The Media Interview

Finally got to watch the second half of the Barbara Walters special 30 Mistakes in 30 Years. Like the first half of this prime-time special it was first and foremost an entertainment show, but there were useful tidbits throughout.

Walters directly addressed the issue of crying in this part of the special, acknowledging that “I have a reputation for making everyone cry”. There’s a great clip of Halle Berry ending her interview with a triumphant ‘Look, no tears!’ and another of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turning on the waterworks. According to her statistics, though, only a dozen or so of the roughly 300 people she’s interviewed have broken down in tears. If that’s true it does seem surprising, but on reflection I think her reputation is the result of the fact that, early in her career, breaking down in an interview was still relatively rare on American TV so it stood out in people’s minds.

As I mentioned in my first post, some of the “mistakes” she lists are those made by guests, such as #10: “If I say you’re fascinating - please don’t deny it.” Walters proceeds to show a string of clips in which celebrities say “really?”, “I’m not sure why”, etc. She made a similar point about beauty in one of the earlier “mistakes” and in both cases I think she’s being disingenuous. I really don’t know what she’s expecting by asking such questions. I don’t think it’s even a question of false modesty - people simply haven’t any idea how to respond. If you asked them about a specific accomplishment, or even a specific character trait, and they said “it’s nothing” or “I don’t think that’s anything special” then I think it’s reasonable to accuse them of being disingenuous.

I found her 8th mistake interesting: “The entire [1990] Warren Beatty interview.” Apparently they taped for 2 hours but could barely get a useable 10 minutes from it because he gave such short answers or no answers at all. This, despite the fact that he had agreed before the interview that he would be willing to answer her questions. At one point in the interview, Walters quotes him as saying:

I would rather ride down the street on a camel nude in a snowstorm backwards than give what is sometimes called an in-depth interview

He acknowledged having said that, and from the short clips she showed, it certainly seemed to be his sentiment.

There was a set of clips showing Walters exclaiming to guest and crew “I’ve got my ending!” and in one of them she says “I was fishing around for an ending.” It’s a good lesson for any guest - whether it’s live, edited, or for print purposes, the interviewer is looking for not only good endings but good quotes, good openings, etc.

Some signs of changing times:

Walters points out that in the early days, the crew was asked to stay silent with their reactions to what guests were saying (in particular, not to laugh) because it was considered distracting. But eventually that gave way to keeping the background sounds, part of the trend during the 90s to open up the “fourth wall”.

Her 14th mistake was “Dancing is fine - stripping is out of the question,” but keeping in mind the 6th - “Predicting the future can be dicey” - and the state of some interview/talk shows today, I wouldn’t think that’s going to be a mistake for much longer…