LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: July 20, 2023, saw the tragic and untimely death of Bill Geddie, co-creator of ‘The View’ alongside Barbara Walters. His inclusion of women talking about anything and everything under the sun was truly a welcome change on television and in talk shows. His death shocked many fans, especially the co-hosts of ‘The View’.
Monday’s segment primarily focussed on honoring the life of Geddie. Therefore, Sherri Shepherd was also welcomed back on the show. Shepherd officially left ‘The View’ in 2014, but continued to contribute to the show in the following years, until 2016. Now, to honor and remember Geddie, Shepherd was back on the panel, next to her co-hosts.
'He absolutely changed my life'
Whoopi Golberg, the moderator for Monday’s segment, welcomed Shepherd, who sat between Sara Haines and Ana Navarro, “Our friend Sherri Shepherd, she’s also one of our former co-hosts, is here. And we’re going to talk about Bill because you say Bill changed your life.” Shepherd gave a small smile before talking about Geddie, “He absolutely changed my life because back in 2007, when he asked me to come on, I was a single mother, just divorced, a stand-up comic, didn’t know a thing about politics, and somehow he believed that people would relate to me, and I think it was the first week I sat here, he fought for me to be here, no experience, on a talk show. And I think my first week didn’t I say I didn’t know if the Earth was round or flat.”
‘It’s called The View’
Shepperd earned a laugh from the audience before she continued, “I do know that it is round, it was a brain fart, but I think it was the first or the second week, Whoopi,” Shepherd looked at Goldberg, who agreed it was the first week. ‘The View’ then played a short clip from Shepherd’s first week as she continued speaking, “And to Bill I said, oh my god, I do know, I gotta go back on and say, and he said, ‘No, this is ratings baby. This is ratings.’” Shepherd also highlighted her relationship and rapport with Geddie on ‘The View’, saying “He was very hard on me, he was tough on me, but he would fight for me, and every time I made a flub, I would run in his office and go – Bill, we gotta make a statement as soon as the show opens, I gotta apologize. He said, Sheri, if we apologize for everything we said, this show would be called the apology show. It’s called ‘The View’.” This heartwarming segment saw the return of Shepherd at an unfortunate time, but it was wrapped up beautifully as the ‘The View’ co-hosts and fans fondly remember Geddie.
