It’s strange that two members of The View got married within 48 hours of each other, right? One wedding was seemingly planned – Sherri Shepherd was engaged to her fiancé for a while, and the wedding plans have been consuming her for months. So why is it that Joy Behar seemingly bridal-blocked Sherri suddenly by getting hitched last Thursday and announcing it on the day that Sherri got married? Out of all of The View women, I would have never chosen Sherri and Joy for a catfight. But something is there, I can feel it.

So, yeah, Behar married her boyfriend of 29 years, Steve Janowitz, on Thursday. They don’t even live together! Seriously, they keep separate apartments.

The View co-host Joy Behar is going to have plenty to talk about when the show returns next month. After dating for 29 years, the View co-host, 68, and beau Steve Janowitz have tied the knot.

“She was married in New York City last night in a private ceremony,” a rep for the show tells PEOPLE. “She will discuss it on Sept. 6 on The View when the show returns for the 15th season.”

Behar’s wedding date, Aug. 11, also coincidentally marks the 14th anniversary of the ABC daytime show’s debut in 1997.

In 2009, Behar announced she and Janowitz, whom she referred to as her “spousal equivalent,” had plans to wed. But later that year, she said broke off the engagement, blaming “cold feet.”

Behar also hosts The Joy Behar Show on HLN.

[From People]

It sounds like some kind of quickie thing with barely any guests. Which is fine – not everyone needs or wants a big wedding. But the comparison to Sherri’s wedding is stark – Sherri had EIGHT bridesmaids:

Joy Behar isn’t the only newlywed on The View. Co-host Sherri Shepherd and fiancé Lamar Sally tied the knot at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, her hometown, on Saturday, her rep confirms to PEOPLE.

Shepherd’s eight bridesmaids included The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Niecy Nash and Community’s Yvette Nicole Brown, and her 6-year-old son Jeffrey walked her down the aisle.

After using her wedding dress as her carry-on luggage on a flight from New York City to Chicago earlier in the week, Shepherd, 44, spent the days leading up to the wedding battling nerves and fitting in a few last-minute workouts at her hotel gym, according to her Twitter musings.

She even Tweeted nearly up until it was time to walk down the aisle, writing on Saturday afternoon, “Sitting in the room in my gown waiting for Sal& groomsmen to take their pics… can’t let him see me b4 the wedding… but I’m bored as heck.”

Right before the ceremony she Tweeted: “What happens when you are in your wedding dress and you have to tinkle? Uh-oh!”

The 30 Rock actress devoted months to trying to get in shape for her big day, which will air as a special on the Style network on Sept 13.

Shepherd, who calls her husband “Sal,” had been prepping for a large ceremony since getting engaged in December.

“His family’s from Detroit and mine are from Chicago, and we’ve got really close friends that we want to share the day with,” she told PEOPLE as she planned her nuptials. “So, it’s going to be pretty big.”

[From People]

Congratulations to Sherri and Joy, and I hope they will both be very happy in their respective unions. Do you think that when The View comes back on, it will be some kind of wedding-conversation bitch-fight? Probably not. But it would be funny if it was.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I was hoping that Matt Damon’s character on 30 Rock – that of the perfect, potential dream pilot boyfriend of Liz Lemon – would take a quirky turn, like Jon Hamm’s did. Because, at the end of the day, even though I love The Hamm, his character was hilariously crazy and all kinds of wrong, and it must be fun for an actor to play that. But Matt’s character just seemed very straight and Mr. Perfect. But he’s coming back, so maybe there’s hope he’ll get crazy! Sherri Shepherd was tweeting from the 30 Rock set yesterday, and she got a little loony over Matt:

[From Sherri’s Twitter]

I’ve been giggling about “Jamal Damon” for a full day at this point. And the photo Sherri had taken of her and Matt and Tracy Morgan is absolutely killing me. Matt’s all “I’m so boyishly charming!” And Sherri’s all “Break me off a piece.” And Tracy’s all “I’m going to hit it with both of them.” You know what? I hope Matt Damon’s wife is pregnant with a boy, just so they can name him Jamal. Because the name Jamal Damon is too good to pass up, for real.

