Watching The View

Today on The View, Barbara Walters brought up an article that Maureen Down wrote in The New York Times. Dowd wrote that things have not changed in that women still have to “dumb down” to get a man. She also wrote that if a woman puts that she is a lawyer on an internet dating profile, she will not be called, but if she puts flight attendant, she will.

Joy Behar said that she thinks that is still true to some extent. Sherri Shepherd added that no one wants Hillary Clinton to act dumb running for president, but if she was trying to date, she may have to. Whoopi Goldberg pointed out that often when men say that a woman is smart, they will say, “she thinks like a man.” Whoopi thinks that women should not dumb down and should just accept the fact that they might have to be on their own.

Joy said that men are eight times more likely to ask for a raise than a woman. Barbara pointed out that if a man has a short temper or is tough, that is a compliment, while it is not acceptable for a woman. Sherri also said that if a man fixes a car, the wife should puff him up and make him feel better about himself. Whoopi said that you can compliment a man for a genuine job well done, but should not just do it because he feels blue. She added, “I feel blue too.”

The next topic was whether men can fall in love with robots. Yes, I am serious. Apparently there is some projection that in the future men will be having sex with robots. Whoopi pointed out that women have had robotics in their sex life for a while and Barbara had to explain to Sherri that Whoopi was talking about vibrators.
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This is week two of Project Blog. Thanks to all of your votes last week, I won the reader vote and stayed in the competition! Be sure to go here to vote for me this week!

Here is this week’s assignment:

On Project Runway, contestants were asked to create an outfit with a partner for fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker’s newest line, Bitten. This week, blogtestants, you have to write with a partner too - yourself.

That’s right, I want to see your leadership skills, but to make it fair, YOU are the one you’ll be leading.

Pick a post from the past - any post will do - and use that as your inspiration for a new post. You can give us an update on a past news story, revisit a topic, or give further opinion on a factual post. Or hey, do something else - it’s all up to you! Just remember, the goal is to use your past post as inspiration, and you MUST include a link to the past story in your new post. (It can be a post from yesterday or a post from a year ago…timing is not important, any post you choose is fine!)

Rosie O’Donnell’s departure from The View made big headlines, both on this blog and elsewhere. So how did Rosie’s time at The View change the show? Here are what I consider to be the top three ways that The View has been altered in the wake of Rosie’s time on The View and her departure.

1) The IFB rules: An IFB is the device that some news anchors and other on-air personalities wear during a live broadcast to get direction from the producers. Rosie made no secret of the fact that she detests the devices because they prevent the normal flow of conversation and stunt spontaneity. She did not wear one during her time on The View and said in her book, Celebrity Detox, that she eventually convinced both Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck to take theirs out as well. I don’t know if they have gone back to wearing them since her departure.

Unfortunately, Barbara Walters continued to wear hers and Whoopi Goldberg has made no secret of the fact that she wears one. Whoopi has mentioned “the voice in her ear” and even paused during conversation to listen to her ear piece. Although unconfirmed, I think that Sherri Shepherd wears one too, because she has suddenly “remembered” facts during a conversation and it is likely that someone fed the facts to her through her IFB.

After the final Rosie/Elisabeth fight, I believe that any future hosts, or at the very least the moderators, will be contractually obligated to wear an IFB. Although Rosie disagrees, the producers feel that if Rosie wore an IFB, that final fight would not have gone down the way it did.
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Week two of Project Blog is underway! Here is some information about this week’s sponsor, courtesy of Reality on Bravo.

Week Two’s Sponsor: Gillian and Food History (www.foodpast.com)
Week One’s Prize: Chronicling The Fifth Deadly Sin

From Reality on Bravo:

This week the Project Blog sponsor is Gillian Polack, writer, historian, and all around cool cat from the blog Food History. The prize? A copy of her e-cookbook, “Chronicling the Fifth Deadly Sin,” which is a tasty collection of recipes from around the world. And I do mean tasty.

This isn’t your typical cookbook, and Gillian’s not your typical blogger. Occasionally, I read through it just because it’s funny and interesting, even if I don’t need a good idea for dinner.

