Watching The View

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, Barbara Walters was absent, so it was just four hosts. The first topic was the announcement that Bill Clinton will be the guest on Monday’s View. Joy Behar said that is one politician she can embrace. Sherri Shepherd had her hair up and was wearing glasses and Elisabeth and Joy teased her that she looked like Sarah Palin. Sherri said that she was going for more of an Audrey Hepburn look. Elisabeth said, “Another one of my favorite women.” Sherri said that with the glasses she was trying to look more studious because is trying to learn about politics. Joy said you are imitating Sarah who is also trying to learn. Elisabeth rolled her eyes and froze in a really weird facial expression.

A recent article said that kids learn more than when they lose because it puts things in perspective. Whoopi said that she remembers losing was part of life. Elisabeth said that now everyone gets a trophy even if they lose because it rewards the effort and the spirit of the game. Joy asked her what she learned by losing Survivor. She said not to do it again. Sherri said that she was told that there is no growth with the absence of pain. Whoopi said losing should not be painful, but it should make you want to do better. Elisabeth said it can give you drive. Joy said her dad always said he lost at the ponies and that is what she calls a loser. Sherri said maybe he had his own personal goals. Joy said that when you are a compulsive gambler, noting that she and Whoopi have those tendencies, it about the high and wanting to keep playing. Whoopi said that she has a lot of money, so she can gamble a lot and she is not risking money for her kids or the mortgage. Joy joked that maybe Lehman Brothers should have taken a lesson from 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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Today on The View, Barbara Walters was absent. They talked about how the set background changed from purple to yellow which they liked better. (I liked the purple, personally, but no one asked me)

Whoopi Golberg’s last night at Xanadu was last night. She is exhausted. Elisabeth Hasselbeck pointed out how close Whoopi had gotten with the cast. Joy recommended community theater to people, as did Whoopi, because it is a great experience and you can meet interesting people. Sherri Shepherd and Barbara Walters went to see Whoopi in the show together. They also had lunch together and it messed with Sherri’s head that she was having lunch with one of the top 100 most powerful women. Barbara told Sherri not to read bad press and gave her advice on being a single mom. She wants to have a pajama party with Barbara.

Joy will be on Larry King Live tomorrow night as a guest.

The Video Music Awards were last night. Whoopi thought Britney Spears looked “terrific.” Sherri said for awhile there people were worried about her but she looked “so good.” Joy jokingly asked if she had a baby on her lap. They showed a clip of her winning an award, thanking her beautiful children. Joy said she is waiting for someone to come on TV and thank their “ugly children.” They then talked about cute babies and ugly babies. Sherri said Jeffrey had such a big forehead, it was a “fivehead,” but he grew hair so he looks better now. Whoopi said her daughter looked like Mao when she was born and she kept trying to give her back to her real mother. Joy said her daughter is beautiful now but looked like Nikita Khrushchev when she was born. Elisabeth said that Grace looks just like Tim, but that Taylor looks Elisabeth’s grandfather.
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Today on The View, comedian Chelsea Handler guest hosted to fill in for Elisabeth Hasselbeck who went to the Republican National Convention. {I am assuming the show was taped Thursday afternoon.} Chelsea’s book, Are you there vodka? It’s me, Chelsea has been on the NY Times best seller list since it came out. She joked that she was on the list with Barbara Walters and they have similar writing styles; Barbara writes about the world leaders she interviewed, while Chelsea writes about the people she slept with. Sherri pointed out that Barbara wrote about having an affair with a Black man. Chelsea that she, too, has had sex with Black men.

Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg will be doing stand-up at Foxwoods next weekend and in October. Following their act they will be doing a Q&A with the audience. Whoopi tried to read the information about it on the teleprompter and messed up. Although it was bleeped, I think she actually said “Fuckswood” instead of “Foxwood.”

Sherri lost her cell phone at Toys R Us and the wireless provider told her that someone was using her phone. She e-mailed the phone and the woman using it said that she paid for it, buying it from a woman who said it was her aunt’s phone. Sherri asked to buy the phone back. The woman would e-mail her and tell her who had called her. Sherri went to Bronx where the woman lived to get her phone back. She said that only in New York are people so nice, although all her pictures of Jeffrey were deleted.
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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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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

The View finally returned from its hiatus with its first new episode since late July. All five hosts were present for the show’s return and the start of season 12. {I have to admit I was happy to see them all come out on the stage. I guess I missed the show more than I thought I would!} They have a new purple background and a new introduction.

Whoopi Goldberg was busy during hiatus doing Xanadu. The co-hosts will be going to see her perform later this week. She doesn’t want to know which day, though, because it will be distracting. Sherri wants to scream “Whoopi!” but Whoopi told her only when the show is over. Barbara still has her book Audition out. It will be in paperback this spring.

During the hiatus, Joy went to Barbara’s summer house for dinner. Barbara asked all her guests who they would vote for if the election was that day and they all said McCain, even though they were liberals. Barbara said that was before the convention. Sherri e-mailed a lot to Elisabeth to get parenting advice during the hiatus. She now has Jeffrey full-time now.

Whoopi encouraged people to support the Red Cross and other organizations to help out after Hurricane Gustav.
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Earlier this month, I wrote that an ABC press release promised that on August 25th, the ABC website would feature “a retrospective looking back at 12 of the most outrageous, hysterical, side-splitting moments from this past season.” Well they were a few days late, but it is up now. You can see what the show deems to be the highlights of season 11 at the View ABC website.

Or you can just peruse the list here and see if there are any you want to go watch. Do you think there were any moments from season 11 that they failed to include? You will see from the list that they focused mostly on funny moments and they are nearly all guest segments rather than hot topics/discussions.

1. Mario Cantone talking about their chances at winning an Emmy this past season. Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck roll around on the floor after Mario tells them they have to be lesbians to win.

2. Martha Stewart making cider. Sherri Shepherd drinks a lot of rum and “passes out.”

3. Rose Rock (mom of Chris Rock) appears on the show. Elisabeth Hasselbeck stands to welcome her, but Rose is already on the couch with the hosts.
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