Jamal Damon’s daddy:

Jamal Damon’s stepfather:

Photos courtesy of Sherri’s Twitter.

Sherri Shepherd, one of the co-hosts of “The View” is getting her own sitcom on Lifetime. While I like Sherri alright on the show, I thought she really shined in her guest-starring role as Tracey Morgan’s wife on “30 Rock.” Unfortunately “Variety” doesn’t agree with me on the whole. They wrote an article about Sherri’s new show (creatively enough titled “Sherri”) and it is one passive-aggressive dig after another. When you really pay attention to the little jabs you realize they’re basically saying “You suck!” with a big grin on their face so for a moment you think they’re being nice. Not so much.

Sherri” is an odd duck — a sitcom “loosely based” on comic/”The View” co-host Sherri Shepherd’s life before she was successful, back when she was a full-time office worker and part-time stand-up and actress. Mostly, the show functions as an opportunity to allow Shepherd to unleash comedic riffs while the rest of the appreciative cast takes in her act, dispensing advice like, “A man who cheats can never be trusted again. Dump him.” A sitcom with dialogue like that should probably be kept on a short leash, too.

Lifetime will launch the series at 7 p.m. (with “Rita Rocks”) before the programs take up residence at 10 p.m. Tuesdays, creating a lighter alternative to the cable dramas that populate that hour. And indeed, nobody will confuse “Sherri” with “Sons of Anarchy.” Sherri is introduced with her office pals Celia (Tammy Townsend) and the cheerfully dense Angie (Elizabeth Regen), whose self-esteem issues lead her to sleep with guys — married or otherwise –only if they really like her.

As for Sherri, she’s a single mom with a concerned dad (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s” James Avery), an awkward suitor (“Spin City’s” Michael Boatman) and an ex-husband (“The Cosby Show’s” Malcolm-Jamal Warner) who cheated on her — with a (gasp) white girl. The awkward part is that Sherri keeps bumping into people familiar with her comedy appearances and telling her how terrific she is. Then again, one suspects that Sherri’s real and fictional versions share a fondness for those particular moments, which explains a lot about the show, beginning with its title.

Shepherd actually had a pretty decent sitcom resume (recurring on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Less Than Perfect”) before “The View” kicked in, but her higher profile notwithstanding, she’s limited as a performer in terms of carrying this sort of vehicle.

Still, the female banter (courtesy of writer Dave Flebotte, recently of “Desperate Housewives”) comes fast and sassy, the situations — infidelity, single motherhood, dating again — play like a compendium of daytime TV staples, the devout Shepherd and her pals actually pray together at work, and she brings built-in name recognition to the party.

So while “Sherri” doesn’t rock any better than “Rita” does, for Lifetime, that’s probably enough.

[From Variety]

That’s quite the kick in the metaphorical crotch. They didn’t all out scream “We hate it!” but you can’t help but feel that’s the overall tone. At best it was “This may be mildly adequate. With enough uppers.” I thought the absolute most cutting thing was, “The awkward part is that Sherri keeps bumping into people familiar with her comedy appearances and telling her how terrific she is. Then again, one suspects that Sherri’s real and fictional versions share a fondness for those particular moments, which explains a lot about the show, beginning with its title.” So are they saying that all actors/comedians who name their shows after themselves are narcissists, or just Sherri?

Okay, it sounds sort of awful. Actually it just sounds dull and generic, which I guess would lend some credence to the mediocrity theory. I don’t think it’s something I’d choose to sit through… but damn. I doubt I’d say “It sucks, but it’s good enough for Lifetime!” Sherri is likeable though, so she might rise above the review and get some decent ratings anyway. You know, for Lifetime.

