Barbara Walters, maven of “The View,” may be trying to develop a similar show for men. A NY Daily News story said Walters and Bill Geddie, who created the hit ABC women’s talk show and serve as its executive producers, are quietly developing a “unisex” spinoff of “The View” that will attempt to inject a male perspective into the topics of the day.
The story adds that a source says if the show ever makes it past the development stage, Walters and Geddie envision it being produced in L.A., instead of New York, where the The View is based. It also would be geared for the afternoon time slots that Oprah Winfrey’s talk show is expected to relinquish next year. “They don’t want to do anything that will compete with “The View,” the source says.
“Like the original, which has been running on ABC since 1997, Walters and Geddie want to assemble five co-hosts who can gab about a wide variety of topical subjects. We even hear the duo have worked up a wish list of four personalities they’d like for the show. Each has appeared at least once on “The View” and fared well with viewers and the audience,” said the story.
At the top of their list is former “Today” show host Bryant Gumbel, as the show’s moderator. Others include Filipino-American comedian Alec Mapa, who played newscaster Suzuki St. Pierre on Ugly Betty; (not all men, apparently) former BET news anchor Jacque Reid; and former Fox News show host E.D. Hill, who would fill the politically conservative role voiced by Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the all-girls version.
