Sherri Shepherd Promises New Show Will Be Nothing Like ‘The View’: “I’m Your Escape From Doom and Gloom”

As Sherri Shepherd gears up for today’s premiere of her new talk show, Sherri, she promises the one thing it won’t feature — political debates.

While Shepherd is no stranger to the subject, having spent seven years as a co-host on The View, she told Yahoo Entertainment, “I don’t feel I need to lean into politics. You have a plethora of shows you can lean into to get your politics. Number one, my old stomping grounds: The View.”

The host, who is taking over the time slot for The Wendy Williams Show, promises she will be “your escape from the doom and gloom.”

“We’re hearing and seeing so much stuff from Instagram, social media, this network, that one,” she said. “Sometimes you just want to escape and you want to laugh and you want permission to breathe and feel good. That’s me.”

Despite not wanting to mimic The View, Shepherd reflected on her time working with Barbara Walters, who co-created the show and remained a co-host until 2014. According to Shepherd, “you couldn’t pay to have a better education on interviewing people.”

She continued, “Barbara would always say, ‘Be curious about people.’ … ‘Do not take no for an answer.'”

And in a harsh way to help Shepherd handle the debates, the host claims Walters also said, “Why don’t you read a book, dear.'”

However, Shepherd recalled the piece of advice that helped her to be taken more seriously.

“Barbara taught me that people take you, as a woman, more seriously when your voice has a deepness to it,” she said. “So I literally would stand in the mirror to practice delivering the ‘take a little time to enjoy the view’ tagline in less of a singsongy way. Now my voice is very, very deep.”

Regarding her new show, Shepherd says she’s “really excited to bring my sense of humor to the audience today because I think it’s needed,” before adding that there’s a “big gap to be filled” now that Ellen Degeneres’ show has come to an end and she looks forward to “stepping in that pool.”

“I relish the challenge,” she said.

Sherri premieres Monday, Sept. 12 on Fox.