Here’s Sherri (with Barbara Walters) attending the launch of ‘Sherri’ at the Empire Hotel in New York yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Generally speaking, I couldn’t care less about The View. The only woman on there I have a genuine affection for is Whoopi Goldberg, and the part I like about her is that she really, really doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of her. That being said, I do enjoy reading about what goes on behind the scenes on The View, and this new interview is riveting. The ladies sat down for a cover interview with Ladies Home Journal (story via OK! Magazine) and the results were hilarious. Should I be ashamed for chuckling at several different parts of the interview? I don’t care. These women are cracking me up. From Barbara Walters trying to convince the world that big, burly Los Angels police officers are fans of The View, to Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s snotty attitude about people pitying her, this one’s a classic:

The ladies of The View are quite a collection of characters, and it’s no secret that Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck don’t always get along. The co-hosts are all sharing one thing however — the October cover of Ladies Home Journal. Inside they dish on their chemistry, their disagreements and their success.

On the secret of their success:
Barbara: “The chemistry is the most important thing. We have been imitated again and again – by men, by other programs – and the thought is there should be one older person, one comedian, one black person, and one younger person, and that will make it work. And it doesn’t. Our roles on the show have changed and I think we’re better than ever because of this group.”

On disagreeing on set:
Whoopi: “There are times when you think, I shouldn’t have said that, and I’m sorry. But nobody cares if you say something tough – it’s over and done with. They’re like, No, no, no I know what you meant. The next day you’re back on cue. Or five minutes later, after the commercial, you’re back to being the two of you.”
Elizabeth: “We know what triggers the other person, but we also believe what we believe. It’s all up for discussion, and we know we’re all coming back tomorrow. So we love each other even though we don’t always agree.”
Joy: “We are a reality show of the real kind. You watch the Jon & Kate Plus 8 shows, but they’ve been faking things for two years. We have a real show, we are real people and the audience relates to that.”

About the fighting rumors:
Whoopi: “The idea was put into people’s minds before I arrived – that was played up with [former co-host] Rosie [O'Donnell], and it stuck. I think for a while things got more personal than they should have and people glommed onto that. I think people want there to be feuds. But I am too lazy to fight – it takes too much energy to keep it going.”
Elizabeth: “I typically get two comments. One is, ‘I feel so bad for you.’ Or: ‘That has to be difficult to do every day.’ Neither is true, and I don’t enjoy pity. Anyway, the show isn’t as interesting when we agree.”

On memorable guests:
Sherri: “I love the gorgeous men who come through and that I get to put my hand on their thighs. The guys love it. Robert Downey Jr. put my head in his lap. And they kiss you. What kind of job do I have? Every man I love turns around and gives me a kiss. When [Barack] Obama showed up, I was like, this is it, I am done. And Jonathan Rhys Meyers? I am like a predator cougar on that boy. I will hurt you.”

On their male fans:
Barbara: “I don’t think of us as a woman’s show. I was at the Michael Jackson memorial, and these male cops kept saying, ‘I watch your show every day!”
Elizabeth: “My husband, Tim [Hasselbeck, former NFL quarterback] has played for two or three teams since I’ve been on the show, and every team he’s been on, they all watch the show while they’re icing their legs. They sit and watch and try to get what women are about.”

On Barbara’s little-known expertise:
Sherri: “Barbara gives the best single-women advice…about raising my son and relationships. She also gives good advice about sex.”

[From OK! Magazine]

I now love Sherri a little bit for saying Robert Downey Jr. and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were her favorite boys. I just went and watched Jonathan’s last interview on The View (he’s been on several times, so he must love those ladies too), and they’re all drooling over him. And now I am going to try to work “I am like a predator cougar on that boy. I will hurt you” into my everyday conversation this week. One part that OK! didn’t excerpt was where Sherry claims that John McCain’s appearance on the show was not a happy one. Sherri says, “John McCain was not happy with us. I don’t know if he and his wife thought we were just going to bake cookies or something, but we asked some pretty tough questions.” I can’t believe that excerpt got cut out while OK! made us hear about Barbara’s sex advice!

Here are the ladies of “The View” at the New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend in January. Images thanks to WENN.com .

The View co-host Sherri Shepherd came out in a bathing suit on her show two weeks ago to premiere her new slimmed-down body. Sherri worked with a nutritionist, trainer, and endocrinologist for three months on a diet and exercise program. A long term diabetes sufferer, Sherri was able to stabilize her blood sugar naturally through the program and go off all medication for her condition. At that time, Sherri wouldn’t specify how much weight she’d lost and simply said that she felt comfortable with her body and had dropped 10 inches overall, 5 from her waist. She was featured in an inside article in People Magazine titled “I like the size I am!” and has dropped down to a size 6 from a high of size 16.

