Remembering a Key Figure of the Big 3 Era

From Wikimedia Commons, an image of Barbara Walters at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008, posted on flickr by Rubenstein, link to image.

“Every female broadcast journalist working today owes a debt of gratitude to the O.G., Barbara Walters, who died Friday at age 93.” Katie Couric, writing in The New York Times.

There was Walter Cronkite. There were Chet Huntly and David Brinkley. And there was a woman, a fiercely talented, competitive person named Barbara Walters. No, I don’t mean she was a TV giant of the stature of a Cronkite, but she was an important TV personality who brought needed change to a male-dominated medium.

I first became aware of her in the late 1960s as my family sometimes had the Today show tuned in on our 19-inch black-and-white TV.

I don’t recall her much from that time, but I was young. I became more aware of her as the first female network co-anchor starting in 1976 on ABC, a gig that honestly didn’t go all the well. But as she had done many times in her long career, Barbara Walters had the courage to try something new, and after she was an anchor, she reigned as the queen of celebrity and news maker interviews, first at 20/20 on ABC, and then in a series of prime-time specials.

An image of Barbara Walters speaking with President Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2013. Image posted on flickr by Ester Vargas, link.

At an age when many people have returned, Walters in her late 60s helped create The View, a daily talk show, in 1997.

The news today, of course, is that Barbara is no longer with us. She has died at age 93. An important female figure of the Big 3 TV era is gone. Her passing is a reminder of that bygone era, and her long career a testament to her tenacity and talent.

Honest Joe vs. Dishonest Abe

Trump speaks, Biden and America cringes.

Donald Trump says 2.2 million people were going to die. That only 210,000 have is thus a great success.

It’s a lie. A rather vile lie, since it traduces human lives. I know, Trump is not responsible for 210,000 deaths—many would have died had the country taken adequate action against COVID-19. But the death toll could have and should have been much lower, and the spike can be lowered now, with effective, science-based action that this president can’t wrap his head around.

It was a night of lies from Donald Trump. The final presidential debate of 2020 is over, and I have to admit I am relieved.

Trump did score some points. His contention that Biden’s environmental plan spell economic disaster is going to be the point pounded on again and again in attack ads for the next 12 days. Not that it’s true. As is much of what Trump said tonight, it’s a lie.

A lie delivered coldly and calmly by a president who dismisses severed families as the fault of coyotes, COVID-19 as the fault of China and economic meltdown as—well, I’m not sure who he is blaming. Trump claimed the economy would be a disaster if Biden is elected, but who the heck was president this year when the recession kicked in?

Typical Trump. "Don’t elect him or the chaos I have caused will continue." "Elect me so that I can put out the fire that I lit in the first place."

Sigh.

Some keys in tonight’s debate:

• Biden nailed Trump on his tax returns. Trump tries to paint Biden as corrupt, but one of Trump's consistent patterns is to project his own flaws onto his foes. I don’t think Joe is pure like the October snow—but on the corruption meter, Trump has pretty much everyone trumped, yet he says Biden is corrupt. And Biden is the one who has released his tax returns, not Trump. Tell me again how Trump is more honest?

• Trump made anybody with a brain sick to their stomach with his Lincoln lines. No, Trump, you are not the “least racist” person in the room. As Biden said, his dog whistles are fog horns. In one breath, you’re the least racist, in the next, your saying immigrants who show up for hearings have low IQs. You’re blaming China, coyotes and claiming not to be racist.

• COVID-19 should be the nail in the coffin for this president. Just consider this exchange: “People are learning to die with it,” Biden on the pandemic. “I take full responsibility. It’s not my fault.” Actual comeback quote from Trump.

I do think that Trump did better tonight than the first debate, although he set a rather low bar to lumber over. Trump was still spouting insults, lies and trite campaign lines.

Biden speaks during debate.

Trump needed to change the dynamics of the election tonight. I do not think he did. I think Biden held his own, which I hope is all he had to do. And what was that about pillows and sheets? Earth to Trump: What?

Image by Gage Skidmore from wikimedia commons. Kristen Welker of NBC in Arizona in 2018.

Kristen Welker of NBC News did pretty well, I thought. She had been insulted by Trump before the debate, but was praised by him during the debate. Despite that, I think the use of the enforced time limits was good. There was some cross shouting, but not the chaos of the first debate. Her questions were decent and she stayed calm.

Well, that phase of the campaign is over. Five-thirty-eight is starting to write about a possible blue wave that could take the Senate, keep the House and win the presidency. Trump’s fantasy about taking the House rang very hollow, and I don’t think Trump built much of a flood wall against the coming blue wave.

What Helps Me Escape from TRMS

TRMS—the Rachel Maddow Show—has become almost required viewing for my wife and me this COVID-19 season. She is the liberal news explainer, and I appreciate that.

Lately, she’s been on a bit of an editorial crusade, sounding the alarm about infections at the nation’s nursing homes. It’s a worthwhile cause.

And I find I rarely watch Fox News these days. As a journalism professor, I used to try to catch at least a bit of that network each week, just to sample it—I don’t have the heart any more. Any part of the Trump Universe alternative right-wing media zone of delusion is just too much for me at the moment.

So, I read The Gazette, my local paper. I listen to NPR. I catch the president’s briefings when I want a small dose of crazy, and I always feel WTF after a few seconds. And then there is Rachel.

But I also have to escape. What is my relief when life and a pandemic brings me down?

Lately, besides TRMS, my wife and I have become fan kids of a new NBC show. You can’t exactly call it a comedy or a drama. It’s sort of like a sitcom in that it has a situation and a fair amount of comedy, but it’s a mixed genre show.

Publicity image from NBC.com. Jane Levy as Zoey.

It’s that girl from Suburgatory, Jane Levy, all grown up and coding in San Francisco. It’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.” From my own limited experience visiting high tech sites in the Bay Area, the set isn’t really over-the-top. The cafeterias at Facebook (which won’t post this post because my media blog is inexplicably banned) are way better than the cereal bar, by the way.



Besides Ms. Levy being talented (catch her practicing saying “hey” in the latest episode), there are other gems in this cast. Superstar Mary Steenburgen is mom. Peter Gallagher, years after being in a coma in that Christmas movie, gets to act with his eyes as her fading father.

I don’t know if the characters are “real” in any real sense. But it feels real. Mostly, the show is an old-fashioned Broadway musical using contemporary pop songs. The show is also commenting on contemporary high tech life, the feeling of it before the pandemic of 2020. It's kind of sad to think of all those characters now being stuck in their over-priced apartments.

On this blog, I’ve written before about music and how it expresses emotion. I’ve used it as an assignment in several classes—having students parse the reason a particular song touches them or has meaning. And the musical covers of pop songs on Zoey are watchable and fun.





So, I recommend it. The duet between Steenburgen and Gallagher at the end of the latest episode may make you cry. It did me, and it felt good.

Finally, worth the mention even though he always mentions news, is the incomparable Randy Rainbow. I need a smile now and then, and his latest video certainly delivers: