Watching The View

This morning on The View, Barbara Walters stated that Barack Obama would be giving a speech today about race in America. Here is the video, for those of you who would like to watch it.

[tags] The View, Barack Obama, Barbara Walters.

For the second day in the row on The View, Whoopi Goldberg was absent due to illness.

The first topic on today’s show is Barack Obama’s speech today that will address racism in this country. He is expected to discuss comments made by his pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Barbara said that people forget Barack is half-white and that he has been above racism. Barack has denounced the comments made by his pastor.

Joy Behar said that the question is whether Barack should be tainted by another man’s words. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that he has attended his church for 20 years and made an analogy to doing push-ups for 20 years that I didn’t quite understand. Sherri Shepherd said that everybody has someone in their family that is crazy. Elisabeth said that she went to a church and didn’t like what they did, so she left, and that is Barack should have done. Joy Behar said that her family is Catholic and remains faithful to the church despite the pedophilia scandal. Elisabeth said that Mitt Romney was under a microscope for being Mormon, so they should examine Obama as closely. Barbara said that Obama is a good man and what started as the most inspiring race, is now separating on racial lines. Sherri doesn’t like that this issue is being so divisive and he is being criticized for what someone else said.
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Barbara Walters received a special honor at last night’s GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards in New York City. She won the television news magazine award for her 20/20 special last year about transgendered youth.

The special, which was called “My Secret Self: A Story of Transgender Children,” examined the lives of children struggling with gender identity. In her acceptance speech for the award, Barbara said, “You can forget all the Emmys. This means more to me.”

Barbara’s show actually tied with another program, with whom she had to share the award. That show was the 60 Minutes special entitled “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” According to the GLAAD website, the award show is expected to be shown on the Bravo channel later this year.

Here are some more photos of the event. Click to enlarge.

Source: Reuters

Barbara Walters, GLAAD

Today on The View, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, it was a special “The View Goes Green” episode. There was grass on the table, which was strange, and the table itself was green. Whoopi Goldberg was not there because she was sick. Joy said Barbara was a robot because she never gets sick. Barbara joked it was the “warmness” of her heart that keeps her healthy.

Sherri Shepherd ended up in the hospital last week because of the stomach flu. She had to go by ambulance, but they got stuck in traffic because no one pulls over in New York City for the ambulance. Then she was in the hallway of the hospital for hours on a gurney because they didn’t have a room. She started to run to the bathroom to throw up and someone stopped her and wanted to talk about The View.
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Today’s recap will not be up until later. Feel free to comment on the episode here.

Snoop Dogg is expected to appear today and the episode will also feature Macy’s “hottest items for spring.”

Grammy winning R&B artist India Arie will star in a Broadway revival of the play “For Colored Girls who have considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” The play, which was first performed in the 1970s, addresses the lives of seven different women of color.

View host Whoopi Goldberg will be the producer of the play, along with Dream Team entertainment. It is expected to debut in previews in mid-July. The play will be directed by Shirley Jo Finney and choreographed by Hinton Battle, a three-time Tony winner.

Whoopi Goldberg, of course, is no stranger to Broadway as an actress. She, of course, had her one woman show on Broadway in in the 1980s and appeared in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in the 1990s. Whoopi also knows a thing or two about producing for Broadway, as she won the Tony as the producer for Throughly Modern Millie, which won for best musical in 2002.

I am not sure how hands-on a producer Whoopi will be for this new play and if she intends to have extensive involvement, I really don’t see how she will have the time. Although The View will go on hiatus sometime during the summer, it probably won’t be until August, when the new play is already through previews. If she intends to continue to do her radio show, then go to The View, and then spend her afternoons at play rehearsals, she will be even sleepier than she is now! Perhaps, though, her involvement will be more monetary than hands-on?

Source: Billboard

The View, Whoopi Goldberg, India.Arie, For Colored Girls who have considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf

Here is the schedule for The View for March 17th to the 21st. I am sure that Sherri Shepherd is hoping that she is feeling better by next Thursday when Jonathan Rhys Meyers appears on the show. She told me previously about the crush that she had on him when he was on the show the last time.

MONDAY, MARCH 17 – “Going Green” St. Patrick’s Day theme show; green fashions, a green house, music from Irish band The High Kings.

TUESDAY, MARCH 18 – Angela Bassett (“Meet the Browns”), Judy Greer (ABC’s “Miss Guided”).

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19 – Tracey Ullman (“Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union”), Lucy Liu.

