One of the shakiest lineups on the daytime talk show platform is about to get shaken up again.
Michelle Collins, who served as a co-host on ABC’s The View, was ousted by the network’s executives today, Variety reports. Collins had only been one of the four talking heads on the show for about a year, but unfortunately for the comedian, her superiors figured her time was up.
“Michelle is smart, opinionated and funny,” said an ABC spokesperson. “She’s been a great addition to the panel this year.”
As far as who would be replacing Collins at The View table, and when, the people at ABC seemed to have not quite made any final decisions yet. Continued the spokesman, “When we are ready to make an announcement about next season, we will.”
Collins’s name first appeared in The View sphere last July, right on the day that Rosie Perez, another former co-host, announced that she was quitting the talk show. After making a few appearances, during which she bubbled the crowd to laughter with her comments, Collins escalated to full-time co-host in a week.
She properly began her tenure in September for the show’s nineteenth season, and for a while, she seemed golden. ABC executives saw her as the next big thing for daytime TV everywhere, and one exec in particular, Bill Wolff, complimented her “strong opinions” and said she was “wickedly funny.” Even longtime former co-host of The View, Barbara Walters, vocalized her admiration for Collins’s witty style.
Unfortunately for Collins, she maybe got a little too witty. Her first public outcry against her cropped up as The View pushed its hosts to speak more on politics, for election talk was boosting the show’s sliding ratings. Collins brought up Carly Fiorina, but rather than talking about strictly policy, she instead made disparaging remarks against the former presidential candidate’s face.
Another one of Collins’s comments hurt The View too, and maybe even more deeply than the other. After Collins made criticizing about nurses–nurses in general–the show lost advertisers and some viewership alike, which are of course the two things networks seethe at losing.
Collins is just but one of The View‘s recent upheaval in who’s sitting at the table. Within the last year, the show has lost Barbara Walters to retirement, who were followed by Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy; Perez and Collins; Rosie O’ Donnell and Nicolle Wallace; and now, maybe even the remainder.
The show’s executives have been steeped in fruitless talks with Whoopi Goldberg, the show’s now longest-remaining co-host, who is considering moving on. The futures of Raven Symone and Candace Cameron-Bure are also up in the air still.
What is truly clear is that the twentieth anniversary of The View may be rockier than previously expected. Who exactly will be sitting at the table is still a mystery, for now at least.