“Add lemon juice to taste. Stir well. Serve hot or cold. This is a VERY filling dish - very solid (like my waistline).”

Some of the recipes you’ll find in this book include Andy’s Hong Kong Curry Triangles, Trudee’s Canadian Chocolate Cheesecake (I’ve made that one - DELISH), and Medieval Style Mushroom Pastries. Mmmmmm…

If that sounds interesting to you, check out Gillian’s site for a sneak peak of what you could win! Her site includes recipes from around the world, as well as the history behind them. And, if you like fiction, your can also purchase Gillian’s novel, Illuminations, from Barnes and Noble,

Want a chance to win this week’s prize? You can enter up to three times!

• For one chance, leave a comment on this post on Reality on Bravo with one “food fact” that you’ve learned from any post on Gillian’s website.
• For a second chance, blog about this contest on your own site and email the link to me at allison.boyer-at-yahoo-dot-com.
• Want a third chance? Check back to Reality on Bravo on Friday, vote for your favorite in our Project Blog competition, and leave a comment showing support! The winner will be drawn at random from all qualifying entries.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of those celebrating today! Today’s episode of The View is a rerun, with an original air date of November 5th. It features Jerry Seinfeld and Brooks & Dunn. You can see the recap from its original airing here.

I won’t be putting a recap up today, because I am traveling for Thanksgiving. According to ABC, today’s episode was taped back on November 12th, so don’t expect the hot topics to be topical and don’t expect guest Jonathan Rhys Meyers to be discussing his recent arrest.

Feel free to leave your comments on the episode below. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

MONDAY, NOV. 26 – Chandra Wilson (ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”).

TUESDAY, NOV. 27 – Guest co-host Mario Cantone; Joan Rivers.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28 – 2008 Democratic Presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth; 2nd and 3rd place couples eliminated from ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

THURSDAY, NOV. 29 – Guest co-host Gloria Estefan; Steve Martin (author, “Born Standing Up”); winning couple from ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

FRIDAY, NOV. 30 – Guest co-host Gloria Estefan; Sissy Spacek (“Picture of Hollis Woods”).

Country music singer Trisha Yearwood was the guest host on The View today. I have been a big fan of hers for a long time and I thought that she did a great job. She is married to fellow country singer Garth Brooks. Garth has three daughters, so she is now a step-mom. She said that at first she was scared of them and did not know how to deal with them. Now she said that she has a special, but different relationship with each of them. She thinks that the key was not trying to be their mom, because they already have a great mom, but not trying to be their best friend either.

They discussed whether you would sue your husband if he won the lottery and didn’t tell you about it. Sherri would be to the courthouse in a minute. Joy said that he should give you some, but not all of it.

Sherri said that people in NYC often ask her personal questions about how much she pays for rent, etc. Joy said that people in New York always ask how much something costs, as they are comparison shoppers at heart. Trisha said that you would not do that in the south, because it is rude. She said that you should, instead, ask someone behind their back how much they pay for rent. She also added that anything rude can be made better by saying “bless your heart.”
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Today’s recap of The View will not be up until later tonight. Feel free to leave comments about what you thought of today’s show! Also, I made a mistake yesterday. The voting for this week’s Project Blog ends at noon today, not midnight, so you have a few hours to get any last minutes votes in. Thanks again to everyone who voted!

Whoopi Goldberg revealed that she has not been able to think straight and her brain has been a bit “spacey” because she has been taking Wellbutrin to quit smoking. She was in Connecticut over the weekend to do an hour show and thought she was finished after thirty minutes.

Joy Behar won $500 in Las Vegas over the weekend, but then gave it right back to the casino. She said that Steve never wins and he lost $200 in only 10 minutes. Barbara said, “I seems to have a thing for the slot machines” and she wins a lot. Sometimes she goes “crazy wild” and plays the $1 slots.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck e-mailed Barbara and said that her new baby,Taylor Thomas, now 10 days old, received a letter from Senator Hillary Clinton. Elisabeth thought it was a sweet gesture and she might change her vote. Elisabeth is exhausted and is unhappy to have to sit on an inflatable donut.

