TO VIEW OR NOT TO VIEW

The wide variety of talk shows available to the American public is overwhelming.  Political shows, sports talk, entertainment, educational, cooking, home repair and on and on.  THE VIEW is a panel made up of all women with Barbara Walters at the helm.  She brings with her years of interviewing everyone of note on planet earth and being a topnotch newsperson who led the way for women and broke the barrier to the all male news anchor club.  Next is Whoopi Goldberg, comedian who sports an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony.  Joy Behar is an ex-school teacher turned comedian late in life and has her own talk show on HLN.  Sherri Shepherd, Emmy winner, actress, comedian, and single mother who also is raising a handicapped child.  That leaves the youngest, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Survivor contestant, clothing designer, mother of three and wife to professional football quarterback, Tim Hasselbeck and the Views staunch conservative.

They are diverse, empowered, serious, funny and have a neverending source of opinions.  The heated exchanges make the show hypnotic in the way watching a NASCAR race keeps us glued to set waiting for the crash.  There have been many infamous heated exchanges that made U Tube videos, network newscasts and entertainment programs.  There have been tears, shouting, cutaways, bloopers and swearing.  The heated exchanges between Rosie O'Donnell and Elizabeth Hasselbeck were legendary and led  O'Donnell to leave the show.

The range of topics discussed cannot be found anywhere else on television.  One minute they can be discussing sexual perversions and the next segment be decorating cookies.  It reminds me of the Will Rogers quote "if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes".  The same is true of this show.  It can be very aggravating at times because the women get so excited they talk over one another so that it becomes difficult to understand anything they are saying.  Most of us (women) have been in groups and experienced this same phenomenon.  Come to my house any time during a holiday.  That's what makes this show appealing to women because we can identify with one or more of the personalities on the panel and more often than not they are expressing opinions and posing questions we would like to express or ask.

During the presential campaign, John McCain bravely came on the show.  To be fair, he went on everyone's show (Saturday Night Live) in an all out effort to get elected.  Joy Behar asked him point blank "There are ads running from your campaign... Now we know that those two ads are untrue, they are lies. And yet, you at the end of it say you approve these messages. Do you really approve these?"  Yikes, calling a presedential candidate a liar on daytime television.  You can't write moments like these.

Since 1999, the show's hosts have received Emmy nominations every year, and in 2009 they won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. None of the co-hosts were in attendance to accept the award.  They used to attend knowing they were going to lose to Ellen or Oprah and would sit in the audience and make funny faces when they lost.  I always got a kick out of that. 

Now I know many of you will say I can't stand them, and I have to agree they get real annoying but there is something about not knowing whats just around the corner.  Television started out live many years ago and there is tons of material showing the bloopers from back in the day.  You have to give it up to a show that continues the live (albeit with the 7 second delay button for swearing) format in an age when everything is taped and editted. 

They showcase celebrities from all walks of life,  from world leaders, Oscar winning actors to ordinary citizens that have extraordinary stories.  Something for everyone.

So, I have to recommend this one but I understand its not everyone's cup of tea.  It can be a fun ride if you don't take it too seriously.  It is my one of my guilty pleasures along with my "stories" that I have been watching since 1970 but that's a blog for another day. :)