The View Said Goodbye to Barbara Walters With a Lot of Photos

The endless goodbye parade for Barbara Walters picked up steam on The View Thursday when every single last View host – even Debbie Matenopoulos! – returned to talk about how great Walters is and make sure the day was documented. It was definitely documented.

Look, I get it – this is a historic day in television, especially for Debbie, who was probably ecstatic her invitation to praise Barbara didn’t get lost in the mail. But this show was aired on television. It was recorded for historical prosperity, as every past episode has been as well, which is how the producers were able to play all those clips of Barbara being kooky over the years in celebration of her. You don’t need to spend a large portion of the episode further documenting the documenting that is already happening. Remember that people are watching you to be entertained.

The episode started out with a bang:

In case you weren’t sure what was going on.

It also included the best title card in the history of television title cards.

Before all the hosts were brought on stage, Barbara got to show pictures of a party held Wednesday night in her honor. “It was interesting to me the people that were there that don’t go out much,” she said, humblebragging that her good friends Woody and Soon-Yi attended to give her love.

When the hosts that had left the show/been put out to pasture finally came on stage, they made sure they had proof they were in fact there. Rosie O’Donnell videotaped her walk to her seat and Joy Behar (with an assist from Debbie) took photos while Barbara was in the middle of talking.

Get off your phone Joy.

The show was later interrupted so that a staff photographer could take a big group photo, something that probably could have been done, I don’t know, during a commercial break? The most frustrating thing about the whole affair is that they weren’t even heeding the advice of the show they were on, which is stated at the end of every episode: “Take a little time to enjoy the view.”