The shelving of Jimmy Kimmel Live! may not be the end of ABC’s woes as the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, has suggested that Whoopie Goldberg-fronted The View could also be about to come under scrutiny next. The Federal Communications Commission’s grip on television seems to be tightening, and after seemingly having a hand in Kimmel’s show being pulled from the air, the morning show is now in Carr’s sights.
Kimmel’s indefinite suspension has been the subject on everyone’s lips in the last 24 hours, with the talk-show host garnering support from his peers, the SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. However, despite that, the episode of The View that aired on Thursday morning made no reference to Kimmel or the events of the previous night. However, the silence of the show has not kept it out the mouth of Carr during his appearance on The Scott Jennings Radio Show. Suggesting that his eyes are very much on The View, Carr said:
“I would assume you can make the argument that ‘The View’ is a bona fide news show, but I’m not so sure about that. I think it’s worthwhile to have the FCC look into whether ‘The View’ and some of the programs that you have still qualify as bona fide news programs and therefore exempt from the equal opportunity regime that Congress has put in place.”
The current labeling of The View as a “bona fide news program” means that it is exempt from having to abide by the equal opportunities rule imposed on networks, which requires opposing political candidates equal airtime. Changing the categorization of The View could force the show to change the way the series approaches guests and discussions if it happens.
‘The View’ Has Already Been Warned to Tone Down Its Political Talk
Scrutiny being placed on The View is nothing new. In May, it was reported by several outlets that Disney CEO Bob Iger and ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic had stepped in to force the show to tone down its “Anti-Trump rhetoric” and be more neutral to avoid blowback.
Karamehmedovic reportedly called a meeting with The View’s hosts and executive producer to implore them to broaden the scope of the show beyond continued political talk directed at the Trump administration, with sources saying that they were told to potentially push more celebrity guest focus in the future.
However, one source at the time was quoted as saying that the hosts, Goldberg along with Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, pushed back, saying “This is what our audience wants. Isn’t it gonna look kind of bad if we’re all of a sudden not talking about politics?”
With the show also being part of ABC’s schedule, clearly there is a lot of nervousness about what happens next. The situation is not going to suddenly go away following Kimmel’s shelving, but whether more shows could be forced into the same state of limbo is certainly not off the cards.
- Release Date
-
August 11, 1997
- Network
-
ABC
- Writers
-
Barbara Walters
Source link
Add Comment