'The View' Shunted to ABC News as Drastic Makeover Continues

The daytime chat show "The View" is being shunted by ABC to the network's news division after 18 seasons in the entertainment division, part of a drastic makeover for the show whose ratings have slipped in recent years.

The Associated Press reported ABC as saying, in its announcement Thursday morning, that the shift will allow "The View" to "fully draw on the vast resources of ABC News."

Barbara Walters, a founder of the program, retired last summer from on-camera participation. At this season's start, three new co-hosts – Rosie O'Donnell, Rosie Perez and Nicolle Wallace – joined moderator Whoopi Goldberg.

The shift recalls a similar move by "Good Morning America," which for 20 years was produced by ABC's entertainment division before being taken over by ABC News in the mid-1990s.

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