Watching The View

Radio personality Howard Stern married Beth Ostrofsky last night at Le Cirque in New York City. Among the wide range of celebrity guests was View host Barbara Walters.

You may recall that Ostrosky guest-hosted on The View back in March of 2007. At that point in time, she told the co-hosts that she was a big fan of Barbara Walters and met her at a dinner party she attended with Stern. Stern spent the whole night talking and laughing with Barbara Walters and could not stop talking about her on the way home. Ostrosky admitted that although Stern is around strippers and models all the time for his radio show, Ostrosky was actually jealous of Barbara Walters.

Here are a couple of photos of Barbara Walters at the wedding of Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky. Does the man in the first photo look like Bill Geddie to you?

Barbara Walters attended the Appeal of Conscience Foundation awards on September 23rd in New York City. The foundation honored French President Nicolas Sarkozy by presenting him with the “Appeal of Conscience World Statesman Award” for “his leadership in advancing freedom, tolerance and inter-religious understanding.”

Here is a photograph of Barbara Walters at the event, alongside Carla Bruni Sarkozy, wife of President Sarkozy.

Barbara Walters, Nicholas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni

Barbara Walters attended the Metropolitan Opera 125th Season Opening Night Gala last night. Barbara told a local television station present at the event that “To have someone as beautiful and with a magnificent voice as Renee Flemming, it makes it very special.”

Barbara attended the same event last year. Here are some photos of Barbara at the event this year. The man with her in one of the photos is captioned as Sir Howard Stringer, the Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation.

She appears to have worn the same dress that she wore to the Daytime Emmy Awards, although the color looks just slightly different. That is probably because these newer photographs were taken outdoors. It also looks like she removed the embellishment from the top of the dress and wore a choker instead. I added a photo of her at the Emmys at the end for comparison.

Today on The View, all five hosts were present again. For her second day of “Whoopi Wears a Dress” week, Whoopi Goldberg had on a purpley dress with a small print, black tights, and shiny gray shoes. She said “I hate this,” and “I am in agony” meaning having to wear a dress, not that one in particular one. She said the outfit is too tight and you could see gas if it moved around her belly. Joy wore a Whoopi like long-sleeve button shirt and vest. She said it makes her look fatter and she is not comfortable.

The first topic was the Bill Clinton interview yesterday. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that after the interview a secret service guy said, “You weren’t that bad.” She thought that Bill was a nice, thoughtful guy and she bonded with him over football and the fact that Chelsea does not eat gluten either. Bill told Sherri she is really funny and that he saw her in Beauty Shop and twice in Whose Your Caddy?

Barbara said that people thought they were hard on John McCain and Cindy McCain when they were on. She said that they were strong questions, but that they all have the utmost respect for them. She “fervently” hopes there are no hard feelings.
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The New York Times has an article about The View today entitled “‘The View’ Has Its Eye on Politics.” In the article, it is revealed that Barbara Walters felt good that she had conducted a fair interview of John McCain and Cindy McCain. However, when she received a congratulatory e-mail from Rosie O’Donnell, she second-guessed herself. Barbara told the Times she thought “Now I know I’m in trouble. I’ve got a lovely e-mail from Rosie complimenting me on the interview.”

The tone of the McCain interview and the tough questions that were asked were a calculated move, according to the article. It was “part of a conscious effort by Ms. Walters and her producers to insert their daytime talk show forcefully into the nation’s political conversation this fall.”

The article, like Fox News, compared John McCain’s interview with the one The View conducted of Barack Obama back in March, where, among other things, Barbara told him he is “sexy.” That is an improper comparison in my opinion because John McCain was also on the show in April and was not grilled the way he was on September 12th. Although I realize that I am not going to sway many people with that argument if my e-mail inbox is any indication. (Last count 350+ e-mail messages on the subject. And they keep coming, even though the interview was 11 days ago. I cannot even imagine how many e-mails the actual show got).

Barbara addressed the comparison by stating that “I probably regret” calling Barack Obama sexy. However, she also stated that “the political stakes had increased since the spring — for both candidates, and the country.” She added that “if and when” Barack Obama comes on the show he will get the “McCain treatment.” He has already been invited to the show, but no word on whether he will accept.

Here are some other interesting points from the article:
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Today on The View, all five hosts were present. Whoopi Goldberg was wearing a dress today as part of “Whoopi Wears a Dress” week. It was a black long-sleeve plain dress. She also wore black tights and red shoes (that matched her necklace). Joy Behar said she wants to start dressing comfortably like Whoopi. Whoopi told her she will never go back. Whoopi said she doesn’t care for dressing up. Sherri said Whoopi looks sexy. Whoopi said Sherri is really desperate if she is looking good to her. Barbara Walters pointed out that she and Elisabeth Hasselbeck matched today and it is because they love each other.

Barbara Walters was in Jimmy Kimmel’s Emmy pre-show, which was a parody of her Academy Award specials. Barbara said it was mean, but funny. She did an opening part for the show, in which she says it should not be mistaken for her specials. She also plugged her book and encouraged people to watch something else.
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Today on a pre-taped, but new, episode of The View, Barbara Walters was absent. Sherri Shepherd was sporting some silver leggings that looked straight out of the 80s fashion show from earlier this week.

