The View Is Trying to Get Hoda Kotb to Ditch Kathie Lee

The daytime talk show Russian roulette continues: Hoda Kotb, who hosts the fourth hour of the Today show with the brilliant mind that is Kathie Lee, has allegedly been approached to leave her post and join ABC’s Barbara Walters’s five-headed monstrosity The View.

Of course, this is all according to the New York Post:

A source told us “The View” is “very interested” in Kotb and has already reached out to her camp.

Another media insider explained of ABC’s potential move to poach Kotb, “Hoda addresses several of their needs. She has news experience, which is something ‘The View’ has not had since Meredith Vieira left. She also adds some diversity to the panel.”

The View has had a banner year for drama; first, Joy Behar announced she was leaving and Jenny McCarthy was anointed to her place. Then, rumors flew that Elisabeth Hasselbeck was being forced out. Though show creator Barbara Walters denied those rumors, Hasselbeck recently left to go to Fox, leaving a spot open. Plus, Walters announced that she will be retiring next year.

If Kotb were added to the cast, she’d be the third woman of color out of four (or five, if Barbara’s there) women on the panel; the panel lineup would consist of Whoopi Goldberg, Sherry Shepherd, McCarthy, Hoda and Barbara. Hoda would also have to leave Kathie Lee Gifford – the ultimate frenemy – behind in the dust, a move Kathie Lee would not likely approve of, because then who could she mercilessly pick on?

That being said, ABC said, “There’s absolutely zero truth to this whatsoever,” so don’t get too excited. While this would be a fantastic career opportunity for Hoda and definitely more worthy of her skills, what kind of world would be live in if the drunken fourth hour of the Today show didn’t exist the way it does now? There’d be less to depend on, for sure.