Whoopi Goldberg will be back as moderator of “The View “ for the show’s 20 th season in the fall. The Oscar-winning actress is on the verge of signing a one-year contract extending her time on the show through next summer, Variety has learned.
The deal is expected to close by the end of this week, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. Contrary to online reports, Goldberg will not be taking a pay cut as part of her new contract. She will continue to earn her current annual salary, which is in the $5 to $6 million range.
Similar to this year’s season 19, Goldberg will act as “The View’s” moderator for the first four episodes of the week and some Fridays. Joy Behar will fill in as the show’s moderator when Goldberg is off. “The View” used to pre-tape that day, but ABC News executives ordered a change last fall so the show can better cover breaking news stories in the lead-up to the election.
Goldberg joined “The View” in 2007 and has steered the Hot Topics debates during some of the best of times and the worst of the times for the daytime talk show. When she took over on “The View” in season 11, ratings for the program were already up because of Rosie O’Donnell’s first tenure on the show, and they jumped even higher. For the last two summers, following Barbara Walters’ retirement in 2013, Goldberg has been the lone surviving member of “The View” panel, as the network has attempted several reboots of the show with revolving casts.
ABC is planning a series of reminisces and throwbacks for the 20 th season. The rest of the Hot Topics table will include Behar, Paula Faris and possibly “GMA Weekend” anchor Sara Haines, who is in talks to join the panel. ABC is still figuring out if Raven-Symone or Candace Cameron-Bure will return as full-time co-hosts.
Ramin Setoodeh © 2016 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC