Watching The View

The first topic today on The View was that Sherri Shepherd’s former boss and co-workers, from when she was a legal secretary, were in the audience. Sherri was always late to work then and still is now. She always thinks it will take less time than it actual does to get to work. Whoopi Goldberg said that in her contract it says that she is not allowed to be at the show later than 9:01 a.m. Joy said that was probably because they were worried about her coming late from her radio show. Whoopi added that it only takes her six minutes to get ready.

John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama. Joy called them the “dreamboat” ticket because they both looked so good. Elisabeth said that Dennis Miller said it was like an endorsement from Ryan Seacrest. Elisabeth said that she doesn’t want to date the president. Whoopi said that she would like the president to have at least a drop of charisma. Elisabeth said that John McCain cracked some jokes today in laying out his whole plan. He said that he will work with anyone to make the country better. Barack Obama called apologized for calling a female reporter sweetie. Whoopi said that she calls everyone sweetie or baby when she doesn’t know their name.
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Whoopi Goldberg started The View today talking about the Tony nominations which came out this morning. She will be hosting the awards show, but she prefers “guide” to “host.” She then read many of the nominees.

Then Whoopi said “Let’s talk about the damn Bachelor.” Elisabeth said that the finale was “truly special.” She was upset that the man called the woman “monkey” when he proposed. Sherri wanted him to pick the other woman because he said that he was falling in love with her and there was more passion. Joy said that he will marry the one woman, but have sex with the other. Elisabeth disagreed, saying that he called “monkey” a great lover. Whoopi said that “monkey”’s father Lorenzo Lamas would probably not approve of the bachelor calling his daughter a “great lover” on television. (although she used another word that got bleeped out, maybe “great lay”? Not sure). They talked about whether her had sex with all the contestants and Elisabeth hopes that they got the HPV vaccine.

They showed a picture of a 6-foot cow and Whoopi said that she wants to leave the planet. Sherri said that she would be scared to eat meat from that cow because it looks like it was on steroids. Elisabeth said it would make a great burger. Joy said that she worries about the gas from that cow and Whoopi said that they could use it for wind energy.
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Today on The View was another “day of hot topics,” except for the part at the end of the show where the Broadway cast of Passing Strange appeared on the show. It is the first of several upcoming performances from the casts of current Broadway shows. There is no Barbara Walters this week on the show because she is traveling around the country on her book tour for Audition. Hopefully that means that they will go the whole week without mentioning the book. (I can dream, right?)

Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that her Mother’s Day was “good,” not sounding too enthusiastic. She said that she was disappointed that the bubbles she took to the park were not as good as another mom’s bubble machine, saying she was “out-bubbled.” Sherri Shepherd did not get to spend the day with Jeffrey, but she talked to him on the phone. Joy Behar spent the day looking for knobs for her cabinet. She didn’t want to look on-line, because she likes to “grab the knobs.” They then made several jokes about “knobs,” including biting and licking knobs. Whoopi went out to dinner with her “better half.”
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The first topic on The View today was (another) poll, this one about “what people want.” For example, 44% of people want a limit on how many times a person can re-marry. Sherri Shepherd said that if someone gets married seven times, maybe it is not working out. Whoopi said that just because they were married that many times, doesn’t mean than the marriages were not good throughout. Also 41% of people want a renewable contract for marriage after five years. Whoopi said that can help people work on things and move on if they want to. She also added that if a couple doesn’t have kids, a divorce is not a big deal. Elisabeth said that marriage should be more of an investment than five years. The poll said that 29% of people want to be President. Barbara was surprised that it is not more.

People would also look to hear more “Yes, ma’am” or “No, ma’am” from children. Sherri has her nieces and nephews to say “Miss Barbara” or “Miss Goldberg.” Barbara said that she doesn’t like hearing ma’am from a 40 year old, then she feels old. Whoopi said that is based on where you grew up. Barbara said that reporters asked her daughter if she remembered Senator Brooke from her childhood. Jackie said that she did and that she had a lot of “uncles” growing up, but they never stayed over. Whoopi said, “You were busy.” Moments later Barbara took the whole thing back, saying Jackie didn’t have a lot of “uncles.”
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Whoopi Goldberg will be hosting the Tony Awards this year. She can’t remember if she hosted the Tonys in the past, but remembers she hosted the Oscars only because she saw pictures of herself. Sherri Shepherd asked her if she was going to wear a dress and Whoopi asked, “Why do you do that?” She will wear jewelry because you can wear it with anything and you will look good.

Joy Behar will be on Relative Madness: Mama Drama, which is a special about television mothers. It will be on tonight on SoapNet.

