Every since Sharon Osbourne was booted off The Talk for her on-air Karenated meltdown, the show has been looking for a new host. The Talk is known for being a show with only women hosts, sort of like the low budget version of The View. But that is all about to change because CBS just announced that Jerry O’Connell will be taking Sharon’s seat beginning in Season 12. In the meantime, Jerry will be co-hosting the show with the other ladies for the rest of the week. The announcement was met with mixed reactions. Some were excited that there would be a male voice and perspective on the show. However many felt that a cis het white men wouldn’t bring much, um, flavor to the show. Below are a few more highlights from Huffington POst:
The “Jerry Maguire” and “Stand by Me” actor will replace Sharon Osbourne, who left the show in March following a heated on-air exchange with Underwood that drew accusations of racism.
O’Connell, 47, is slated to appear on the show for the remainder of this week, after which he’ll take a break to film a new movie. He will join the show full time for Season 12, which is set to debut later this year.
“You ladies have been so welcoming to me,” O’Connell said on Wednesday’s episode, shortly after Underwood made the announcement. “I came here as a guest months ago, and just from the moment I walked in … you’re just gracious, you’re kind, you’re fun … and it worked. And here we are. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
Viewers, however, seemed divided on the news. Some, including Andy Cohen, praised the decision to add a male voice to the mix.
Executive producers Heather Gray and Kristin Matthews said in a statement that O’Connell would bring “a unique and entertaining perspective” as co-host.
Asian, Latinx and queer voices are missing from daytime television. This could have been an opportunity for CBS to find new talent. Jerry O’Connell is vanilla to me, but a lot of people like him and he seems like a decent guy. The Talk’s viewership has gone down since Sharon left but I also think that is because people tuned for Sharon’s drama and not necessarily for Sharon. Whatever the tone CBS is trying to strike with this hiring, I wish the ladies of The Talk luck because I actually like them and want to see their show do well.
My man @MrJerryOC !!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 https://t.co/tPdmvDCxgE
— Andy Cohen (@Andy) July 14, 2021
Congrats!! @MrJerryOC https://t.co/aqhHWNUQPS
— Garcelle Beauvais (@GarcelleB) July 14, 2021
— Kurn Huger Stan Account (@narrowhead13) July 14, 2021
Thank god a white man caught a break.
— Sean (@sk1win) July 14, 2021
Photos credit: Avalon.red
They’re probably thinking an ok looking white man will appeal to their audience. When will they learn that women love to see other smart, articulate women on TV
Yeah, I agree. And I like Jerry O’Connell well enough. I’m sure he’ll be entertaining. But don’t most women watch these shows for the female perspective? We get the male perspective everywhere we look already. I used to watch The View way back in the day and it was part of my “girl time” during college, when I would paint my nails and drink coffee etc.
He was on the short list for Michael Strahan’s replacement on Kelly & Michael, and he was very popular with several demographics. That may be what producers were taking into consideration here, but his popularity there was based on a show with an already decades long M/F format. I don’t think he’s going to go over as well on a show intended to be a platform for women’s perspectives.
I like Jerry O’Connell, he seems nice enough (is there a MeToo story about him or anything? If so, I dont know it).
But I thought the point of shows like the View and the Talk was to give women a platform to talk about significant issues and current events (something beyond “just” a talk show). If they wanted to bring in a man, it would have been more in keeping with that to bring in a non-white man, or a non-cis man.
Do they ever on The Talk talk deeply about significant issues much? They did touch on issues, obviously. I haven’t seen it since Aisha Tyler left. Before that, I would watch it rarely.
Honestly, Jerry should have been Kelly Ripa’s new cohost, perfect for the light morning show, because he had kids, a long marriage, and is funny, and loves, loves reality TV, etc. Instead, Kelly went with bland Ryan Seacrest, who is an aging guy who is dating early 20s women. What does he bring of interest to her as a cohost, who in the first part of the show talk about their lives with funny anecdotes? It would seem to me that Ryan never reveals anything about his boring life, while Jerry has a full life with funny stories about him with his wife and children, etc., to share with moms at home. Of course, I haven’t seen Kelly Ripa’s show either since Michael Strahan left.
Now, on The Talk, in the afternoon, I don’t know if he is a good fit or not, but he does have the gift of gab. I enjoy him as a guest on Watch What Happens Live.
