‘The View’ Original Co-Hosts Reunite for Special Milestone

Former and current members of The View family reunited Monday night to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary. Debbie Matenopoulos, Star Jones, Joy Behar, and Meredith Vieira had an exciting time catching up over dinner to mark the milestone. All four starred in the first season of The View in 1997, alongside series creator Barbara Walters. Behar is the only one still on the show.

“This Is Us!!! So great having dinner and catching up with my very first TV sisters for [The View] 25th-year reunion special shoot,” Matenopoulos captioned the picture, taken at a restaurant in New York City. “There can only ever be one first… and that was us! It’s like we hadn’t missed a beat. If you know…you know!!! Take a little time to enjoy THIS original View everyone!”

Jones shared the same picture on her Instagram page. “Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall at our post-tape dinner after the 25th Anniversary Special for [The View]?” Jones asked her fans. The View staff also published the picture and teased more details for the upcoming anniversary special in the future.

Vieira and Jones remained on the series until 2006, while Matenopoulos left in 1999 after two seasons. Behar’s original tenure ended in 2013, but she returned two years later and has been on the show ever since. Walters left the series after retiring in 2014. Walters, 92, retired from journalism in 2015 and has not appeared publicly since at least 2016. The current View lineup features Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, and Sunny Hostin.

Jones, Vieira, and Matenopoulos have made appearances on The View recently, notes Entertainment Tonight. In February, Jones stopped by to raise awareness of heart disease among women to mark 12 years since she had open-heart surgery. Vieira served as a guest co-host for an episode in February, while Matenopoulos returned last fall.

Last summer, there were rumors that Matenopoulos would return to The View full-time as a replacement for Meghan McCain. Her spokesperson told Entertainment Tonight there were “conversations” between her representatives and ABC News about bringing her back. “Her rep has, in fact, been having conversations with senior executives at ABC News over the past few months about many things, including her participation in celebrating the 25th season of The View, and she appreciates all the interest in her returning,” the spokesperson said. Matenopoulos did not end up securing a full-time return to The View, which has lately featured Ana Navarro in the fifth chair at the Hot Topics table.

Goldberg took an extended hiatus from The View last month to work on Amazon Prime Video’s Anansi Boys, a miniseries based on Neil Gaiman’s novel about the sons of the spider-god Anansi. She was also suspended for two weeks in February after she made a controversial statement about the Holocaust. After Goldberg returned, she told viewers they would continue “having tough conversations” on the show.