SkimIt
The big news in the talk show world this week was that Jeff Probst’s show is the next one to fail to make it to a second season. The remaining taped episodes will continue to air, and Probst will still have a job hosting Survivor. Ricki Lake’s show also failed to find an audience, but next year audiences will have a fresh crop of talk shows from Queen Latifah (yay!), Kris Jenner (ugh!), and Bethany Frankel (double ugh!). Barbara Walters also returned to The View this week to keep her ladies in line.
The View, ABC, airs 10:00 am ET.
Barbara Walters finally returned to The View this week after six weeks off the air dealing with a bout of the chicken pox. Apparently, during a party in Miami over the holidays, she hugged it out with a famous actor (whose name she wouldn’t reveal) who was unaware that he was in the early stage of having shingles. Through this, we’ve learned that adults who have never had chicken pox can catch the illness from people with an outbreak of shingles. Of course, as an adult, chicken pox can be quite serious, but the real trouble for Barbara was a concussion she received from fainting and falling while she was sick and covering the inauguration. She thanked all of her fans, including the viewers and celebrities like Hillary Clinton (who has suffered her own concussion issues recently) and the Obamas for all of their cheery thoughts and concern.
She also received several surprises from guests during the show, including New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Regis Philbin, who both stopped by to welcome her back to the hot seat. The women celebrated Regis’s long support of the show since he was their very first guest. He teased the crew about being unable to control co-hosts like Cyndi Lauper during Barbara’s absence. Regis and Barbara also shared their mutual enthusiasm for the new Broadway production of Cinderella.
