Host Update: Rosie Perez is doing a play for the month of January and Whoopi has a bulging disc in her back and has to take some time off.  Ouch!  Feel better Whoop!  Rosie O and Nicolle were joined by guest co-hosts Kathy Griffin, Mario Cantone and Tracey Wigfield at the table to discuss today’s hottest topics.  Rosie came out on the stage dancing to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off in a beautiful, blue, fitted dress!  This was all because the last time Kathy was on The View, Kathy’s mother Maggie (who you can follow on Twitter by the way) requested that Rosie wear a dress for once on the program.  So Rosie did!!  Rosie said she “felt a little bit like somebody dressed up for Halloween” but she pulled it off wonderfully.

Rosie shows off her DRESS!

Hot Topics:

Reality Television Talk: Kathy shamefully admitted she’s a bad feminist because she watched the two-hour premiere of The Bachelor last night.  She doesn’t believe any of the ladies on the show actually want to be with the bachelor.  She just thinks they want their time on Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood.  When Kathy alluded that Mario must watch these reality shows because he’s gay Mario shouted, “I am a gay American and I don’t watch The Bachelor!”  Tracey said they were going to send him to “gay jail” for this admission.  Mario admitted he doesn’t watch much reality television at all.  He only knows Teresa Guidice whom he said has a “hairline [that] looks like she’s wearing a hoodie.”  Rosie’s never seen the Housewives show either and said she was accused of being “insensitive” when they were discussing it yesterday. So, Kathy, the RHONJ expert, got everyone up-to-date.  She said the Guidice’s are “felons who have bilked people out of a lot of money.”  She gets that people are sensitive about the topic because of the children involved, but she can’t help but feel if they were people of color, they would have gotten a longer sentence.  Tracey feels like Teresa’s husband was really the one committing the fraud and that Teresa was just being “willfully ignorant” about the situation.  Nicolle doubted that theory.  She “studied up” on the story and thinks Teresa clearly knew what was going on because of the “wads of money” she carried around.  Nicolle asked rhetorically, “Where did she think they [the wads of money] came from, the paycheck?”  Kathy said on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, there’s a man [of color] who went to jail on a very similar charge for EIGHT YEARS.  Kathy believes the sentence was too light.  Mario said he’s embarrassed Teresa is a fellow Italian-American and pointed out that she’s going to have trouble tipping a table (as she loves to do) because in prison, the tables are bolted to the floor.  Rosie visited Martha Stewart when she was in prison and she felt like Martha’s sentence was unjust.  Rosie went to the prison thinking Martha would look down trodden in prison attire but when she visited her she looked fantastic!  She used the cream bleach for your mustache to do her own highlights in her hair and she taught everyone to knit.  When Rosie asked her what she missed the most about the outside world Martha replied, “The flavor of lemon.” Rosie said if she knew that ahead of time she would have smuggled one in her “who-ha” for her!

Palin Bites Back: Sarah Palin is getting a lot of heat from PETA after she posted a photo on Facebook of her son standing on his service dog like a step stool.  She was recently on The Today Show discussing the photo and her defense was that President Obama once tried dog meat in Indonesia as a child.  She told PETA to “chill” and said, “at least Trig didn’t eat the dog.”  Nicolle started having a little PTSD when they showed the clip of the snarky former Vice Presidential candidate.  Tracey saw Palin’s incredibly long post to PETA as evidence that she’s officially now sitting in Alaska descending into madness.  Kathy doesn’t think Palin writes her own posts on Facebook anyway because her comment about Obama, calling it the best “line” in the post, made it sound to her like someone else wrote it.  Rosie was appreciative of Palin’s return to the media.  She and Kathy called her a “comic’s dream” and likened her to “a warm-up act at a club in Rochester.”

The View Hits A Million Facebook Likes:  Rosie was pleased to announce that The View’s Facebook page just hit a million likes!  They thanked the viewers for their support.  And don’t forget to like Rosie’s Facebook page too!

