Artificial intelligence, phantom noises, raging rivers of water that seemingly appear out of nowhere, Siri, tidings of the apocalypse, dead alien bodies, unhinged political candidates, and Minnie Mouse; all of these invasive entities haunted/plagued/waged war within the halls of The View throughout 2023, culminating in some of the best TV moments of the year.

Not only was the classic series the No. 1 talker on daytime, but the dynamic (and hijinks, some more intentional than others) shared by cohosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, and Alyssa Farah Griffin made The View a most enjoyable hour of television that gave even scripted network shows a run for their comedic money.

Collage of The View’s most shocking moments with Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin
‘The View’s wildest moments of the year. ABC – DESIGN: ALEX SANDOVAL
Ahead, take a little time to enjoy EW’s list of The View’s best moments of the year, including lap dances, duels with sharks, unprompted pregnancy inquiries, and, of course, fond memories of Behar calling that Italian woman a bitch on her sun-kissed European vacation.

Until the show returns from its holiday hiatus in January, cozy up to the joys of The View’s best moments of the 2023 below.

Best moments on The View in 2023

Fart noise and water spillage plagues ‘The View’.ABC

A mysterious, phantom fart noise and catastrophic water spillage drift over the Hot Topics table

To this day, we still don’t know what happened at the Hot Topics table on Jan. 25, 2023. Perhaps a government inquiry will yield answers, because we don’t have them. All we know are the facts of that fateful day, which saw Alyssa Farah Griffin speak about classified documents found at Mike Pence’s home, while an apparent raging river of water decided to declassify itself from one of the iconic View mugs on the other side of the table. Whoopi Goldberg and Sara Haines attempted to clean up the massive spillage with their note cards, though it only appeared to get bigger and wetter with each swipe of their hands — but, that wasn’t the wildest thing that happened that morning. EW staffers have watched the clip dozens of times, and there’s no definitive explanation for what occurred next, as a mysterious fart noise blared out of nowhere. Was it Haines’ pants? Was it Goldberg stifling a laugh over the liquid chaos? Was it a “little frog outta there” rebounding all the way back from the annals of The View‘s past? We don’t know, and we don’t care, because it’s a golden View moment for the her-story books.

Minnie Mouse locks Whoopi Goldberg into a wind machine on ‘The View’.ABC

Minnie Mouse locks Whoopi Goldberg into a wind machine of chaos

When you wish upon a star, dreams really do come true — and seeing Minnie Mouse lock Emmy-, Grammy-, Oscar-, and Tony-winning performer Whoopi Goldberg into a whirling wind machine filled with tiny cards bearing information corresponding to audience seat numbers was a cherished gift unlike anything The View has given us before. Goldberg was supposed to pick up one of the cards, but seemingly engaged in a battle for her life with the gods of air — while wearing mouse ears on her head — instead.

Joy Behar calls an Italian woman a ‘bitch’ on ‘The View’.ABC

Joy Behar calls an Italian woman a bitch

No mode of transportation — from European trains to her apartment building’s elevator that attempted to kidnap her last year — is safe when professional lasagna queen Joy Behar is aboard. The 81-year-old told a delightful tale of her international vacation, which included tours of historic sites, delicious food, and cussing out an Italian woman for dessert. Behar said she was forced to verbally accost a locomotive employee because the woman wouldn’t let Behar, who had a coach-class ticket, use an exclusive bathroom aboard the craft. “The people are nice, here and there. I had to call one woman the b-word, but that’s something else,” Behar said. “I said it in English because she wouldn’t let me pee in the first-class lounge. I said, ‘Please, let me just go!’ I said, ‘Listen, don’t be a bitch.’ She wouldn’t let me go.” And for that, Italian diva of unknown moniker, we’re thankful. Brava!

Whoopi Goldberg wants to fight a shark.GETTY IMAGES; ABC

Whoopi Goldberg says she’d fight a shark: “Punch it in the face!”

As most great epic tales are, Whoopi Goldberg’s desire to launch a battle plan for a potential attack from a nefarious sea creature was inspired by another great pop culture work: Jaws. Discussing in October her affinity for The Shark Is Broken, a new Broadway play, Goldberg told her cohosts that she dreamed of waging war against a shark, and was confident her plan of attack would secure her victory. “I mean, listen, I know what to do because that wonderful man who came to our show said [to] punch it in the face,” she said. “And so, you know, don’t be scared. Think of somebody you really don’t like and beat the poo out of that shark. Pow!”

Joy Behar misses her cue on ‘The View’.ABC

Camera films nothing as Joy Behar misses cue to walk out on stage 

May 19, 2023 will forever be remembered as the day The View was ready to go live at the stroke of 11 a.m. ET, but Joy Behar, however, was not. Alyssa Farah Griffin led the Hot Topics army procession to the table at the start of the show, with Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, and… not Behar following close behind her. The camera trailed to the end of the line, filming empty space (the decorative trees were nice… plants, beautiful plants…) instead of Behar, who was late to set because of “primping.” She later explained herself, exclaiming, “Wow, I almost didn’t make it today,” adding that it was “the latest” she’d ever been to a live telecast.

Whoopi Goldberg attempts to cut Alyssa Farah Griffin’s chaotic shirt

Alyssa Farah Griffin, cherry sweater-wearing millennial fashion icon, previously worked as a communications specialist for Donald Trump’s White House; her brain, however, hilariously did not communicate well with her couture ambitions on July 13, when she came to set wearing her shirt incorrectly. “So, I don’t want anybody to get nervous but, we have been talking about this shirt, and I really feel like somebody needs to cut it so that it works, but I feel like we need to call Fran [Taylor]. Fran is the woman who does all of our wardrobe,” Whoopi Goldberg said at the end of the episode, brandishing a pair of scissors in an effort to do the job herself. Taylor, however, walked out to the table and fixed the top, covering Griffin’s shoulder — but too late to mask one of the funniest wardrobe-related incidents the show has ever seen.