Now we know that Sherri has lost 41 pounds, because she’s featured on the cover of this week’s OK! Magazine rocking a new baby blue bathing suit. Titled “How I lost 41 pounds without surgery,” the magazine says that Sherri uses the diet favored by Jennifer Aniston, Janet Jackson and Sandra Bullock. An article on OK!’s website reveals that it’s a food delivery service called Fresh Diet. I bet they offer to send it free to most celebrities in order to get the coverage:

Sherri Shepherd’s transformation almost didn’t happen: After losing a whopping 30 pounds since her 2007 debut on The View, she began to see the weight creep back on. Rather than surrender, she made a public vow in May to get herself swimsuit-ready.

“This is my marathon,” Sherri, 42, says — and it looks as if she’s winning the race. The talk show co-host and star of Lifetime’s upcoming sitcom, Sherri, has lost 41 pounds in total, dropped 10 dress sizes and cut 10 inches off her 5′1″ frame. And in a new, exclusive interview and photo shoot with OK!, Sherri reveals what inspired her to go public with her pledge — and exactly how she did it.

“I lost weight last year and started gaining it back because I wasn’t exercising,” Sherri explains in the new issue of OK!. “I said to my producer, ‘Why don’t we do something where I tell people ‘Let’s do it together!’ and maybe [up the ante with] a bathing suit.’ The minute I said that, I was like, ‘Gosh, I should take it back because I really want M&M’s!’ But I had to do it. Then all of sudden I had all these people doing it with me. I’d Tweet about going to the gym and how hard it was, and followers would write and say, ‘Sherri, I’ve lost two pounds!’ I thought, ‘Okay, people are getting into this.’”

To help get her into swimsuit shape, Sherri enlisted the help of trainer Don Scott — who she refers to in her Tweets as the “Evil One” — and he spared certainly didn’t give her any slack because of her celebrity. “What I hate is when trainers say, ‘Okay, lets do 15,’ and then you get to 15, and they go ‘10 more,’ She recalls about her time in the gym. “It has taken every mental thing I have to get to 15, so don’t put another 10 on me!”

Now Sherri’s focus is on maintaining her weight, without the trainer. “It’s just mandatory that I find something I like that I can really keep up,” she explains. “I just started this trapeze class that strengthens the arms, and tennis I love. I’m taking salsa lessons.”

In addition to her time in the gym, Sherri — who openly admits that she’s “not a cooker” — slimmed down with the help of delivered meals from Fresh Diet, including Turkey & Green Salsa Quesadillas, Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Ginger Jerk Sauce, Salad Niçoise and Cinnamon Pear Cheesecake. “It’s freshly cooked and they delivered it in the mornings so I would just eat that,” Sherri explains.

But even with all this great food, there were still times when desire’s seductive head would pop up. “Sometimes I just said, ‘I don’t want tilapia anymore; I can’t even deal with salad. I want M&M’s and Ruffles,’” she confesses. “But the difference was I was gonna get back up and go to the gym and keep my commitment. I never once felt like I deprived myself.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Sherri saying that she didn’t deprive herself doesn’t exactly jibe with what she told US Magazine in July – that she was miserable while she was dieting. Now that she’s seen the great results, maybe Sherri has started enjoying eating well and exercising. These weight loss covers must sell well for OK! – they featured Britney’s bikini body last week with details of “How she lost 20 lbs in 4 weeks.” I’m not as fond of OK! now that they’ve changed format and switched their whole website around, but I have to hand it to them – they don’t seem to have Photoshopped Sherri on this cover and are presenting her as she is. Maybe they did a few touchups here and there, but it’s not like they changed her whole body shape and facial structure, like Self did to Kelly Clarkson this month. Sherri looks like herself, and she should be proud. Good for her for landing a magazine cover!

