Walters to add Shepherd to 'The View'

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

"The View" is getting another cast member.

The AP has learned that actress Sherri Shepherd will be introduced next week. That means the daytime chat show will have its first full cast since before Rosie O'Donnell came and went.

WHO IS SHE?
Shepherd appears in the upcoming film "Who's Your Caddy." Her lengthy resume includes roles on "Pauly Shore Is Dead" and "The Jamie Foxx Show." She even played God once on the CBS show "Joan of Arcadia."

She was a guest host on "The View" more than a dozen times, many of them this summer as she tried out for a cast slot left empty since Star Jones Reynolds left last summer.

IN THE MEANTIME
Preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings found that 3.4 million people watched Whoopi Goldberg's debut on Tuesday. That's one million shy of O'Donnell's audience for her first show last September. O'Donnell's stormy tenure on "The View" lasted less than a year.

-- Megan K. Scott