Watching The View

Rene Syler returned again as guest host today. She last appeared as guest host back in April. She has three children and wrote a book called Good Enough Mother.

David Chase, creator of The Sopranos is receiving a lot of heat because of the finale. Barbara Walters wondered why people aren’t upset about the Iraq War, but they are upset about The Sopranos. Joy Behar said that now she thinks the ending is right because it has caused so much turmoil and speculation and people are making up their own meanings behind the endings.

The talked about Paris Hilton again and people’s reactions to her statements on Sunday in the phone call to Barbara. Elisabeth Hasselbeck said that she feels that the negative reaction to Paris saying that she is more spiritual and reading The Bible is because people are quick to jump on someone who is embracing Christianity. Rene thinks people are jumping on her because she has a history of partying. Joy thinks her transformation is disingenuous because it happened overnight. Rene asked whether Paris would have been treated differently if she was a woman of color. Barbara, after saying that this ordeal has been going on a lot longer than the week that Paris has been in jail, said “Why am I sounding like her publicist?” I think that is what everyone has been asking.

Joy said that Dan Rather said to MSNBC that they hiring of Katie Couric was a mistake and that CBS was trying “to dumb it down and tart it up, in hopes of reaching a younger audience.” Rene thinks that Katie is unfairly being targeted. Joy said that it is so sexist to say that she is “tarting up” the news.

Hillary Clinton has a 15 point lead over Barack Obama among women voters. Barbara added that the less education the women polled have, the more likely they would vote for Hillary. Hillary is encouraging young women to register to vote. Rene added that Hillary has a lot of support from what is called “women of needs,” which includes lower income women.

Rene Syler revealed that both of her parents died of breast cancer. She was diagnosed with breast disease four years ago and had to have a lot of breast tissue removed. She decided to have a double mastectomy, despite not having cancer and not testing positive for the breast cancer gene. She just had the final reconstruction done about three months ago. Her cancer risk is now “all but gone.” She said that she wants to be around for her children.

Judge Judy Sheindlin appeared on the show. She said that she does not understand why Paris does not want to be dumb anymore, so now she is going to be spiritual, noting that those are not opposite things. She asked why any woman would want to play dumb when it is so demeaning. She said that women need to fill up their brains or they will not be relevant. Her book is called Beauty Fades, but Dumb is Forever. Judy said that sometime people have an epiphany, so maybe that is what happened to Paris.

Barbara went on a cruise with Judy during last December during the Rosie O’Donnell/Donald Trump fiasco. Judy said that she hopes her television show does a little bit of good and teaches people how not to make the same mistakes that the litigants in her court have made.

Comedian David Steinberg, star of Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg and author of The Book of David appeared on the show. He was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He used to sell out stadiums with his stand-up. He was considered a counter-culture comedian. He said that he was smart enough to get out at the top and started to direct. He said that as a comedian it is easier to direct Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm because comedians trust other comedians. He then made a joke that was bleeped out; something about pubic hair.

The Puppini Sisters performed on the show. One of the women was born in Italy and plays the accordion. The other two women are British. Their debut CD, which is made up of songs in English and Italian, is called Bet Your Bottom Dollar.

The View, Rene Syler, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The Puppini Sisters, Judge Judy, Paris Hilton, Katie Couric, Dan Rather, CBS, Judge Judy Sheindlin