Watching The View

This was a week of re-runs. Below are the links to my original recaps of the episodes, in case you are interested.

June 25th (original air date: 5/30): Making Women Rich
June 26th (original air date: 5/31): Whoopi Goldberg and Debra Messing
June 27th (original air date: 6/1): Lori Stokes and Jane Seymour
June 28th (original air date:6/8): Kathy Griffin and Robert Iler
June 29th: no episode aired

Next week will be re-runs as well, as will be the majority of August.

The View, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Here is Elisabeth Hasselbeck (although at the time she was still Elisabeth Filarski) in 2001. This was one of her cast photos for Survivor: Australian Outback.

The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Elisabeth Filarski, Survivor, Survivor: Australian Outback

U.S. army costume

Originally uploaded by Rosie O’Donnell

This photo was uploaded by Rosie O’Donnell today and labeled “U.S. Army Costume.” I don’t think this is Vivi in the picture, so maybe one of her brothers has a similar costume? UPDATE: A clever reader, “pnbzmom” deduced that the initials CBOD on the uniform probably refer to Chelsea Belle O’Donnell, Rosie’s older daughter.

If you go back and look at the picture of Vivi, there are empty velcro patches where the stars and Army patches are on this costume.

I wonder if Rosie posted this photo to counteract all the of the media who have claimed that Vivi was dressed like a terrorist in that other photo. I did find it odd that many people thought she was dressed as a terrorist, rather than a soldier. Perhaps she is trying to make a point about how people are quick to judgment in branding people terrorists? Or does this go back to her previous point about how American soldiers are seen as terrorists by many people in Iraq?

What is interesting to me is how most of the media outlets have failed to pick up on Rosie’s point, which is that her daughter in a costume should not be news and Paris Hilton should not be news, when there is a war going on and thousands of our soldiers have been killed and severely injured.

Rosie O’Donnell, rblog, Iraq war, politics

Here is a photo of Joy Behar from 1992. She was attending the 44th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards.

The View, Joy Behar, 1992, Writers Guild of America

I found this great picture of Barbara Walters from 1980. Pictured with her are Henry Kissinger and Mike Wallace. They were attending a Friars Club event honoring Kissinger. Elisabeth Hasselbeck was three years old at the time (as was I).

The View, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger, Mike Wallace, Friars Club, 1980, Elisabeth Hasselbeck

Rosie O’Donnell posted a new video called “dress up” which shows that last year, her daughter Vivi was often dressed like a princess. This year she is dressing up like a soldier. The background music for the video is “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

In her “Ask-ro” section she wrote this:

my daughter in a soldier costume
national news
3500 dead soldiers for real
they dont comment

shame

She also had this interchange:

Tiffany writes:
Ro,
Is Vivi’s picture a political statement? Help us understand…

all that matters
is what it means 2 u

The View, Rosie O’Donnell, rblog

In what many responding her blog have called “disturbing” and others “brilliant,” Rosie O’Donnell posted the picture below on her blog. It is her youngest child, Vivi, wearing camouflage and bullets.

In response to a question about it on her blog, Rosie said that she doesn’t set up photos, she takes photos of what is before her. She has written previously that her children love playing soldiers and she said that in the photo, Vivi was playing soldiers with her brothers. She has previously posted a picture of her son Blake in camouflage, also below, but that did not get a negative reaction as far as I know. Do you think that it is the fact that Vivi is a little girl, that she is wearing the bullets, or is it her expression, which seems so sad, that is creating controversy?

UPDATE: According to The Showbuzz, Rosie wrote this to them regarding the controversy:

It’s fascinating to me
that an image of a child dressed up as a soldier
evokes so much attention
yet the real soldiers - their deaths - their wounded bodies
doesn’t seem to faze most
or make news.

Thanks to Watching the View reader Alice for The Showbuzz link.

From Rosie.com

Originally uploaded by Rosie O’Donnell

You can read many of the comments that she received in response to the photo in her blog entry “a picture says a thousand posts” here.