To be honest the only time I see the Talk is when its on at my nail salon when I’m getting a pedicure, and I haven’t gotten a pedicure since probably September 2019, LOL. (my feet are sad, dont judge. I’m trying my best at home, lol.) So I have no idea what the usual convos are.
I agree with you about Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. I don’t think he brings anything to the table in that show. I also don’t love Kelly Ripa, but I think someone like Jerry O’Connell would balance her out.
Agreed 100% haha. I was so bummed he didn’t get the cohost job and it’s so lame she went with Seacrest.
I adore Jerry O’Connell. He is such a good, decent guy.
Just chiming in here–Seacrest always seemed like an unappealing choice for Ripa.
Seacrest pulled strings…boo!
The talk was supposed to be women talking about different issues. It’s so weird that they’ve decided to hire a man to literally do a woman’s job. A straight white guy at that. As if they struggle to find jobs or something.
Do you know whose opinions we need more of? Middle aged white men.
Not.
I disagree – there are some middle-aged white men whose opinions I respect and I enjoy hearing them. Diversity for diversity’s sake doesn’t move us forward – would you approve of, say, Candace Owens on a TC show? I mean, she’s black and female, so she checks more boxes. Obviously not – because Candace has garbage opinions and just spews hate. I am willing to see what Jerry brings to the table before I make judgments about him.
This would be relevant if Candace Owens was the only other choice.
My point was that MAWGs have plenty of other opportunities to voice their opinions. Why was it necessary to insert him into *this* show?
Because maybe he has good repour with the women and the chemistry works? I mean, he does has a fair amount of hosting experience.
My point about Candice wasn’t to suggest her – it was to make the point that diversity, solely for its own sake, doesn’t account for the other factors that make a good host. There are POC who have garbage opinions, and women with them too (Hi, Megan). Your point came off as dismissive. Personally, I don’t really see a reason to have a “women’s” daytime show anymore – they were born of a time when execs assumed that women needed “lighter” fare because our brains just couldn’t handle the heavy topics of male-dominated news.
“Diversity for diversity’s sake” DOES move us forward. Choosing a white straight man, whose opinions we have an overabundance of in every facet of life, over a gay man, gay woman, nonbinary person, disabled person, neurodiverse person, person of color, etc.? Is uninspired and absurd to me. Yes, there are white men who I like and whose opinions I enjoy. That’s not the point. The point is sometimes yes, we DO have to go out of our way to get diverse voices heard or they never will be. Sometimes talk shows and magazines and companies etc. need to step back and say, “hey, have we heard from an X type of person?” You NEED to think like that, because it doesn’t come naturally to white, straight, cis, abled people. Yes, there are people who fall into this category who are garbage humans; garbage humans come in many forms! But there are plenty of awesome people they could’ve chosen who would represent an often overlooked group, too.
Just one small example from my corner of the universe: My company launched a diversity initiative a few years ago. I’m an editor and looked over their description of it. They didn’t include disabled people in their description of this initiative. I’m disabled, and I added it. Because they have a disabled person on their team, we’re including disabled voices in our initiative. Representation REALLY matters.
Case, I totally disagree, for one major reason – you assume that simply be being in a certain class, that imputes a certain viewpoint. It doesn’t. Like I pointed out above, your version if “diversity” would view having a Candice Owens type black woman on the show as more valuable, simply because she is a black woman. But Owens, or a BW like her, is actively harmful. People like her HIDE behind the diversity argument you are supporting, because they use it as shield.
Okay, let me use myself here – I’m Native American. However, I did not grow up on a reservation (I grew up in a comb of rural white America and have been urban for the majority of my adult life). I’m not particularly immersed in the culture, or the tribe, etc. I didn’t grow up that way. But I were placed in a situation where I was supposed to “represent” NAs, I’d do a terrible job because my life experience is not representative of most NA people. That’s part of the problem with your argument! When you say, “Okay, we need X type of person” what you are subliminally doing is placed a burden on that individual to be the “spokesperson” for their whole community, and that is unfair to them. They may not be representative of their community at all, or very little! I’ve seen that too – one of my close friends is Chinese, but she was adopted by white parents when she was a month old, and she’s been placed in the position of being expected to “represent” Asian people in her workplace (mainly because she was the only one there), and it’s tough on her because she isn’t “culturally aware” (to steal her term). That’s the problem with what you describe.
