Focus” outpaced “The View” in total viewers in January.

Well, there’s no accounting for taste, as my wife says whenever I play the greatest unintentional comedy of all time, Battlefield Earth. Some people like to watch trainwrecks and traffic accidents too. And let’s not be too ungenerous, because The View often provides great source material for bloggers looking for a handy way to frame silly and preposterous arguments. Joy Behar is practically a gift to our industry.

So color me a bit skeptical that Disney execs are actually doing much to redirect The View. It fits perfectly within the ABC News oeuvre, as they confirmed during the debate they aired pitting Donald Trump against David Muir and Linsey Davis, with Kamala Harris along for commentary. Trainwrecks are an ABC News specialty.