Salon.com > Barbara Walters http://www.salon.com Sat, 18 May 2013 12:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 There will never be another Barbara Walters http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/there_will_never_be_another_barbara_walters/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/there_will_never_be_another_barbara_walters/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 14:47:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13297066 Barbara Walters is ready for a different view -- but not just yet. On Monday, the 83-year-old newswoman officially announced that she will retire in 2014.

"I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain," she explained in a weekend statement. "I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women — and OK, some men too — who will be taking my place." But Barbara Walters, if nobody's managed to take your place yet, what makes you think it'll happen now?

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/there_will_never_be_another_barbara_walters/feed/ 24 Good riddance, Barbara Walters http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/the_long_gross_career_of_barbara_walters/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/the_long_gross_career_of_barbara_walters/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13297070 Barbara Walters has announced her retirement from journalism, a profession she claims to have been practicing for more than 50 years. Walters, the former co-host of the "Today" show, ABC World News, "20/20," and current co-host of "The View," is a national icon and a pioneer, and probably as responsible as any other living person for the ridiculous and sorry state of American television journalism. She has announced her retirement a year in advance, so that a series of aggrandizing specials can be produced celebrating her long and storied career. So let's get things started off right, by reminding everyone how her entire public life has been an extended exercise in sycophancy and unalloyed power worship.

When she's not interviewing famous people, Walters is partying and vacationing with and occasionally dating them. Former relationships (dutifully recounted in her boldfaced-name-heavy memoir) include Sen. Edward Brooke, former Bear Stearns head Alan Greenberg, and Alan Greenspan, who I guess has a type. She's buddies with war criminal and society fixture Henry Kissinger. She's old friends with make-believe TV tycoon Donald Trump. She testified at the Brooke Astor trial, because Astor was, of course, a close friend.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/the_long_gross_career_of_barbara_walters/feed/ 151 Barbara Walters reportedly to retire in May 2014 http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/barbara_walters_reportedly_to_retire_in_may_2014/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/barbara_walters_reportedly_to_retire_in_may_2014/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13254925 Barbara Walters is reportedly retiring from television in 2014. According to Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, who first broke the story:

"I’ve learned a plan has been put in place for Walters to announce her retirement, eyed for May 2014. Fitting for Walters’ status as the grand dame of TV journalism and a signature face of 'ABC News,' I hear she would be given a big sendoff with retrospectives and other special content in the weeks leading to her retirement that would celebrate her 52-year broadcast career. Walters had been determined to leave on her own terms, so it is unclear whether revealing the plans would make her change her mind and whether she would go for a full retirement or keep some TV presence with occasional appearances and specials."

The news comes a few weeks after Walters was hospitalized for chicken pox, causing speculation that the 83-year-old journalist and 20-year "20/20" anchor might retire soon.

The Huffington Post has confirmed the news independently with an inside source as well.

 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/barbara_walters_reportedly_to_retire_in_may_2014/feed/ 6 Barbara Walters is out of the hospital http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/barbara_walters_is_out_of_the_hospital/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/barbara_walters_is_out_of_the_hospital/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13185818 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- ABC says Barbara Walters is out of the hospital and recovering from chicken pox at home.

ABC said Tuesday that the 83-year-old host on "The View" is resting comfortably and "getting stronger." There was no indication of when she might return to work.

Walters was hospitalized after falling and cutting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. The news veteran later was diagnosed with chicken pox, which typically hits people when they are children.

The disease can be serious in older people because of the possibility of complications like pneumonia.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/30/barbara_walters_is_out_of_the_hospital/feed/ 0 Barbara Walters hospitalized with chickenpox http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/barbara_walters_hospitalized_with_chickenpox/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/barbara_walters_hospitalized_with_chickenpox/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:04:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13184288 NEW YORK (AP) -- Barbara Walters would probably like to hit the reset button on 2013.

She's got the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in after falling and hitting her head at a pre-inaugural party in Washington on Jan. 19. A fellow host on the "The View," Whoopi Goldberg, said Monday that Walters has been transferred to a New York hospital and hopes to go home soon.

"She's been told to rest. She's not allowed any visitors," Goldberg said. "And we're telling you, Barbara, no scratching!"

The 83-year-old news veteran, who underwent heart surgery in May 2010, apparently avoided a disease that hits most people when they are children. It can be serious in older people because of the possibility of complications like pneumonia.

Even after concern about her fall had subsided, Walters had been kept hospitalized last week because of a lingering fever, and doctors found the unexpected cause.

"We love you, we miss you," Goldberg said on "The View," in a message to the show's inventor. "We just don't want to hug you."

