Watching The View

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.”

The staff of the show came up with some of their own questions, like whether a waiter should stop serving someone who is overeating, like a bartender? Should their skinny bitch tax, where you have to pay money for each pound you are under weight? If you had to give up one of your children, would it be the ugly one or the dumb one?

Should you tell people how much you make? Sherri tells other women who are actresses how much she makes, so that they can negotiate properly. Barbara said that it used to be rude to ask how much you make or what you do. Elisabeth said that people “job jump” and can use the knowledge of other salaries in negotiating. Whoopi said that different people are evaluated differently, so maybe they shouldn’t get paid the same. Barbara, bringing up her book again, said that she was the $1 million baby in the past and other anchors used that to negotiate their contracts. Elisabeth said that women need to be vocal about their salaries because women still only make 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. Barbara said that when you get married, you have to talk about how much money you make. Elisabeth said that she and Tim did that in premarital counsel when they both had no money and she had a lot of debt.

Marcia Cross appeared on the show to talk about Desperate Housewives. She came out reading Barbara’s book. Barbara told her to have all the women on her show reading the book in the opening scene. Marcia has non-identical 14 month old twin girls, Savannah, who they call Savy, and Eden. She says that her energy level is good because she is thrilled to have them. She doesn’t want people to think that it is easy to get pregnant later in life like she did. Barbara asked her if she thinks about which one will be smarter or more beautiful and how she will deal with competition. Marcia said that she had sisters and it is no different and that people have different qualities. Marcia has mom guilt “every minute” of her life.

Between Melrose Place and Desperate Housewives, she tried to figure out her life and got a Masters degree in Psychology. She said that her life is miracle with her family. She finally feels like a success.

Marcia is working with Olay for skin cancer awareness month in a program called Skin Cancer Takes Friends. By going to the site, you can find a dermatologist to go to and get a free screening for yourself and a friend. Barbara said that Marcia has to be more careful because she is so fair. Marcia said that it doesn’t matter your pigment and that even African-Americans are at risk. Whoopi said that they should all go and take John McCain to make sure he stays healthy.

The next segment was about (what else!?) Barbara’s book Audition. Barbara said that if people tell her that they want to be like her, she tells them “you have to take the whole package,” including her childhood. Barbara talked about her sister, repeating the same things that she said on Oprah. Barbara’s mom told her to take her sister every time she went to a party or on a date.

Her parents did not have a good relationship because her father was enormously creative, but a gambler. Her mother wanted a normal life, not a husband who ran the Latin Quarter and other clubs. There is a street now in NYC named after her father, Lou Walters. Barbara used to “live with a halo of fear” that it would all go away and that may be the driving force behind her success. She said that she would not have written the book if her parents or sister were still alive.

Comedian Katt Williams appeared on the show. Sherri is good friends with him. Katt is currently on a nationwide comedy tour. He was blown away that Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon got married and believes anything can happen now. (Carey was supposed to be on the show today). When asked about the election, he said that Black people need to be proud for a second about Barack Obama, but we need to be talking about the real issues too.

He joked that Hillary Clinton got cocky that she would get the minority vote, until there was an actual Black candidate in the race. He is worried about McCain because he is 112.

Katt said that he has messed up on the dating thing because he has worked so hard to get money for a woman, but now he is no use to a woman because he is so busy. He has seven adopted children and one biological child. He joked that he didn’t realize when he started that they would grow into teenagers and he would have to pay for college. One of his kids is on Ritalin and he thought it would even him out, but he convinced that there is cocaine in the Ritalin.

Joy said that the seven kids reminds her of the polygamy ranch (?) and asked him what he thought of that. He said that they looked like the cast of Little House on the Prairie and it is unhealthy to have that many wives. Joy said that they wanted to give them all makeovers. Katt joked it wouldn’t take much, just have them change out of their cardboard dresses.

The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives, Audition, Katt Williams