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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
It was like reading a compilation of every tabloid about the view but with reliable sources. If you love a gossipy read about a staple of American pop culture then this is a fun one
funny
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
A surprise and so well-reported. I was never a View girl outside of miscellaneous clips and SNL, but this fascinated me. Gives a really strong timeline of how the show unfolds from beginning to recent past. Juicy gossip about the backstage machinations and a really fair hand relaying everyone’s bad behavior. The Rosie stuff is especially strong.
Will say I’m surprised how many of these controversies I remembered despite not really watching the show. Speaks to what a cultural touchstone it really is.
Will say I’m surprised how many of these controversies I remembered despite not really watching the show. Speaks to what a cultural touchstone it really is.
This was an interesting book, and I felt it gave us the truth of some of the ladies that have come and gone from the show.
medium-paced
fast-paced
When I added this book to be tbr, I didn't realize it was authored by a man. A gossipy historiography of women's television by a dude isn't as appealing to me as it would be if written by someone on the female/femme/transfeminine spectrum, but that didn't stop me from reading it.
I'm not the biggest View watcher, so I didn't connect like a fan or hate watcher. I've only even been thinking about The View lately because Meghan McCain saying something vile trends on Twitter now and again. I love celebrity gossip, regardless. The first half of the book flowed better, maybe because people stopped being as cooperative with Setoodeh toward the end, or Barbara Walters failing due to age isn't as fun as her failing due to arrogance and self-absorption. I also noticed around the middle that Setoodeh refers to women by their first names, except the brief period when Rosie O'Donnell and Rosie Perez were both on the show, but the men were last-named.
The gossip about individual insecurities and popularity declines was hard for me to read, and maybe it turns out I don't love gossip as much as I thought I did.
I'm not the biggest View watcher, so I didn't connect like a fan or hate watcher. I've only even been thinking about The View lately because Meghan McCain saying something vile trends on Twitter now and again. I love celebrity gossip, regardless. The first half of the book flowed better, maybe because people stopped being as cooperative with Setoodeh toward the end, or Barbara Walters failing due to age isn't as fun as her failing due to arrogance and self-absorption. I also noticed around the middle that Setoodeh refers to women by their first names, except the brief period when Rosie O'Donnell and Rosie Perez were both on the show, but the men were last-named.
The gossip about individual insecurities and popularity declines was hard for me to read, and maybe it turns out I don't love gossip as much as I thought I did.
I never watched The View but I love pop culture "exposes" that dive into the history and behind the scenes of phenomena. Pieces of the drama have been on my radar, especially the Rosie/Trump feud, but Setoodeh does a great job explaining the context of each conflict and summarizing how this manifested on screen. I found the audiobook easy to listen to and engaging. Just like the show itself, the book sort of fizzles out at the end. There's just less drama that was relevant to our culture to talk about and I found myself missing the stories about the "more interesting" hosts like Star Jones, Barbara Walters, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and Rosie O'Donnell.
4/5
4/5