Michelle Collins officially named new panelist on ‘The View’

Not that there is really any drama or surprise here at all, but Michelle Collins can officially celebrate her employment now on “The View!” Today, the ABC series confirmed the long-circulating rumor that Collins would be joining the show full-time, and this will give her a chance to get her feet wet before the summer hiatus / departure of Rosie Perez. Eventually we assume that the show will hire someone else to fill that void, but that may not come for a little while.

For the time being, though, let’s just focus on Collins, whose hire was also very predictable given the amount of screen time that she had as a guest host on “The View” before the talk of her becoming a permanent addition came about. In a statement today, she had the following to say about coming aboard:

“These past few months have been the most fun and exciting of my career, and I couldn’t be happier to join such an awesome, smart, accomplished and funny group of women. Ever since the age of 4 — and the height of 5′ 6″ — it’s been my dream to host a talk show, and the fact that I now get to do just that every day with an amazing, hard-working team of producers, writers, cast and crew is beyond my wildest expectations. Many thanks to the people at ABC for inviting me to be a part of this team, and specifically to the great Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg, whose support has meant the world to me.”

Ultimately, we’ll see what happens here. We’ve seen so many quick departures on “The View” over time now that we have learned that it is a rather bad idea to start to get altogether attached to just about anyone.

Excited to see what Collins brings to the table as a co-host on the show? Share with a comment.