It may be the end of an era for longtime television newswoman Barbara Walters. This afternoon, a source close to Walters confirmed a report to Deadline.com, that the 84-year-old host of The View will likely retire in May 2014.
The source confirms that ABC News will most likely give Walters "a huge sendoff with retrospects and other special content" in the weeks leading up to her retirement. Walters, being in television for 52 years, has paved the way for women journalist as she was the first woman to co-host a news program back in 1974. (Today Show) She then joined ABC in 1976 and has had success anchoring 20/20 for 20 yars and co-hosting The View.
Earlier this year, Walters was hospitalized with the chicken pox and was rumored that she wanted to lighten up her workload. With the announcement of Joy Behar leaving The View and now Walters retiring, what does that mean for the hit ABC talk show? Who will replace them and what about the rest of The View ladies?
Three sexy men, one sizzling Colombian woman and a whole lot of competition, that is what you will be expecting tonight on television. Season 4 of NBC's "The Voice" returns Monday night with a brand new look as judges Usher and Shakira come in to shake things up after it was announced last fall that Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera will not be coming back for the mid-season premiere.
The return of the peacock networks hit show will be targeting a whole new range of talent and dynamics. Let's break it down.
Shakira, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher, Carson Daly Credit: Mark Seliger/NBC
The Judges: We already know how competitive Adam and Blake are but when you bring in urban and Latin flavor, the competition will be even stiffer. Usher takes the testosterone to a higher level. It's a "all boys" club feel with Usher challenging Adam and Blake, but don't count out Shakira."They complain that I play the lady card but it's not a gimmick--I am a lady," says Shakira in an exclusive interview with US Weekly. In the newest promo for the premiere, Shakira says not to underestimate a 5-foot-3 Colombian woman. The show's concept will remain the same however, what seems to be different about it is the dynamics between each judge. The audience will have to adapt with the newcomers just as the veteran judges will be doing the same. Will is be able to pull in big numbers?
New Changes, Risker ratings: It's no secret that NBC is struggling a bit to pull in ratings. With Sunday Night Football out of the mix and shows like "Dancing With the Stars" and "American Idol", NBC is struggling to find something to get their network back to the top. Whatever you lose you do gain. Fans of Green and Aguliera might not be tuning in but the good part about the changes is it brings in a newer fan base. More younger demo's and an audience who are eager to see what Usher and Shakira can bring to the table. For the network, The Voice helped other NBC shows out. "I think we didn't realize how important The Voice was until it went away," says Brian Hughes, who specializes in audience analysis for ad firm Magna Global. The peacock network is hoping this season will beat out American Idol since in the previous season's has always won the battle of singing contest. The true test will be when the live shows kick off later in the season.
Where do the winners go: Why is it that we can remember more about who wins on American Idol than we can about the winners of The Voice? Is The Voice more about the "mentors" than about the singers? Since The Voice has been on air, the winners haven't produced anything "main-stream". While during the competition the contestants music does reach number 1 on ITunes, nothing after that seems to hit big time on the radio. That's where the hit show needs to work on
Season 4 of The Voice premieres Monday March 25 at 8/7c.
Here is a exclusive sneak preview of the new season:
If you were to ask any teenage girl in the 90s what they wanted to find in a relationship their response would be "A love like Cory and Topanga's". For seven seasons, Boy Meets World captivated the hearts of audiences. The show, which aired on ABC Network from 1993-2000, followed lead character, Cory Matthews, and his friend's journey through life. Flash forward to 10-years later, a spin-off is in now in the works.
Entertainment Tonight Photo
Last November, the news broke out about "Girl Meets World", a spin-off series about Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley. Ben Savage and Danielle Fisher will be reprising their roles as Cory and Topanga . Early this morning, Entertainment Tonight, got a behind the scenes on-set picture of the cast. While fans are excited about the upcoming spin-off, some are a little nervous about it airing on The Disney Channel. So here is the question, did the producers play the safe card?
"TGIF Fridays" was big for ABC in the late 90s. Shows like "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Family Matters", were a part of that line up. Now Friday Nights are usually your "Kiss of Death" night, a night where viewership is down in overall and key demo because of the start of the weekend. "Girl Meets World" had the potential to bring back the "TGIF" on ABC or even been placed during the Wednesday Comedy line up. Fans of Boy Meets World are now in their twenties, so the next logical approach would have been to get the pilot to air on ABC Family. ABC Family is the "in between" network between the three. If "Girl Meets World" would have been aired on this network, the producers can still talk about "teenage issues" and make it a bit more PG-13 so to speak. With the show being aired on Disney Channel, in my opinion, it leaves little room to focus on some major teenage milestones among other issues. What fans loved about "Boy Meets World, was it was raw and relatable.
The main focus of this spin-off is to see which demo it will attract. What is so brilliant is, there are two main demo's which the show could go either way. It will be interesting to see what the first few episodes will look like: How the back story will fit in to the plot of the spin-off and if Riley will follow in her dad's footsteps. But Disney Channel, here is one big request from "Boy Meets World" fans everywhere, please don't mess up this show.
