Talk Takes a Tumble

I anticipated 2020 would be the crowning achievement of my journalistic career.  I was celebrating 25 years of this column in print.  I don’t know about you, but it feels more like a quarter of a century.  It was a year unlike any other.  Still, a celebration’s a celebration, and tradition dictates we must look back – whether we’d like to or not.

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As 2019 drew to a close, Sara Gilbert divorced her latest wife.  At the time, I quipped that made two things Sara dumped – Linda Perry and The Talk.  A few months later, Marie Osmond left The Talk.  It seems like she just joined the show – which she did!  Then Eve announced she was leaving.  But she’d been phoning it in…literally.  She’s been quarantining with her hubby in London (and kudos to whomever is handling that flawless technical wizardry).  New co-hosts will be Elaine Welteroth, who is only known to the handful who watched the most recent season of Project Runway, and Amanda Kloots, who is only known because her husband, Broadway performer Nick Cordero, succumbed to the coronavirus.  The Widow Cordero turned Nick’s ashes into a vase, got a book deal, and joined TV’s least-watched talk show.  Talk about making lemonade!  But woe be to whomever breaks that vase!

Meanwhile on The View, I can’t believe Abby Huntsman has only been gone since January.  I predicted the return of my future sister-in-law, Sara Haines.  Then Meghan McCain got pregnant.  Ana Navarro filled in more and more.  Rumors swirled that McCain wouldn’t return.  She assured everyone she’d be back.  And then…nothing.  She hasn’t shown up on camera since – even with everyone working from home.  What will 2021 bring?  Perhaps less Meghan.  The show is certainly less without her – less yelling, less childish tantrums…just less.

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If 2020 taught us nothing else, we learned the true meaning of the word “schadenfreude”.  The literal translation is deriving pleasure or joy from someone’s failures or humiliation.  A visual translation might be a video from Oprah Winfrey’s Vision Tour.  O was onstage in Los Angeles and said, “Wellness to me means all things in balance, and balance doesn’t mean all things are equal or at peace at all times.”  At that moment, she lost balance and fell to the ground.  Correction – she tried NOT to fall to the ground, and kinda went into a cartwheel before landing on her assets.  While her tumble only garnered a 4.2 from the Romanian judge, it measured 5.5 on the Richter scale!  To Oprah’s credit, she noted the irony, quipping, “It’s nice to be talking about balance AND falling.”  To our credit, we have the video on BillyMasters.com.

 

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