The View From Here
I’m a bit of TV junkie. I have been since I was a kid. I was not a coach potato kid, though. I’m not as a grown man, either. I always preferred (and still prefer) to be outdoors. But when I am inside, the TV is generally on. Even when I’m doing something else. That’s something held over from childhood, too. I never just watched TV on it’s on. I would watch while I was drawing or reading a book or something. A psychologist would probably tell me some mumbo-jumbo like I saw the television as a companion.
This time of year I am home a during the day sometimes due to work slow downs and weather. Therefore I tend to watch more TV. Or at least I have the TV on more even though I’m not a big fan of daytime TV (except reruns of old black and white shows). I’m really not into talk shows or soap operas. I only ever watch either one for the train wreck factor. With both types of shows, every once in a while you get a sense that something not quite right is going on behind the scenes. Particularly talk shows.
Speaking of not-quite-right, over the the Christmas holiday, and a couple of days since, I have had the opportunity to catch The View. It’s the first time I have seen it since Rosie O’Donnell took over joined the show. The way I remember The View was that is was a discussion from the points of view of four different women. They each brought something to the table (no pun intended.) But now it’s like “Rosie O’Donnell and the View.” Like the others are backup singers. Even Barbara Walters. Look at that picture. Rosie doesn’t even use a View mug like everyone else. There’s a team player for you.
It used to be that if the others were keeping their mouths shut, it was because the were just sitting back enjoying Starr Jone shove her foot into her mouth up to the cankle. But now they don’t talk because they don’t want to upset the Dark Lord (or is it Johnny Cash?)
I’ll admit I may be a little bit biased because a) I liked Meridith Viera. She was classy and smart, and really kind of sexy in that mature woman kind of way. And 2) I’m really not a fan of Rosie O’Donnell. I know I am walking on thin ice here, but, I don’t like her. I know I’m supposed to. (The gay connection and all.) But, I don’t. Besides I don’t believe that just because I am gay I am supposed to be a fan of everyone or everything else that is gay. I mean no matter who he goes down on, Elton John is a freak; there were a couple of seasons that “Will and Grace” just were not funny: And Rosie O’Donnell is a bully. (And black people…OJ did it.)
Besides the fact that she has forever destroyed my image of Betty Rubble (Betty was always hotter than Wilma), the thing I don’t like about Rosie is that she’s always calling people on the carpet but is never guilty of anything herself. She went after Kelly Rippa over the Clay Aiken thing. She’s going after Donald Trump now (not that I disagree with her feelings on the matter, but she didn’t have to pick a fight.)
Meredith would have made her point without ever popping open the lid on a bucket of mud. (She would have been a hotter Betty Rubble, too.) Rosie, on the other hand has slung mud like a monkey with it’s own poop. But, when she got attacked over the Chinese language thing, she blew it off as a harmless joke. And, you know, I feel like it probably was just a joke. I think what Kelly Rippa said was a joke too.
So what makes Rosie’s joke more acceptable? What makes her so important? Who does she think she is?
Oprah?
January 6th, 2007 at 1:05 am
“Tony and the Girls fron the View” … this has to be one of the funniest photos ever on largetony. How did I ever miss that episode?
January 6th, 2007 at 1:16 am
So much richness in this post, man. I love it!
1. The Oprah ending was great.
2. I agree that Rosie annoys. I haven’t liked her since her talk show and I could sense the unnecessary bitch within her, but it came out later, I guess.
3. Her joke about Chinese people was a joke, but if it’s offensive, don’t blow it off.
4. I remember those preachy and non-funny seasons of Will & Grace when I was just about done with the show. Thank God they silenced that.
5. Tony, there isn’t a black person alive who DOESN’T know that OJ did it. The thing with black people is that he got away with murder and played the stereotypically rich white guys game of getting away with crimes and did it successfully. No, it’s not right, but it’s a form of social justice in a weird twisted way.
6. TV as a companion? No. It’s insomnia. hee.
7. Betty was indeed hotter.
8. And because Rosie isn’t a team player and she’s the ratings cash cow right now for the show, it’s messing up Barbara’s format and original vision for the show. I believe 100% that she lamented to Donald that she regrets hiring her.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:12 am
I don’t like her either. I use to, but since the view, I don’t. She has become very obnoxious.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:30 am
IT IS AS ABOUT AS FAIR AS WHEN OPRAH SAID “I DONT HAVE TO APPEASE NO WHITE PEOPLE”………..THAT TOOK ALOT OF BALLS, I GUESS THAT IS WHEREGAIL KING STEPS IN. I LOVE ROSIE AND THE DONALD IA A CLASSLESS PEICE OF SHIT. BUT OTHERWISE I AGREE WITH YOU.
January 6th, 2007 at 10:24 am
So what about the Chinese?
January 6th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I don’t really watch TV, but I’d have to agree that I don’t care much for Rosie. She has a sort of mean-spirited crass about her and that sort of thing really turns me off. You’re right about Betty though. She’s definitely a vixen.
January 6th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I had to ponder this issue over a delicious turkey and gravy on toast breakfast.