Whoopi asked whether a polygamist husband has to get all the wives Mother’s Day presents. Joy said that they should get them DNA tests and Sherri said that they should get bottles of hairspray. That morphed into a conversation about being only children and Joy is one and thinks there is nothing wrong with it. Sherri would like to have a sibling for Jeffrey. Elisabeth said that having a second child was less for her and more for Grace. Joy said it is like a 25 year play date. Sherri said that having more than one child takes the burden off them when they have to care for their parents later in laugh. Elisabeth said that one child usually ends up taking care of the parents anyway. Joy said that she knows a lot of people who don’t speak to their siblings.
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Whoopi Goldberg was mad this morning because her assistant lied that he was “around the corner” and he arrived late to pick her up. When she got in the car she yelled at him for lying and being late and then the driver hit a taxi cab. He was driving a “putt putt” old car. She would have been happier if he was late and it was a nice car. The cab driver asked for $30 to call it even.

Unfortunately I don’t know what they talked about next because my cable company chose that time for a test of the Emergency Alert System.

The next topic was how Elisabeth Hasselbeck doesn’t get any sleep. She said that it is amazing that a child can reduce her to tears everyday. Grace is in a phase where she only wants to be with her daddy. Joy Behar said Taylor cuddled on her breast yesterday and she was tempted to breastfeed him, but she didn’t have the milk.

The rest of the show as dedicated to Supernanny Jo Frost. She has a new book Jo Frost’s Confident Baby Care. She said that there has never been a family that she couldn’t help. The key is to identify the problem objectively and push the family in the right direction.
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Elisabeth Hasselbeck talked about running the Revlon Run/Walk, which I wrote about this morning.

Whoopi Goldberg is getting the Spirit of Achievement award. Elisabeth said she saw a photo of Whoopi and her granddaughter in the paper. Whoopi said that she has become more public than she has in the last few years. Barbara’s dog Cha Cha was in the New York Times as part of a review of her book Audition, which is on sale tomorrow.

Barbara’s appearance on Oprah Winfrey will air tomorrow. Barbara said that the story leaked about her affair with Senator Edward Brooke. Sherri said that is the story she loved in the book. Whoopi said that Barbara is the last person she thought would have a deep dark hot affair. She didn’t think of her as attached, but rather as a forerunner for women on television. Sherri said it was “steamy” and Elisabeth said it was “intense” and “a page-turner.” Barbara did not want to talk about it because it will be in the Oprah interview. Joy said to tell The View audience before she tells Oprah! Barbara told him in advance that she was going to reveal the affair in the book. Barbara said that to do the book right, she needed it to be personal, so she included the affair.
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Today on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck was absent. Whoopi Goldberg, who was sporting sunglasses today, said that Elisabeth was home with sick children. Barbara Walters signed 1600 copies of her book yesterday in Tennessee and got in late last night. Then she received the call from Bill Geddie that she needed to come in today.

The first topic was Paula Abdul’s on-air gaffe on American Idol where she criticized a song which she had not heard on the show. She had heard part of his song in rehearsal. Barbara said that they should be judging them live. Suddenly Whoopi realized that she had dark sunglasses on and could not see anything, so she took them off. Barbara said that Paula’s mistakes are part of what people tune in for. Joy said that it is like pulling the curtain back and showing that reality shows are not real. Sherri said it was not fair because she said his second song was not as charismatic and that could have stuck in the voters’ minds.
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The first 22 minutes of The View was preempted today by a President Bush news conference. When the show was joined already in progress, they were at the tail end of a conversation about binkies. That ended almost immediately and went to commercial. Anyone in Canada or in a different time zone not affected by the preemption, please post in the comments about what they talked about! Hopefully ABC will post the clips later today.

Newt Gingrich joined the ladies at the table when they came back from commercial. He has a book called Days of Infamy. Joy jokingly asked if the book was about the eight years of President Bush.

Gingrich thinks that Rev. Wright is deliberately trying to harm Barack Obama based on the things he said especially yesterday. He thinks that maybe Obama is no longer acceptable to Rev. Wright’s way of thinking how Black people should be and that being middle class is selling out. Whoopi said that is a stretch and doesn’t think he is trying to hurt Obama. She thinks that it is because Wright is not running for president that he is speaking out. Joy pointed out that John McCain said that he doesn’t believe that Obama shares beliefs with Wright. She asked why we can’t just put the issue to bed.
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Sherri Shepherd did the March for Babies walk this weekend for the March of Dimes, along with her son Jeffrey, who was born prematurely, and her estranged husband Jeff. She said that they got along really well. Joy Behar said that no matter what if you have a kid together, you can’t get rid of the ex-husband. Sherri said that she found herself wondering why she and her husband are separated. Whoopi asked her if she finally remembered. She said yes. Joy said that sometimes you look at the kid and it is easier to forgive if you think you should be together for the sake of the kid. Elisabeth said that she gives Sherri a lot of credit for how she has handled the whole situation. Sherri said that everyday she works on forgiveness. Joy joked that it was her second job.