Sheen Spirited: Charlie Sheen ranted about Kim Kardashian on Twitter recently after she refused to sign an autograph for a 6-year-old girl.In his rage-filled Twitter rant he said, “You are lucky that ANYONE cares about your gross and giggly bag of funk you dare call an ass.  My apologies to your hubby, great guy I’m sure, I hope his vision returns one day.”  Nicolle thinks he meant “jiggly” not “giggly” but Mario said Kim’s ass both flaps and claps when she jumps up and down, so it counts as both!  Tracey was surprised that Charlie Sheen, such a pillar of the community, someone we normally look to as such a great example, would say such a thing.  Kathy was confused as to who to root for in this scenario – Kim? Kanye? or Charlie Sheen?  There are no winners here.  Mario said, whether you like him or not, at least Charlie became famous because of his acting.  He continued, “Kim Kardashian wants a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For what?  Best Supporting Actress in a sex tape?”

Is He or Isn’t He: There’s a new controversial special on TLC called My Husband’s Not Gay.  Mario mentioned how GLAAD has come out against the show calling it “irresponsible” and he agrees.  Nicolle read the statement released by the President of GLAAD.  Nicolle agreed and thinks the show sends a bad message to kids.  She thinks it states that you “should or could” change yourself if you want to badly enough.  She also thinks it’s irresponsible for a network to put this message on TV and present it as if it’s a viable option for gay people.  Kathy thinks the show will be primarily seen as humorous but also worries there are many parts of the country where this is thought of as a serious alternative.  She doesn’t think the show promotes not being gay as an option because it’s too humorous and he’s so obviously gay.  Rosie said, “There are many ways to be in the world and everyone has to find their way.  And for some people, facing their sexuality is insurmountable and they can’t do it so in order to live, this is the choice that they make.”  She thinks it’s sad but she said everyone has to “make and create their own reality.”  Mario had a friend once that couldn’t justify his religion with his sexuality and it was a struggle he had his entire life.  Nicolle worries there may be a young person, who is feeling isolated because of his/her sexuality, that will determine being gay is wrong because of this show.  And she thinks that’s dangerous.

Teens Return Home: The missing Connecticut teens, who gained national attention when Rosie mentioned them on The View and Nancy Grace profiled their case on her show have returned home!

The Mindy Project Tonight: Tracey’s episode of The Mindy Project airs tonight at 9:30 pm EST on Fox.  Don’t miss it!  Kathy asked Tracey to discuss the real ratio of male to female writers in comedy.  And Tracey admitted that a lot of the writers are “white dudes from Harvard.”  But she’s been lucky enough to write for Tina Fey for the show 30 Rock and now for Mindy on The Mindy Project.  And she admitted we have a long way to go.  

Losing Weight Not Always a Good Thing: There’s a new book entitled It was Me All Along, written by a woman who lost half her body weight and claims it almost ruined her life.  She became obsessed with counting calories and fell into a severe depression because of the weight loss.  Rosie said since her heart attack she’s lost almost 60 pounds and her doctor told her it takes your brain about three years to catch up with the changes that happen to your body.  She explained that she had vertical gastric sleeve surgery and she said her doctor is going to come on the show this month to talk about it.  Kathy asked Rosie if she thinks weight issues for most women stem from hunger or cravings.  Nicolle thinks it might stem from emotions too.  Rosie believes it’s a combination of all of those things.  For her she started to get heavy right when The Rosie O’Donnell show premiered in 1996. She became instantly famous.  Even though she had been in movies and standup, she was now super famous.  She thinks the weight became her “armor.”  Rosie also believes there’s a sudden vulnerability to losing weight.  Kathy also recommended the documentary Fed Up and Rosie, the documentary aficionado, seconded that recommendation.

