By John Dempsey
NEW YORK (Variety) - ABC's hit daytime gabber "The View" is losing one of its co-hosts, Lisa Ling, who has resigned to become host of "National Geographic Explorer."
The industry learned of Ling's departure when Barbara Walters announced the news live on the Monday telecast of "The View." Walters is co-executive producer of "The View" and an occasional co-host.
"We came after Lisa," said David Royle, executive producer of "National Geographic Explorer," citing Ling's experience as senior war correspondent for Channel One News, the network that's funneled into schoolrooms covering fifth grade through high school.
The "Explorer" series runs every Sunday on MSNBC at 6 p.m. for four hours, featuring stories ranging from natural-history documentaries and reports of expeditions to science pieces and big-picture analyzes of geographical areas in the news.
Ling succeeds Boyd Matson, who will work on a companion TV series to National Geo's Adventure magazine.
Ling, 29, joined "The View" in May 1999, succeeding Debbie Matenopoulos.
Until "The View" lands a replacement for Ling, whose last show is Dec. 5, Walters said guests like Whoopi Goldberg will fill in, joining regular hosts Meredith Vieira, Star Jones and Joy Behar.