The old Barbara Walters Specials

Back in the day, these were as much a part of Oscar Night as the Oscars themselves. before she became an annoying bossy old crone, she was the most interesting of all celebrity interviewers--although she would occasionally ask ridiculous questions (like her memorably asking Katharine Hepburn if she were a tree what kind of tree she'd be), there were some terrific interviews. She got Angela Lansbury to cry talking about losing a child to drugs, and with little nudging she got Debra Winger to talk quite oenly about how she loathed Richard Gere and had no respect for Shirley Maclaine. I wish they still had something like this on Oscar Night--not with Walters (who is as old as dust), but with a good tough interviewer.

• It takes years to develop the classy cred of a Walters type. Unfortunately, I don't see any of these tacky, braying up-and-comers filling her shoes any time soon. And it's not Oprah because she always seems to have a self-serving agenda. She should have been a Judge- not a gab show hostess.

• Barbara Walters never had a self-serving agenda? Barbara Walters classy? Since when?

  Starr Jones

• Age dose not equal class. Barbara Walters was never looked at as that great growing up. Most people just wondered how she got the interviews, who she slept with. But not great at it. Never any hard questions. More of a kiss ass so she could get the interview, then the fame for herself. If she was a man, he would be considered a B rated hack, obsessed with plastic surgery.

• That tired bag was was never taking seriously by the general public. Only the media. That is why some 35 years ago Gilda Radner started making fun of her on SNL. Barbara Walters takes herself way too seriously, that is why its funny when someone finally had the guts to call her out on her shit.

• Maybe Larry King is available.

• Babs always was sure to book one celeb who would cry.

• Stop bringing up the past, I didn't like it then and I dont like it NOW! B. Walters

  https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DLQvRFrpKi-0

  Barbara

• R4, Barbara Walters was a serious interviewer of world leaders, news anchor and news reporter. She had to lower herself to do fluffy celebrity interviews. In 1982, she was more famous than 90% of the celebrities on her TV specials. As she got into her 70s, fluffy celebrity interviews was the only thing she could do.

• Lower herself? Only thing she could do? More like only ones who would give her the time of day. Unless you count Adnan Khashoggi the Saudi Arabian arms-dealer as a world leader. She turned out to be the female version of Geraldo Rivera, 30 years older.

• [quote]Barbara Walters was a serious interviewer of world leaders, news anchor and news reporter. That's because she was on Today. Those people were there for Today, not for a specific reporter. The stupid questions like the "tree" didn't start when she was doing her Oscar night show, the stupid questions began when she was on the Today show. When she asked Prince Philip one of her clunky questions, he rolled his chair back away from her and didn't reply. He had been chatty up until that point. For her following questions, he gave just a short one sentence reply and it was obvious he wanted to get away from the bitch.

• Barbara knows once she leaves the airways she will be forgotten.

• Which is why R11, she should thank Kathy Griffin.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Drf-oxBnMNHA

• Let's get personal. Your father Vernon, a burger server in suburban Santa Barbara, left your mother Verna to run away with with a curly-haired surfer named Roberta. Did that hurt her?

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  https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DwB_YbBRWC2o

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• Her Top 10 Interesting People show also sucks. A few years ago, she chose Tina Fey and most of the interview was wasted on how Fey did the Sarah Palin imitation. If I were Tina Fey, I would have thrown water on the witch and watched her melt.

• I always liked Cheri Oteri's Barbara Walters. Cheri played her as a shameless self-promoter, which was spot-on.

  http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl2i02_saturday-night-live-looking-for-monica_fun

• She was always laughed at by media professors in universities the world over.

• R10, Barbara graduated from Today and left for ABC in 1976. She had a very high profile and, yes, people asked for her. Anwar Sadat was nuts about her. Castro agreed to an interview. Barbara was a very big deal in the 1970s-80s. R17: Media professors = those who can do, those who can't teach.

• [quote]Her Top 10 Interesting People show also sucks. I agree. Last year she actually had the Kuntdashians and Simon Cowell on her list. She's so out of touch that nobody has taken her seriously in years. Why doesn't she just retire and enjoy her last years? What is she trying to prove?

• [quote]Anwar Sadat was nuts about her. Castro agreed to an interview You've got that right. They weren't dummies. Why would they want an interview with a hard-charging journalist when they could charm Barbara's panties off!!!! They knew her fluffy interviews would paint them in a positive light. She's talanted at putting on a serious, concerned face while dealing in fluff.

• Oh please, Barbara was not fluffy until much later. She was a ball-buster then and you'd be all flustered by it and putting her down if this was 1980.

• [quote]She was a ball-buster then Ha! You just admited that you were totally taken in by her [italic]lean forward, touch his sleeve, look concerned.[/italic] It was a fabulous act and millions fell for it. Jane Pauley tried but couldn't begin to compare to Barbara's deep concern technique.

• I never thought she was that good of an interviewer. Her interviews were boring as hell. Some of her interviews were embarrassing. Remember when she told the newly elected Jimmy Carter "be good with us, be kind with us", or some idiotic thing like that. Remember when she'd ask women subjects if they considered themselves to be a flower or a tree? She did an interview with Barbra Streisand (Streisand was fucking Jon Peters at the time) and she said "do you love him?" Streisand said yes. Then Walters said "then why don't you marry him? Oh, I know how I must sound!" She "sounded" like a fucking idiot. She did an interview with Courtney Love where Love was lying through her teeth (she told some insane story about Kurt dropping Frances Bean on her head when she was a baby), but Walters was apparently melting with sympathy for her. At one point Love starts to blubber and cry and Walters murmurs in compassion "oh, Courtney." Love also said during the interview that it was wrong to try and get Kurt to kick his heroin addiction because heroin made him feel better. Walters didn't follow up on that incredible notion at all; she just said something like "let him have the drugs?" and let it go at that.

• The best celebrity interviewer was Dick Cavett but I really don't understand how he got them to talk so candidly, as his questions were never particularly incisive or even intersting.

• Does Barbara wear a weave? Her hair is awfully thick for 82. Even Joan Rivers who is a few years younger admits she wears hair pieces. So between Barbara's age and the bleaching, I find it hard to believe she doesn't wear a weave.