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'The View' scorecard: 19 seasons, 17 hosts (and counting...)

'The View' scorecard: 19 seasons, 17 hosts (and counting...)

With Joy Behar signing back on for season 19, we look back at the women who've had a seat at the table, and how they fared

By Ariana Bacle

Updated August 25, 2015 at 07:36 PM EDT

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Joy Behar (Seasons 1-16, 19 )

Behar began as a substitute for Walters, but eventually got her own permanent spot on The View panel. After 16 years, she decided it was time to go. “There are other things on my plate I want to do,” Behar told Deadline at the time. “I’ve been writing a play, I’ve been neglecting my standup." Behar's break didn't last long, however, as she announced in August 2015 that she will return to The View to co-host its 19th season.

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Yolanda Perez/ABC

Barbara Walters (Seasons 1-17)

Walters created The View and was on its panel of founding co-hosts along with Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, and Debbie Matenopoulos. She has the longest tenure of any View host: She left in 2014 after 17 seasons, saying that she wanted to retire from TV to “sit in a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and okay, some men too — who will be taking my place.” Walters still acts as executive producer, and occasionally stops by as a guest.

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Yolanda Perez/ABC

Meredith Vieira (Seasons 1-9 )

Vieira, an original View co-host and its official moderator, left the show in 2006 to replace Katie Couric on the Today show. “It might end up being a mistake, but you can’t run and hide,” she told the Associated Press at the time. “You have to take some chances.” She hosted alongside Matt Lauer until 2011, when she became an NBC News special correspondent.

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Jeff Neira/ABC via Getty Images

Star Jones (Seasons 1-9)

Jones left the same season as Vieria, but her exit was a tad more dramatic: ABC declined to renew her contract, and Jones responded by prematurely announcing her departure on air. She went on to tell People, “I feel like I was fired” — a candid statement Walters was not happy about. The two went on to have a years-long public feud of sorts, but she returned as a guest anyway in 2012 to talk about women’s cardiac health and again in 2014 to bid farewell to Walters.

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Everett Collection

Debbie Matenopoulos (Seasons 1 and 2)

After two seasons, ABC decided not to renew Matenopoulos’ contract; she returned to the show as a guest in 2006. Her post-View career includes appearances on TV Guide Channel, VH1, and Good Day Live.

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Steve Fenn/ABC via Getty Images

Lisa Ling (Seasons 3-5 )

After spending some time as a war reporter, Ling replaced Matenopoulos on The View and subsequently jumpstarted the show’s ratings. She spent three years on the show before leaving to host MSNBC’s National Geographic Explorer and later joining The Oprah Winfrey Show as an investigative correspondent.

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Yolanda Perez/ABC

Elisabeth Hasselbeck (Seasons 6-16)

The Survivor: The Australian Outback contestant (she came in fourth) started her time on The View by occasionally subbing in for Ling before officially signing on full time. After 10 years, the outspoken conservative left The View for a co-hosting gig on Fox & Friends, where she remains today.

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Donna Svennevik/ABC

Rosie O'Donnell (Seasons 10 and 18)

O’Donnell took a break from talk shows after leaving The Rosie O’Donnell Show in 2002, but returned to the world of daytime talk in 2006 when she replaced Vieira on The View. Her stint didn’t last long, though: She left before 2007 ended because of contract issues, and then returned in Sept. 2014 to stunning ratings — her first show back had 3.9 million viewers, marking a ratings high since 2006. After about five months though, O’Donnell left again soon after splitting with her wife. “This has been a very stressful situation,” her publicist said in a statement. “She is putting her personal health and family first.”

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Steve Fenn/ABC

Whoopi Goldberg (Seasons 11-present)

O’Donnell passed the moderator torch to Goldberg in 2007, and the actress hasn’t been shy about stirring the pot on the show: She started off her gig by defending Michael Vick’s dogfighting, and more recently was blunt about her decision to not make “snap judgments” on Bill Cosby amid accusations that he drugged and sexually assaulted multiple women.

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Steve Fenn/ABC

Sherri Shepherd (Seasons 11-17)

ABC decided to make some changes in 2014 — and those changes involved cutting Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy from the panel. “The View will be moving in an exciting new direction next year, and ABC has made decisions to evolve the show creatively,” the network said in a statement at the time. Since then, she’s continued to appear in movies and TV shows including Chris Rock’s Top Five and ABC’s Nashville.

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Jenny McCarthy (Season 17)

 McCarthy replaced Behar, but only lasted a year before moving on to host a SiriusXM series called Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy.

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Yolanda Perez/ABC

Nicolle Wallace (Season 18)

Wallace joined The View after working in politics for over a decade, including stints on both George W. Bush and John McCain’s campaigns, and as the White House’s communications chief.

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Raven-Symoné (Season 18)

 The former Disney Channel star guest-hosted on The View more than two dozen times before officially taking O’Donnell’s spot in June 2015.

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Rosie Perez (Season 18 )

The Do the Right Thing actress joined The View in September 2014 along with Nicolle Wallace, but announced her departure in July 2015. “Our friend Rosie Perez has decided to leave the show at the conclusion of this season to pursue full time her love of acting,” View executive producer Bill Wolff said in a statement. And she’s already pursuing it: Perez has been starring in Larry David’s Broadway debut Fish in the Dark since the early spring.

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Michelle Collins (Arriving for season 19)

Perez left, and Collins swooped in: The comedian — who has made appearances on Chelsea Lately, The Joy Behar Show, and multiple VH1 shows — had already guest-hosted a number of times when sources confirmed to EW on July 8, 2015 that she'd be coming on permanently.

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Fred Lee/ABC via Getty Images

Candace Cameron Bure (Arriving for season 19)

The Full House alum found her new home at The View's anchor desk when news broke in August 2015 that she is joining the talk show's lineup. Bure nabbed the gig after appearing on Dancing With the Stars and taking a seat on The View panel a dozen times as a guest co-host.

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Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images

Paula Faris (Arriving for season 19)

ABC pulled from its own talent pool in the hiring of Faris, who joins The View for 2015's 19th season. The news anchor has been with the network for a few years, making appearances on World News Now, ABC World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and Good Morning America Weekend Edition. Faris also did a stint as a guest co-host for The View in 2015 before she permanently signed on for the show.

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'The View' scorecard: 19 seasons, 17 hosts (and counting...)

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