 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/barbara_walters_hospitalized_with_chickenpox/feed/ 0 Barbara Walters hospitalized after fall http://www.salon.com/2013/01/20/barbara_walters_hospitalized_after_fall/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/20/barbara_walters_hospitalized_after_fall/#comments Sun, 20 Jan 2013 20:47:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13177152 NEW YORK (AP) -- Veteran ABC newswoman Barbara Walters has fallen at an inauguration party in Washington and has been hospitalized.

ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider says the 83-year-old Walters fell Saturday night on a step at the residence of Britain's ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott. The fall left Walters with a cut on her forehead.

Schneider said Sunday "out of an abundance of caution" Walters went to a hospital for treatment of the cut and for a full examination. He says Walters is alert "and telling everyone what to do," which is "a very positive sign."

It's unclear when Walters might be released from the hospital, which ABC hasn't identified.

Walters was TV news' first female superstar, making headlines in 1976 as a network anchor with an unprecedented $1 million annual salary.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/20/barbara_walters_hospitalized_after_fall/feed/ 1 Must-see morning clip http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/must_see_morning_clip_81/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/must_see_morning_clip_81/#comments Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:14:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155581 ABC has released an exclusive interview with Michelle and Barack Obama's first joint interview since the election. The first lady takes Barbara Walters on a tour of the White House and the the couple discusses their marriage, below:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/27/must_see_morning_clip_81/feed/ 0 The Obamas talk iconic Election Day “hug” photo http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/the_obamas_talk_iconic_election_day_hug_photo/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/the_obamas_talk_iconic_election_day_hug_photo/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:37:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13155118 In an interview with Barbara Walters set to air tonight, Barack and Michelle Obama discussed the iconic "hug" photo that went viral on Election Night, after the President won re-election.

The picture was taken while they were campaigning in Iowa, Barack Obama said. Michelle Obama added: "Also, I hadn’t seen him in a while. You know, when you're campaigning, they have, we're two ships passing in the night, and the first time I saw him was when I walked on stage to greet him. And that’s my honey giving me a hug."

Watch:

 

 

 

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/26/the_obamas_talk_iconic_election_day_hug_photo/feed/ 0 Walters to Christie: “You’re a little overweight” http://www.salon.com/2012/12/12/walters_to_christie_youre_a_little_over_weight/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/12/walters_to_christie_youre_a_little_over_weight/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13122917 Gov. Chris Christie thinks his weight is a non-issue when it comes to how well he can do his job.

"There are people who say you couldn't be president because you're so heavy," Barbara Walters said to Gov. Christie in a recent interview. "I mean, that's ridiculous," Christie told Walters. "I don't know what the basis for that is."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/12/walters_to_christie_youre_a_little_over_weight/feed/ 15 Ann’s apology tour http://www.salon.com/2012/10/18/mitt_entrusts_ann_with_damage_control_on_the_view/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/18/mitt_entrusts_ann_with_damage_control_on_the_view/#comments Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:09:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13044508 Today was supposed to be the day that Mitt Romney made up for talking smack on “The View” by actually appearing on “The View.” (In the infamous 47 percent session, Romney was taped saying of Barbara Walter’s daytime kaffeeklatsch "'The View' is fine. Although 'The View' is high-risk because of the five women on it. Although one is conservative, four are sharp-tongued and not conservative …”) But earlier this week, he begged off, leaving Ann Romney to go it alone with Walters, Whoopi, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. It’s a move that probably worked out exactly as the Romney campaign hoped: Ann got to be Mitt’s likable, non-controversial, content-less surrogate. She made an appeal to “The View’s” female audience with her discussion of chore wheels, but not the issues, which she deftly refused to answer any serious questions about.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/10/18/mitt_entrusts_ann_with_damage_control_on_the_view/feed/ 14 Walters to interview Lindsay Lohan next month http://www.salon.com/2012/10/15/walters_to_interview_lindsay_lohan_next_month/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/15/walters_to_interview_lindsay_lohan_next_month/#comments Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:01:00 +0000 http://http://www.salon.com/2012/10/15/walters_to_interview_lindsay_lohan_next_month/ NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters says she will interview Lindsay Lohan next month for ABC's "20/20" newsmagazine.

Walters announced on Monday's edition of her talk show, "The View," that the interview will air on Nov. 16. It paves the way for Lohan's would-be comeback project, "Liz & Dick," which premieres later that month.

The Lifetime biopic stars the 26-year-old actress as screen diva Elizabeth Taylor. It spotlights Taylor's quarter-century love affair with celebrated leading man Richard Burton, whom she married and divorced twice.

