The View Has Found Its Co-Host Replacement For Jedediah Bila

meghan mccain

The View has rarely gone for an extended span without some drama rising up involving its lineup of co-hosts and contributors. Season 21 only started up earlier this month, and the short-lived co-host Jedediah Bila already had an "effective immediately" exit from the talk show. It didn't take very long for a permanent replacement to be named, all things considered, and The View has officially tapped former Fox News regular Meghan McCain to be the show's resident conservative voice.

Don't expect to see Meghan McCain taking a seat on The View's main stage immediately, though. with her expected start date to come at some point in early October, according to Variety. And it's being reported that McCain was chosen specifically for her partisan image and beliefs, as The View s perhaps looking to bring back some of the fiery debates and clashes that went down when Elisabeth Hasselbeck was on the panel, since those kinds of viral-worthy moments helped the show's popularity.

Meghan McCain is arguably most recognizable by name alone as the daughter of Senator John McCain, who has been making timely headlines himself in the world of healthcare reform. The female McCain was, until very recently, a co-host for the show Outnumbered on Fox News, where she worked for the past two years, first as a contributor. Before that, she'd worked for MSNBC and the startup channel Pivot.

Jedediah Bila served as the main conservative voice on The View for just over a single season, and her sudden departure is probably worth its own conversation on a different talk show. After all, there's something pretty similar about Bila's story and Meghan McCain's story, as far as how they arrived at The View. Bila also used to be a Fox News contributor, and was a panelist on Outnumbered. She left the network to take her position on The View, though, while McCain's changes appear to be mutually exclusive.

The past two or three years have seen quite a few women sitting at the View table and then rising from it soon after. Joy Behar returned in 2013, but in the years since, Jenny McCarthy, Sherri Shepherd, Rosie O'Donnell, Rosie Perez, Nicole Wallace, Raven-Symoné and Candace Cameron Bure have all left the show. Meanwhile, The View fired Michelle Collins.

The View airs every weekday morning on ABC at 10:00 a.m. ET, and we're hoping the long-running chat series can make it all the way through the rest of the season without losing yet another one of its outspoken personalities. For those wanting to know more about primetime fare, our fall premiere schedule will help get you through the rest of the year.

Nick Venable
Assistant Managing Editor

Nick is a Cajun Country native and an Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on TV and features. His humble origin story with CinemaBlend began all the way back in the pre-streaming era, circa 2009, as a freelancing DVD reviewer and TV recapper.  Nick leapfrogged over to the small screen to cover more and more television news and interviews, eventually taking over the section for the current era and covering topics like Yellowstone, The Walking Dead and horror. Born in Louisiana and currently living in Texas — Who Dat Nation over America’s Team all day, all night — Nick spent several years in the hospitality industry, and also worked as a 911 operator. If you ever happened to hear his music or read his comics/short stories, you have his sympathy.