@Finn dAbuzz,
Quote:O'Reilly is an Opinion-Entertainer, although he's several notches above the clowns on The View in terms of seriousness.
How anyone can watch their utterly predictible and vacuous show is beyond me. Barbara Walters, at least attempted (with great failure) to be a journalist.
O'Reilly is also a relentless self-promoter, hawking all manner of things with his name on them, and with little talent besides the ability to shoot his mouth off and spout his opinions.
The current women on The View, with the possible exception of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, have all had, and continue to have, very successful careers in venues beyond The View--they are all very accomplished working women in their own right--and they do represent a diversity of backgrounds and different generational viewpoints. Walters has hardly been a "failure" in any sense--she was a trailblazer for women in broadcast TV news and she has had a long and extremely successful career in various aspects of that medium.
Whether one likes The View or not, it still occupies a rather distinctive niche in daytime programming. After 13 years on the air, it is still very close to its original premise--a chatty coffee klatch of fairly bright accomplished women, meant to provide some interesting conversation for female viewers who happen to be at home, and generally centering on topics of interest to women or issues they could identify with. It went beyond the usual interview/talk show format of an Oprah, and beyond the homemaking issues of a Martha Stewart, and offered particularly stay-at-home women an interlude of some adult female conversation on a wide range of topics, along with some interesting guest interviews. And, pretty much, it still serves that purpose.
Obviously, this format is not going to appeal to everyone, and it really isn't meant to appeal to everyone. While I personally don't find the show consistently interesting any more, and I find the politically polarized opinions of the co-hosts the least interesting, it is still the sort of show one can keep on the background while one reads the paper, or straightens up the house, or takes care of the children, or whatever, and I don't expect much more from it than that. I don't enjoy manufactured "controversy", and I thought that Behar and Goldberg marching off the set was absurd--co-hosts don't get up and walk off, regardless of what the guest is saying. O'Reilly was being O'Reilly--condescending, arrogant, and extremely opinionated--and he was mainly there to promote his book. They knew what to expect from him, and they should have been better prepared to handle it, since interviewing guests is part of their job on that show. If these two women can't do that, then they should find two new co-hosts. Personally, I think the show needs an infusion of some new blood.
