“The View” Season 22 opener was the most-watched season premiere in four years, and fans think newcomer Abby Huntsman has something to do with it.
According to The New York Post, the show’s Sept. 4 premiere boasted 2.9 million viewers, and the show saw its total number of weekly viewers reach 2.8 million, a viewership it has not seen since April.
The daytime talk show welcomed Huntsman, a former Fox News host, this season to a seat at the roundtable, where she’s joined by longtime co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin. Meghan McCain, the show’s conservative voice and a close friend of Huntsman’s, remains on leave after the death of her father, Sen. John McCain, who lost his battle with brain cancer last month.
“Meghan is like a sister to me, and this was the hardest thing she has ever been through,” the new co-host said on the show. “Her dad was her best friend, her dad was everything.”
So far, Huntsman has been well received by fans, who see her as a breath of fresh air from McCain’s temper tantrums and “whiny” on-air fits. Many also think she could be the reason behind the show’s huge boost in viewership.
“You think they’ll appropriately thank @HuntsmanAbby for it? Probably not,” wrote one Twitter fan.
“U will make the view better for sure still have a very hard time watching,” another fan said of the former “Fox and Friends” weekend host. “[I] quit when they started bashing our potus on a daily basis. Stay true to u and speak up to them for us! Teach them how it is to be nice!”
One woman described Huntsman as a “wonderful balancing voice” on “The View,” but others wondered how long it’d be before she calls it quits. So far, McCain is the only conservative co-host to last more than one season among the panel of left-leaning women.
“Abby won’t last!” one critic wrote, “Woopie will turn on her like a pit bull! I give it to February and she’s out!”
“IMHO @HuntsmanAbby was a BIG mistake!” another critic chimed in. “@TheView didn’t need another Conservative bimbo. @JoyVBehar will eat her for lunch!”