THURSDAY, MARCH 20 – Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Natalie Dormer (“The Tudors”), “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell (“Superhero”); (ABC’s “Good Morning America”).

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 – David Schwimmer and Thandie Newton (“Run, Fat Boy, Run”), music from Natasha Bedingfield.

I haven’t been checking the celebrity photo site lately to keep track of what public events The View hosts have been attending. A quick look today and I found several new photos of past and present hosts to share with all you. Sherri Shepherd is the only current host who didn’t have any events photos available, most likely because she has been too sick to be going out lately.

Rosie O’Donnell and wife Kelli attended Spamalot, which features Clay Aiken. On her blog, Rosie said that she loved the show and thought that Clay did a great job.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck and husband Tim attended the JCPennys American Living Launch Party last month.

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There was no Sherri Shepherd on today’s episode of the show because she was out sick again with stomach flu. Barbara Walters said that she was not supposed to be on today, but Bill Geddie called her late night when she was at a restaurant to tell her that she needed to be on today. When the person at the restaurant told her that she had an “emergency call” from Bill Geddie, she assumed someone had died. For that reason when Bill said Sherri just had the flu, Barbara responded positively.

The prostitute that Elliot Spitzer was last with, “Kristen,” is a wanna-be singer and she doesn’t want to be thought of as a monster. Barbara said that people don’t see her that way, she doesn’t think. Elisabeth said it is sad because she has abuse in her background and left home at a young age. Elisabeth said it makes her sad that is what the woman is doing with her body, but she is not a bad person. Joy said that it is really not a victimless crime when you look at her and other women who go into the profession because they often come from abused pasts. Elisabeth asked if being abused justifies acts, like when pedophiles say they were abused. Joy said that the prostitute is not a predator and not to confuse the two. Whoopi is bothered by the fact that there are TV trucks outside the woman’s house and people are printing her address. She had a job that she was doing. Barbara said that it is news. Whoopi said that even thought it is “news,” it doesn’t mean that it is acceptable to her that the woman is being harassed.
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You know the saying that you can’t know another person without walking a mile in their shoes? Think that the same concept applies if you wear their dress?

If you have a few hundred dollars to shell out, you can bid on a little black dress belonging to none other than View host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The bidding ends Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. The proceeds of the auction benefits charity.

Thanks to Margie at Watching Battlestar Galactica for the tip!

The first topic today on The View was that Elliot Spitzer was prepared to resign as governor of New York. He reportedly spent $80,000 on prostitutes over a ten year period. Joy Behar joked, “No wonder he wanted to raise my taxes.” Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that she wants to know why he doesn’t get the Donald Trump and get fired. Barbara Walters said that he supposed to resign at 11:30 a.m. eastern time, which is during The View. She thought it was weird that Spitzer went to a big dinner Saturday night in Washington, DC, knowing that he was under investigation. Barbara said that he should have told his wife. Elisabeth said that he wanted one “last hurrah before it all came down.”

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is blaming Spitzer’s wife for what happened and she should have been more understanding of his needs. Joy joked that maybe the wife should get a mini-bar in her bedroom. Barbara said that we cannot really understand men’s sexual needs, but this is an obsession or compulsion. Joy recounted that Bill Geddie said that men’s sexual needs are like women’s desire to shop. Whoopi said that if a woman is highly sexed, though, she gets called a lot of names. Elisabeth said that as a wife, knowing that your husband needs sex, don’t you want to fulfill those needs? Sherri said that for Spitzer it sounds like an addiction. Elisabeth said that she was talking on a general basis and not necessarily about him. She added that she doesn’t feel that Mrs. Spitzer is to blame in this situation at all. Elisabeth said that in general what is wrong with saying “Okay I am not in the mood, but we’ll have sex” because the husband wants to. Sherri said because you would be doing it all the time and wouldn’t get anything done. She said that men need sex all the time. Barbara agreed with Sherri. Joy said that she has been married twice and that men need sex and then they don’t need sex. It’s isn’t a crazy obsession. Sherri said that men are wired differently and they need sex all time. Joy said that then she says, “Talk to the hand.” Elisabeth said that men do need a break once in awhile when they get tired. Then all of a sudden she got Joy’s “talk to the hand” joke and cracked up laughing.
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Recap will be late for today’s epsiode. Feel free to comment here in the meantime.