Sherri comes out at 3:20

Sherri Shepherd, one of the hostesses on The View, has lost weight through a three month regimen of diet and exercise, chronicled on the show. Shepherd, who suffers from diabetes, dropped 10 inches on the program but what’s better is that she was able to stabilize her blood sugar naturally and go off all medication for her condition. Last week she underwent her first bikini wax, a painful experience which she taped for the show and called “worse than having a baby.” Yesterday Sherri premiered her bathing suit body and she looked great. Sherri says her goal was to show people that “you don’t have to do anything crazy” to get to a size where you feel comfortable in a bathing suit.

Hot topic: Sherri Shepherd’s slim new body!

After months of dieting and exercising, she fulfilled her promise to walk out on stage in a bathing suit on Thursday’s The View.

Walking on stage to “I’m Every Woman,” Shepherd, 42, proclaimed, “I feel really great. I just wanted to show people that you don’t have to do anything crazy. You just have to make some choices and exercise and the weight will drop off. I hope some folks were inspired.”

Since May, she has lost 5 inches from her waist and 10 inches overall. (She didn’t reveal how many pounds she shed.)

Barbara Walters said her colleagues “were very proud” of Shepherd, who celebrated by indulging in ribs and M&Ms that exec producer Bill Geddes brought her as a treat.

Dieting hadn’t been easy, Shepherd told Usmagazine.com in June.

She had been eating “a lot of grilled chicken, a lot of salad, a lot of water,” she said. “I’m miserable!”

In terms of exercise, she told Us, “I do a lot of stairs, a lot of planks, a lot of squats, a lot of treadmill, a lot of screaming — and I do it four times a week.”

Though the work-outs were intense, she told Us, “I have a lot of energy.”

[From US Weekly]

Sherri is also featured in People Magazine this week in an article titled “I like the size I am!” Sherri looks incredible and she probably feels so much better about herself. I don’t watch this show, but I heard her say during her bikini wax segment that she was married for 12 years and either got divorced, or was going through a divorce. (Wikipedia has her marriage ending in 2007.) It’s got to be a great boost to her self esteem to lose weight. Checking out pictures of Sherri, she did have a date to the BET Awards in late June so I bet there’s already a special man in her life. Good for her!

Sherri is shown on 6/27 and 6/28 and on 8/7/09. Credit: PRPhotos and ABC

There is a long list of things I’d rather do than watch the shrieking harpies of “The View.” Gum surgery, Chinese water torture, a Celine Dion concert…the list goes on and on. But plenty of other people are watching the show, because its ratings are higher than ever. That’s why the co-hosts of the show – Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck – are asking for a raise. And of course, they’re going straight to the show’s executive producer and co-star, Barbara Walters, with their demands.

Ratings for “The View” have gone through the roof- and so have the co-hosts’ salary demands!

Although the show’s boss Barbara Walters is thrilled that her 12-year-old production is on the rise, set insiders tell The Enquirer that she’s suddenly found herself with “a mutiny on her hands.” Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck all believe they should be generously rewarded for the newfound success.

Demands from the stars’ agents began pouring into Barbara’s office in early March when Nielsen statistics reported “The View” – which often ranked 10th or lower among daytime programs – climbed to No. 2 among women aged 18-49, says the insider.

The sudden ratings boom is being attributed to Barbara’s decision to expand the “hot topics” segment, about the day’s headlines, which now accounts for half the show. “The View” is now enjoying its most-watched season ever, averaging 4.2 million viewers – up from 2.5 million a year ago.

“Barbara should be beaming because of the show’s recent success, but she’s furious that the other women have been pestering her for a bigger piece of the pie,” says the insider.

“Barbara thinks their new salary demands are outrageous – some are asking for several million dollars – and she told one confidant, “They should all be ashamed of themselves – I’ve never seen such a greedier bunch.’”

[From The National Enquirer print version, March 30, 2009]

Oh, come on. As long as Barbara’s been around at ABC, I’m sure she’s seen a greedier bunch. And I’m sure Barbara is making a nice chunk of change as the show’s executive producer. Why wouldn’t she do the smart thing and keep her co-stars happy? As much as I can’t stand the show, they must be doing something to appeal to the viewers who like them. I suppose some people actually enjoy watching five women sitting around a table screaming and talking over each other. If I want to see that, I can just go hang out at my mom’s house for a day. But the chemistry – or, more accurately, the tension – between the co-hosts must be what’s getting the ratings. Or does Barbara thing everyone tunes in to watch her?