Crowe Needs to Shut It: Russell Crowe claimed in a recent interview that women in Hollywood that complain about there being no good roles for women, need to stop going for the roles they’re too old for and start acting like Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren. Kathy thinks Russell should “stick with his garage band and go do cover tunes in Australia.”  She continued, “I mean really?  We’re listening to Russell Crowe about women’s issues?  Come on.”  Tracey thinks Russell is being sexist and she found an interesting article in Gawker where they charted the age of Denzel Washington’s wives in the movies.  As Denzel’s age increases the age of the women he’s married to plateaus.  Kathy thinks this is just a case of art imitating life but Nicolle didn’t agree.  She asked [rhetorically], “Every 57 year old guy has a 35 year old girlfriend?!”  Mario said this older man/younger woman issue in acting has been around since Cary Grant was around.  But he said, if it’s a younger man and an older woman, it’s a big scandal.

Guests:

Cast of Boyhood:  Stars of the ground-breaking, Golden Globe nominated movie Boyhood, Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane and the writer and director, Richard Linklater, joined Rosie, Nicolle and Mario to discuss the making of the film.  The cast and crew spent 12 years making the film so the audience literally gets to see a boy grow up before their eyes along with the most poignant moments that shape his life.    When asked about the Golden Globe nominations, Richard said he was just trying to make a film about growing up and being a parent.  Ethan and Patricia weren’t scared about signing onto such a big undertaking.  He said they are both smart actors and smart actors know “you’re only as good as your opportunity and when someone comes to you and asks you to do something so original, you just gotta say yes.”  Patricia said it was exciting and amazing that Richard received financing for a movie that wouldn’t see a return for years.  Ethan said the whole making of the movie was an act of faith.  Ellar said the hardest part about making the movie was explaining it to his friends.  He told them he was making a movie but no one was going to be able to see it for over a decade.  Ethan joked that in a way, the movie is a “couples counseling session.”  He said it allows you to see life through each other’s eyes.  For Rosie, the scenes that dealt with divorce and what it does to children, were heartbreaking for her to watch.  Boyhood is available now on DVD!

The Cast of Boyhood on The View

Kathy Griffin: Kathy sat with her fellow co-hosts to discuss what taking over the show Fashion Police is going to be like for her.  She said it was incredibly hard for her to step into the late Joan River’s shoes.  Kathy said Joan was “her person” and she went to her for advice in ways she couldn’t go to anybody else.  Kathy referred to Joan as a feminist whether she liked it or not and said she blazed the trail for her and for many female comediennes.  She said a lot of people forget that it has been since 1988 that there has been a woman in nightly network television.  Joan was the first and the last.  She also thinks Joan reinvented the red carpet.  She wanted to continue the spirit of being fearless and “just going for it” while also having fun with people.  Kathy said the red carpet is ridiculous and it’s become this serious, cottage industry and she wants to take it all down!  They showed some of Kathy’s “worst-dressed” appearances as well as some of Rosie’s!  In the end, Kathy hopes people bring back a little humor and artistry to the red carpet.  Fashion Police returns January 12^th on E!

Audience Giveaway: Members of the studio audience received a copy of the movie Boyhood

Quoteables:

Rosie: [about the new TLC show My Husband’s Not Gay] “There are many ways to be in the world and everyone has to find their way.  And for some people, facing their sexuality is insurmountable and they can’t do it, so in order to live, this is the choice that they make.”
Nicolle: “Who do I get to try to kill me today?  PETA or Palin?”  
Tracey: “Oh! She’s [Palin] in Alaska going insane, she’s descending into madness.” 
Mario: “Kim Kardashian wants a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For what?  Best Supporting Actress in a sex tape?”
Ethan: [about the film Boyhood] “The whole making of the movie was an act of faith.”
Patricia: [about the film Boyhood] “It’s such an honor to bear witness to children growing up.”
Kathy: [to Rosie] “Okay Grandma, we don’t say pocketbook anymore.”

Rosie’s youngest Dakota on The View!

Take a little time and enjoy The View!

written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions

Hot Topics:

Whoopi was not on the show today because she wasn’t feeling well and Rosie Perez is off for the month of January because she’s currently rehearsing for her Broadway show, Fish in the Dark.  The guest co-hosts for the day were comedian Margaret Cho, co-executive producer and writer of The Mindy Project, Tracey Wigfield and former NFL pro and CBS sports analyst, Tony Gonzalez.

