TheWrap was in-studio and backstage of “The View” for the live taping of the show’s Season 19 premiere on Tuesday, and learned quite a bit about the ever-evolving ABC daytime talker. Moderator Whoopi Golddberg returned to the stage with the freshly rebooted panel of co-hosts that includes Candace Cameron Bure, Raven Symone, Michelle Collins, Paula Faris and longtime “View” alum Joy Behar.
As expected, Donald Trump was a favorite target of the panelists both on-air and during post-show interviews. With a birdseye view of the show’s inner-workings, we captured a snapshot of how the day went and where we focused our metaphorical lenses on the newbies both in front of and behind the camera.
Here are 9 things scene and heard at “The View” taping:
1. Behar is Back With a Vengeance
Joy Behar is back after a two-year hiatus from the show and didn’t skip a beat in skewering Republican politicians. As TheWrap reported, Behar’s new target seems to be Donald Trump.
“He was like Mussolini that night,” she joked to TheWrap, referencing the GOP frontrunner’s performance in the first debate on Fox News in August. “The way he blusters; his affect. I’m not saying he’s a fascist.”
She did credit The Donald for some of his more liberal positions, like raising taxes on hedge fund traders. She also is liking her new digs and co-hosts.
“The dynamic is kind of nice, I like these girls very much, they all seem intelligent,” she said. “Lively, nobody’s a diva–so far.”
Co-host Candace Cameron Bure jumped in, lightheartedly warning Behar the newest diva has arrived: “Just wait Joy, I’m going to be the worst diva ever,” she said, to which Behar responded: “No diva behavior, we don’t appreciate that, I hate that.”
The two women agreed Season 19 will feature respectful debate, telling TheWrap “every story has two sides.”
2. Candace Cameron Bure Will Represent the Political Novice
“Fuller House” star Candace Cameron Bure isn’t pretending to be some big-time conservative pundit.
“This is a new medium for me, even discussing politics; I didn’t grow up in a political household,” Cameron Bure told TheWrap, acknowledging she doesn’t know political history as well as co-hosts Behar and Whoopi Goldberg.
“I’m going to come from a novice point of view, and I think that honestly I’m probably going to represent a lot of people out there too,” she said.
Cameron Bure will perform a juggling act for the first few months of the season, commuting from Los Angeles to New York as she tapes episodes of her upcoming Netflix spinoff “Fuller House” and co-hosting on “The View.”
“Tonally, it’s the same as the original show,” she said of revival of the long-running ABC sitcom. “If you’re a ‘Full House’ fan, or you grew up with or whatever you loved about the show, those are the same principles we’re bringing back with the new show.”
3. Raven-Symone‘s Message for TV Women: Stop Screaming At Each Other!
Raven-Symone was a key addition to the ABC chat fest last season and has no signs of slowing down in Season 19.
“So far, so good with the dynamic of the new cast; Joy, she’s a classic veteran, professional, maven of spectacular-ism–that’s a new word, my publishing,” she told TheWrap.
Symone also poured cold water on media analysts begging for more shouting matches among co-hosts.
“I hope there’s more of a respectful discussion, I think there’s too many women on TV that are always yelling and shouting and disrespecting each other and that’s not how women are all the time so it shouldn’t be portrayed that way on TV, so thank God.”
She also touched on new TV phenomenons like “Empire,” which is utilizing different types of entertainment like music, acting and dancing. “You are stimulating the human brain on 17,000 percent–funny, drama and everything, why not be huge?”
4. New Producers Say Out With The Old Drama, In With The New
“It’s a clean slate,” new consulting executive producer Candi Carter told TheWrap. “You all better get on the train because the train’s going that way,” she said, noting she wasn’t with the show for last season’s revolving door drama, but this year is all about stepping up the conversation.
“If I’m in the beauty shop, I want to be yelling at the television,” she said. And what about feeding the five, sometimes six mouths around the table?
“I always tell them you’re three drinks in at a dinner party,” Carter referenced, suggesting hosts just say excuse me before cutting each other off.
Executive producer Brian Teta thinks the show has the right pieces in place to spark a return to the show’s glory days, with an assist
“This has always been the place where people had to come–the president did his first interview here on a talk show–it won’t take long to become that place again if we’re not there already,” he told TheWrap.
5. Wrap. It. Up.
Whoopi and the gang did not hit their director’s mark one time with regards to throwing the show to commercial. That ended up limiting the guest segment with “Sleeping With Other People” stars Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie to a noticeable and fairly awkwardly brief time period. The funny guests played along of course, receiving apparent apologies during the next commercial break. Both stayed out on stage for Goldberg’s trademark goodbye, but it seemed like a wasted promotional trip for the actors.
6. New Look
So we all know that there are new faces on “The View” team, but of course season-to-season the set and studio undergoes some stylistic changes to keep things fresh. TheWrap learned from a security guard that the stage itself was built another foot higher to offer better perspective and camera angles. Now everyone looks about as tall as Michelle Collins did on Season 18.
7. Real Journos Don’t Dance
An estimated 75 percent of the audience floor seats were taken by press or other “VIPs”, who entered from backstage. While a nice vantage point for ABC News to show off its new and returning talent, it became awkward at times as an entertainment production still needed to go on. Some journalists were more game than others to partake with the dancing and clapping on cue, but it made the hype-man’s job a little more difficult than usual. Also, the warm-up comic kept referring to us as “rich folks.”
8. Michelle Collins Loves Shoes, Hates Trump
“It’s very exciting because I got to pick shoes out — I had a ‘Pretty Woman’ moment,” Collins told TheWrap during interview after the taping. “I’m a Size 11 shoe, which actually isn’t the hardest size to find — but it’s not easy … all of a sudden, you get on ‘The View,’ they bring them all to you.”
We then asked her: How much Trump is too much Trump this season? Here’s what she said: “Until he’s hit by a freight train “Final Destination” style — which we can only hope that there’s a new sequel coming out,. Let’s be real. Don’t agree with his politics, he’s obviously a monster, but — very grateful for his existence.”
“Of all the boring white guys that could come through the Republican ticket, I am kind of enjoying watching him blowing up,” Collins concluded. “I don’t think it’s going to last. I don’t think he can go another year, for real, because it’s like a circus.”
9. Newcomer Faris Knows Her Role, Mission
Fellow newbie Paula Faris is well-aware of what she brings to the table: actual reporting. “I feel like I have a particular role to play, and if you look back at when the show was originated, it’s kind of been the Meredith Vieira role, where you just make sure that people feel they have a voice at the table, make sure the facts are disseminated, and a chance to play devil’s advocate,” the “Good Morning America” anchor told TheWrap early this afternoon.
On the forming chemistry between all old, new and returning personalities, Faris teased: “You’re definitely going to see a lot of sparring, but I think it’s going to be intellectual, I think it’s going to be informed, and I think it’s going to be balanced … It’s not going to be a one-sided conversation. It’s not just about our voice, it’s about the voice of the people. It’s about the voice of this country.”
Per the sports fan’s own analogy, Tuesday was merely Game 1 of a long season. Sticking with the theme, when asked, Faris confidently labeled today’s premiere a win.