Sara Haines morphs into a penis on ‘The View’.ABC

Sara Haines morphs into a penis

The title says it all on this one. While discussing nude dating show Naked Attraction and genitalia in September, Sara Haines — The View‘s reigning queen of gay volleyball leagues — used her body to temporarily morph into a one-eyed penis.

Joy Behar and Sara Haines with Behar’s phone on ‘The View’.ABC

Siri interrupts the live broadcast to give Joy Behar directions to her seat at the Hot Topics table

The View added a seventh permanent cohost to its April 21 telecast: Siri, after the silk-voiced computer program interrupted the top of the show after Joy Behar seemingly needed Apple Map directions to get from her dressing room to the Hot Topics table. Siri could be heard warning Behar that there was a “speed camera reported ahead” (perhaps under the Hot Topics table?) before Sara Haines grabbed the device to silence it. “My phone goes off. Why does Siri talk to me?” Behar said, before saying one of the most hilarious things in recorded history: “I don’t ask her to speak to me.”

Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin fight on ‘The View’.ABC

Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin have the most vicious fight the show has seen in years

Is Meghan McCain in the room with us now? Long gone are the days when each political discussion on The View ended with the Princess of Arizona balking at her colleagues, but an early-summer matchup between longtime legal expert Sunny Hostin and former Donald Trump White House associate Alyssa Farah Griffin conjured the show’s bygone McCain Era in spectacular fashion. Hostin ignited the spat during a Hot Topics debate about Trump’s various indictments, implying that Griffin wasn’t able to defend a man she once worked for. A visibly flustered Griffin attempted to respond, though her cohosts kept digging. “This is Barbara Walters’ legacy, let a woman speak!” Griffin said, before Whoopi Goldberg sensed growing tension and threw the show to break. Griffin kissed the show off to its commercial sponsors with a definitive end to the argument: “What a disgrace!” Not for those of us watching, at least!

Whoopi Goldberg yells at a mystery backstage noise-maker on ‘The View’.ABC; GEORGE PIMENTEL/FILMMAGIC

Whoopi Goldberg yells at mystery backstage noise-maker (likely Taraji P. Henson)

The View‘s most prominent theme of 2023 was noise-based phantoms of unknown origin. Taraji P. Henson’s appearance on an April episode gave us a small gift of sonic clarity, however, when the actress was dismissed from the Hot Topics table — but her presence was felt long after her departure. After the show returned from a commercial break, Whoopi Goldberg stood up from her seat to yell at a mystery backstage noise-maker that the cohosts could hear interrupting their live shot. “Hold on a second, ya’ll. Hey, who’s ever [sic] back there, we can hear you!” Goldberg yelled. The cohosts then staged an official inquiry into the incident, with each of them speculating as to who it was. “It’s Taraji,” Alyssa Farah Griffin said. “I think it’s Taraji,” added Sunny Hostin. “It’s Taraji,” Joy Behar noted. It was probably Taraji.

Joy Behar on ‘The View’.ABC

Joy Behar warns in-studio audience of World War III days after Morgan Freeman brought tidings of the apocalypse to the table

Morgan Freeman brought information about his new Netflix series Life on Our Planet — as well as jovial tidings of Earth’s impending destruction — to The View in October, just before the start of the holiday season. “There’s going to be a cataclysmic event that will wipe many of us off the face of the Earth,” the Oscar-winning actor told the ladies, who listened in stunned silence. Days later, Joy Behar continued the doomsday momentum while she spoke to the show’s silent studio audience about the dangers of World War III. During a segue into an interview with White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, Behar cautioned viewers about escalating violence amid the war in Gaza, turning to the crowd to deliver a shocking prophecy. “A lot of people are concerned that things could escalate into World War III,” Behar said. “Oh, God. You can’t have World War III! That’s the end of everything.” Thanks, Joy!

Whoopi Goldberg gives Sunny Hostin a lap dance on ‘The View’.ABC

Whoopi Goldberg gives Sunny Hostin a lap dance

Whoopi Goldberg, who famously does not want someone in her house via marriage, apparently does want someone in her general vicinity — and that person is Sunny Hostin. Goldberg led a Hot Topics discussion in May, which began with the actress explaining that “70 percent [of people] have cheated at bachelor or bachelorette parties,” with the extramarital activities ranging “from lap dances to a threesome.” After Hostin, the show’s legal expert, said that she didn’t feel lap-dancing could be classified as cheating despite never receiving a lap dance herself, Goldberg stepped in to fill a lifelong void.

Tim Scott on ‘The View’.ABC

Tim Scott stops by for one of the most bizarre interviews in the show’s history

The word “chaos” is often used to affectionately describe all shocking things on The View, but conservative presidential candidate Tim Scott’s June appearance embodied the essence of the word. Scott clashed with Hostin over homelessness in the Black community, before Goldberg tried to throw the segment — which ran long — to a commercial break. Scott apparently tried to buy himself some more screen time by standing up to deliver a speech. “I believe all people can see the success that I’ve had,” he said before catching himself and sitting back down. “Oh, oh, okay.” The rest of the interview saw him flex his bicep toward Ana Navarro, and Goldberg repositioned herself to sit next to Hostin so she could look Scott in the eyes as he spoke. Finally, Goldberg had to call for a crew member to run to the stage to tell Scott that he had to stop talking, so the show could go to a commercial break.