Holiday Wrapup: The group started today’s show discussing what they did over the holiday break.  Tracey visited with her parents in New Jersey and mostly spent the time shopping with her mom at every Talbots and Chico’s in the tri-state area, though Tracey isn’t really a fan.  Rosie went to Florida over the break with her family.  At first she suggested they spend a week away as a family with no phones between the hours of 10 am and 9 pm.  She said that idea lasted for two hours.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy most the time they were there.  At first she thought it was horrible because everyone was spending so much time on their phone but her kids ended up using their iPhones to memorialize their vacation through pictures and video!  Rosie said she took all of their pictures and put them together in an iBook so now they have it as memento of their trip.  Nicolle bowled a lot over the holiday break and she’s pretty good at it!  She said she almost always hits the center pin but she doesn’t always bowl a strike because it’s never with much force.  Tony worked a lot over the holiday break.  It’s a busy time for him right now at the end of football season.

Margaret said she spent the last two months feeding the homeless in San Francisco.  It was her way of dealing with the death of Robin Williams.  She explained how Robin was a huge activist for the homeless.  Not only was he a fundraiser with Comic Relief but he also insisted that a certain percentage of the workers on his films were homeless workers.  Margaret worried Robin’s work he had done for the homeless would be lost and her friend and fellow comedian, Michael Pritchard, said to her, “Don’t grieve Robin.  Be Robin.”  Margaret said Rosie was one of their first sponsors and gave their group a lot of money for the cause.  She would really just like to help give homeless people their dignity back.  And she reminded everyone that every homeless person is someone’s child.  She said if you can’t always give, at the very least we owe it to them to look them in the eye and acknowledge their presence.  Rosie recalled a time when she and her 17 year-old daughter Chelsea were in California and a 17 year-old homeless teen recognized Rosie.  The girl, the same age as Chelsea, didn’t even want to shake Rosie’s hand because she was homeless.  Both Tony and Nicolle went to University of California Berkeley, and they agreed that Berkeley has a very connected community with the homeless population near its campus.

Remembering Those We Lost Over the Holiday:  The group discussed the recent death of Mario Cuomo, who passed away at the age of 82.  He served as Governor of New York for a time and was a superstar in the Democratic Party for calling out President Reagan at the 1984 Democratic convention.  He was widely seen as a front-runner for President but declined to run.  Margaret remembered Mario Cuomo as “spirited” and respected him for how much he cared about people.  When she was little she also thought he looked a lot like Mel Brooks.  Tracey always saw Cuomo as a “straight-shooting” kind of guy or like an “Italian cousin of her mother’s.”  And she loved his quote, “There are only two rules for being successful; one, figure out exactly what you want to do, and two, do it.”  Tony’s favorite Cuomo quote was “Every time I’ve done something that doesn’t feel right, it’s ended up not being right.”  He said that’s exactly what he lives by.  Rosie saw Cuomo’s death as an end of an era but Nicolle sees his political dynasty as still alive and well.  She admired him for his devotion to service and she said that feeling is felt across party lines no matter what you think about his political views.  She said when we lose someone, and everyone feels the loss, it says something good about what politics can be.   Margaret respected Cuomo for humanizing politics and always trying to get everyone to get out to vote.  Tony recalled how inspired he always felt when Cuomo spoke publicly and Margaret compared his inspirational speeches to Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.  Tracey agreed and pointed out the parallels in Cuomo’s and Obama’s speech content.

The sports world also lost Stuart Scott, who Tony said was the reason sports is so popular the way it is today.  Tony said Stuart connected to younger viewers by using a hip urban street flavor with his sports reporting that drew people in.  They discussed his inspirational speech at the ESPY awards about his battle with cancer.  Rosie was ashamed to admit that she didn’t know of Stuart until after his death, but after reading about him she was very moved by his story.  Margaret said Stuart “leveled the entire world of sports” when he used the language of the players and the fans in his reporting.  She called him revolutionary and brilliant because before him it was racially divided.  Nicolle agreed and added that Stuart also made sports more multi-generational.

