Walters’ warm view of Hilton

Paris Hilton: the next Rosie O’Donnell?

Barbara Walters, who scored a phone interview with the jailed heiress on Monday, said that she’d love to have Hilton as a regular on “The View.” “Wouldn’t that be fun?” Walters said Monday night during “Barbara Live,” her quarterly call-in show on Sirius satellite radio. Bill Geddie, Walters’ longtime producer, disagreed, adding: “It’s not going to happen.” But he admitted that when he and Walters both feel strongly about an issue, “we go with her.”

Geddie also said it was likely that one of “The View’s” new co-hosts would be an African American woman, noting that they are looking for replacements for both Star Jones, who left the show last year, and O’Donnell, who exited abruptly last month.

“We have, really, two positions open, I think people forget,” Geddie said. “We got a lot of hiring to do here. So the chances of us hiring two white women ... not very likely.”