I think the Barbara Walters interviews had mixed results. Some were spectacular. A lot were snorefests. And anyone who has watched “Broadcast News” can tell you that in television a lot of the success of the on-air personality is due to the “little people” behind the scenes. Her better interviews may have been because of a better supporting crew. Asking Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she was really didn’t advance interviewing much, although it gave Hepburn a chance for a clever response. https://youtu.be/M_X2Xd1iOmM The problem with that question is that it gave license to other journalists to attempt stupid questions under the guise of trying to dig deeper. A mediocre TV journalist in Reno did that in the 1990s. Here is my exclusive observation. It seems Walters’ best interviews were with people who needed her, people in trouble who needed to address an issue to fix damage. The worst were people who Walters needed just for celebrity to bring in the ratings. Those were boring, self-indulgent interviews.
On Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 2:27 AM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > I was never that impressed with the quality of her interviews. They were > showy and self dramatizing. She interviewed a lot of interesting people, so > it often made for some must see TV (Castro, or the Shah of Iran, or Vaclav > Havel), but usually the feeling one was left with was that of missed > opportunity. Yes, she made famous people cry (or get to the verge of doing > so), but one thing I always emphasize to young therapists is that getting > people to cry is not an accomplishment in itself, or a marker of a > particularly impactful encounter. Given how much pain the average human > being walks around with, it is more remarkable that we are not constantly > crying all the time. For substantive interviews I would go to Diane Sawyer, > Mike Wallace, or really any of the classic 60 Minutes interviewers, over > Walters. > > I guess I do not dispute that she was one of the great broadcasters, a > category that includes her spirit child Oprah. > > On Fri, 30 Dec 2022 at 10:07 PM Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Oh, as a journalist she was dreadful… bad beyond description. But as an >> interviewer and a broadcaster, she was among the best of her generation. >> >> On Fri, Dec 30, 2022 at 9:17 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> I’m old enough to have watched her on the Today Show. She had a long and >>> successful career in a field and time when the deck was stacked against >>> women, so good on her. Still, the truth is her legacy is the acceleration >>> of the slide of News toward Entertainment. Her real skill I suppose was >>> booking big name guests to interview, which is a component of journalism; >>> but she didn’t do as much with that access as one might expect from even an >>> average journalist. >>> >>> >>> https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/12/30/barbara-walters-tv-dies/ >>> >>> >>> On Fri, 30 Dec 2022 at 6:35 PM Steve Timko <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> On the ABC Facebook page. >>>> >>>> https://fb.watch/hLml3iUdJ0/ >>>> >>>> On Fri, Dec 30, 2022 at 6:32 PM Steve Timko <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> ABC reported it. Haven't seen a link yet. >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yxOyU58Gpw-FLSzSp0MrzV3Jjsdqmpf4U%3Dv-Qy2Q0Q2LQ%40mail.gmail.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yxOyU58Gpw-FLSzSp0MrzV3Jjsdqmpf4U%3Dv-Qy2Q0Q2LQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Sent from Gmail Mobile >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYLqSccmWQNgD6G2UjpLNH1R7tnz8j2cTXKGz_3tz61-qQ%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYLqSccmWQNgD6G2UjpLNH1R7tnz8j2cTXKGz_3tz61-qQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> Kevin M. (RPCV) >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CD%2BhSh2dduy%3Dg7QFr6dGS9oX8Q7%3DJ2uh2W8Mpd35QtqQ%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4CD%2BhSh2dduy%3Dg7QFr6dGS9oX8Q7%3DJ2uh2W8Mpd35QtqQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKbu2auN32%2BNGALZre5nzQQgpd8RdJr7Mi%2B2JPjJYNtoA%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKbu2auN32%2BNGALZre5nzQQgpd8RdJr7Mi%2B2JPjJYNtoA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAH5J8yzgO6MQDpVjv1Nf4GO%2BtmCqwSvuRQW-oYwE1EXS_AYbOQ%40mail.gmail.com.