A RHONJ Goes to JAIL: Real Housewives of New Jersey star, Teresa Giudice, checked into prison today for multiple tax fraud charges.  In March of 2014, Giudice pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.  Supposedly, her two eldest daughters know she is going to prison but her 8 and 4 year-old daughters think she’s going on a trip to work on writing a book about jail.  Margaret thinks Teresa should have just told her kids she was going to star on the show Orange Is The New Black as “Crazy Eyes’ new girlfriend!”  Tracey was so excited (insert sarcasm) about having another positive role model from her home state of New Jersey.  Between Teresa Giudice and the cast of The Jersey Shore, (continued sarcasm) she couldn’t be more proud of her home state.  She does feel bad for the Real Housewives star but reminded everyone that she got into this mess herself by lying.    Tony commented about how much arrogance Teresa showed when she committed financial crimes on television.  Nicolle thought lying to her daughters was a big mistake because even her own 3 year-old can get on YouTube.  She said her kids are bound to find out the truth.  Rosie didn’t really understand how her kids were going to visit with her in jail and not figure out the truth but wished the reality show star luck.

NYPD’s Silent Protest: Some NYPD officers are using the funerals of the assassinated police officers to protest against New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.  They are upset over statements he made to his biracial teenage son and how he told him he must be extra careful when around the police.  The NYPD were very offended and took the comments very personally.  Margaret said this issue is a very difficult one.  She said the issue of police brutality goes back many, many years.  And “whenever black and white people fight, Asians and Mexicans don’t know what to do.”  Nicolle said the NYPD feel de Blasio had an anti-cop campaign when he ran for office because his very first ruling was to overturn the “stop-and-frisk” program.  She thinks there are no winners and also that the NYPD is as entitled to their right to free speech as the protesters.  Tony thinks the mayor should come out and admit that maybe he approached the subject in the wrong way.  He doesn’t think the tensions will subside until he accepts some responsibility.  Rosie doesn’t necessarily think he handled the situation in the wrong way, she said that’s the reality of what he’s living.  She said the nation needs to be able to have cognitive dissonance and to have two opposing thoughts in their heads at the same time.  Which is, there is systemic racism in the United States and sometimes the police overreact and not all police are bad.  Tony said then the mayor should say exactly that.  Nicolle said she feels safe because of what the NYPD has done for the city.  Tracey said there’s virtually a work stoppage because of the comments the mayor has made so if you want to go out and commit petty crimes, now’s the time to do it!  Margaret said what’s sad was that this protest happened at a fallen officer’s funeral.  Tracey said the police commissioner had a great quote when he stated, “A hero’s funeral is not about grievance, it’s about grieving.”  Nicolle said we must understand both sides and Tony pointed out that not all officers turned their backs on the mayor.   Rosie read a book over the break entitled The New Jim Crow about the arrest rates of African American males in the United States.  She said the book discusses how the latest trends in punishing black males in the new form of segregation.  She called it an “astonishing book.”

Guests:

Marion Cotillard:  Oscar award winning actress Marion Cotilliard joined Rosie for a one-on-one discussion about her new film Two Days One Night.  Marion said the film is about a woman who has lost her job and is also suffering from depression.  Marion said she never went through a depression herself but came very close.  She admitted it’s a hard subject to talk about because people who haven’t experienced depression themselves can sometimes be very judgmental.  Marion thought it is amazing that there has been talk of her being nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film.  She briefly spoke with Rosie about her son who she and her husband have raised to mostly speak French.  Rosie called Marion “lovely, and amazing” and thanked her for coming on the show to discuss her film.  She said to Marion, “See you at the Oscars!”  Two Days One Night is in theaters now.  Go see it in a city near you!