My conclusion: I think Rosie hates herself. I think her big mouth is Camouflage. Her marriage is. Her adoptions are. She realizes in the end that she’s not all that special so she has to have this circus-of-a-life hide that fact. I also don’t think she likes being a lesbian or a woman, and is angry over it, so her revenge is steamrolling over people she would rather be: Donald Trump, a powerful man; The View Ladies: the only one who’s not classy is Rosie. That’s all. I have to go to Wal-mart now.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Fantastic photo! I bet Jake is rolling on the floor.
You know, based on your position on The View, you and Rosie
could go TIT-for-TAT. I’m sure she believes Betty is a Wimp.
You’re PRICELESS. Thanks for this.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Funny, I posted about my TV viewing habits yesterday too. I have mine on most of the time when I’m home too. It’s another voice other than my own … cosy, chattery noise.
Betty was definitely hotter … and always seemed nicer and kinder, too.
January 6th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I love the photoshop of you on the view looking like you just heard something scandalous!!! EXCELLENT! I’m not so crazy about Rosie since 1999 when she went after Tom Selleck so relentlessly and rudely for his leadership of the NRA. Okay, make your point and move on, but she just would not stop with her attack. I wrote her off after that and could care less about her.
January 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Hmm I’ve always liked Rosie… well, maybe until she started mouthing off about the whole Clay Aiken thing. Personally, I thought what Kelly said was pretty funny. But when Rosie jumped on it and tried to create a “gay” issue out of the whole deal, she started pissing me off. That woman needs some sex, and she needs it now.
And now with the whole Donald Trump thing, I can’t even remember how that whole mess started. Do you?
January 6th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I agree that you don’t have to root for the people on your team. I don’t really care one way or another about Rosie. Or Elton. I dont’ watch her and haven’t listented to him since ‘Blue Moves’ (1978?).
The entire Rosie/Trump thing is laughable, though more on his part. At least she (or her handlers) have been smart enough to shut the fuck up. What no one points out is Trump is just ou there getting face time for his stupid ass show….which no one has called him on. And best case scenario, he’s digging himself in so deep no one will watch that drivel.
I’d kill for your number Tony. Ok….not kill. I have about 5% of what you get. …maybe if I post a hump-day man……….
January 7th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
And here I thought I was the only one who thought Betty was the hot one.
p.s. You’re right, Will and Grace wasn’t funny. And Jack was nothing more than a silly imbecile.
January 7th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
This post puts this Western Reserve Yankee in a very unique position of agreeing with our Cajun brother.
Although I can’t imagine Oprah using a double negative in a sentence, I’m not a fan of her brand of talk show.And I’m pretty sure she knows O.J. did it!
I like Rosie.
I like her concern for children and her love of Broadway. I like the fact that she and other of our gay sisters (DeGeneris & Navratolova) have elevated the profile of our community to the mainstream. I appreciate she and her partner organizing events that allow gay families to enjoy activities without the added pressures of hostility from our increasingly uncivil society.
We are becoming a nation of ’spin’.Plain talk is refreshing. Rosie is a plain talker. Agree or disagree, that’s everyones choice.
Video tape has shown Ripa doing the exact same thing she blasted Aiken for doing. Listen to Trump’s response to her critisism. It speaks volumes about HIM.
Funny, I never understood anthropomorphism in animation until a friend mentioned the lead in Alladin gave him a chub
January 8th, 2007 at 12:15 am
News Flash!
A lot of black people think O J did it too.
To this day it seems white people think that all black people celebrated and supported O J’s verdict. Not true.
From some black people’s perspective it had more to do with a black man prevailing in a justice system which historically has been less than equal regarding race. O J became your neighbor or co-worker who was pulled over by the cops for no discernable reason. Even more dramatic he was a Rodney King or admiitedly after the fact - he was a Haitian immigrant sodimized by the N Y P D with a night stick or the black bride groom who unarmed, was killed in a hail of police fire.
O J - to some black people - represented a kind of vindication. He was larger than who he was and the sad circumstances surrounding the whole ugly ordeal.
I’m not saying that is wrong and I’m not saying it is right. That’s just the way it was.
Not all black people celebrated and a lot of us think he escaped prosecution. Sadly the media focused on those celebrating instead of those of us who were surprised and shocked. The rest, as they say, is history.
I enjoy reading your blog. However, your O J - black people remark caught me by surprise and, ironically, is not too far afield from Rosie’s Chinese debacle.
We don’t have to walk on egg shells or be too P C - but a little thought and consideration goes a long way.
I’m a big fan of yours and I hope you don’t mind me airing my take on the subject.
Thanks….
January 12th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I agree,I miss Meridith,she added class & intellegence,yet, fun too,Star,I do not miss,Rosie,has a big,mouth,is opionated,and doesn’t appear to like to share.I used to like her “own” show,until,at times she became too loud,too much,too me! Sometimes,i wonder,if she isn’t deep down a very hurt,& angry person.and hasnn’t worked out many “childhood issues’ I don’t even watch ot turn on “The view” it’s boring,unclassy,and has lost its view!!!