'The View' Stoops to Conquer

Is it an honor to guest host The View anymore? That's what we wondered when we read that Kate Gosselin of TLC's inexplicably popular reality TV melodrama Jon & Kate Plus 8 would be sitting in on the ABC chat show with Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, et. al. on September 14 and 15.

Gosselin, who's mostly famous for cashing in on her large family and seeing her marriage destroyed by the celebrity-industrial complex, may be just the latest step downward in the devolution of the show's stunt guest hosts.

Here's a look at View guest hosts from the sublime to the ridiculous:

On June 18, 2008, Michelle Obama sat in the guest slot to generally favorable reviews. (Particularly for her Donna Ricco dress.) Picking Obama made sense since she was at the time a part of the biggest news story in decades, an unofficial emissary of her husband Barack Obama's run for the White House.

This month it was announced that Meghan McCain would cohost September 8. McCain might not be everyone's cup of tea (we're looking at you, Laura Ingraham), but bringing her on makes sense. The daughter of former Presidential candidate John McCain has been raising her profile with opinion pieces, TV appearances, and (as is required for all who wish to be heard amid the current media clatter), furious Tweeting.

Slipping into scandal land, the show will also feature LaToya Jackson on September 16 and 18. What is that if not a crass attempt to grab a piece of the Michael Jackson death sideshow? Does anyone imagine LaToya addressing the issues of the day and engaging in spirited chitchat with her co-hosts?

After Jackson, the show is tapping E.D. Hill, the former Fox News anchor who will forever live in infamy for describing a fist bump between Barack and Michelle Obama as a "terrorist fist jab" in June 2008. (She was let go from Fox not too long after that.) In the middle of a wildly contentious debate over health care reform, who will Hill manage to imply is a terrorist on ABC's air? Tune in and see!

At this rate, expect to see Octomom guest hosting some time in November. If one of the real housewives of New Jersey doesn't get there first.