Barbara Walters remembered by ‘The View’ co-hosts on Tribute episode – The Hollywood Reporter
View mode pays tribute to Barbara Walters, the pioneering newswoman who created the Emmy-winning veteran ABC talk show that gave more seats to women on television.
Walters, died December 30 at age 93, co-creator View mode in 1997. On Tuesday, the first new episode after her death, the ABC talk show spent an hour paying tribute to Walters’ life and legacy with both current and past hosts. shared a table with Walters.
Joy Behar, Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines and Alyssa Farah Griffin joined Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Debbie Matenopoulos, Lisa Ling, Sherri Sheperd and Elisabeth Haselbeck live or virtual. Behar, Vieira, Jones and Matenopoulos were on the original panel with Walters, who spent 17 years on the show before she left and took a break from journalism in 2014 (though she will continue to make some interview).
At launch, View mode described by Walters as a talk show featuring four or five women “of different backgrounds, different generations, and different perspectives” who would discuss the topics of the day, mixing humor Humor with intelligent debate. On Tuesday, female journalists who helped carry on that legacy honored Walters for paving the way.
At the opening of the show, Goldberg called Walters “really the reason we’re all sitting here.” Add, “Without her, I don’t know where most of us would be.”
“I think we know her better than anyone,” noted Behar, who said that “she defies sexism and age” and recalls how tactfully the legendary interviewer often went “into the lion jaws.” debut View mode At the age of 68, Behar calls her “the prime example for everyone. She’s not just a friend of ours, she’s truly one-of-a-kind and very important to the industry.”
Hostin said Walters has always “validated my opinions” and Griffith called her a “pioneer” and a “pioneer”. “For someone who gets paid to talk, what she does very well is listen,” says Haines.
All current co-hosts marvel at Walters’ persistence in the face of gender and age discrimination. “What she endured, to then set up a table for more people, I think that’s when you sit here and say… I will be forever grateful that she arranged our seats,” Haines added.
Behar shares Walters’ secret to being “the hardest worker” in television: “I asked: ‘Why do you always get interviews?’ She said, ‘Because I don’t go to the bathroom.’”
Between laughter and tears and before the first break, Goldberg said, “There is no one like her. There is no one like her and like all firsts, she is first. There are many of us clones, but there will never be another Barbara Walters.”
The show continued by letting former co-hosts share their memories, before running clips from some of Walters’ most iconic interviews and View mode moment. A common theme among the women was how the Walters served as their “TV moms” and supported their career ambitions while strengthening lasting personal relationships.
Vieira said she initially took View mode auditioned because after 20 years in the news business, she wanted to spend more time at home with her three young children. “I find myself in this hotel room with the ladies and Barbara Walters. By the time the audition was over, I just wanted to participate. … It opened up so many opportunities and made me realize that you don’t have to stay on the same path in life. … And I owe it to Barbara Walters.”
Behar noted how, in its early days, Walters pushed the show at the grassroots level, going door-to-door in a campaign to bring the show to more channels. After the show began, Walters quickly became known beyond glass ceilings and groundbreaking journalism.
Meredith recalls her crazy sense of humour, particularly her fondness for Halloween costumes and the chance to be free: “She could be anything she wanted to be.” Behar shared how she likes a dirty joke, “one in particular that I can’t tell [on TV].”
Star talks about how Walters introduced her to the Manhattan social scene. “She can tell you everything about everyone in the room. She interviewed them, wrote a story about them, heard a story about them. And she can eat the best of them all,” she said. “Everybody knows she’s a brilliant, iconic journalist… but we came into contact with this woman in a way that others would never appreciate. She is the best gossiper. She’s finished her tea.”
Hasselbeck spoke of going through waves of grief since Walters’ death while describing the close relationship between her and Walters despite their frequent disagreements from opposite sides along the way. She and I have a layered relationship, she recalls 10 years they were on the air together and their friendship 10 years after the show. “She was my TV mom, my mentor… she was curious, full of compassion. We know how well researched she is and how she gives her guests the opportunity to safely express themselves, and we all benefit from that.”
“She gave me a chance,” she continued, noting that after 10 years “arguing with her boss about conflicting issues,” she always “puts our relationship ahead of our role.” that we had.”
Ling recalls being on the show and having a “surreal” experience sitting next to Walters, who she calls a mother role model: “I believe she treated us like her own children, children. her daughter”.
“All my life, all I’ve wanted to do is make her proud,” said Matenopoulos tearfully talking about her impact on women on television.
The episode ends with a clip from Walters’ own introduction as she leaves View mode, and an image of her empty chair. Of his legacy and decision to leave, Walters said at the time, “How do you make a TV show called View mode brought together these amazing women, all of them over the years, who shared their opposing views? And finally, how proud I am when I see all the young girls working and reporting. If I did anything to make that happen, it’s my legacy.”
Along with co-creation and co-hosting View modeWalters is the first female co-host of Today program and was the first female evening news anchor in broadcast history. She is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber.
