'The View:' What say you, Barbara?

Expect intriguing developments on 'The View' Monday morning, or at least a broader discussion of the fates some key cast members, including, most importantly, Barbara Walters.

Joy Behar is, of course, expected to address her departure; Babs may or may not confirm what every blog seems to have decided -- that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is out too by season's end, which, if so, will make the show look pretty foolish after denying this Friday. [Barbara just said it's all bull -- Hasselbeck is staying.]

The most interesting question here is, what about Barbara? Will she  step back, do more, or split altogether? She looked fine last week, but it's now clear that the month-plus hiatus gave her time to think and make decisions, notably about the fate of other cast members, maybe even herself. And while you may assume Barbara is a nice, gentle soul, you assume wrong -- she's tough and hard as a brick of forged iron, and  whether the "View" staff lives in fear of her, they should. (She and Meredith Vieira, per industry gossip, never got along well, despite on-screen appearances to the contrary.)

And naturally, there's the flip side: Barbara announces everyone stays except Joy and that otherwise, except no changes at all. Steady as she goes!

In fact, that's exactly what just happened.