It seems that Barbara Walters and I have a very different definition of the word ‘Fascinating’. Last night Barbara hosted her annual ‘Most Fascinating People’ special and while I am normally underwhelmed by her choices, this year I was just confused.
Barbara opened the evening with a one hour special on Oprah Winfrey, which possibly replaced having her on the most fascinating list. And as much as I think Oprah is a very interesting woman I don’t find her fascinating per se – maybe because we know as much as there is to know about her. And it’s obvious that Barbara’s interview was just to pay lip service to the mighty O because she didn’t ask one tough question! In fact, when she asked Oprah about her relationship with her parents, Oprah shut her down by saying “My relationship with my mother is FINE, my relationship with my father is FINE.” In other words – don’t ask me again about that! And when talking about her legacy – the school for girls that Oprah founded in South Africa – no mention was made of the abuse scandal that happened there. Because we weren’t watching CNN, we were watching Barbara Walters.
But I get it, we weren’t there to watch a hard hitting interview as much as a nice fluff piece that would segue into the most fascinating people special – and another way of garnering ratings. I get it. I respect it. Whatever. But then came the ‘Most Fascinating People’ special, and that just boggled my mind!
We already knew 8 of the 10 people going in – Betty White, Justin Bieber, The cast of Jersey Shore, Sandra Bullock, Kate Middleton, LeBron James, Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Palin. The other two were kept a secret until the night of the broadcast when we found out Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had made the list. But who would be number 1???
Theories flew that it would be the Chilean Miners (love that one) – I mean they dominated our televisions screens for months leading up their heroic rescue – or Taylor Swift who at 20 has achieved more than artists twice her age. But no, who was Barbara Walters Most Fascinating Person of 2010? General David Petraeus. Who?! Yes, that’s what I said.
Barbara said;
“IF YOU HAD TO FIGHT A WAR IN AFGHANISTAN, A COUNTRY WHICH HAS DEFEATED EVERY FOREIGN ARMY THAT EVER ENTERED IT, YOU WOULD PROBABLY WANT THE SMARTEST, TOUGHEST, MOST RATIONAL, COMPETENT AND REALISTIC LEADER YOU COULD FIND,”
“IN OTHER WORDS – GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS.”
“A LOT DEPENDS ON GENERAL PETRAEUS AND HIS COMBINATION OF HUMANITY AND STRENGTH,” SAID THE TV HOST.
“AND THAT, FOR US, MAKES HIM THE MOST FASCINATING PERSON OF 2010,”
Well I do not doubt, for one minute, that Gen Patraeus is more important than the cast of Jersey Shore, or Betty White and definitely more relevant than Sarah Palin – but when the entire list of your most fascinating people of 2010 has landed on the cover of US Magazine at least once, to throw in a General with the US Military just seems – odd to me. Because in this context – to appeal to this crowd, General David Petraeus isn’t fascinating. For the most part he isn’t even known!
Sadly I was disappointed yet again this year. I mean the cast of Jersey Shore is not fascinating no matter how you slice it. Is the phenomena that is ‘The Jersey Shore’ fascinating? Yes – but the cast themselves – no.
And one thing that really bothered me – if it’s supposed to be ‘Barbara Walters Most Fascinating People of 2010’ don’t you think that she should find them fascinating? Obviously she didn’t select the cast of Jersey Shore to be on the show because she clearly didn’t understand their appeal given the condescending way that she spoke to them, and while Justin Bieber may be totally cute and a tween pop sensation right now, fascinating he is not. Coincidentally – those two have dominated Google trends and search engine hits for the entire year. Let’s face it - it’s an MTV world right now, and even Barbara Walters has to play the game.
Was LeBron fascinating – yes. Kate Middleton – absolutely! Mark Zuckerberg – for sure! I’ll even give you Sandra Bullock just because of how she handled herself throughout her ex-husband’s cheating scandal. But Sarah Palin?!? Really? Seems that her daughter doing so well on Dancing With The Stars brought her back into the spotlight a bit. And JLo?! Seriously – what kind of favours did that woman call in to get her on that special!? Then there’s Betty White - while I love her, she is no longer fascinating because she’s just everywhere right now. For me, to be fascinating, there has to be something left to know – you know?
So I can’t believe I stayed up and watched 2 full hours of Barbara Walters only to discover someone I have never heard of was named the Most Fascinating Person of 2010. I blame it on being Canadian, but really, I think it’s more to do with the fact that I watch more MTV than I do CNN. I’m ok with it.
So I really would have liked to see the Chilean Miners on the list – maybe even Joannie Rochette (she lost her mother right before her performance at the 2010 Olympic games and went on to win a silver medal). I mean it was an Olympic year and not one Olympian was on the list. Who would make your list of most fascinating person?
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