Another View On Jed's Exit

What better way to say "Happy Birthday" to your alleged friend, than to announce that you're leaving the show you both work on, on their birthday?

Maybe Jedediah Bila didn't have a choice in the matter, but it still seems like a rather crude way to upstage someone you proclaim to be your friend. Sarah Haines didn't appear to mind that Jed's announcement took center stage and all of the press away from her day. The announcement, in case you missed it, is that Jed is no longer a co-host on The View.

Fans of the show know that there have been so many co-hosts that they could fill two seasons of Survivor with the castoffs. The most shocking thing that happened at the end of last season was that the entire panel was invited back for another season. Fast forward to today, 10 days into the season, and viola, Jed is a goner.

What you might not know about me is that I am an experienced entertainment reporter. I have covered scandals from Tiger Woods to well more Tiger Woods, that dude cannot stay out of trouble.

When it was announced that Meghan McCain would be leaving Fox News, I told my best friend that her next gig would be The View. The producers have been chasing her since Elisabeth Hasselbeck was tormenting us with her voice as a panelist on the show.

For one reason or another, it never worked out, until now. Allegedly. If the reports are to be believed, and I think they are, McCain is already in advanced talks to take the conservative spot at the Hot Topics table.

Read that last sentence again. Already in advanced talks. That means this exit has been in the works for a while. It was not something that just came up out of the blue, as we have been led to believe. If this had been, they would be scrambling to figure out what to do.

It's also important to note what wasn't said. Not once in Jed's 2-minute monologue about leaving the show did she say she quit. She talked about how she was friends with her co-hosts, all except Whoopi Goldberg (whom she claims to respect) and that she has a ton of other projects in the works.

Here's something to chew on, her book is going to be published by Harper Collins.

That doesn't seem like a big deal, does it? It is. Here's why: Harper Collins is owned by NewsCorp, the parent company of Fox and Fox News. Disney doesn't like its talent to go outside of the corporate family.

There's a reason that Disney is a huge conglomerate, they want to make all the money they can from their talent. Maybe one day, I will be a part of that family. The fact that she signed with a publisher that wasn't part of the Disney family should have been a warning sign for everybody.

There's been a lot of talk about how Jed had just signed a contract for the entire season. Here's the thing, we don't know the business side of things. Maybe there was no agreement in place, and she decided it was best not to sign one. Maybe there was, and she violated it.

One of the rumors making the rounds is that Hillary Clinton may have played a part in the departure. The story goes that Jed was critical and harsh on the former presidential nominee, something that the producers did not appreciate. After several meetings, they concluded that she had to go.

The Clinton theory holds some water. Before you start throwing your Trump bobbleheads at me, let me explain. The View is under the ABC News umbrella, which means that if Clinton was displeased (certainly not saying she was) but she might be hesitant to not only appear on the show again, but any ABC talk show.

Like it or not, Clinton is a historical figure. And her presence on any show is likely to raise the ratings. Something that every producer wants. To avoid any unpleasantness, they thought they would get rid of the problem. Since Jed had already gone outside of the corporate family, there was no reason for them to protect her.

There is now a vacancy on the panel. The specter of Jed will loom large for whoever takes her place, even though she said things that I thought were out of line and crazy, she was still better than Hasselbeck.

Also, we should end this article by saying Happy Birthday, Sarah!