Sherri Shepherd of The View is disappointed at the lack of black cast members on Saturday Night Live. Sherri, who’s not exactly on the Mensa waiting list, mentions something that has long been an issue with critics, but she does it in a surprisingly topical and relevant way. Shepherd points out that there aren’t even enough black people on the show to do an accurate spoof of her show, The View. There is only one current cast member who is black, Kenan Thompson, and he plays Whoopi when they do a View parody. Sherri’s presence is non-existent in send-ups of the daytime talk show. She blames this on Saturday Night Live casting.

Of the 90 or so actors to grace the “SNL” stage since its 1975 premiere, only eight have been African-American. And that’s an issue for “The View” co-host Sherri Shepherd.

In an AOL interview, she points out that there aren’t even enough African-Americans for a proper skit of her ABC daytime show. While Thompson portrays co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Shepherd’s character is simply left out of the sketch.

“Couldn’t they have gotten Maya Rudolph to play me?” Shepherd asked. “She is so awesome! They need more black people in their cast!”

“I agree with her,” Baron Vaughn, a black comic, told the New York Daily News. Diversity “doesn’t seem to be something that interests them.”

“Plenty of black people that I know have been on ‘SNL,’ and they haven’t been utilized to the best of their abilities. As much as I love Fred Armisen, there needs to be someone who can do a better Barack [Obama],” Vaughn added.

[From EURweb.com]

I agree that the cast of SNL is lacking in diversity and isn’t able to use their talent well. It often seems like the only use they’ve found for black comedians, both now and in the past, is as impersonating other people of color or as highly stereotypical black characters like Nat X, Ladies Man, and Eddie Murphy’s Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood.

What I can’t totally back up is the insistence that Saturday Night Live find a strictly black cast member to play Barack Obama. Obama has a multi-ethnic background, so demanding another cast member based solely on race makes no sense. Fred Armisen has been the go-to guy for black characters on the show, but he’s Venezuelan, German and Japanese. Armisen plays Prince, Obama, and this last weekend, infamously portrayed New York Governor David Paterson, all black men. He’s also played Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he’s not Middle Eastern.

The same complaint has been made about the SNL cast’s lack of women. Now that Amy Poehler has left the show, the only full fledged female cast member is Kristin Wiig, the rest of the women on the show are “featured players” and all but one of them were just recently added. Kenan Thompson, currently the only black male cast member, is recruited to play any women of color needed for a sketch.

SNL casting says “Casting is an ongoing process at the show. We are constantly looking for new people. We’ve been auditioning every couple of months or so, and we’ve seen numerous African-American performers and continue to look.”

MAD TV was recently cancelled, and Keeghan Michael Key may be looking for a job. He’d give Armisen a run for his money on Obama, too. Key’s impersonation was spot on, appearance aside.

Sherri Shepherd publicly apologized on air for saying in an interview with a Christian Women’s magazine that she hoped her boss, Barbara Walters, could “get saved” by a televangelist. She said in the same interview that she went through a very rough time when she was young and that she’d “had more abortions than I would like to count.” After the details of the interview were widely publicized, Shepherd clarified her remarks, saying that she was not glamorizing abortion and that she hoped to inspire women who also felt extreme guilt and shame over having an abortion. She also claimed that her quotes were taken out of context and that she was joking about wanting to have Walters saved.

Shepherd said she called Barbara Walters ahead of time to warn her that the quote was going to be published, and that Walters laughed and acted like it wasn’t a big deal. A show source tells the National Enquirer that Barbara is fed up with with Sherri and the idiotic things she says on air and that the “saved” comment was just Sherri’s latest gaffe to piss her off:

“Barbara has had it with her,” said the source. “Barbara was shocked that Sherri would say she needs to be ‘saved’. She’s dumbfounded by the stupid things that keep coming out of Sherri’s mouth…

Barbara has been saying that Sherri’s a “loose cannon,” added the source. “And after hearing what she said to a Christian magazine, word came back from Barbara that she wants to boot her off the show.

