Julie Chen Moonves, who was on former daytime TV series The Talk, for much of its run, is speaking out about the show being canceled.
“I was sad,” she told the host on Monday’s episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, “but I was also aware that it had become such a different show, because when I was on, it was all women, and there was some chatter about maybe putting a guy on, on the panel when [cohost] Aisha [Tyler] left. The year before was my last year, and my husband always said, he was like, ‘You know, if you put men on that panel, you just change the dynamic. Right now it’s a bunch of women having a grand old time, you know, yucking it up,’ and it was sad for me to see, but really there was very few remnants left of the show that I had worked on.”
Chen Moonves sat at the table with her evolving list of cohosts for the first eight seasons of the eventual 15 that the show would have. She left in 2018, days after husband, Les Moonves, was booted from his position as chairman of The Talk’s network, CBS Corp., in the wake of sexual assault claims he has denied.
At the time, she said that she wanted to “spend more time at home with my husband and our young son”; however, she later claimed she was forced to leave.
Chen Moonves did host with all women, but the show introduced two male cohosts, Jerry O’Connell and former football star and host of American Ninja Warrior Akbar Gbajabiamila, in 2021.
CBS canceled the series in 2024, and the final episode aired Dec. 20.
For Chen Moonves, that was “disappointing, ’cause I look at The View and I’m like, I felt like The Talk could have lasted just as long as The View is lasting.”
James White/CBS
ABC’s take on the all-female daytime show had debuted on TV in 1997. Created by journalist Barbara Walters, The View had always been more political.
Still, Cohen noted that he thought it had been a mistake for The Talk “running away from topical issues.”
Chen Moonves agreed and said the move had been “tone deaf.”
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
She added, “When we started, you know, things were different in history. You know, the tone was different in the country, but you gotta listen and you gotta adapt.”
Chen Moonves has continued to host another CBS show, as she has since 2000: Big Brother.
