The hosts of “The View” may be known for some extravagant Halloween costumes, but on Thursday morning, they turned up for the show dressed as normal. That’s because, according to the hosts, it’s not the time for frivolity with the presidential election just days away.
To kick off the episode, the show ran a pre-taped segment beginning with the hosts in a meeting with executive producer Brian Teta, begging to have some fun. He concedes that they can have at least a little fun, but with the election just a few days out, they need to remain serious.
From there, Teta pivots the meeting to talking about the Behind the Table podcast, resulting in each of the hosts falling asleep — and having horrible Trump-ridden nightmares.
For Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin, the terror was based on Trump’s “Purge”-like suggestion of “one really violent day.” As they run, Farah Griffin jokes she has “concepts of a plan” to help them escape. In the end, they opt to hide out in a drag brunch.
Meanwhile, host Ana Navarro is spotted on a boat, reading and sunbathing. As she takes a sip of her drink, she disgustedly realizes it’s an Arnold Palmer, and questions why she’s even in the segment, since she wasn’t on the actual show.
For Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin, the nightmare was their beloved animals — in Behar’s case, her dog, and in Hostin’s case, her chickens — suddenly disappearing, as a voiceover of Trump’s baseless claims that pets are being eaten plays.
Mid-segment, Hostin pauses to look down the barrel of the camera, and give one of her legal notes, reassuring viewers that no animals were eaten or harmed in the making of the segment — nor were the pets eaten anywhere else in the country.
Eventually, the hosts wake up, only to see Whoopi Goldberg rolled into the room dressed as Hannibal Lecter. She informs them she’s just dressed up for her party at home later that night.
And from there, the show began properly, with the hosts not in costume.
Teta first revealed that the show would be skipping its annual Halloween episode earlier this month, on the ABC talk show’s “Behind the Table” podcast.
“I’m going to announce something today that’s going to upset a portion of the audience, but I think it’s going to make you happy,” Teta told host Joy Behar at the time. “This year, because it’s only a few days before the election and we need to be live, the hosts are not going to dress up for Halloween.”
Behar wasn’t exactly heartbroken over the news, admitting that “it’s always annoying” for the cohosts to do (the women’s costumes are typically very detailed and involved, and sometimes there are commercial break costume changes).
As Teta continued to explain, the Halloween episodes are typically pre-taped, and with so much news constantly happening in the world of politics, the show can’t afford to miss potentially important items.
“The problem is, those shows are a huge undertaking, we have to do them on tape,” he said. “Part of what our show has become and what it is right now, we can’t be on tape three days before the election.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
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