Margaret Cho: Margaret joined the panel again to discuss her new late night show that will answer everything you always wanted to know about sex, but were afraid to ask.  Rosie actually inspired Margaret to do the show!  She said the show is really about women enjoying their sexuality.  She’s joined by several other ladies where they answer questions posed to them by women via social media.  Each woman has their own perspective but her role is to be the wild card.  She discusses polyamory, alternative sexuality, LGBT issues, sex toys, etc.  Margaret said the key to a successful marriage is to have sex with a lot of other people.  She said, “It takes a village!”  Margaret thinks social media makes it even harder to talk about sexuality today because as soon as you say something, it’s out there.  She said there’s a lot of misinformation, miseducation, myth spreading, and ignorance about STD’s out in the world today.  When TLC approached her about the idea for the show she jumped at the chance because it was her dream show.  She always wanted to do an Oprah-type show about sex where they could talk about sex openly and not feel judged or ashamed.  Margaret served on the board of Good Vibrations, the first company that designed sex toys for women so that women could safely learn about sex toys and feel good about themselves while doing it.  Margaret discussed how she was once nominated for an Emmy for her performance playing Kim Jong-un. In light of the Sony scandal she believes her emails are safe and she said there are already naked pictures of her out there and no one cares.  She has a new comedy special premiering in March of 2015 directly related to her anger about violence towards women.  It’s entitled There’s no ‘I’ in ‘Team’ But There is a ‘Cho’ in ‘Psycho.’  All About Sex premieres on TLC this Saturday, January 10^th, 2015.

Take a little time and enjoy The View!

 written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions

The Rosie’s Theater Kids opened the show today with a fantastic rendition of the song Let It Shine!

Rosie O explained the Rosie’s Theater Kids program to the audience.  She called them “some of the most talented public school kids in New York City!”  She said the program reaches out to all of the 5th grade classrooms and the kids who are enthusiastic about theater can stay in the program all the way through college.  Rosie O said the kids are dedicated, fun and loving and they are “rehearsing for life.”  The program isn’t just about learning a life of theater and performing, the students are learning about being part of a loving community.  They are learning to participate in life and how to succeed so that “we all rise together.”  You can find out more about this amazing program by going to RosiesTheaterKids.org. Also, don’t forget to like Rosie’s Theater Kids on Facebook!

NBA Triple Header on Christmas Day:  All The View hosts were dressed in their finest NBA gear in honor of the NBA triple-header on Christmas day!  Rosie O was wearing Dwayne Wade’s jersey.  Rosie P was representing the Brooklyn Nets in a Brooklyn Nets sweater with a New York Knicks jersey taped to the back, so she could represent both.  Nicolle wore a Lebron James jersey and Whoopi was wearing a New York Knicks sweater.  Rosie O said her son Blake is especially excited about the games on Christmas day because of the limited release jerseys.

Holidazed:  A recent survey found that only 8% of people consider the real meaning of Christmas to be the birth of Jesus.  Rosie P said that’s why everyone must watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas every year!

The December Dilemma: Schools today are struggling with how much Christmas should be in the classroom.  A school in Massachusetts just pulled Santa from their holiday pageant after a parent complained.  Nicolle said when she went to school they celebrated all the December holidays for each of the religions that were represented.  Whoopi wondered when Kwanza began.  Rosie O thought she first heard about Kwanza sometime in the mid-1980s.  Rosie P understood that the school was trying to give equal opportunity to each of the holidays but she said this is America, and she thinks they should honor each of the holidays in the schools.  She doesn’t see it as just a religious issue but a cultural one of importance.  Rosie O has a friend who took her 6-year-old son to Christmas Mass last year.  The child sometimes has a problem using his “inside voice” and at a quiet moment during the service he asked loudly, “Mommy, who’s that guy on the T?”  Her friend was horrified!!!    Whoopi said people don’t remember that kids don’t automatically know what our religious traditions are all about.  And Rosie P said that’s why she thinks religions should be taught in school.  Nicolle believes New York City is wonderfully diverse, but not everyone around the country gets the opportunity to learn about other faiths like they do in the city.  She thinks it’s beautiful when a child learns and enjoys what the other religions celebrate as their holidays.

