The pioneering broadcaster was “the first woman I can remember who was widely respected for her career,” said one admirer, “… demonstrating how a woman could self-actualize.”
During nearly four decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Walters’ exclusive interviews with rulers, royalty and entertainers brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs, while placing her at the forefront of the trend in broadcast journalism that made stars of TV reporters and brought news programs into the race for higher ratings.
Two decades ago ago, Barbara Walters had a groundbreaking idea. She wanted to launch a talk show where she could stop by, on top of her full-time job on 20/20, to spar with a multi-generational panel of women about the headlines of the day. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of a show that changed the rules of daytime TV, ABC is re-airing the first episode of The View this Friday.
Exclusives
The veteran newswoman’s nine-segment series premieres on Investigation Discovery on Monday.
The Investigation Discovery channel said Thursday that “Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals” will debut Nov. 2. The hour-long episodes focus on events ranging from political misbehavior to crime, and will include previous interviews conducted by Walters along with new material.
‘The View’s’ Hail Mary: Barbara Walters
With Rosie Perez’s departure from the daytime chat show imminent, ABC deniesThe View is headed for the chopping block. Its doyenne returns Friday.
After announcing that last year’s installment of Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People would be the final one, ABC has opted to resurrect the show for at least one more year. The two-hour primetime special has been given the Sunday, Dec. 14, 9-11 p.m. ET/PT slot. Oprah Winfrey, newly named Oscar host Neil Patrick Harris, Chelsea Handler and Scarlett Johansson are the first to be named as Walters’ interviewees.
Reports surfaced today claiming Whoopi Goldberg referred to Barbara Walters as a “cranky 85-year-old woman” during a test screening Thursday for new View co-hosts, but ABC insists it never happened. “Someone has tried to stir this pot before. This is absolutely absurd,” an ABC spokesperson said. “Whoopi is a consummate professional and has an enormous amount of respect for Barbara with whom she has a professional and personal relationship.”
Walters: One Of Our Last Great Listeners
TV newswoman Barbara Walters retires from on-air work this week on The View and ABC News, having lived and broadcast so long in the mass media age that she outlasted the term “newswoman.” She’s one of America’s last good ears, allowing even the most notorious among us to have a say, asking many (if not always all) of the questions we wanted answers to, while never seeming to make the occasion about herself.
On Friday, capping a spectacular half-century run she began as the so-called Today Girl, Barbara Walters says goodbye to ABC’s The View. Behind the scenes she will remain as an executive producer of the New York-based talk show she created 17 years ago, and she’ll make ABC News appearances as events warrant and stories catch her eye. “It’s not as if I’m walking into the sunset,” she cautions.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio is proclaiming May 16 as “Barbara Walters Day” in New York City. Walters is retiring that day after a storied television reporting […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ABC’s “The View” will gather all 11 past and present co-hosts to salute Barbara Walters as she retires from daily television. The network said Wednesday the […]
Her final appearance on The View will be that day and later that night, ABC will air a two-hour primetime special on her career. Walters, who is 84, began in television in 1961 and became the medium’s best-known interviewer.
Katie Couric replacing Barbara Walters on The View? Not so fast, according to ABC. The New York Daily News reported that Couric may be the next member of the long-running daytime talk show. But a spokesperson for ABC said, “There is absolutely no truth to this rumor whatsoever, it’s completely erroneous.” And Couric herself tweeted: “It’s totally not true and crazy how complete falsehoods get repeated.”
Walters, 83, who began in television news as a Today girl in 1961, became the medium’s best-known interviewer and invented a daytime talk show at an age many people would be going fishing, said on The View that she will step away from the camera next summer.
Veteran ABC News anchor Barbara Walters is set to announce this morning on The View that she will retire from TV journalism next summer.
After years of speculation, Barbara Walters may be finally ready to hang up her microphone. A plan has been put in place for Walters to announce, probably in May, her retirement next year. Fitting for Walters’ status as the grande dame of TV journalism and a signature face of ABC News, she would be given a big sendoff with retrospectives and other special content in the weeks leading to her retirement that would celebrate her 52-year broadcast career.
Walters said false reports that The View‘s lone conservative was leaving began circulating after Joy Behar announced exit plans last week. But today, Walters pointedly denied them. “There is a particularly false story that keeps getting picked up about Elisabeth’s alleged departure, saying that we don’t approve of her conservative views,” Walters said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters is back. Sidelined for six weeks by chickenpox and a concussion, Walters returned to ABC’s “The View” on Monday. She got a thunderous welcome […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters says she’s returning to “The View” on Monday. She’s been sidelined for several weeks. But now she’s “had enough rest and it’s time to […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters isn’t “scratching too much” from chickenpox, but she says she won’t be back at “The View” for three more weeks. Walters phoned into the […]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ABC says Barbara Walters is out of the hospital and recovering from chicken pox at home. ABC said Tuesday that the 83-year-old host on “The View” […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters would probably like to hit the reset button on 2013. She’s got the chickenpox and remains hospitalized more than a week after going in […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters says she expects to be home from the hospital soon after taking a spill at a Saturday night party at the British ambassador’s home […]
Walters, 83, fell Saturday night on a step at the residence of Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott, ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said. The fall left Walters with a cut on her forehead, he said. Walters, out of an abundance of caution, went to a hospital for treatment of the cut and for a full examination, Schneider said on Sunday. She was alert and was “telling everyone what to do, which we all take as a very positive sign,” he said.
ABC said Monday that Barbara Walters donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross and George Stephanopoulos kicked in $50,000 for Superstorm Sandy relief on ABC’s “Day of Giving.”
As the “based on a true story” film Argo opens, Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters and other top journalists give their insights on one of America’s darkest hours, as well as the secrets no one else knew.
NEW YORK (AP) — Is this “Idol” threat an idle threat? Mariah Carey told Barbara Walters her fellow “American Idol” judge Nicki Minaj threatened to shoot her, Walters reported on […]
ABC News says U.S. broadcast journalist Barbara Walters was joking when she told President Barack Obama she plans to retire next year.
Barbars Walters’ ABC show begins its new season today, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as guest. In a muddled daytime picture, The View plans to compete aggressively for displaced Oprah Winfrey viewers with a more topical feel, aggressive booking of guests and a few pages ripped from Oprah’s playbook.
