‘Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything' could have told us more

Washington Post

5 days ago

There's nothing wrong with ''Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything,' the new Hulu documentary about the late broadcasting icon. It's an extremely thorough and enjoyable recap of the life of an extraordinary, pioneering television journalist. But it never really goes deeper than that.
Jackie Jesko's star-studded film features testimonials from television legends such as Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric about the role that Walters played — both in their lives and for the industry. Some of Walters's most prominent sit-down subjects are also featured, including comedian Bette Midler and Monica Lewinsky, who both attest to her humanity and character.
The film does a good job of telling her whole story, beginning with a difficult childhood and ending with her departure from ABC and all of the 'mixed feelings' (her words) she had about stepping away after 50 years on television. It also charts the sexism, and sexist anchors, that she had to overcome to rise the ranks. A 'warts and all' look at Walters, the film drives home the point that what made her so good on television — an extreme dedication to her craft and an insatiable competitiveness — also hurt her personal and family life. It includes a strong section that poses thorny questions about the ethical implications of Walters's approach to landing interviews with some of world's most hated and feared figures, including an uncomfortable-to-watch-now meeting with Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi and his family. 'I think Barbara would be friends with the devil if it would get the interview,' a former ABC News producer says in the film.
It's less clear what the ultimate goal of the film was. Did the filmmakers set out to provide a historical accounting of her career and legacy? Mission accomplished. Or were they hoping to make something that connected her story to the present moment and used it as a window into how television has changed, how it continues to change and what that means for the future? If so, the film falls short.
There are, to be clear, some astute observations made about how things are different today than they were in Walters's heyday, when news shows regularly attracted tens of millions of viewers. As recently as 1999, her '20/20' interview with Lewinsky was watched by about 70 million people, a near impossibility today for a distracted populace that spends their evenings scrolling on their phones instead of sitting down for a prescheduled program. 'There's a certain feeling you get when you're watching something knowing that everyone is watching the same thing at that very same moment,' Couric says in the film. 'And that doesn't exist anymore, and I think that's when Barbara was the queen.'
Winfrey also talks about how celebrities today no longer need gatekeepers and go straight to the audience. 'There really is no place for a Barbara Walters interview now because everybody does their own interviews,' she says.
But the film doesn't explore that keen observation. It doesn't talk about what is lost when newsmakers no longer have to go through someone like Walters to talk to the public. It doesn't address how an Instagram Live video from a pop star is not news or journalism. And it doesn't necessarily connect the dots at a larger level and examine the slow-motion collapse of the television industry, which has been shedding relevance and revenue because it no longer serves the role it once did. Those big newsmaker interviews, for example, helped subsidize some of the less profitable aspects of the television business, meaning that networks today just cannot cover the world like they used to. These days, 'scoops' still matter, but they can't fundamentally change the outlook for a network that is competing with cooking shows on Netflix for attention.
While Walters was briefly shown pushing back on Donald Trump in a now-viral 1990 interview, the film doesn't dwell much on the current era in politics, a missed opportunity, as television networks — such as her former employer, ABC — struggle to cover a hostile president who has shown a desire to exact his will on the media industry.
The film ends on an extremely uplifting note, with video shown of Walters's last appearance on the daytime talk show she started, 'The View.' Winfrey played emcee as she announced a long list of female television hosts who lined up to greet Walters and wish her well upon her retirement.
The picture today is murkier, though. None of the broadcast evening news shows are hosted by women anymore, after Norah O'Donnell was replaced as anchor of the 'CBS Evening News' by two men, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, this year.
If the point of the documentary is to make clear to viewers how special Walters was and how dynamic she was and how influential she was, it also made clear how irreplaceable she was, at a time when her talent at extracting information and confessions is needed more than ever. And that's a sad note to end on.
Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything premieres Monday on Hulu.