Wesley Snipes got three years for failing to file income taxes. Elisabeth said that IRS is setting an example. Whoopi talked briefly again about the government taking a lot money, saying the IRS knows that people are “getting boned” and getting very little in return. She said that not paying taxes is a way to get their attention. Sherri said that is how you end up in jail.

Miley Cyrus appeared in provocative photos in Vanity Fair. Elisabeth said that they probably told her that they were very artistic and she is in a bubble. She added that it comes down to the parents who should be the ones in control because she is only 15. Whoopi said that it is wrong for them to say that they were manipulated because she knows that the photographer Annie Lebowitz would have shown them all the photos and had them approve them. Joy said that Miley’s fans are aging and she is trying to keep up with them. She added that she thought the photo of Miley with father Billy Ray Cyrus was a little odd and could not imagine posing that way with her own father. She thinks maybe he is trying to resurrect his own career.
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Here are two videos from The View’s hot topics segment for today, April 24th, including the argument between Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (Unfortunately the person who clipped them did not edit out the commercials)

The View, hot topics, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Whoopi Goldberg

The first topic on The View today was that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is concerned that people are voting for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman or Barack Obama just because he is Black. Joy Behar said that they have pretty much the same platform so that could be how people chose between them. Sherri Shepherd pointed out that there have been other Black candidates who did not get as far, so it is more than just Black people voting for him because he is Black. She said that he is very qualified and she is proud to see a Black man go so far and be in such a place of power.

Whoopi said that the fact that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can be president knocks you out because you have never seen it before and people are “voting their dream.” Sherri said to Elisabeth that she has grown up with people in power who like her, white, and Sherri has not had that before. Elisabeth said that she is just saying that we need to look at the whole picture. Whoopi said that is a “white way of looking at things.” Elisabeth said she will take her white goggles off. Sherri and both Whoopi said that she can’t. Whoopi said that she cannot explain to her fully how Black people feel about this.

Joy asked Elisabeth what it is about Barack and Hillary that she is so against. She started talking about Barack’s relationship to Reverend Wright and Joy said that she meant the policy. Elisabeth said that Barack does not have much history in policy, but she is concerned about the taxing of middle America. Joy asked what McCain is going to do to help middle America and Elisabeth said that he will reduce the gas tax, which Joy called “a drop in the bucket.” (This segment actually had a lot more details, but I couldn’t really keep up with everything Elisabeth was saying, although it was noting she hasn’t said before).
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Today on The View Cindy McCain sat in as guest host. She walked out linking arms with Barbara Walters. Sherri Shepherd was not on the show today, with no explanation, only an assurance that she would be back tomorrow.

Cindy calls her husband “Johnny Boy.” Joy said that she wished she knew that when he was on the show so she could have sung that song to him. Cindy said that John is funny, a great cook, and into horticulture. She said that is why global warming is “one of the mainstays” of his campaign. She says that we have not done enough for the environment in this country.

Barbara asked her if she was wearing a flag pin and she said it was a pin of mothers of military. Her son, a Marine, recently returned from Iraq.

Cindy watched part of the last Democratic debate. She said that debates are very stressful on the family and it is hard to watch the bickering. She hopes, however, that the Democratic race goes on until the convention. Joy said that even the media is bored with the back and forth, adding that the ABC moderators were criticized for their handling of the last debate. Elisabeth said that they did a fantastic job by asking questions that Americans want to know. Barbara asked Cindy which Democratic candidate she thought was more formidable and Cindy said that both candidates are formidable and it makes it great for the voters.
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I have decided to get back into recording podcasts. I did several last year around this time and really enjoyed them. Let me know if you like the idea and whether I should keep them up. You can e-mail me here. (The sound quality is not the best, but I will try to improve).

If you missed all the previous episodes from 2007, you can listen to them here or download them at iTunes (link will open iTunes).

Today’s episode:
*A note about a change in commenting procedures.

*My assessment of Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd and their time on The View.

*Speculation on the future of The View.

 

 Watching the View Podcast 4-19-08 [11:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

watching the view, The View, podcast, Sherri Shepherd, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters

Today on The View Whoopi Goldberg started the show saying that she wanted to talk about a “very serious issue”: how we look. She said that she wears the one piece flexees shapewear instead of a bra and panties and loves them. Elisabeth joked that there are two kids in her house in onesies, she doesn’t need to be in one too.

The next topic was a man who sent them a “desperate letter” saying that he came into money and now family is hitting them up for money. Sherri gives money to her family because she feels guilty. Joy pulled a hair out of Sherri’s head because it was bothering her. Joy added that yesterday she was told that she had a long chin hair and she didn’t like that no one else told her. Whoopi said that she would kiss her on her lips and tell her if she had a panty line, but won’t tell her if she has a chin hair.
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