‘The View’ Returns With Cohosts Distracted by New Set & Theme Song

Amanda Bell September 3, 2024, 11:51 am

The View returned from its summer hiatus on Tuesday (September 3), and it took the cohosts a beat to adjust to, well, the view.

Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin were on-hand for an all-“Hot Topic” premiere episode, with Goldberg introducing the hour from a fancy new podium in their brand-new studio. The five panelists were ushered in by a new theme song (“This Version,” sung by Leona Lewis and written by Diane Warren) and intro real, and before they could dig into the issues — particularly, the current state of the 2024 presidential race — they spent several minutes remarking on their new digs.

“This is my 28th season. When I started here this show was in black and white, and the studio is so big… Give us a little time to adjust,” Behar said.

“What you’re saying is if she doesn’t show up tomorrow, she’s lost,” Hostin joked.

After Hostin added cheerily, “We haven’t been together for a while! It’s nice!” Goldberg noted, “We were starting with something totally different.” She later explained they were going out of order with their conversation but blamed it on the freshness of their surroundings.

'The View' Season 28 Guest List Revealed

“I don’t really care if we do it in the order [we were supposed to], but it’s nice to not get a shocker in the first four seconds of the show,” Goldberg added. “And we’re all looking over here because Brian [Teta, producer] is on a much different plane now. He’s much closer…. It’s a very big change for us too because when I came, the set was vastly different than we are now. Now we’re all the same plane.”

“The audience, too!” Hostin added.

Farah-Griffin and Haines were particularly interested in the details of their Season 28 coffee mugs. Among the details they observed: a hot dog and a possible garbage can.

“Okay, I love how they expect us to focus when they put all-new things in front of us,” Haines said.

Finally, about seven minutes in, they got to the business of discussing the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, with Hostin revealing details about how the Democratic National Convention felt “like a party.”

The segment ultimately ran long, clocking in at over 15 minutes, before they were sent to break with playoff music for a change, which did not seem to miff the cohosts at all.