My Farewell to the View and You
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
I thought about making this a gradual thing and sort of petering off my involvement with this site, but then I decided it was better to just pull off the band-aid and be done.
As of today, I am leaving Watching the View.
Now before your minds start churning with ideas of corporate take-down or external pressure, you should know that this decision was all mine. I have just reached the point where I don’t like having to watch The View or write about it or even think about it.
When I started this site in January 2007, it was for one specific reason: Rosie O’Donnell had made the show the very essence of must-see-TV. And not because of the “feuds” or the arguments, but because she is one of the most engaging personalities in the world of television and she does not hesitate to give her (real, honest, not spoon-fed or prefabricated) views.
After her departure, I stayed with this site after some hesitation, mostly because I enjoyed the community that had been created here. Because of you. That and because I really thought that The View would get better than it was in the initial wake of her absence. Two years later I am still waiting.
The show unfortunately has been extremely predictable and a caricature, with each host fitting in her pigeon-hole saying things we expect them to say, whether they truly believe it or not. When I think of the show I no longer think about anything positive, but dwell on Whoopi Goldberg’s disinterest in the guests, whining about taxes and running out on the stage to steal food in EVERY FOOD SEGMENT, the fact that Joy Behar does not even write the stale one-liners she is so fond of and cannot stop telling Monica jokes, the fact that Barbara Walters might no longer be remembered for being a TV icon, but rather for being that aging journalist who has stayed on way too long and doesn’t realize that she is embarrassing herself, Sherri Shepherd spending the majority of the time she speaks talking about how she needs a man when really she needs to be focusing on loving herself and determining what is truly important to her and not letting her religion or others tell her what to believe, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck . . . well she never did have any bright spot for me to begin with. The joy in View-ville is long gone and I do not think it is coming back.
Although the amount of money I make on this site is a barely minimum wage level given the amount of time I have to put into it, I have stuck with it anyway because of a desire to maintain the community and because others seemed to enjoy it more than I did.
Most of you have no idea what goes on behind-the-scenes, but running this blog is no easy feat. I have tried not to care about keeping the peace, not bother weeding out the negativity, ignoring all the hate e-mail and bickering, but I just cannot become detached enough from the blog because I know that what others write can affect many of you negatively and I do not want that.
I know that many of you will be saddened to have lost this place to vent, communicate, and share ideas. You are welcome to continue to post here, although I do not know if they will be hiring a new writer. You can also post comments at my other View blog which will remain up for now, although I won’t be posting there either. (I will be re-posting this entry there as well in case the powers that be here take this down for some reason).
While I am certain those at ABC who are aware of this little blog are happy to see me go because it means more people have to actually watch the show to know what happens on it, I hope that you all think about whether you need The View in your lives anymore. There are many other ways you can spend your time that will be healthier, more enlightening, or at the very least more entertaining.
Thank you all for your support over the years. My e-mail address is: winnieblogs @ gmail.com




Today on this prerecorded episode of The View, the four main hosts were present. (Ever notice how Barbara Walters is a lot more scarce when she doesn’t have a special to promote?) The first topic was the fact Clint Eastwood said in a recent interview that he missed the days that he could make jokes based on ethnicity. Joy Behar said that he said that he gave the interview to a German newspaper and talked about Jews. Sherri Shepherd said that she would like to know what the minority feels about the jokes as a measure of whether it appropriate. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that causally tossing around racial terms or sexist terms, there is not a place for that. Whoopi asked what about comedy, saying Don Rickles does it well. Sherri said that the person at butt of the joke might not think he does it well. Elisabeth said at least you know where people stand as opposed to when people are PC and hiding what they really feel. Whoopi said that do we all have certain feelings like that, noting that she was driving in her car and screamed at an old person who was driving too slow. Sherri said that no one can say they have not said something bad when they are alone. Joy said it is okay for her to joke about Italians because she is one, but it is not okay for others to do so.
Today on The View, Barbara Walters acted as moderator because Whoopi Goldberg is on her way back (via bus) from Los Angeles, where she participated in the Academy Awards. They all thought she looked great last night. (I disagree. You can see pictures in a post I did last night). They all complained how about long the Oscar ceremony was on. Joy Behar liked Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Elisabeth Hasselbeck thought Hugh Jackman did a great job. Barbara thinks that Joy and Sherri should do the show. Sherri said that the show had the “Obama effect“ because there were a lot of Black people participating in the show. Barbara said that is because there are so many more than there were before. (Black people?) Joy said that she did not notice. Sherri said that she noticed because she is used to seeing the lack of Black people.
Today on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck was back and it was just the four main hosts. Elisabeth had been gone due to the death of her grandmother. She said that her “Mama” as she called her, was a very special person in her life and helped raise her and her brother. She showed a picture of her and her brother with her grandparents from her childhood. She joked that she was surprised to see her natural hair color in the photo because it has been so long. Elisabeth’s brother gave an “amazing eulogy” at the funeral and showed great strength in doing so. Joy said that when your grandmother dies it is different than when your mother dies because a grandmother gives unconditional love and your mother disciplines you. Elisabeth said her Mama was known to go after her with a paddle.
Today on The View was another day of hot topics. Today’s guests were Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Nancy Grace. Elisabeth Hasselbeck was not present because her grandmother died. Whoopi Goldberg had a tiara on, I guess because Miss America pageant was this past weekend and she congratulated Miss Indiana on her victory. Barbara Walters appeared on a television by remote because she was in Los Angles to work on the Oscar special. They had the television sitting at the table in the spot where she would be sitting. Sherri Shepherd kissed the screen. It was pretty odd to see the television sitting at the table.

Today on this pre-taped episode of The View, it was four hosts again, with Sherri Shepherd being absent. She will be back on Monday.