Joy said that Hillary Clinton “kicked butt” at the latest debate. Hillary said that if people are slinging mud at her, she hopes that it is will accurate information and not out of the “Republican playbook.” Hillary said that the other candidates are not ganging up on her because she is female, but because she is ahead.
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Sherri Shepherd returned to her hometown of Chicago this weekend to be a part of the team hosting the local ABC coverage of The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. I live in the Chicago area, so I was able to watch the show yesterday.

The Magnificent Mile is the nickname of the stretch of Michigan Avenue that is home to a variety of higher end department stores and specialty shops. The parade, with Mickey Mouse as the lead float, signifies the start of the holiday shopping season in Chicago, as the trees lining the street are lit up with white holiday lights (hence the “lights festival”)

I have never gone to this event, nor watched it on television and I certainly was not missing anything. It is very corporate driven, complete with floats for banks, stores, and two for the same airline. I suppose that kids like it because Mickey Mouse and his friends are there, as well as American Girl and High School Musical.

Sherri did a great job, I thought, even though the parade itself is pretty lame. She looked cute, dressed for the cold in a red coat and black hat (see above). She had to do typical parade hosting duty by reading the float descriptions and she did that well. She also added some comedic banter, which I thought was funny.

I felt bad for Sherri though, because the local news reporters that were her co-hosts were so annoying. The woman, Janet Davies, also pictured above, made some weird joke that implied that she had some romantic encounter with Goofy when she went on a recent Disney cruise with her family. Sherri said, I am sure hoping to move the conversation away from that oddity, “What happens on a Disney cruise, stays on a Disney cruise.”

The View, Sherri Shepherd, Chicago, Magnificent Mile, parade, Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, parade, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, Disney, High School Musical, American Girl

Rosie O’Donnell announced on her blog that she has won the Blogger’s Choice Award for “Best Celebrity Blogger.” I remember Rosie saying months and months ago about how she wanted to win the award and it was the first award that she really cared about getting.

On her blog she wrote that when the trophy arrives in the mail, she is going to post a video blog acceptance speech. I look forward to hearing it!

Rosie O’Donnell, Blogger’s Choice Award, rblog

Rosie O’Donnell’s reprisal of her role as Dawn Budge on the F/X television show Nip/Tuck will begin this Tuesday. Her storyline is expected to last a few episodes. Dawn has the unfortunate experience of being attacked by an eagle, which requires the services of the plastic surgeons.

You may recall that Rosie posted pictures on her blog, including the one above, when she was filming the show and some of her readers mistakenly thought she was actually injured. I guess that says good things about the special effects make-up people that work at the show.

Rosie posted a behind-the-scenes video of the filming of the eagle-attack scene on her blog.

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Don’t forget that you can vote for me at Project Blog once every 24 hours between now and Tuesday! Thanks to all of you who have voted already and left such nice comments over at Reality on Bravo. I really appreciated all of the support!

The View, Rosie O’Donnell, Nip/Tuck, F/X

Joy Behar participated in the Comedy Cares Celebrity Poker Tournament in Las Vegas last night. The event, which is part of the Comedy Festival, had a $15,000 buy in and the proceeds from the tournament benefited the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Joy’s View co-host Whoopi Goldberg was one of the event co-chairs.

Joy is having a busy weekend, because she will be performing her stand-up routine tonight as part of the festival. Here are some photos of Joy at the poker tournament:

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Today was the final day of budget week on The View. Today they all were wearing clothes from Kohl’s. Joy Behar will be guest hosting on Larry King Live on Monday. Sherri will be in Chicago on Saturday, co-hosting the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. (I think that it is airing locally. I will watch it and give you guys a recap of how she does.)

Whoopi Goldberg said that she looked in a mirror and think that she looks like a “boulder.” Barbara Walters said that her own clothes don’t fit anymore and she used to be slimmer. Is it true that emotional eaters have a harder time dieting? Sherri said that she is an emotional eater and would have eaten her way through New York due to her loneliness if she were not diabetic.