Grant Bowler, whose credits include the TV series "True Blood" and "Lost," plays Burton in the film.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/10/15/walters_to_interview_lindsay_lohan_next_month/feed/ 0 Barbara Walters sorry she tried to get an Assad advisor a sweet internship http://www.salon.com/2012/06/06/barbara_walters_sorry_she_tried_to_get_an_assad_adviser_a_sweet_internship/ http://www.salon.com/2012/06/06/barbara_walters_sorry_she_tried_to_get_an_assad_adviser_a_sweet_internship/#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:34:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12933546 Everyone who pays attention to such things knows that Barbara Walters is a monstrous creature of pure, amoral power. She was Roy Cohn's beard, for godsake. But sometimes her cravenness can still surprise. Apparently, after her ridiculous softball interview with her personal friend, Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, Walters attempted to repay the Assad press advisor responsible for netting her the exclusive by recommending the aide (to a brutal dictator currently in the process of putting down a rebellion with excessive force) for a plum American media internship.

Well, she's sorry. Sorry she opened up the old Rolodex on behalf of Sheheradad Jaafari, Assad's 22-year-old press advisor, and the daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the U.N. (Good lord, even dictators' aides need powerful parents to net media internships.)

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/06/06/barbara_walters_sorry_she_tried_to_get_an_assad_adviser_a_sweet_internship/feed/ 5 Meet the Assads http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/meet_the_assads/ http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/meet_the_assads/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:20:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=12702471 Though the news out of Syria has been almost uniformly awful recently -- fighting spreading to Damascus and Aleppo, rumors of Russian "anti-terror" troops in the country supporting President Bashar al-Assad, accusations of human rights abuses by some anti-government forces -- we have been treated to a fascinating glimpse into the private world of an embattled dictator, thanks to the leak of thousands of Bashar al-Assad's personal emails. The trove has proved to be perversely comic, with female aides sending the strongman little love notes and at least one unsubstantiated underwear picture. The emails also offer insight into the life of Assad's wife, Asma, who has continued buying -- or attempting to buy -- expensive luxury goods while her husband struggles to maintain control of his country. They're both international pariahs now (except in Moscow), but not long ago, self-pitying Bashar and his fashionable wife, Asma, were two of the Western celebrity media's favorite autocrats.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/03/20/meet_the_assads/feed/ 39 Paris Hilton’s reality show may tank, but she won’t http://www.salon.com/2011/06/07/paris_hilton_oxygen_ratings_reality/ http://www.salon.com/2011/06/07/paris_hilton_oxygen_ratings_reality/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:08:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/06/07/paris_hilton_oxygen_ratings_reality People are taking a schadenfreudian delight in the apparent failure of Paris Hilton's new reality show, "The World According to Paris." Low ratings, bad press ... the whole spectacle really does need to be put out of its misery. Personally I think it was a branding problem: while Oxygen may be fine for "Tori & Dean," that's a program predicated on the idea that Tori Spelling is a mother and wife first, star second. Paris and her unapologetic vapidity belong more in the E! family, along with the Kardashians, Kendra, and "Sex and the City" reruns.

But since I'm not in control of television programming (fingers crossed for next season!), Paris' future isn't in my hands. But it's also not in the hands of her critics, who are gleefully calling Paris "passé," and the bombing of her latest show the end of her career.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/06/07/paris_hilton_oxygen_ratings_reality/feed/ 6 Barbara Walters to have heart valve surgery http://www.salon.com/2010/05/10/us_tv_walters_surgery/ http://www.salon.com/2010/05/10/us_tv_walters_surgery/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 19:03:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/feature/2010/05/10/us_tv_walters_surgery Barbara Walters said she will have surgery later this week to replace a faulty heart valve and take the summer off from "The View" to recuperate.

The television legend made the announcement on the air Monday. She said she's known about her condition for a while, and decided with her doctors that this is the best time to have the surgery.

"Since the summer is coming up," she said, "I can take a nice vacation."

Walters, 80, is one of the best-known personalities in television news. She began on the "Today" show, was the first woman to anchor a network evening news program, then was one of the toughest competitors in the fierce game of landing sought-after interviews.

At a time others would be slowing down, she created "The View" in 1997, and the daily talk show with a woman's round-table is a staple on daytime TV.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2010/05/10/us_tv_walters_surgery/feed/ 2 Lady Gaga likes ladies. So? http://www.salon.com/2009/12/10/lady_gaga_bisexual/ http://www.salon.com/2009/12/10/lady_gaga_bisexual/#comments Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//feature/2009/12/10/lady_gaga_bisexual A straight-faced Barbara Walters uttering the words "bluffin' with my muffin"? Now that's what I call must-see TV. This delightfully awkward moment (video below) came during last night's ABC special, "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009," during which Walters interviewed Lady Gaga, the pop star behind those infamous lyrics.

Now, B-Dub isn't one to throw around sexually explicit phrases for no good reason: She brought the line up as a segue to talking about Gaga's sexuality."So, people thought you were saying that you were bisexual," she said. "Are you bisexual?" Gaga responded, "Um, well, I do like women." No surprise there -- she's long been open about her attraction to women (and these NSFW photos spoke for themselves.) But she pressed on: "Do you like men, too?" Yes, Gaga said, and she has only ever "been in love with men." Walters quickly followed up, giving me flashbacks of the cross-examination of Bill Clinton: "Have you had sex with women?" This, dear readers, prompted the most shocking moment of the interview. Lady Gaga, that outrageous, in-your-face performer, seemed suddenly modest and bashful: "Um, uh, well, I ... my goodness."