“Barbara thinks Sherri has become far worse of a problem than Star Jones and Rosie’s O’Donnel when they were on the show – and that’s saying a lot!”

While Barbara is ready to see Sherri move on from “The View,” insiders say it’s unlikely there will be a dramatic firing.

“Barbara may first give her a chance to shape up before shipping her out…

“And if Barbara does let Sherri go, expect a fun farewell with the whole gang saying only nice things about Sherri in public.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, August 11, 2008]

Everyone else on The View may be smarter than Sherri – and that’s not saying much considering that Sherri thinks Jesus came before the Romans – but Barbara Walters’ personality is shrewish and she sticks out on that panel. Barbara is constantly making the celebrity guests on the show uncomfortable with blunt questions. The View is a roundtable talkshow with an audience, it’s not a one on one interview like Walters is used to and she has to tone down the personal questions.

The show is so much more watchable when Whoopi is there running everything without Barbara. Yes Sherri says stupid things, but she’s earnest about it and she’s not really hurting anyone. Sherri’s dumb observations are a kind of comic relief and the other women make excuses for her and help her out. Barbara would do better to retire than to try and get rid of Sherri. Sherri isn’t the one who’s dragging the show down.

The cast of The View is shown at a panel discussion on 4/9/08. Credit: MLM/Fame Pictures

View co-host Sherri Shepherd drew a lot of ire yesterday when quotes were published from an interview she gave to a black Christian women’s magazine in which she claimed she had more abortions than she would like to count and that she sometimes prayed for televangelists to “save” Barbara Walters.

On “saving” Barbara Walters: It was a joke
Shepherd said she was joking about saving Walters and that she called Walters personally ahead of the interview being published to apologize. She said Walters was in France at the time and she laughed and said “I’m already in Heaven, I’m in Paris.” Shepherd also apologized again on air to Walters, who was not on the panel that day. Walters grew up with Jewish parents, but her father was an atheist and she was not raised going to temple or church. Walters did a piece on religion in 2005 in which she explored her own background and belief system. She said she was most affected by a visit with the Dalai Lama, after which she felt at peace for a couple of weeks. She has not been “saved” in the Christian sense.

On having more abortions than she could count: it was taken out of context
Many of you pointed out in the comments that Jaybird’s title that Shepherd had more abortions than she could count was technically inaccurate, because she had said it was more than she would like to count, which is much different. She was saying it was painful for her to remember them and not that there were so many she lost track.

Shepherd said that the author didn’t print her entire quote about her abortions, which she is open about because she wants to “inspire women who go through a lot of shame and guilt about having abortions.” She said the full quote was that she had suffered a lot of shame and guilt and that “a wonderful woman at one of the women’s conferences I speak at came to me and said, ‘Sherri, you know when you get to heaven all your babies are going to be there saying, ‘Hi momma.” and it just kind of freed me and I knew that Jesus had forgiven me.

“I wasn’t being flippant about abortions. I wasn’t glamorizing.”

Joy Behar said that society puts a lot of shame on abortions and Shepherd said that’s why she came out to talk about it.

Shepherd isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but I kind of admire her for talking about this so openly when there’s such a huge stigma attached to abortion. She does deserve credit for being open about something that can so easily be mocked. It also has to be hard for her to see her words twisted around to being some dismissive comment about having multiple abortions instead of the way she meant it, that she carried around a lot of guilt and shame and wants other women to hear that she suffered with it silently too.

Shepherd got confused in December when they were talking about history on The View and she kept insisting that “I don’t think anything predated Christians.. Jesus came first” in history and didn’t seem to get the whole B.C./A.D. idea. She also doesn’t believe in Evolution at all and says she’s never thought about whether the world is flat or not.

As JayBird mentioned yesterday, it’s pretty inspirational that Shepherd went through such a tough life and is now a co-host on such a big show, especially considering that she doesn’t seem to have basic knowledge of history and science. God can’t substitute for an education.

Sherri Shepherd is shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 6/20/2008. Credit: Glenn Harris / PR Photos