Flash! From Liz Smith | 03/29/2009 12:50 pm
Barbara Walters Is Not Quitting TV
Barbara Walters © Getty Images
Flash! As much as I dislike disagreeing with the excellent reporters at the National Enquirer (they are so often right), I do dispute their story this week that Barbara Walters is "quitting TV." I had an in-depth interview with Barbara only two weeks ago for the April issue of Avenue magazine. In that talk, she told me in no uncertain terms how much she loves her show "The View" and that going to work there with the women she has chosen is like "going on vacation for me." She expressed her love for each of them. Barbara is very proud of the success and importance of "The View," which she created herself with her partner, producer Bill Geddie.
And I don’t see Barbara giving up her successful Sirius radio talk show which she does, again, with producer Geddie.
So, even if Barbara cuts down her contractual obligations to ABC News when her contract ends this summer, we’ll still have her on "The View." When we talked in her Fifth Avenue apartment recently, Barbara was indeed mulling over just how much she wants to undertake in the future. She doesn’t want to work as long or as hard as she has over the glorious years of the most astonishing female success in television. I, for one, hope she will go on doing her famous "specials" — the Oscar special and the Most Famous People special. These are both media hits.
I was particularly amused by the Enquirer’s certainty that Barbara "wants to spend more time with her boyfriend, Dr.Robert Butler." The doctor is a good friend and a distinguished authority on geriatric problems. But there hasn’t been any romance between these two for well over a year.
And I don’t see Barbara giving up her successful Sirius radio talk show which she does, again, with producer Geddie.
So, even if Barbara cuts down her contractual obligations to ABC News when her contract ends this summer, we’ll still have her on "The View." When we talked in her Fifth Avenue apartment recently, Barbara was indeed mulling over just how much she wants to undertake in the future. She doesn’t want to work as long or as hard as she has over the glorious years of the most astonishing female success in television. I, for one, hope she will go on doing her famous "specials" — the Oscar special and the Most Famous People special. These are both media hits.
I was particularly amused by the Enquirer’s certainty that Barbara "wants to spend more time with her boyfriend, Dr.Robert Butler." The doctor is a good friend and a distinguished authority on geriatric problems. But there hasn’t been any romance between these two for well over a year.
Read more about: Barbara Walters, Bill Geddie, Entertainment, Flashes From Liz Smith, Gossip, National Enquirer, News, Robert Butler, Television, The View
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25 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
I think the days of dismissing the National Enquirer as a "rag" and a publication that prints lies is gone. They are usually dead on. But in this instance I can’t see her wanting to leave TV.
Barbara had given countless interviews about how the View panel (specifically Rosie and Star) were never problems for the show…how they all got along, yet after both left the truth came out. I’m going to take a wait and see on this story.
Barbara Walters continues to bring some stability to the news media which is now everywhere…cable, Internet, local news, national news, comedic news i.e. Jon Stewart and Colbert all intermixed with the many news magazine programs on air. Quite a plethora. Our country has involved into a bunch of news junkies and if we don’t get the news and/or editorial comments we want, we will channel surf until we do find kindred spirits who think politically as we do. Why? Because the reporters of the news are no longer unbiased or should I say that their bias is no longer hidden. One can watch a news story and within 15 or 30 seconds, you will know not just the facts of the story but by the end of the story you will probably be able to tell if the journalist is a liberal, conservative, middle-of-the-road, or a libertarian.
Barbara leans left but has generally been straight forward when she was reporting hard news. She was trustworthy. She probably still is even though she muffed her opportunity to quiet Rosie O’Donnell on The View when Rosie went on and on about her conspiracy theories and anti-American ravings. No one put a kabosh on those rantings and soon Rosie had to leave The View in disgrace. Barbara should have stepped forward but she did not. If the rants were from a right-winger, I do believe that Barbara would have reacted differently.
Ms. Walters is an icon. She has, as the saying goes, paved the way for many female journalist. Well done, Barbara.
As a student of Broadcast Journalism I respect and admire all Ms. Walters has done for women in broadcasting. It will be a sad day for American TV when Barbara Walters is no longer on the small screen. Thank you Barbara and all the other women who have come before and helped breakdown the doors.