Rosie O’Donnell, Vivienne O’Donnell, rblog

I reported previously how an article in The New York Times stated that the ratings for the The View remained up after Rosie O’Donnell’s departure. That article specifically said that while Rosie was there, the ratings were up 17% over the previous season in the same time period. The article claimed that in the first two weeks after her departure, the ratings were still “nearly a half million viewers” more than the previous year in that time period. The article said that the ratings remained 16% greater than the previous year.

Now Fox News is reporting that since Rosie’s departure, The View has lost over 400,000 viewers per day.

Indeed, “The View” suffered a 13 percent decline in household ratings, and a 9 percent decline in overall ratings during the combined weeks of June 4 and 11 compared with Rosie’s last two weeks.

Here are some stats: The week of May 21, Rosie’s last week (even though no one knew it), the show had an average of 3.8 million viewers a day. But the week of June 11, the ratings were down to 3.35 million viewers a day.

I do not pretend to be a mathematician or statistician, so maybe some of my readers can do the calculations for me. Is it possible for both sets of numbers to be correct? Could The View be down 400,000 viewers per day and still be up 16% over last year? Is this just a case of manipulating the same numbers to have the outcome desired by the writer? Or is one of these articles just completely wrong?

Rosie O’Donnell, The View, television ratings, New York Times, Fox News

This picture below is from last year’s (2006) Daytime Emmy suite. I am not sure who made the blanket.

The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barbara Walters, Daytime Emmy Awards

For the recap of the episode that aired today click here. It originally aired on May 30th.

The View, recaps, Suze Orman, Barbara Walters, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar

According to Page Six, Barbara Walters has revealed why she has turned down the post-jail interview with Paris Hilton, even after Hilton agreed to do it for free.

Barbara said that she decided not to do the interview because it was not important news. She added that the interview was “not up to my standard” and “tawdry.” She also added:

Besides, it was a no-win. If I did a tough piece and her tears started to flow, it would be, ‘Oh, there’s Barbara Walters making people cry again.’ Too soft, and I’d be criticized.

I wonder if that second part, that it was a no-win situation, may have played a bigger role in her decision. It is certainly not beneath her to discuss Paris Hilton and other not-real-news stories on The View, so I cannot believe that was the overarching deciding factor. I think that she was afraid that she would be seen as too mean, or conversely, like she was continuing her Paris PR campaign. I am sure that her concern for how her friend Kathy Hilton would react to the interview weighed on her mind as well. Aside from the fact that it is not real news, I think that she was smart to not to the interview, where she was already too close to the situation and perhaps could not have been objective as she would have liked to be.

The Paris Hilton out of jail interview will air on Larry King Live on Wednesday. Obviously his standards are not nearly so high.

Barbara Walters, Paris Hilton, The View, Kathy Hilton, Larry King Live, Page Six

Rosie O’Donnell said on her blog that it does not appear that there is going to be a deal for her to host The Price is Right. She had expressed on her blog previously that she thought it could work out, even taping in Los Angeles, because she could record episodes in bulk and not be away from her family too long. Last night, she wrote that she told The Price is Right people about her idea of taping four episodes a day, but they told her that was not possible. As a result, she would have to be away from her family for 26 weeks to do the tapings.

She said that she was not going to uproot her family from New York to Los Angeles because they have school, friends, and a life in New York. She also refuses to be away from them for that long. So it appears that the whole thing is a no-go.

Rosie O’Donnell, The Price is Right, rblog

Previously I posted photographs of Elisabeth Hasselbeck at the Daytime Emmy gifting suite. I just found these photos, which show that Joy Behar and Barbara Walters got some freebies too.

The View, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barbara Walters, daytime emmy awards

Here is Watching the View Podcast #6!
If you want to check out the previous podcasts, they are here.

I am also happy to announce that the Watching the View podcasts are now available on iTunes. If you want to subscribe via iTunes, head to this link.

On today’s show:

The first month without Rosie O’Donnell
The View ratings
The ongoing “Who will be the new host(s)?” debate

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We have had some problems with the ability to play this podcast, especially using Firefox. We are working to fix it.

The View, podcast, The View podcast, Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Gayle King, Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Griffin

Originally uploaded by Rosie O’Donnell

This photo was posted on Rosie’s Flickr account. It is Rosie O’Donnell as Rosie the Riveter. I thought it was pretty clever.

Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie the Riveter, stop the war, flickr