Jenny McCarthy has been named to join the panel of the ABC weekday talk show "The View."Health experts already didn't like the fact that Jenny McCarthy got a job on "The View." Now comes word that ordinary viewers don't like her either.
McCarthy, the former Playboy model who joined ABC's morning chatfest this year, is proving more polarizing than Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the outspoken former panelist who left to join Fox News, according to Radar. The report says the producers are scrutinizing data about audience preferences and that McCarthy's job is "in jeopardy."
"Right now they're just trying to adjust Jenny's performance on the show so that she comes off as more appealing, but that's an uphill battle," an unnamed source was quoted telling Radar.
But a "View" spokeswoman told Showtracker that "there is absolutely no truth" to the report.
Whatever the case, McCarthy's appointment caused a storm of controversy due to her claims that vaccines cause autism. That view has been soundly rejected by most medical experts, many of whom worried that "The View" would give McCarthy an even bigger platform to make her case. Toronto's health department launched a Twitter campaign to try to get McCarthy dumped.
McCarthy got the job after several other prospects, including Brooke Shields, had been tried out at the panelists' table.
Meanwhile, "The View" remains locked in a battle with CBS' growing rival, "The Talk." The ABC show has slipped about 6 percent, to 3 million total viewers, compared with the start of last season. "The Talk" almost pulled even, with 2.8 million viewers. Part of the problem is that "The View" is in the midst of a personnel shuffle. In addition to Hasselbeck, Joy Behar recently left the show, and Barbara Walters is scheduled to retire in summer 2014.