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Barbara Walters bids farewell to daily television By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it Barbara Walters insists she's fine with letting go. The iconic journalist notes that leaving daily television is her call. She'll do that Friday, May 16 - officially Barbara Walters Day in New York - with her last regular appearance on ABC's "The View" (though she'll still executive pro- duce the show with long- time associate Bill Geddie) and a two-hour retrospec- tive that night. "I'm fine," maintains Wal- ters, who worked at CBS and NBC (famously on "To- day") previously. "Nobody's forcing me out. It's not like with David Letterman, where younger people are nipping at his heels. It's a decision I made a long while ago." Among other highlights of Walters' sign-off: a big party in her honor; a gathering of every co-host "The View" has had, on the program's telecast Thursday, May 15; and the dedication of ABC News' newly-named-for-Walters headquarters. The prime-time farewell special is, Walters says, "much more conversation about how I felt about dif- ferent interviews. It's not, 'And then I interviewed him, and then I interviewed her ... .' I did that a few years ago on '20/20,' so this will be more the back- ground and the untold stories." Walters points out that she "will continue to be a member of ABC News, them and like them. And I'm not sure we may not want to add a man!" Having joined ABC in 1976, when she became the first female co-anchor on a network evening newscast, Walters has seen many transitions. "I'm sad that we don't have a regular news- magazine," she reflects. " '20/20' has become a different kind of program, but people's tastes have changed, and their atten- tion span has changed. Also, I didn't moderate 'The View' because I was doing '20/20' every week; in- stead, I chose moderators like Meredith Vieira, Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg." As for the annual year- end "10 Most Fascinating People" special that has been another of her ABC trademarks, Walters admits its future is uncertain. "The network wanted me to do it this year, even though I'm leaving, and I decided I didn't want to. Truthfully, at the moment, I can't think of 10 most fascinating people (for 2014). We've done so many major leaders of the world, so many huge mov- ie stars ... it's something that belongs to us, but we've made the decision not to do it this year." Now, with numerous honors including 11 Emmy Awards and a presence in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, Walters is ready for her next chapter. "You have to leave sometime," she reasons. "Maybe you don't, but I think you do. And I wanted to leave while I was still valuable and the audience wasn't saying, 'Is she still here?' This is, for me, a very good and natural tran- sition." "The View" so that if there are special things I want to do, I can. And I will still go in one or two days a week as an executive producer of 'The View.' I will continue to make decisions about who's on and who's hired as a host, so my relation- ship with it will be the same. What it won't be is getting up at 6:30 in the morning (to appear on it)." The other "View" hosts haven't treated Walters differently as her on-cam- era exit approaches, she maintains. "I haven't felt that it's affected them at all," she says. "Remember, I'm still doing it. When I leave, Bill and I then have to make a decision as to who we will add to the cast. We want the ladies to get along with 2 The Goshen News • TV Spotlight • May 12-18, 2014 C C O O M M S S I I C C B B w w L L N N I I G G 1300 W. PIKE ST. • GOSHEN, IN 46526 574-533-8564 www.MapleCityBowl.com Maple City Bowl at … BUY ONE GAME GET ONE FREE EXPIRES 1-31-2014 COSMIC BOWLING HOURS … FRI. 9:30 PM-12:30 AM; SAT. 1:00-3:00 PM & 8:00 PM-MIDNIGHT 5-31-2014 Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 goshennews.com / Place Your Employment Ad Today!

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