ABC Expects Meghan McCain to Return to ‘The View,’ Despite Reports of Conflict

By Brian Steinberg

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Meghan McCain gained wider renown on this season of “The View” as the show focused more intently on politics. But that development may also have made the program’s own internal politics more difficult to bear.

ABC News said in a statement Wednesday that it expects McCain to return to the program’s next cycle, even as a report in The Daily Beast suggests the daughter of former Senator John McCain is “seriously considering calling it quits” before the program enters its 23rd season.

“The co-hosts and have had an incredible season and we expect them all back for an epic year ahead,” said in a statement.

McCain has made waves since leaving Fox News Channel in the fall of 2017 to take part in the ABC talk-fest. At the time, she had built a career out of a hodgepodge of various activities, including stints at The Daily Beast, MSNBC and the now-defunct cable network Pivot. She served as a contributor to the Fox News program, “Outnumbered. ”

McCain’s tenure on “The View” has been marked by a heavier turn by the show toward politics, and her ease with high-level guests such as former Vice President Joe Biden has lent her some momentum at the program. Even so, McCain often holds more conservative views than her colleagues, and has had on-air clashes with co-hosts such as Joy Behar, and those conflicts, which often make for good TV, don’t always create healthy behind-the-scenes relationships.

“I think she does want to be there. I think she wants to be on the show. She realizes it’s a very good platform for her and we love having her there. I feel like she will come back,” Hilary Estey McLoughlin, the executive producer of “The View,” told The Daily Beast. But she also acknowledged that stories of conflict involving McCain “don’t seem to go away.”