If they were somehow able to get RuPaul, I would tune in. Andre Leon Talley might be available, somebody who seen it all, done it all and bring wisdom & FLAVOR. Jerry is artificial vanilla instead of using the real vanilla bean. I don’t follow Housewives show so maybe I have nothing in common with him.
There actually WAS a male-centric daytime talk show! It was called the Other Half and it was on in the early 00s – it had Mario Lopez, few other men. I can remember it because I spent a long stretch of high school being homeschooled due to illness and I remember it being on. It was actually not horrible. I don’t think Jerry is a bad guy and I don’t think the show will suffer for having a man on it – just as long as he doesn’t do anything objectionable like mansplain or talk over them constantly.
I remember skipping class and watching that! hahahahaaaaa!!!!
i welcome jerry!! he’s awesome!!!! NOW we have a reason to watch!!!! def not vanilla, looks maybe vanilla, personable as crap and all 31 flavors!!
Oh yeah, I remember that! Haha
I can’t see Jerry being the guy to mansplain anything. He’s so dang likable.
I always thought Jerry should have replaced Regis as Kelly Ripa’s cohost he was good on that. But I get why he wasn’t, he had the potential to become bigger than Kelly on that show. I agree the Talk could chosen someone from a group not represented in media. I think having a show with all minorities is still something that media like NBC, CBS and ABC, especially in daytime, are not willing to embrace.
OMG. I just posted above I thought he was perfect to replace Michael Strahan. He wanted that job. But Kelly resisted, wanting everyone else but Jerry, and went for Ryan Seacrest, who was no competition.
I think he’ll bring some levity and necessary balance to the show. He’s also likeable. I have no doubt that if he stereotypes or mansplains anything the ladies will get him together.
LOL Jerry’s wife, Rebecca Romijn is a strong, strong woman, He gets put in his place all the time by her in their personal life, and lives in a house also with two daughters, no other males. He delights in being in the company of women (in a good way) and is funny. He’s never come across as a serial offender of mainsplaining. Although, lets face it. No man is capable of never mansplaining. He’s probably learned to keep it in check or has evolved, hopefully, as he grew older. He’s never come across as offensive.
I agree. These daytime group talkshows seem to be filled with discord and stress. He is lovable and fun and I think he will lighten the atmosphere and create a more congenial dynamic amongst the group.
Yes – agree with all of you!
I haven’t watch talk shows since Phil Donahue with my grandma. I still remember him running around with the land line cord dragging behind. I listen to multi host podcasts so I guess that’s kind of the same? But what’s the age demographic for The Talk?
He’ll always be the tire king of Texas to me!
I do like him.
#BigBangReference! 😊
He was actually good as Sheldon’s brother, even looked like he could *be* “young Georgie” all grown up.
Yes! I knew someone here would get it! And yeah he was good.
Since I am WFH all the time now, I have been watching it. He seems like a good fit. He does struggle on those rare occasions the show tries to go deeper into a story as he clearly likes to keep it light. He also seems uncomfortable when non-conforming gender related issues arise. As someone about his age, I don’t think he should be as surprised or as uncomfortable as he appears. I guess that comes from being white, cis gendered, and hetero. So easy to avoid the varieties of life.
Like others have said, I think he would have done better with Kelly Ripa but maybe they thought it Seacrest was a catch and would bring in American Idol viewers.
It will be interesting to see if he grows and becomes more informed as a result of being exposed to more serious issues on the show.
I guess I’m in the minority. I find Jerry extremely annoying and immature. I loved The Talk. I had to turn it off for the entire time he guested on the show. Sad, that I won’t be watching the show any longer.
I like Jerry & he’s a good guy but I find him hella Annoying & “Too try hard”at times.
Agreed!!!
oh geez.
My friend and I met Jerry and his brother one New Years Eve. Yes to annoying, try hard and immature as some other people have commented. They were totally harmless, but we were trying to ditch them pretty quickly. He would make a good tv host. The guy never ran out of something to say.
Absolutely nothing against Jerry personally, and I never watch this show, but when you have to fire a white woman host due to racism, homophobia, and just general bigotry, maybe replacing her with a straight white cis male is not the best option.
I have seen him on the view, he seems likeable. A definite upgrade.
Why didn’t they try a trans woman first?
I have not issues with Jerry O’Connell but I literally don’t know him from anything but Stand by Me (with some vague notion he was on Lois & Clark?). How was this decision even made?
Dying at the Kurn Huger tweet. Rhop is a gift.
I love Jerry, he always has a place in my heart #standbyme