Barbara told the story (again) about the way that her skinner friends eat, or rather, don’t really eat. Whoopi said that she could go days without eating, but she has a thyroid problem. Joy has been off of carbs for two weeks. She despises portion control. It is like stopping in the middle of sex when you are enjoying yourself. Whoopi lost 43 pounds on LA Weight Loss and she learned how to eat properly. She stopped eating that way, her body went into starvation mode and she put back on. Sherri has lost 18 pounds by eating right and exercise. Whoopi said, “You know nobody at this table is going to go anywhere and exercise.”

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Here is my first entry for Project Blog. Please vote for me here! You can vote once per 24 hours between now and Tuesday at midnight. The theme for this week’s assigned entry is to give an introductory post about why I blog.

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When I was in college, I had my good and bad days just like any other student trying to excel in course work while balancing all of the new things that college life brings your way. During the later part of my time there, I had one constant. One thing to make me smile at the end of the day, no matter what professor had upset me or what so-called friend had betrayed me. That one thing? The Rosie O’Donnell Show. I, like thousands of others, became completely engrossed in that hour of television and Rosie never failed to lift my spirits. When Rosie’s show ended, despite being at the top of its game, there was definitely something special missing from television.

Last year when I learned that Rosie would be returning to television to be on The View, I was beyond ecstatic. Her first few months on the show, I TiVo’d faithfully, often talking back to the television when I agreed or disagreed with what they were discussing. In January of 2007, I decided to start this blog about The View. I figured that since I was watching it everyday and commenting on it, maybe I could share that with others. (This also spared my husband from having to listen to my daily, “Rosie said today that . . .”)

I could never have imagined at the time that I started this blog the twists and turns of fate to come that would change both the complexion of The View and that of this blog. When Rosie announced that she was leaving The View, and then especially when her departure came sooner than expected, I questioned whether this blog would even continue. How could I continue to blog about this show when my reason for starting this process was gone?

My thoughts of stopping were very short-lived because it became clear to me that so many of my readers were feeling the same way. They wondered if the show would ever be the same without Rosie. Meanwhile another group of readers were glad to see Rosie go and were relieved that The View would stop being in the headlines for everything that Rosie said. Those two groups of people came together here on this blog and had debates and discussions in the comments about the fate of the show, as well as all of the fall-out from Rosie’s departure.

Since Rosie left, and especially since the start of the new season, this blog has become a wonderful community of people who love The View, used to love The View, and people who are hoping desperately that The View will again become something that they can love. It has become a cyber version of the show, as people come here and leave comments, expressing their own views: about the hosts, about whether the show is too watered down, and to debate the hot topics discussed by the hosts.

Although I cannot say that I love and enjoy every episode of The View the way I did when Rosie was on, or the way I did with The Rosie O’Donnell show, I do know that The View will continue to give me plenty to write about and give all of you plenty to talk about.

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Be sure to visit Reality on Bravo to cast your vote and learn you can win prizes too!

Here is the prize package I have a chance to win:

• An autographed picture of Jackie Warner, courtesy of Sky Sport and Spa
• A pair of shoes from the newest line from Jonathan Kayne
• A Soffe college hoodie, courtesy of BCS Frenzy
• Gold-plated earrings from Aurora at Between the Sheets
• A pet portrait, courtesy of Intricate Art

Here are the other contestants that are participating in the competition:

Kate, Babylune: “The Blog I Write and the Woman Who Writes It”

Randi, Brad Pitt Watch: “The First Challenge”

Jodie, Gossip on Sports: “Project Blog: Week One Challenge”

Cynthia, TV of the Absurd: “The Five TV Shows that Changed My Life”

Sally, Style Fix: “The Fashionable Child Who Writes Becomes the Fashion Writer”

Kara, Colorado Review: “Why I Blog About Colorado Travel”

Mark, Get Incensed: “Project Blog. Bravo”

There are two other participants, Dana and Zem, but they haven’t posted their entries yet. I will add them when they do!

AND DON’T FORGET: After you vote, leave a comment at Reality on Bravo telling everyone who you’re voting for and why (it can be anonymous). Use a valid email address, because leaving a comment will put you in the running to win an Ecoist bracelet! Check out that link for more ways to win the free prize of the week, and go to www.ecoist.com for more eco-friendly items!

The View, blogging, project runway, project blog, reality on bravo, Rosie O’Donnell