Anyone watch the Daytime Emmy Awards? Me neither, but that won't prevent me from sharing my astute observations.....

The View (from Tucson)

Not too many years ago, the Daytime Emmy awards show was just another reason to watch Susan Lucci get dissed again. What drama! How long could she pull off the poor-me, no-respect routine? It was high suspense (not crazy drama, ala most Soaps) and Lucci pulled the sympathy vote for more than a decade before breaking through the soapy ceiling.
Seems “The View” was also always going to be a bridesmaid, never a bride, with the bitchin’ foursome venting and demonstrating forced resignation, with a huge chip on their designer-clad shoulders.
Until yesterday, when the curse was lifted and the schizy show raked in a few of those gold totems at last. Who am I to deride the wacky machinations of a show that once had non-screaming bouts about real news, when Meredith Viera was the main draw, not the wacked-out Debbie Whoozit and others who bounced, or were bounced by Queen Barbara, acting like a ornery club enforcer.
Maybe some of those awards seem, uh, slightly underwhelming, but who am I to judge? I wish I could garner an award for Hair & Make Up. Especially in this so-called “dry heat” of Arizona which is a description failing in truthiness.
I don’t know how Janice Huff (full disclosure: this New York-based NBC meteorologist is a personal friend) keeps her fresh look, unless it’s the hair and make-up staff. But they don’t need to do much work with her, trust me. But it begs the question: Why doesn’t television news have a hair and makeup category? Fake news (Jon and Stephen) have groomers and aren’t afraid to admit it, even if it consists of leftover pancake goo and eye-pencils from “Phantom of the Opera.”
Perhaps it would be harder to take the news seriously if cosmetic touch-ups were a legit category. Wait, who takes broadcast news seriously anyway? Never mind.



But even when schizy Rosie was on “The View,” it was still borderline intelligent, fun to watch and occasionally more than a platform for Barbara to push her own television specials and whatnot. My favorite, Joy Behar, seems neutered compared to those early shows. Before the show found its sea-legs, it was sometimes vulgar and unpleasant, but the hair and make-up: always beyond reproach. And Rosie seemed slightly tamed but ready to burst every time she was challenged. And don’t forget the Donald Trump War—great ratings for both shows!
And now Whoopi has also been tamed (like a free-range horse corralled) by Queen Bee Barbara, whose every nuanced glare sends Whoopi into overdrive mea culpas, signaled by her zip-locking her mouth. Apt metaphor for the show. Whose View is it really?
Behar appeals because she’s a straight-shooter and does not suffer fools lightly. Just watch the show with any politico to see her outrage or support. (What became of her usually-riotous “Comics’ Corner”?) Behar is funny and her hair always looks great, even if it smacks of Long Island (not “mall hair” but definitely over-sprayed).
(Another disclosure: I once spent 3 hours interviewing Behar in her gorgeous apartment and we bonded…for 3 hours.) But Elizabeth with her puritanical, Republican blinders was impossible to take last year, and you know what I mean.
But congrats are in order for “The View,” which added to the 17 Emmys awarded to the ABC mother station. Apparently, none thought the show would win, since all four were no-shows during the 36th broadcast of this poor-cousin of award shows.
Now if only “The View” would get its groove back, let Whoopi and Joy out of their pens, it might also get its original fans back, too. With or without awards for “Hair and Make-Up.”