ABC | The Adobo Chronicles

From top, clockwise: Whitman, Hasselbeck, Bachmann, Brewer, Palin

New York, New York – ABC Television Network has announced the hosts of the 18th season of the daytime television talk show ‘The View,’ and only Elisabeth Hasselbeck is staying on.

The announcement came as the show’s producer Barbara Walters prepares to retire on May 16. Part of the farewell week is the appearance on May 15 of all the 11 current and past co-hosts of the show.

“No one can really fill the shoes of Ms. Walters but we believe that we have assembled a powercast of some of the most intelligent, eloquent and knowledgeable women in this country,” said Paul Lee, ABC Network Entertainment Group president.

Hasselbeck will provide some continuity to the popular talk show, the ABC announcement said.

The new co-hosts are former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Representative Michele Bachmann, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman.

Ellen DeGeneres was being tapped to be the 6th co-host but she ‘respectfully declined.’

New York, New York – If you think watching television coverage of the Winter Olympics 12 hours after events had already concluded is ridiculous, think again. It can get worse.

Today the ABC Network announced that the telecast of this Sunday’s 86th Oscar Awards will be seen 24 hours later on the East Coast. The network will carry the ceremonies live from The Dolby Theater in Hollywood, but only for viewers on the Pacific Coast. Viewers in the Mountain and Central time zones will see the recorded telecast at the same time as those on the East Coast — on Monday.

Lately, television networks have come under fire for airing events that happen on the West Coast live to viewers on the East Coast, yet those on the West Coast get to see the events three hours later.

ABC executives explained that the network is making it up to West Coast viewers by giving them the first crack at the Oscars. “For too long, West Coasters have endured spoiler moments when outcomes are already known by East Coast viewers because of the three-hour difference in what is called “prime time TV,” they said. “For example, television audiences on the East Coast already know who the new American Idol is before the supposedly live show even airs in the West. Yet Idol happens in Hollywood,” they added.