In mid-July 2024, a rumor circulated on social media and various websites claiming that ABC had decided not to renew “The View” for the next year due to significant declines in audience numbers and diminishing viewer engagement. This claim was attributed to an alleged quote from Joe Barron, described as the executive content director, voicing concerns over likely being “clobbered” in ratings by the return of a Roseanne Barr comedy series.

The website MyPets originated the rumor, and it was also shared on Facebook and X. According to the MyPets story:

ABC decides not to renew The View for the next year due to a significant decline in audience numbers and diminishing viewer engagement

It was bound to happen. Over the past few years, The View has been shrinking in the ratings, all the while becoming more controversial and difficult to swallow. The show’s lead, Whoopi Goldberg, was voted the most disliked person in the entertainment industry.

We can’t allow them to keep taking that premium time slot,” said Executive Content Director Joe Barron, “not while Roseanne Barr is gearing up to kick in at the same time next fall. She’ll clobber us.”

There’s no word yet on what would replace the show, but some have suggested a more food-friendly and less political theme for a change. “It’s right before lunch,” said Shirly from Pahrump, Nevada, “It would be nice to have some recipes instead of a Joe Biden Love-In.

This claim is false. The story on MyPets, which does not label itself as a satire website but clearly fabricates stories, cited executive content director Barron but does not identify if he works for ABC or specifically on “The View.” We reached out to ABC’s publicity department, but it did not immediately return a request for comment.

However, the talk show’s IMDb page and other credible sources indicate no individual by the name “Joe Barron” holds such a position. This fictional attribution casts further doubt on the credibility of the claim.

Moreover, Snopes had already disproved the satirical claim that Barr’s hit sitcom television show “Roseanne” would be returning to ABC.

ABC has not made any announcements about canceling “The View.” In fact, the network has confirmed that the series continues to be a leading daytime talk show in terms of viewership.

According to an official ABC news release dated July 23, 2024: “For the week of July 8, 2024, the most recent week including syndication, ‘The View’ ranked No. 1 in Households (1.49 rating) and Total Viewers (2.237 million) among all network and syndicated daytime talk shows and news programs.” In addition, the release noted that “For the week of July 15, 2024, ‘The View’ ranked No. 1 in Households (1.55 rating) and Total Viewers (2.294 million) among the daytime network talk shows and news programs.”

Furthermore, “The View” has seen increases in viewership among key demographics, including women aged 25-54 and women aged 18-49.

ABC’s official news releases and lack of coverage from trusted media outlets shows that the claim about ABC deciding not to renew “The View” due to declining audience numbers and viewer engagement is false. “The View” remains a top-performing daytime talk show, continuing to engage a broad audience.

Snopes has previously debunked similar rumors about television show cancellations, including the satirical 2023 claim that ABC canceled “The View” and removed the talk show from its 2024 programming lineup, and another satirical claim from earlier in 2024 that ABC refused to renew contracts for Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar for “The View” because they were “toxic.”