A new survey says that 35% of PDA and Blackberry users would chose their device over their spouse. Joy Behar said her addiction is “getting bad” and she sleeps with it next to her. Sherri Shepherd said the only way to get a hold of her is texting her and she will check it at 2:00am if it vibrates. Whoopi said it used to be that the last thing you did at night was your husband, now it is checking Blackberry. She is not going to get on the Blackberry bandwagon herself and asked Joy if she takes it to the bathroom. Joy said, “of course.” Elisabeth agreed you need to maximize your time on the can. She also sends texts while she is jogging. Joy said she cannot text while walking because she would fall. Elisabeth said she has to be careful to not ignore the children in order to check the Blackberry. Sherri said that people don’t really get mad anymore if you use it at the dinner table anymore. Whoopi said she better not have dinner with her.
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Today on The View, all five hosts were at the table. Joy Behar said she still has a bad cold, but is not contagious. She said she “croaked through 45 minutes” at her stand-up performance with Whoopi on Saturday.

Barbara Walters went to see Celine Dion last night at Madison Square Garden. She said Celine is “just the nicest lady” and does a great act. Sherri Shepherd said if you think about the sound of angels singing, that is Celine’s voice. Barbara ate a whole box of popcorn. Barbara gained three pounds from eating the popcorn. She had lost weight, almost 15 pounds and it took a year to lose it. Whoopi joked she was “looking a little chunky” and joked she only weighed 21 pounds to begin with. Sherri said Barbara’s butt looks good. Joy said Barbara gains her weight in her boobs and that is what her husbands liked. She said if a man likes flat-chested woman, you should see if he is gay.

Whoopi revisited yesterday’s topic of she and Sherri getting poor cable service. DirectTV and Time Warner (she did not say the names today) came to the rescue. Whoopi said that the companies should treat everyone with the kind of service they gave her and Sherri yesterday. Sherri said they sent the cutest guys to her house to work on her cable. Whoopi said “desperate women will accept anything” and then said she meant desperate for cable.
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Following the John McCain and Cindy McCain interview on The View on Friday, there has certainly been a lot of response, both positive and negative. This will no doubt make Barbara Walters very happy. I am predicting that if she is on The View today, she will certainly bring up all the attention that The View has garnered over the weekend, perhaps showing some newspaper headlines. Part of me wonders if she may also feel compelled to make a comment about how she is a journalist and it is her role to ask tough questions, in order to stave off criticism that she was too harsh. I hope she does not make such an apology, but that type of statement might be necessary in her eyes in order to one day get Sarah Palin on the show.

Here are some highlights of the View/McCain aftermath:

ABC, Cindy McCain criticized the interview that took place on The View on Friday. She told supporters that the hosts of The View, “picked our bones clean.”

Watching the View received a record number of visitors in one day on Friday, including a large amount of new visitors and commenters. The amount of negativity and hate against the show and its hosts beat the positive comments about 5-1. Many of the comments were not approved due to vulgar language, racist comments, and overall disgusting-ness. Others were not approved because they violated our comment policy right off the bat. I figure if someone cannot follow the rules on their very first comment, they should not be permitted to post.

The Nation asked: “Thank God for Barbara Walters?” in their article on the John McCain interview. (Thanks to several of you who sent me the link).

The New York Times asserted: “The View Couch Not So Cozy for McCain.”

Hannity & Colmes headline: “Claws Come Out.” (That link also has a video of the discussion on that show).

John McCain, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Cindy McCain, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd, Watching the View

Despite the fact that it is Friday, a day that is usually pre-taped, today’s episode of The View was live. All five hosts were present for today’s episode. They were all wearing black and white.

The first topic was Sarah Palin’s interview last night. Barbara said that John McCain said that he will get Palin to come onto The View. Sherri thinks that Palin is a “formidable woman,” but the interview reminded her of being in the principal’s office. She noted that Palin spoke well and did not use any “ahhs” or “uhhs.” Elisabeth said that some people are saying that the interview was too hard, but it should be hard, because it is not a date. Joy wonders if they would say it was “too tough” if she was not a woman? Barbara said she was “very well briefed.” She said she did not know what the “Bush doctrine,” is but everyone in government does not. Joy said that everyone in government is not running for VP. Joy said saying you are ready does not mean it is true. She could say that she (Joy) is ready to be a model, but it isn’t true. Elisabeth said she has run a state. Barbara said that we need not go through the whole litany again.