Viral Video: Two little kids who were truly thankful for what they unwrapped, whatever it was.

The Tipping Point:  Everyone agreed that service people should be tipped but the question was, “How much?”  Rosie O said she tips all the service people in her life but she admitted, for her it’s very difficult to determine where to draw the line.  She said she always ends up overdoing it.  Rosie P said Latin people celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve but they also have Three Kings Day in January when they need to give gifts.

Viral Video: People are finding interesting ways to get into the holiday spirit like the anonymous person who enlisted police to pull over people and surprise them with money instead of a ticket.  Watch the video here.  Just then, Mario Cantone surprised the ladies of The View with gifts to share from Retail Me Not!

Mario Cantone joins The View for a surprise!

Guests: 

Marjorie Johnson:  Marjorie Johnson, one of Rosie’s friends for the past 18 years, joined Rosie O for some holiday cooking!  She spoke to Rosie O about how proud she was of her that she’s finally getting healthy!  Rosie O said it only took her 18 years to finally take Marjorie’s advice.  Marjorie sadly lost her husband of 67 years last year but said she he is still always with her.  Together, Rosie O and Marjorie made candy cane cookies from her cookbook Blue Ribbon Baking.     They talked a little bit about what they’re each going to be doing over the holidays.  Marjorie said she’s going to her daughter’s house for Christmas to spend the holiday with her daughter and two of her grandchildren.  She said all of the people in her family are good bakers because she taught them when they were very little.  Marjorie sends Rosie O cookies every year with a note that says ,”Rosie, please eat only one.”  She said that’s the secret to not gaining weight!  Rosie O gave her a phone as a gift from The View.

Mikie Russo: Event planner and star of Mikie Saves the Date, Mikey Russo, joined Nicolle and Rosie P to teach them quick, easy and inexpensive ways to decorate this holiday season.  They made balloon ornaments, beautiful candy cane flower arrangements, ribbon chair decorations and a “Frozie Rosie” Frozen-inspired beverage. Check out Mikie Saves the Date premiering in January and his website here.

Mario Cantone: Mario Cantone did a hilarious comedy stand-up routine about the movie Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer celebrating its 50th year anniversary.  He also sang the song Holly Jolly Christmas for the audience!

Audience Giveaway: Everyone in the studio audience received a $100 gift card from Retail Me Not and a LG G3 smartphone!!

Happy Holidays from Rosie’s Theater Kids, Rosie and The View!

GMA’s Robin Roberts will host Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration on Christmas morning at 10am EST on ABC!  Don’t miss it!

Take a little time and enjoy The View and the holidays!

written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions

Hot Topics:

The beautiful Laverne Cox joined the ladies of The View as guest co-host of the day!

What the Hack:  Sony announced it will not release the comedy The Interview citing safety concerns over terrorist threats against the theaters showing the movie.  A lot of people are saying they let the terrorists win.  Laverne thinks it’s a horrible choice to cancel the film’s release.  She said as an actress, artist and American, this is not what we’re about as a country.  We’re about freedom of speech, expression and the second we start censoring ourselves, she asked, “What will happen next?”  She thinks we really need to look at ways to combat cyber-terrorism.  Rosie P agreed with Laverne on one level but thinks it’s a complicated issue.  She said we need to take the threat somewhat seriously because people could have been hurt through a terrorist act on Christmas day.  What really angers her are the working class people who make the studio run who have been hurt by this act. Rosie O isn’t sure about her stance on the topic.  She was kind of happy they decided to cancel the film’s release even though she knows that’s giving in.  But at the same time, she doesn’t want to encourage anyone to attack us.

