The Art of Leaving Star Jones Reynolds's departure from "The View,"

 

Star's 'View' Departure in Works for Months By JACQUES STEINBERG The New York Times (June 28) -- Star Jones Reynolds's departure from "The View," which she announced on the show yesterday after weeks of rumors, was actually in the works for far longer than even savvy viewers realized. It came more than six months after ABC executives decided not to renew her contract when it expires later this summer, Barbara Walters, the show's co-executive producer, said in an interview after the broadcast. "They had done a great deal of research, and her negatives were rising," said Ms. Walters, who, like Ms. Jones Reynolds, has been a co-host of the program since its inception nine years ago. "Not so much because of what she did on the air. It was things she did off the air. The audience was losing trust in her. They didn't believe some of the things she said." Ms. Walters declined to specify what in particular had concerned the network, but Ms. Jones Reynolds drew criticism when she arranged for suppliers to donate items for her wedding in 2004, apparently in exchange for being mentioned on the show. Yet Ms. Walters said that the timing of yesterday's announcement had caught her off guard, even with all the recent speculation that Ms. Jones Reynolds would leave the show before Rosie O'Donnell, a sometimes critic of Ms. Jones Reynolds, joined it in September. Ms. Walters said she and Ms. Jones Reynolds had agreed to announce the departure tomorrow. During the commercial break immediately before her announcement, Ms. Jones Reynolds, Ms. Walters and the two other hosts — Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — had been talking about air-conditioning, which was to be the subject of their regular "Hot Topics" segment. Instead, Ms. Jones Reynolds began the segment by interrupting Ms. Behar to say, "Excuse me one minute." ' After clasping her colleagues' hands in hers, she continued, "Something has been on my heart for a little bit, and after much prayer and counsel, I feel like this is the right time to tell you that the show is moving in another direction for its 10th season, and I will not be returning as co-host next year." Ms. Jones Reynolds did not mention Ms. O'Donnell by name, nor did she note that her contract was due to expire soon. But in an interview with People magazine completed before yesterday's show and posted on the magazine's Web site shortly after it, Ms. Jones Reynolds said she had been told sometime before the announcement of Ms. O'Donnell's hiring (in late April) that her contract was not being renewed. "I feel like I was fired," she is quoted as saying in People. A spokesman for Ms. Jones Reynolds, Brad Zeifman, said yesterday that she was giving no other interviews. In addition to serving as a co-host, Ms. O'Donnell is to be the show's informal moderator, replacing Meredith Vieira, who left earlier this month en route to the "Today" show on NBC. Periodic disagreements and undercurrents of tension have always been an element of "The View," which is essentially a kaffeeklatsch, albeit one in front of a studio audience. But Ms. O'Donnell's public criticisms of Ms. Jones Reynolds have been notably sharp. In an interview on "Good Morning America" before the announcement that she was joining the show, Ms. O'Donnell expressed skepticism about Ms. Jones Reynolds's genuineness. Asked on April 28 about Ms. Jones Reynolds's future in the O'Donnell era, Ms. Walters told a New York Times reporter: "Rosie will be there. And if Star wants to continue to be there, she is welcome." Ms. Walters said yesterday that when she made those remarks, she was aware that the network did not plan to renew Ms. Jones Reynolds's contract. Asked to explain why she had suggested, erroneously, that Ms. Jones Reynolds would be the one making a decision about her future, Ms. Walters said, "I was trying to protect Star." Ms. Walters refused to say whether she concurred with the network's decision. But she said she and the show's other co-executive producer, Bill Geddie, had lobbied ABC for months to put off making the final decision. "They wanted us to tell Star in December," Ms. Walters said. "I said, 'I won't do it before Christmas.' Then in January her book was coming out. We didn't want to hurt her book. Then she told me in February she was having an operation" — a plastic surgery procedure — "I didn't want her to go under the knife with all this stress." Abbie Schiller, a spokeswoman for ABC's daytime division, said "the network exhibited utmost patience at every step of the way, but at the end of the day we all felt it was time to move on." On "The View" yesterday, Ms. Walters struck a more conciliatory tone, telling Ms. Jones Reynolds, "From the dayyou came on this program, nine years ago, I cannot imagine 'The View' being the success it has been without you." A moment later, Ms. Walters added, "Whatever is best for you is what I want, what we all want most for you." As for her next job, Ms. Jones Reynolds told the "View" audience, "I'm not sure what the future holds." When Ms. Behar lamented, "Who am I going to fight with now?," Ms. Jones Reynolds tried to reassure her. "Something tells me you'll have somebody to fight with," she said.