Whoopi said the interview didn’t do anything for her and did not feel engaged in the conversation. She doesn’t like that they split the interview into 48 parts. Barbara said she doesn’t know whose decision it was to break it up into sections of sitting and walking. Whoopi thought it was too tense and rehearsed and there was no relaxed part of it. Joy said it was very strict and severe, but they tried to act like it was relaxed by having them walking. Whoopi wants to tell Palin that if you aren’t sure of the answer, do not keep repeating the same phrase over again. Elisabeth said all the politicians do that. Whoopi said she is supposed to be different kind of politician. Joy wants to see the interviews unedited. Barbara saw the unedited version and they didn’t take out anything important, but that Palin had a really long answer which was not shown prior to Charlie Gibson saying he got lost in all the words.
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Today on the September 11th episode of The View, all five hosts were present. They began the show by acknowledging the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Whoopi asked where they all were that day. Barbara Walters had an assignment that day to talk to families of the survivors. Elisabeth was in Los Angeles. Joy was in make-up room that day at The View. She noted that she is losing her voice today and joked it was God’s will. Sherri said that God wants her to scream from the mountain tops. Joy said that she still gets chills every year and pointed it out that it is always a nice day on the anniversary. Sherri did a comedy show that night and it was the most crowded it had ever been because people needed to laugh. Whoopi was doing interviews in LA following the completion of taping of Hollywood Squares. When she first saw it on the television, she thought it was a movie. She stayed in LA, but let people use her bus to get back to NYC.

Elisabeth was in the park with the kids last week and heard shouting. It was 100 Army people working out. Elisabeth yelled “woo!” at them. She explained to Grace that they were working to protect us. Grace asked why they needed protection. She told them that they have been working seven years to keep us safe. She didn’t want to give her fear because children will have their own fears. Grace then turned and said, “Woo!” at the Army people. Sherri said she held Jeffrey a little closer today. Joy’s daughter was on a plane on 9/11 getting ready to go to Canada. Joy called her and told her to get off the plane and she did. The stewardess did not know or was not telling the passengers. Whoopi said today is the day that you recognize that we are all American. Barbara said that although many people are critical of President Bush, whatever has happened, we have not been attacked in the past seven years and they should give credit where credit is due. They all agreed.
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Here are some video clips of the September 4th episode of The View. You can read my full recap here: The View September 4th Recap.

Today on the September 4th episode of The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck was not present because she will be at the Republican National Convention later today. Sherri Shepherd was absent yesterday because it was Jeffrey’s first day of school. He was fine, but she didn’t want to leave him. She felt a “pang” that he didn’t cry or anything and it took her six tries to leave. When he got home, he kept saying he wanted to go to school. The school is for children who have developmental delays and she feels good leaving him there.

Sarah Palin gave her speech last night at the convention. Barbara Walters said she was “just wonderful” no matter what her views were and it will be tough for Joe Biden to debate her. Sherri was disappointed that she made fun of Barack Obama’s job as a community avtivist, which he did when he could have taken a high paying job instead. He was serving his country. Sherri broke down when Palin said that people who have a special needs children have a friend in her. Joy said she was great and could be a comedian because she has great timing. Joy thinks that men are attracted to her and she is like a librarian who has the hair up and then takes it down and “va va va voom.” She said that might be sexist, but that men did not find Hillary Clinton attractive.

Whoopi thought it was a good speech and she came out strong. She gave information we would not have known before. She was also bothered by the slighting of Barack’s role as a community organizer. Whoopi was really aggravated when Palin said she had to explain to her opponents what a mayor is and that community organizers don’t have actual responsibilities. Whoopi said that it is often the activists who are getting information back to the mayor about what is going on in the city. They liked the clip of the little daughter holding the baby and fixing his hair with spit. Barbara said it may cost her an interview, but read from an article that said that as governor, Palin raised taxes, pursued pork belly projects, looked into banning books, and thinks the Iraq war is God’s will. Palin also recently cut funding for teen mothers who don’t have a place to live. Barbara said that none of those things were addressed in her speech.
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In lieu of my complete written recap please enjoy these videos from the September 3rd episode of The View. There are four videos of the extended hot topics that they had today. Prior to the videos I have written a brief recap of what happened before the discussion in the first clip. The last video is the musical performance by singer Adele. Although Maura Tierney was scheduled for today, I guess that she got bumped or canceled at the last minute. If anyone was looking forward to her appearance, I will let you know if she is rescheduled.
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Today on The View, Sherri Shepherd was absent because she was taking her son Jeffrey to his first day of school. They talked about how school starts younger these days. Joy Behar said she had to sing Italian songs in Kindergarten to get cookies and milk.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck went to see Whoopi Goldberg in Xanadu last night and had a lot fun. Whoopi is only in the show through Sunday. Elisabeth said that Whoopi shares a dressing room and bathroom with her cast mates there, even though she is famous enough to have gotten a trailer. Joy was skeptical of a trailer at Broadway. Whoopi said that it was love that Elisabeth went to see Whoopi rather than stay at home and watch the Republican convention.

I hate to be so lax so early into the new season, but work commitments will keep me from getting a recap of today’s episode of The View up today.

Feel free to comment here about today’s episode. If you missed the announcement on Tuesday, Sherri Shepherd will be missing today’s episode to take her son Jeffrey to his first day of school.

Scheduled guests are Maura Tierney from E.R. and Broadway’s “Three Changes” and singer Adele.

The View, Maura Tierney, ER, Three Changes, Adele, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Sherri Shepherd