ESPN’s College Football Day reporter Samantha Ponder and her little baby Scout joined the ladies at the table as today’s guest co-hosts!

Rosie & baby Scout Ponder taking a little time to enjoy The Bottle

Hot Topics:

Game Over: Whoopi asked Samantha if she thinks we should stop playing football because of all the injuries and concussions due to the sport.  Samantha, who is married to Vikings quarterback Chris Ponder, admitted that football is a brutal sport and she understands why parents don’t want their kids to play but she compared it to driving which she says is also very dangerous but we let our 16-year-olds drive.  Nicolle said she will never allow her 3-year-old son to play football.  She said her problem with the sport is the game itself.  Nicolle said the game even sounds like a car crash and they’re not even in a car.  She thinks the concerns about the violence and the injuries due to the sport are legitimate.  Rosie P doesn’t think they should do away with football completely but she does think reforms are necessary.  She said if you take a look at the game of rugby they do not have the same head injuries because they do not wear a helmet.  She suggested we change the game to play without helmets in an attempt to reduce concussions [which will encourage players to not hit with their heads].  Rosie O said she read that every tackle is equivalent to a car accident and she said she didn’t let her boys play football.

A little pre-View fun with baby Scout.

Sony Hacks Getting Worse: The Sony hackers have now made terror threats against any movie theater that shows the comedy The Interview.  Because of these latest threats, the New York premiere and the stars’ press appearances have been canceled.  Whoopi told the “Guardians of Peace” that their name “went out the window” as soon as they made threats of violence.  And she said they had Americans on their side until they made threats of violence and now they’ve made people want to see the movie, whether it’s good or not.  Rosie P said she was never “with” the hackers.  She thought what they did was illegal and she thought they should have been prosecuted.  But she agrees that it went to the next level because of the threats of violence.  She said Aaron Sorkin and Howard Stern sound very valid with their points now [that we should stand with Sony and treat this as a terror attack and not be consumers of it].  Rosie P said this isn’t just about the jobs of Seth, James and Amy Pascal.  She said there are a lot of jobs on the line now because of the hack.  Nicolle read the details of threats to American movie goers made by the terrorists.  She said we cannot let threats from bullies and thugs change our way of life.  She hopes that anyone that wants to see the movie goes out and sees it anyway.  Nicolle said the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the threat to determine whether or not it’s credible.  Rosie O asked the audience how many people would now not see the movie because of the terrorist threat.  She raised her own hand and said she wouldn’t go because of it.  Rosie P said it goes against what we as Americans stand for. She said Seth Rogen and James Franco have a right to freedom of speech and to express what they want to through their art.  Whoopi knows if a movie like this came out in North Korea about our president, we’d be pissed off too but she doesn’t think we would stoop to this to get people to not go see it.

Parental Guidance:  Pundits and brothers, Brad and Dallas Woodhouse, got into a heated debate over Obamacare on C-SPAN until they were shut down by their mother who called into the show.  Here is the video.  Rosie O said it was her favorite clip ever!

Pakistan Attack: The women of The View sent their thoughts and prayers to the people of Pakistan who were recently impacted by a terrorist attack that killed over 100 children.  Whoopi asked all the people of the United States and Australia who are headed over to join ISIS and the Taliban, if this was what they were signing up for.  Rosie P said the issue of “how low can you go” is prevalent around the world today.  What really saddened her was that it took THIS incident to upset the world.  And even the Taliban in Afghanistan denounced their actions.  Nicolle referred to it as the “bleakest picture you can show the world about the true nature of the Taliban.”  She said this is the ideology of ISIS and who we’re fighting.  She also said we all agree it’s vicious and disgusting but we live in a country where we’re free to debate what to do about it.  And she said in this part of the world, this is an accepted means of how to fight a war.  Nicolle explained that the attack was carried out by the Pakistani Taliban who is against children and girls going to school and they’re willing to kill babies to do it.  Rosie O hopes this act will galvanize the people of Pakistan to make change.  She referenced how this weekend was the terrible anniversary of Sandy Hook which galvanized a lot of Americans to stand up and say they’ve had enough.  Whoopi said it was a purposeful attack against the people who were trying to protect the citizens of Pakistan.  Samantha does not think we can even reason with these types of terrorists because they are essentially evil and they don’t have the same basic understanding of the value of a human life.  Whoopi ended the conversation by saying, “If you’re fighting for your people, you don’t kill your own people.”  She hopes this will make the people of Pakistan finally “wake up” and get these terrorist people out of there.

Thank you Live Nation: Yesterday they ran out of time when Idina Menzel performed and they wanted to thank Live Nation for generously giving yesterday’s audience Idina Menzel concert tickets!

Come to Jesus Moment: It’s apparently a lot easier to find Jesus this Christmas because more and more families are putting GPS tracking systems inside baby Jesus before putting him in the nativity scene in the front yard.  They’re doing this because people keep snatching baby Jesus!  Rosie O wanted to know what people were doing with Jesus once they stole him and Samantha wanted to know if there’s a black market for baby Jesuses.  When Rosie O drops her kids off at school there are several houses with nativity scenes and none of them have baby Jesus in them.  She thought this was perhaps the reason why but Whoopi said she thinks it’s because he doesn’t get delivered until next week.  Ahhhh, that makes sense. 

Guests:

Ruth Wilson, who plays a married woman caught up in an affair with a married man in The Affair on Showtime, sat down with the women of The View to discuss her role in the series.  Rosie O called it, “One of the greatest shows on TV.”  Ruth is British but you would never know by watching the show because she has mastered the perfect American accent!  Nicolle said after watching The Affair she needed a sleeping pill or a glass of wine to come down from it because it is so intense!  Ruth said the show is told from two different perspectives- from a male point of view and a female point of view.  She said it’s about how people oftentimes structure their own narratives to justify their actions sometimes without even knowing we’re doing it.  And it’s also a complicated love story between two people who are both married with kids.  Ruth said the relationship on the show is a complicated situation that many people go through.  Playing the role has really made Ruth value marriage and also realize how difficult marriage can be.  The season finale of The Affair airs this Sunday night (12/21) on Showtime.  Ruth also talked with Rosie O and Nicolle about how she’s recently started previews for the play Constellations on Broadway also starring Jake Gyllenhaal!

Musical Performance: Emily Padgett and Erin Davie, the stars of Side Show on Broadway, graced the stage to sing “Who Will Love Me as I Am” from the hit Broadway musical.  Sideshow is playing through January 4^th.  Go see it!

Rosie & the stars of Sideshow on Broadway!

Flashback Wednesday: Here’s a clip of Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner performing the same song 17 YEARS ago on The Rosie O’Donnell Show!

Audience Gift: Members of the studio audience each received two tickets to see Sideshow on Broadway!

Take a little time to enjoy The View!

written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions