The State of the View, Revisited: Some Solutions
Last week I posted a 50-word haiku about what I think is wrong with The View right now. While many of you enjoyed it and agreed with its sentiment, it got me thinking: What can producers Barbara Walters and Bill Geddie (pictured left) do to fix it? It is certainly not as simple as telling them to have spicier and more serious hot topics. Barbara Walters has made it clear that they are afraid to, mainly because they think it will scare the audience away. I also don’t think that would entirely fix things, as there are a number of areas where the show could use improvement.
Hot Topics
The fear of true “hot topics” is a major problem. The producers are scared to lose viewers, so, as a result, they spend more time worrying about how to decorate the set for the holidays or having the hosts chat about what they are wearing than discussing a serious topic. Certainly I don’t expect to get all of my hard news coverage from The View, but the show is better when they at least get into a discussion of one or more serious issues. I would suggest that they start slow, because it will no doubt be scary for Bill and Barbara to get out of their comfort zone. Perhaps just one day a week could be dedicated to debate on serious issues, with that date being announced ahead of time. Then the producers could get an idea of how many people want those kind of topics discussed, based on the ratings. It would be very interesting to see how many former viewers would turn the television back on that day.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Although many people who read this blog disagree with me, I don’t think that show would be improved by getting rid of Elisabeth Hasselbeck. I think that having Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the show actually makes it more interesting and I am looking forward to her return following maternity leave. I realize that many of my readers think that she is a parrot for Fox News, but I think that the points she brings up are at least relevant to any political discussion because those are the viewpoints of media folks on the right. While what she says may not always be her own original thoughts on the topic, what is important is that she believes in what she is saying. I also think that other women in America agree with her and want to hear someone expressing views similar to hers. Additionally, having Elisabeth contribute “her side” to the discussions, it creates an opportunity to have debate about what is coming out of conservative television and allows it to be rebutted.
However, I am sure that when Elisabeth returns from maternity leave, she will be more likely to show lots of photos of new baby Taylor Thomas than encourage debates on world issues. While I love pictures of cute babies, I think that it will get old pretty quickly and may annoy viewers. While issues related to motherhood are an important topic on the show, hopefully her stories about Grace trying to breast feed and finding Taylor’s belly button will be limited (maybe just once a day!) and will not interfere with discussions of other topics.
ABC Promotional efforts
Another way that I think that The View could improve is to slow down on the obvious and repetitive ABC tie-ins. It seems that even more than before, the majority of the guests and guest hosts have an ABC affiliation. For example, the only reason they had Sherri Shepherd go to Soap Week was because it advertised for the channel’s soap operas.
Granted the ABC connection can bring them in ratings-getters, like the Dancing with the Stars contestants. However, it can also make the show suffer, like when they trot another Desperate Housewives actress onto the show, even though they have nothing really to offer in way of new material from when they were on a few months earlier. Lately it has gotten worse because most television actors have nothing at all to talk about because of the Writer’s Guild strike, which has made things difficult on everyone who covers television for a living.
There is a whole wide world out there of actors, authors, and other relevant people that have nothing to do with ABC. They should call some of them up.
Barbara Walters
The topic of Barbara Walters and her relationship to the show is a tough one for me to decide. On the one hand, I admire her for the fact that she is a trailblazer and has led the way for women in all fields to go farther than they ever have before. That goes for her work interviewing foreign leaders, as well as the fact that she created such a landmark show as The View. However, these days, I think that Barbara is trying too hard. I think that she had heard the critics saying that it might be time for her to retire, so it is like she is trying to prove that she is funny, hip, and relevant. However, Barbara, while she is a great many things, is not funny. Her attempts at humor always fall flat and she should leave the attempts at humor to the experts. Her obvious attempts to be “cool,” such as repeatedly talking about getting a MySpace page make her sound silly. She needs to learn that what makes someone “cool” or funny comes naturally. You cannot force it.
Guest Interviews
That leads me to my final topic, which is something you also cannot force: guest interviews. While in many cases, the personality of the guest and their preplanned material can make all of the difference in an interview, the hosts need to be on their game too. The first step, like many people have suggested, is to stop with the full panel interview. There is no reason why all four (or five) hosts need to interview each guest. I think it works better when they have two hosts interview one person and then the other two hosts do the next segment.
Whoopi has made no secret of the fact that she is bored to tears during the interviews. However, the guests all seem to love her and the fact that she is there, so I don’t see her leaving the couch anytime soon. In that case, she needs to do more than “look interested.” She needs to actually be interested. If she thinks the guests are boring, perhaps she can do some research and find something about them that she would enjoy discussing with them. When the guest is someone that she knows or is friends with, she comes alive again. The guests cannot all be winners, but she needs to treat them all with the same enthusiasm.
Despite its pervasiveness, Whoopi’s boredom is not the worst part of the guest interviews this season. Although all of the hosts may be guilty of it from time to time, I think that Barbara is the most guilty of it: inappropriate topics. Now, I am not talking about when she inquires to a shy, private actor whether he has a girlfriend, although that can be pretty uncomfortable. No, the moment that is still seared into my brain is when Barbara told Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi that Whoopi wanted to “do” her husband. It is that one moment sums up all that is wrong with the show this season. Any attempt to address serious issues is smacked down by silliness. Barbara should stick to the more serious questions and leave the humor to the comedians on the panel. They know when in it is appropriate to be funny and when it is important to be serious.
Although I doubt ABC will be reading this blog and working to implement my suggested changes, I really hope that they at least try to make things better after the new year or the viewers will be wishing that they were stuck in an airport rather than watching the show.
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This post is part of Project Blog. Read all the entries and vote for your favorite.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Great post Winnie! I agree with everything you said accept for the part about EH. There’s a whole news channel devoted to folks with her point of view, Don’t get me started talking about the radio. It won’t matter much to me if she comes back or not, I rarely watch the show and the recaps are good enough for me.
December 6th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Winnie are you going to put the poll in this post. I would like to post it on my blog.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Eek! FYI, Winnie, there’s nothing past a sentence or two of “Hot Topics.” It stops at “more time worrying about…”
…about what?! You’ve left me hanging!
December 6th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
[...] 2. Kara, Colorado Review: “More Details on What to Do at DIA 3. Winnie, Watching the View: “The State of The View Revisited: Some Solutions” 4. Kate, Babylune: “Let Me Just Annotate That” Jodie Sally [...]
December 6th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Yep, I seem to be having a problem reading the rest of the post as well. I’ll come back later. I’m VERY interested to read your opinions.
December 6th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I can’t see the rest of the article either.
In any case, here is a link to the poll.
http://www.realityonbravo.com/
As always, Winnie, Good luck
December 6th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Stacee,
Thanks for the link.
December 6th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
MY RESPONSE TO “THE STATE OF THE VIEW, REVISITED: SOME SOLUTIONS”:
Hi Winnie and Everyone,
I’ve really been enjoying your interesting posts recently, and I am amazed at what a great job Winnie is able to do on the re-caps. As I mentioned, I’m a screenwriter, and the Writers Strike has stalled my fledgling career big time, so as much as it pains me to say it, my mornings are spent with Regis and Kelly and The View. I’m way ahead of you; I have entirely too much free time on my hands.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but as I have said in previous posts, there is such a scarcity of arenas for women to engage in meaningful dialog about the state of the world that it’s all we have. There is definitely an audience for this type of programming, and for a while The View fulfilled that need, but lately it has fallen way short of its original intent and potential. I sincerely believe that it’s because of Barbara Walters. She seems to be stuck in a time warped world of her own making and visions of “I interviewed them years ago…” Her shameless self-promotions notwithstanding, she is useless to the show and should be called to task for what I assume are her hiring decisions. Come to think of it, considering most of her co-host selections, with two notable exceptions (Joy Behar and Lisa Ling) her judgment has been clearly flawed. Star Jones was a disaster, Rosie was a neurotic loose cannon, Elisabeth is a self-righteous, conservative reality TV-minded idiot, and Meredith was/is a nervous wreck. “Miss Walters” may indeed be the creator of the show, but she is a hindrance now and has lost whatever credibility she claims to have had and it’s time for her to hand over the proverbial reins to someone else. Besides, on recent shows, she seems to be teetering into inappropriate behavior (She practically fondled David Spade) with some of the guests. Rosie was right. It is time for her to retire.
That said and out of the way, HERE’S MY SOLUTION: Today I wrote to the man in charge, (Brian Frons, President, Daytime Disney ABC-Television Group) as well as EVERYONE at The View. I have posted some of my comments here previously, but here are a few excerpts of what I said:
RE: THE VIEW: OK, ENOUGH ALREADY. IT’S TIME FOR A MAJOR REALITY CHECK. THE ILL-CONCEIVED WHOOPI-SHERRI SOCIAL/LAB EXPERIMENT ISN’T WORKING, AND BARBARA’S SHAMELESS, CONSTANT SELF-PROMOTION IS UTTERLY UNBEARABLE.
If the ratings tell you anything at all, it should be that there is definitely an audience for this type of daytime programming, especially for those of us who are not soap opera fans. The View still has the potential to be that special forum for women, but not in its’ present state. Please consider the following:
1. Whoopi: She looks uncomfortable and she seems uninterested most of the time. She is clearly trying hard to be something she’s not, and she doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. Love her comedy act, and respect her intellect tremendously, (her one-woman show was absolutely brilliant) but she is completely out of her element here. She can’t even maintain a façade of interest in the guests and topics, and her segues are painful to watch.
2. Sherri: THE POSTER CHILD FOR THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT. This is one child who was definitely left behind. Instead of sending her on a newcomer’s tour of New York, you should have performed a public service and escorted her to the nearest elementary school to complete her education. Not only is Sherri uneducated and ignorant of basic history, she seems to have some sort of “my husband cheated so I can say whatever I like” Tourette’s syndrome and will not shut up about it. Borrowing a line from the recent political landscape, she only knows how to put four things in a sentence: A noun, a verb, “…I got big boobs, and my husband cheated.” Sherri is a pleasure to watch as an actress in a comedic role, but a table on The View is clearly not the place for her. A case in point: Her recent inappropriate outburst about Hillary Clinton’s unflappable performance at one of the debates: “That’s right, honey! ‘Cause once your man done cheated on you, cain’t nothing get you down!”
3. Whoopi and Sherri: Giving either one or both of them a permanent place at the table was a huge mistake. Most importantly they make terrific guests. NOT permanent co-hosts. Both should stay in their careers as comedic actors. The selection of these two was a social experiment that is not working.
4. Joy: The only person of interest and worth watching. She’s well-read, politically savvy, fearless and a pleasure to watch. She really should have her own show.
5. Elisabeth: A hindrance to the show. She’s narrow-minded, ill-informed and limited – witness her recent mindless verbal attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She should be replaced.
And so to ABC programmers: Again, there is still an audience for this type of show, and if you act quickly and cut your losses and re-vamp The View, the potential for making it a good show is definitely there. Get rid of Barbara, Elisabeth and Whoopi and Sherri, and start all over with Joy at the helm. As evidenced by her recent refreshing turns in Larry King’s seat, she would be great.
For anyone interested, here is the contact information:
Brian Frons,
PRESIDENT, DAYTIME DISNEY ABC-TELEVISION GROUP
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, California 91521
THE VIEW PRODUCERS:
Bill Geddie, Barbara Walters, Alexandra Cohen, Patrick Ignozzi, Matthew J. Strauss, Donald Berman, Susan Solomon, Mark Gentile
320 West 66th Street
New York, NY 10023
December 6th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Sorry, everyone! I have NO idea how my post got eaten. Luckily I had saved a copy of it. I was at a work conference all day and just got home (10:30pm), so this is the first chance I had to fix it. Hope you like it!
December 7th, 2007 at 3:04 am
Well done Williscript! Your view is so accurate. My daughter and I are avid View watchers from Australia and cannot agree with you more.
Joy is a pleasure to watch. What an intelligent, savvy woman. She is fearless and funny. Perhaps they should have considered her for the moderators role.
We love and respect Whoopi but have to agree with her total lack of interest at times. She supports her rational arguements and gives Sherri a chance to explain her comments which are often absurd and not well thought out.
Poor uneducated Sherri - it does seem that she has only a few main talking points - her big boobs, her son, religion, and her husband cheated. She is guilty of making rash comments that she cannot support. She is enjoyable when playing a character in a sitcom, but on the view she is irritating.
Speaking of irritating - I agree that the republican kiss ass Elizabeth should not return. I understand that those are her views and that is fine, but i find the way she delivers her comments are forceful and get the impression that she does not even want to consider that there is an alternative opinion.
Barbara, perhaps it is time for her to go. Although i do respect her lengthy time in the industry,I have noticed that she tries too hard to be funny and her attempts at being young are over the top.
Final thought: WE MISS ROSIE!
December 7th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Winnie, it is obvious to me that the View needs a new producer and, after reading this post, it is obvious to me that you are the best candidate.
December 7th, 2007 at 6:35 am
Winnie, another great submission. You are right; I am one who disagrees about EH on the show. The show had many intelligent minority republicans as guest hosts who could have unseated EH immediately and made her seat a rational point- of-view. I think Rosie and Joy would have enjoyed having that seat filled that way too.
Williscript, thanks for the whack to the heads of ABC and the show. I agree with all of your points and I had thought from the beginning that the Whoopie/Sherri combo was overcompensating for not naming a minority early on to replace Star. Unfortunately, they didn’t want intelligence to represent that position just comedy. Now Sherri has many hits on Google showcasing her ignorance, but maybe she thinks this is a good thing?
I am beginning to wonder if the networks want to keep Rosie off the air until after the election, as she had too much influence over the block that votes the same way as their husbands. If you read her blog many give her credit for showing them the light.
And finally….Winnie, whether you win the contest or not, your blog has given us a forum to continue the discussion that has been muted by the Geddes/Walters duo. I extend my heart filled thanks for keeping the discussion alive!!!
Williscript, it is great to have you here too. Good luck with your future employment, it is your kind that gives hope to the everyday worker who has no voice!
December 7th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Winnie– Thanks for the forum for discussion and the daily recaps.
Williscript– You are so on point I totally agree with every single point you made. I would add that I do miss Rosie and give her kudos for taking the show in the new direction during her stint. I hope the powers that be take heed and make the necessary changes.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I’m a sporadic View watcher. Caught it yesterday while I was on the treadmill. Almost fell off the treadmill due to falling asleep! Hot topics are COLD.
December 7th, 2007 at 9:09 am
[...] 2. Kara, Colorado Review: “More Details on What to Do at DIA 3. Winnie, Watching the View: “The State of The View Revisited: Some Solutions” 4. Kate, Babylune: “Let Me Just Annotate That” 5. Jodie, Gossip on Sports: “The [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 10:06 am
Williscript,
Great job! I would like to know if most of the Viewers would rather have hot topics with fluff, hot topics with serious stuff or a little of both. I would prefer a little of both.
I only ask if serious issues are going to be discuss, that they be discussed in depth, not glossed over. It was just weird yesterday how BW tried to shut Joy up about the rapist. I don’t want to be treated like a child. Just give us the information and let us decide for ourselves. They totally messed up the thing with the demons in the Golden Compass. I get more information from the very knowledgeable posters here, than I get from the panelist on the show.
Aileen and New Linda took it upon themselves to research the story about the rapist. It was great that they provided us with that info. I expect the View to do the same when discussing a story. Why not provide the viewers with a link to articles about the hot topics that were covered that day.
December 7th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
[...] 2. Kara, Colorado Review: “More Details on What to Do at DIA 3. Winnie, Watching the View: “The State of The View Revisited: Some Solutions” 4. Kate, Babylune: “Let Me Just Annotate That” 5. Jodie, Gossip on Sports: “The Supermodel [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
As a proud fan of Elisabeth and one who agrees with her views, I am grateful to Winnie for having the class to acknowledge that ALL viewpoints deserve air time, regardless of where you stand.
December 7th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
[...] 2. Kara, Colorado Review: “More Details on What to Do at DIA 3. Winnie, Watching the View: “The State of The View Revisited: Some Solutions” 4. Kate, Babylune: “Let Me Just Annotate [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Winnie,
I think your post and ideas are excellent.
I hope that the producers DO somehow read it, and take notes.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Rosie made The View what we want it to be
and the proof is in the ratings when she was on. In order to get that back, we need to get behind Williscript and her wonderful words and support this change, by sending our own little comments to the President of ABC daytime TV and the Producers of the View.
I love what THE VIEW could be, but not how it is now.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Thanks everyone for the nice comments!
Williscript: Thanks for your thoughts on the issues; everyone here seems to appreciate your sentiments. I hope ABC pays attention to your comments that you sent them.
Kate: If ABC called, I would do it in a heartbeat!
Jodie: I am glad there is at least one person who agrees with my EH commentary!
Kara: That could be a public service announcement - treadmills and boring hot topics don’t mix.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
[...] 2. Kara, Colorado Review: “More Details on What to Do at DIA 3. Winnie, Watching the View: “The State of The View Revisited: Some Solutions” 4. Kate, Babylune: “Let Me Just Annotate That” 5. Jodie, Gossip on Sports: “The Supermodel [...]
December 7th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Winnie - I think that everyone is avoiding the pink elephant in the room. Barbara is LOSING IT. She gets mixed up, gets names wrong, babbles on when no one is interested. The worst is when she blabbering on with one of her boring stories then stops and says “What was I talking about?” It’s embarrassing and she deserves to lose he legacy if she doesn’t do the right thing and retire. She’s ruining her own legacy.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Great post, Winnie, you made many really good points. I think you should send a copy to the View and/or to the bigwigs at ABC, if you haven’t done so already.
I’m all for pestering those guys and inform them that we don’t like what they’ve done with the show. We want our View back, not some thin, insipid and lukewarm broth.
I’ve written to both Bill and Babs before,
and since Babs is my new MySpace friend, I couldn’t help sending her a little note yesterday, just to say hi, y’know, happy holidays, and, well, your show is kinda so-so these days, and Sherri? Not a big fan, here.
Maybe if the volume of fan-mail increases, and the same points are made over and over, they’ll get a clue.
I think viewer feedback had some influence on Star’s firing, though I couldn’t tell to what extent exactly.
And bravo to you too, Williscript, that was very well put.
Did you actually write to them via snail-mail? I heard that they were more likely to read a paper letter than an email, which kinda makes sense. Maybe I should give it a shot sometime.
Anyway, a few points I wanted to discuss:
HT:
They are a crucial, not to say THE crucial part of the show. The part that really rocked last year and caused the viewership to increase. And besides their choice of topics, I am tired of the superficiality with which they discuss them. Nothing is talked about in depth anymore, and that is really irritating when the discussion takes an interesting turn, and is interrupted by Babs wanted to get away from muddy waters, or a one-liner courtesy of Sherri. Two, three topics per segment would be more than enough, and instead, I feel they’re offering us a digest of the whole newspaper in 20 minutes.
About picking a day for serious HT; I honestly don’t know if I would like that. One of the things I enjoy about the View, is that it’s unscripted, and that allows for the flow of the conversation to be fluid and natural. I’m afraid having pre-planned serious topics would take away from that spontaneity.
And there’s also the fact that a big event can occur any day of the week, and I would hate having them put off an interesting commentary after something big occurs, only because “we only about talk serious topics on tuesdays, and it’s thursday, so it’s off limits”. Considering how Babs has been of late, I can totaally imagine her saying that.
However, I agree that having a pre-planned “heavy topic” day, would be a good indicator on how many ppl tune in specifically for it.
EH:
I’m a big Survivor fan (she’s actually the initial reason for my starting to watch the View).
On Survivor, every season, there is one annoying nutcase who, for some reason, manages to stick around longer than logic would want it. And I usually start off hating that person, then still hate them, whilst finding them mildly entertaining, and as the show goes on, my annoyance decreases as their entertainment value increases and when they get the boot, I tend to miss them.
Although EH wasn’t that nutcase on Survivor, as far as I’m concerned, she is on the View. She has become the villain I love to hate. She keeps me foaming at the mouth and screaming at the TV. And I like screaming at the TV. It’s a good, harmless release of tension, I find.
Last year, I hated her guts with the intensity of a thousand suns, and my disagreeing with her about just pretty much everything on this earth and beyond is one reason but not the only one. She’s also screechy, not all that articulate, and she has made many statements, like her “unfortunate” reply to Rosie’s 600 000 something dead Iraqis, or her “what are the parents doing?” to Joy’s health insurance, or rather lack-of, argument, seemed to me really harsh, judgmental and uncompassionate, and these are things I’ve been holding against her since she uttered them. And I likely alway will, because I don’t like her anyway.
I don’t like her, but now that she’s gone, she took the villain I love to hate with her.
And now I’m left with Sherri, who doesn’t infuriate me; Sherri amazes me, really, in a “WTF is she doing here on TV” kinda way. Sherri also frequently bores me. She’s sweet and funny, but I find her to be too much of a one trick pony. Always the boobs jokes, the same old conversations, not much thought-challenging material there. I think I actually like her best when she’s talking about religion, because it’s something she’s passionate about. Once in a while, she breaks out of her funny one-liners and sex jokes mode, but once in a while is not enough for me, and the things that fire her up are not enough for me either.
EH at least has notions of what’s going on in the world, she has opinions and she’s not afraid of debating them, no matter how clumsily.
And I’ve just realized this myself, but on the previous panels all the ladies were interested in discussing both fluffy and serious topics. Star, Meredith, Rosie, Joy, Babs, EH, all of them would watch both the Republican debate and American Idol.
This is the first time we have panelists with one-sided interests. Whoopi doesn’t give a crap about Idol, Sherri doesn’t care about politics. Not too much harmony, here.
And back to EH, as Winnie stated, there will be many like-minded individuals among the viewers, and I too think it’s important that their views are represented.
However, Winnie, you have filled me with dread at the idea of the baby pictures and the diaper talk. I do not look forward to it whatsoever.
Maybe they should make her come-back show all about that, a one hour special on TT, and done and over.
I have already expressed my thoughts about Babs in detail in previous posts, and what is said above totally reflects my opinion of her, but I find Babs can actually be funny once in a while; although when she is, it’s usually unintentional.
Besides that, I couldn’t agree more on the points about ABC’s constant and repetitive pimping of their own shows.
And again, good points about the guest interviews, and couldn’t agree more on the fact that four or five panelists for one guest is way too much. One-on-one, two-on-one max would be a lot better.
But that to me is a minor issue; I’ve got to admit that unless the guest is a politician, or someone with a very interesting story, I rarely pay that much attention. I just don’t care much about actors, musicians, or starlets become designers coming to plug their product.
December 8th, 2007 at 1:34 am
THANKS WINNIE & ALL FOR YOUR KIND WORDS. To answer Rachel’s question, I sent all of my letters by regular US mail with copies to all of the producers of the show. From the zillions of negative hits I’ve seen all over the internet, I’m guessing they’re going to be bombarded with mail. Let’s hope it does some good. BTW: Did anyone else catch Joy’s little slip of the tongue on yesterday’s show when Bab-Wa was preparing to shamelessly plug her special again? Joy said something like: “…No go ahead, I want to see how you do it ’cause I’m going to be doing it.” Call me crazy, but I have a gut feeling that Joy’s been offered her own show. She’s been all over the place lately, and she’s subbed for Larry King twice recently that I know of. Just wondering.
December 8th, 2007 at 4:46 am
I wondered about Joy having a new opportunity too. In fact, EH and her Target clothing line make me wonder if they are folding the tent at the end of the 2007/2008 season.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Thank you, williscript. You said everything I am feeling..and in a far better way. I miss watching The View…the one I used to tape and watch daily. But now it makes me miserable so why bother?
Thank you, Winnie…I enjoy your recaos and don’t have to put up with the irritation of Sherri, EH, or the disintegration of someone I always admired, BW.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I also enjoy the recaps better than watching the show. If there’s someone on I’d like to see I will watch, but even that’s rare at this point.
December 8th, 2007 at 11:56 am
Another well-written, great analysis, Winnie. Of course you’ve got my vote.
