Paula new Faris’ point of ‘View’
The former Chicago sports anchor lands a coveted spot on the show everyone’s talking about
Paula Faris has the sort of easy smile that gives her an air of approachability; in combination with her hard-earned credibility, she seemed an ideal choice to co-anchor “Good Morning America’s” weekend edition, a role she landed in 2014. But opinionated morning talk show co-host? That’s another story.
But in fact, Faris, 39, brings a unique perspective to “The View’s” table, which she joined this fall— a perspective we, and especially they, didn’t know we needed. It’s not that of a mother of three or of a Christian, though she is both of those things; it’s that of truth bearer, devil’s advocate and champion of the under-represented.
“My goal is to help open up the discussion,” Faris says.“If I feel it’s heavily one-sided, then what I’mgoing to do, regardless of [whether] it’s my personal belief, is make sure we’re representative of the other views out there. It should be [called] ‘ The
Views,’ because our country is made up of so many different opinions, and I want to make sure people feel like they have a voice at the table.”
Faris came to “The View” at the start of Season 19, after the ABC news division — for which she is an anchor— acquired the morning show during Season 18. She fills the role of the newswoman— call her 2015’s BarbaraWalters or Meredith Vieira— to bring some journalistic chops to the show, and joins the fluctuating cast of— in order of longest tenure to shortest— Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Michelle Collins, Raven-Symoné and fellow first-year talker Candace Cameron Bure.
For Faris, a Michigan native you might recognize fromher six-year stint as a sports anchor for WMAQ-Channel 5 in Chicago, “The View” is a new challenge.
“I have a bit of a tough balance,” she says.“At the end of the day, my No. 1 goal is to maintain my credibility as a journalist. I’mnever going