Following weeks of auditions and negotiations, it's official: Whoopi Goldberg will be joining the cast of The View, taking over where Rosie O'Donnell and Meredith Vieira left off. The comedienne and actress will begin her new role after Labor Day, joining Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, and Elisabeth Hasslebeck to moderate guests and discuss the issues of the day.

Ms. Goldberg was selected from a pool of respectable competitors, including Kathy Griffin, Roseanne Barr, Oprah BFF Gayle King, and comedienne Sherri Shepherd.

One month before her contract was to expire, O'Donnell abruptly departed the show in late May, following the last of many heated flare-ups with conservative co-host Hasslebeck. According to People magazine, Whoopi has already told her co-hosts that she's too "mellow" to get involved in such feuds. Hasslebeck is optimistic, saying of her new co-host: "She is soulful, has a world of experience ... and I don't sense any sort of political agenda." But don't contrary views make the program interesting?

The program, aired each day on Walt Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC Networks, is on the cusp of its 11th season.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.