My primary concern for The View or any talk show is that the right-wing disinformation apparatus (a clumsy term I used on another thread) be called out for what it is, and be challenged. St. Rosie did the world good when she came on the show last year and shone a big ol’ spotlight and a WTF? whenever footsoldier EH dispensed her talking points. You’ll notice (I hope) that I didn’t say I thought “other points of view” or conservative/right-wing points of view should not be represented. And I’m not critical of EH because she states her opinions in an unoriginal way. And I don’t presume that she doesn’t believe in what she says. I do believe she thinks of herself now, because of her platform on The View, as a pundit & wants to use the right wing punditry’s verbal tools to persuade people (voters). I don’t think Sherrie is interested in doing this. I think Sherrie’s vehemence in stating her views arises more out of self-defense than in trying to sway people to see things the way she does. (I would have been interested in hearing what your thoughts were about Sherrie’s contribution to the show so far.)
Anything that lends itself to this goal is fine by me: fewer fluff topics; fewer cross-promotions of & guests from ABC shows (though I still don’t understand why it’s considered so bizarre that Babs promotes her particular fab-people & Oscar specials). Am not sure about having full days devoted to hot topics; if this jeopardizes spontaneity, that’s not good. On the other hand, since EH seems so often to be a multlitasking whirling dervish with her “researching” of “facts”, maybe it would be a good thing to see what she comes up with when she has a little more time to prepare.
I have to tape the show & try to catch up as best I can; the reason I watch, really, is because it’s a chance to see two people I really adore: Joy & Whoopi. Where else can I see them?
Enjoyed & appreciated Willi’s & Rachel’s analyses & the input & comments by all others. As for Jodie’s comment, I’d like to offer the following observations: I don’t see where “class” has anything to do with whether or not someone agrees with Winnie that EH should be on the show. And I haven’t seen anyone say that they didn’t want all views to be represented. It is EH’s particular way and method of presenting her “views” that some of us object to. I also couldn’t draw any conclusions from Winnie’s post whether or not she “agrees” with EH’s views.
December 8th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Don’t forget to vote for Winnie. I just checked and things are getting a little too close. So go vote! If you have a blog encourage your readers to vote too. Just copy the link and post it. I e-mailed the link to everyone in my address book. Every little bit helps.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Some very good points by everyone involved.
I’m going to suggest that this level of interest shows that maybe we should be giving The View producers a little more credit.
I’m not a huge Barbara Walters fan, I find her interviews vapid and more about showcasing Barbara than her subject.
I have to admit I don’t find Elizabeth nearly as big of a problem than other folks.
I think the show works as entertainment in a People Magazine kind of way. It could probably stand to be tweaked, but I think trying to turn it into NPR would be a mistake.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Ann: You’re right. I didn’t really get into Barbara’s memory lapses. I think much of her forgetfulness is on things that she does not care about. (i.e. calling Justin Timberlake “Jason”) I think the show would be greatly helped if she were only one once per week, but I don’t see the show going on without her on there at all.
Mark: I personally would like to see something in between People and NPR.
Peaches: For what’s it worth, I rarely, if ever, agree with EH’s opinions on things.
Rachel: You make a good point about Whoopi not caring about TV and Sherri not caring about politics. It does make it difficult to have good debate (whatever the topic) if everyone does not have an opinion.
Dee: I had forgotten about EH’s clothing project. When does that come out, if you know?
Random: I am happy to watch, so you don’t have to.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:12 am
Winnie,
Haven’t read anymore about her clothing since her interview in May of 2007. TARGET was a big GOP contributor so she has easy access to party supporters and will be wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. The celebs who slap their name on discount store clothing lines are doing very well today thanks to their pioneer Jaclyn Smith (another GOPer I understand).
Let us not forget her upcoming attempt at books for tots. You won’t need to tear out the negative pages as she does currently to Grace’s books.
December 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
I was wondering if anyone knew If Sherri talked about her “faith” a lot when she was just a guest host? I watched the show off and on, so I don’t remember.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
I’m not sure if she did but Sherri’s view on evolution was brought up by Babs. Maybe they had a private conversation or perhaps sherri mentioned it during HT sometime last season. Either way, Babs knew who she was hiring.
I always had the impression Sherri’s faith was important to her, but in the way Star’s faith was important to her. But from what I see, that no longer seems to be the case.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I liked Sherri as a co-host, now ..Not so much.