The first topic on The View was New York Governor Elliot Spitzer who has been caught up in a prostitution scandal. His wife was by his side at the press conference where he apologized for the incident. Barbara Walters said it always seems that the morally righteous people who get caught up in these things and they are holier than thou and then they have a scandal. Elisabeth Hasselbeck saw him use his position to create laws to give him more power. She thinks he is power hungry. Her heart breaks for her three daughters because he destroyed their world. Joy Behar said, “Aren’t you just sick of men and their sexual proclivities?” She said that Viagra is ruining the government. Elisabeth said it was a female hooker, so a woman was involved in this too. Sherri pointed out that his wife wouldn’t even look at the camera. Barbara said we don’t know why the wives always stand next to husband. Whoopi said that by standing there it is the easiest way to get the press of her and her children.

Barbara said that we don’t know their marriage or their sexual relationship. She pointed out that he didn’t have a mistress, so he was not attached emotionally and he tried to be anonymous. She asked if his wife should stay with him. Barbara said that Hillary Clinton would not be a Presidential candidate had she left her husband. Joy and Whoopi said they didn’t think that was true and Joy pointed out that is what Chris Matthews said and it isn’t fair at all to say that.
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On her blog, Rosie O’Donnell posted the above video blog featuring her and Kathy Griffin talking about The View. Kathy’s film crew from My Life on the D-List was also present, so it will probably also make an appearance on an upcoming episode of her show.

In it, Kathy talks about how Bill Geddie was the one who called her agency to “re-ban” her from the show. The reason was apparently that he thought that the part of her comedy act in which she recounted a conversation that she had with Barbara about K-Y and Astroglide was “very offensive for Barbara.”

Kathy thinks that Bill Geddie was the one who deemed it offensive and Rosie surmised that Barbara has probably never even seen Kathy’s comedy act. Rosie and Kathy both agreed that Bill Geddie is the one that really runs things at The View and Kathy called him the “Karl Rove of Barbara.”

Rosie also recounted the time that Helen Mirren appeared on The View. When she came out onto the stage, she bowed to Rosie and called her “the real Queen.” Rosie said that when that happened, she knew her days were numbered. At the end of the video (which is apparently just part one of a longer video), Rosie admitted that her publicist told her that she could do the Kathy Griffin show, but asked her to please not talk about The View. Oops.

The View, Kathy Griffin, Rosie O’Donnell, Barbara Walters, Bill Geddie

Today on The View, Whoopi Goldberg was wearing surgical scrubs. Like some other odd clothing choices she has worn in the past, it was not explained. (Note: I rearranged the order a bit today, because they came back and re-discussed something toward the end of the first segment. I thought it fit better this way). The first major topic was what major flaws are deal breakers for candidates. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that it should be like dating and looking at the important issues when choosing a candidate. Joy went to a party where the topic was whether Bill Clinton’s indiscretions in the White House were a character flaw you can’t accept. She was surprised that the men at the party were very angry about what Clinton had done, while the women “blew it off.” She thought that maybe the men were jealous because it didn’t happen to them. Elisabeth said it could be because they have daughters. Joy said that the women have daughters, too. Sherri said women are more forgiving. Whoopi asked Sherri if she has forgiven her ex-husband. She said that she is working on it. Elisabeth said that she is working on forgiving President Clinton. Joy joked that Elisabeth forgives Clinton the way that she (Joy) forgives Dick Cheney.

Joy wondered if that what President Clinton did was worse than John McCain’s anger issues. Elisabeth said that if he has anger issues, he has dealt with it well. Joy said that there is no way for her to know that because she hasn’t seen him behind closed doors or in psychotherapy. Elisabeth said that he doesn’t go to psychotherapy because he doesn’t need it. Whoopi said that if you vacuumed up the oval office you could start a new country with all you find there from the past presidents. Whoopi said where else is he going to go? He can’t go down the street and say “Hey baby, I’m not the president, come here and let me get some.”

Sherri said that she wouldn’t accept infidelity in a candidate because it is a character issue. She said that lying and cheating with your partner may translate to lying and cheating as it pertains to being President. Elisabeth said that her deal breaker is not keeping us safe in terms of national security. Joy said that is not a character flaw, though. Joy said that a short fuse is not great to have when dealing with other nations. Elisabeth said that McCain is more tactical dealing with other nations because of his experience. Whoopi said what about lying to a nation about going to war? Elisabeth said that there was “no malintent” going there, but rather a wrong decision based on false intelligence. Joy asked which is worse incompetence or lying?
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