Major Cast Shake-up Rocks 'The View'

Your daytime talk show routine is about to experience a little — well, a huge — change. According to Deadline, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy are leaving The View. Shepherd has been co-hosting the show for seven years, but talks broke down during the renewal of her contract and she made the decision to exit. McCarthy, who just joined the show in September 2013, made it clear on Twitter on Thursday that if Shepherd left then she would be leaving as well — which is ultimately what happened. This, along with Barbara Walters' retirement, leaves Whoopi Goldberg as the only remaining member of the cast.

A representative for Sherri Shepherd sent Deadline an official statement concerning her departure. "It’s been seven wonderful years on The View and after careful consideration it is time for me to move on," it read. "I am extremely grateful to Barbara Walters and Bill Gedde for giving me the opportunity. I look forward to the business opportunities that lay ahead for me and I am incredibly grateful to my View family and my fans for supporting me on this journey."

Shepherd and McCarthy also took to their Twitters in order to personally break the news to their fans who were, no doubt, left reeling from this sudden change and what it means for the future of The View.

ABC has also released an official statement to US Weekly about Shepherd and McCarthy's departure: "The View will be moving in an exciting new direction next season and ABC has made decisions to evolve the show creatively." It might be meant to be reassuring, but I'm sure many people are just hoping that Whoopi Goldberg doesn't decide to take off as well and leave ABC in the precarious position of having to continue the show with an entirely new cast of women. As it is, the next season of The View will be unlike any that have come before it and it's unclear yet whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

However, Shepherd and McCarthy seem to be in high spirits following their decision. Shepherd posted a picture to Instagram of Shepherd, McCarthy, and McCarthy's fiance Donnie Wahlberg with the caption, "Mr @DonnieWahlberg always takes care of his ladies @jennyannmccarthy & me! To be continued... ;O)" Could this be a hint that there are bigger and brighter prospects on the future for Shepherd and McCarthy?

Only one thing is for certain: Everyone had better start getting their fill of those "our (point of) View is changing" jokes because I have a feeling they're going to very quickly grow stale.

Image: sherrieshepherd/Instagram