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2009/12/10/lady_gaga_bisexual/feed/ 23 How the election ate daytime television http://www.salon.com/2008/10/09/daytime_politics/ http://www.salon.com/2008/10/09/daytime_politics/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:50:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2008/10/09/daytime_politics Eight minutes before the first and only vice-presidential debate, MSNBC's "Countdown" host, Keith Olbermann, and Newsweek's Howard Fineman were talking about "The View."

The opinionated, loud and very male Olbermann was making a point about how low Sarah Palin had sunk in America's estimation by playing a video clip of the daytime talk show's resident conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Admitting that Palin's inability to name a single Supreme Court case besides Roe v. Wade was perhaps worrisome, Hasselbeck conceded, "That was a moment where she should have had some [examples] lined up."

Olbermann and Fineman chuckled at the possibility that, as goes Elisabeth Hasselbeck, so goes the country. "This is not my usual turf," said Fineman.

It sure isn't. But this isn't anybody's usual campaign, and what the (still mostly male) political pundits are coming to grips with is that the election cycle is not just playing out on their news shows and their 24-hour networks but also in the traditionally feminine -- and therefore traditionally marginalized -- world of daytime television.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/10/09/daytime_politics/feed/ 49 McCain skewered on “The View” http://www.salon.com/2008/09/12/mccain_view/ http://www.salon.com/2008/09/12/mccain_view/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:19:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//2008/09/12/mccain_view Roll your eyes all you want, but I for one will never again underestimate the women of ABC's "The View," who today opened a can of whupass on John McCain, administering an interview that should turn the faces of legitimate press red with shame. (A video of the second segment is embedded below. All clips can be viewed here.)

The hard-hitting journalism came courtesy of none other than Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck (yes, even conservative sylph Hasselbeck threw down!), who welcomed McCain to their comfy couch on Friday morning as the spider welcomes the fly. As soon as he settled in and got nice and comfortable, the women proceeded to slice and dice the Arizona senator on everything from his dishonest attack ads to his stance on abortion and interpretation of the Constitution, his feelings on secularism and the qualifications of his running mate.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/09/12/mccain_view/feed/ 189 Barbara Walters interviews Barbara Walters http://www.salon.com/2008/05/06/barbara_walters/ http://www.salon.com/2008/05/06/barbara_walters/#comments Tue, 06 May 2008 11:50:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life//feature/2008/05/06/barbara_walters It's tough not to distrust an autobiography in which the author refuses to disclose her exact age. But Barbara Walters does just that on page 14 of Audition, her memoir, which hits stands on Tuesday. "I am now in my seventies, and that is as specific as I will get," she writes in an opening-sentence parenthetical in the chapter "My Childhood." Too bad for the optimistically ageless Walters that Wikipedia, the Internet Movie Database, Yahoo and several prominent astrology sites have all felt free to get more specific than she: The television journalist was born on Sept. 25, 1929; she will turn 79 this year.

But Walters' bizarre coyness at the start of what she clearly feels is a soul-baring work -- "In this book I basically bleed for 570 pages, " she told columnist Cindy Adams -- is merely symptomatic of the slightly prim distance she keeps from her own beguiling, twisty, readable story.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/05/06/barbara_walters/feed/ 44 Ugh, what did she do to herself? http://www.salon.com/2008/04/18/plastic_surgery_2/ http://www.salon.com/2008/04/18/plastic_surgery_2/#comments Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:15:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet//2008/04/18/plastic_surgery The last time I saw a Nicole Kidman movie -- "Margot at the Wedding" -- I had a vague and unsettling feeling that something wasn't quite right. It's not that Nicole looked any different from the way that she'd always looked (in fact, the opposite was true) but her face seemed to have, by some unfortunate series of events, lost the capacity to move. For most of the movie she looked like a hernia patient walking off the effects of heavy sedation, and there was one word -- "Botox" -- that immediately popped to mind.

It's a problem that seems to be popping up more and more frequently lately and it's starting to irk L.A. Times TV Critic Mary McNamara. (Maybe she should read a children's book to help explain things.) Recently she wrote a lengthy opinion piece about the effect plastic surgery is having on the faces of American television actresses -- and how it's impinging on her ability to do her job. As an example, she cites the "Desperate Housewives" ("I live in fear of the day Felicity Huffman succumbs to whatever package paralysis deal they've got going on over there"), Carrie Fisher and Barbara Walters.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2008/04/18/plastic_surgery_2/feed/ 33