Nicolle worked in the White House on 9/11 and they encouraged people to travel on airplanes again and face down their fears.  And the people who were brave enough to get on airplanes again and go to baseball games and sporting events, helped keep the country going.  But as a mom now, Nicolle said she wouldn’t have taken her son to the movie theater and she respects Sony for not releasing the film.  Whoopi said it actually wasn’t Sony who took the film out of the theaters but it was Sony giving the theaters the option to not show the film.  The theaters didn’t want to be held liable if someone was hurt.  Whoopi hopes the film will end up on the Internet in some way so we can still see the film because, in America, we have freedom of expression.  Nicolle read Howard Stern’s comment from earlier in the week that compared this cyber-attack to the attack on 9/11.  Which at the time, she thought was ridiculous.  But now, she said, four days later, Newt Gingrich is basically agreeing with him.  He said, “No one should kid themselves.  With the Sony collapse, America has lost its first cyberwar.  This is a very, very dangerous precedent.”    Whoopi thinks we got taught a very valuable lesson.  Whoopi said freedom of expression is great but she’s not so sure she’d want another country making a movie joking about killing our president either.  Rosie P said experts have been warning us about these cyberattacks for a very long time and we need to learn how to prevent them.  Nicolle thinks this situation may create some new alliances amongst our leaders because it is an attack on what we hold most dear – our freedom of speech.

Treated Like the Help: In a recent People Magazine interview President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama open up about how they’ve dealt with their own racist experiences.  Michelle Obama revealed that on a trip to Target she was mistaken for someone who works there.  And people once mistook Barack Obama as the valet!  Rosie O said you would think people would recognize the president and the first lady, from television at least!  But, she continued, “racism still exists and that’s a fact of American history and life today.”  Laverne thought it was pretty incredible that people living in this country cannot recognize the president and the first lady.  She thinks it’s more of a commentary about how uneducated the American people are about who our leaders are.  Nicolle thought one of the most powerful speeches Obama ever gave was as a speech he gave about race as a candidate.  She said if you haven’t watched it, you should watch it on YouTube.  She said a lot of people feel the president hasn’t seized each opportunity he has had to lead a conversation about race in this country.  Laverne believes the president is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.  Whoopi said race only ever comes into play for other people.  She said black people have always been black and they just don’t think about it. She was frustrated that other people always want black people to address whether something is or isn’t racist.  She said she doesn’t know!  Rosie P pointed her finger at Whoopi and asked her, “You don’t think it’s racist if somebody turns to the leader of the free country and says, ‘Can you park my car.’?!”  Whoopi reminded Rosie P about the time Nicolle couldn’t tell the difference between her sister and her sister’s best friend in a photo.  She thinks that proves that white people can’t tell the difference between all white people either.  And that isn’t racism.  Whoopi said, “You need to know what real racism is.  Racism is when somebody comes up to you and says, ‘Nigger, I hope you die.’  That’s racism.”  She said it’s different when she goes into Brooks Brothers and they follow her around.  She doesn’t see that as racist, she simply sees that as ignorance.  Whoopi doesn’t believe it’s due to the color of her skin, it’s because the people who work there assume she doesn’t look like the type who has a lot of money.  She said it’s about “looking at people as an individual.”  Laverne disagreed.  She said store employees are following black people around in stores because of “implicit bias” due to pervasive ideas Americans have been taught about people of color.  Laverne thinks it’s definitely racist when black people are followed around at stores.  Whoopi does not agree.  She’s been black for almost 60 years and for her it’s simply stupidity, not racism.  Rosie P got very heated at that comment.  She said if she and Rosie O were to go to a store together they would follow her and not Rosie O!   She said when she and her sister Carmen were in San Antonio they stayed in an exclusive hotel.  One night they entered an exclusive VIP lounge at the hotel and as they walked in, the people there asked her sister Carmen to clean the table for them.  And Whoopi asked her if that act was “ridiculousness or racist?”  Rosie O said it’s racist and stupid.  And Rosie P said, “It’s both!”  Nicolle asked if Laverne, Rosie O and Rosie P think we live in a racist country.  Rosie O said, “Without a doubt.”  Nicolle said she doesn’t think a country that elects an African-American president twice is racist.  Rosie O said “we have a Congress that doesn’t allow him [our President] to do one thing!”   Whoopi said they need to remember who is in the Congress and that we elected those people too.  Rosie O said, “Democrats are racist too.  It’s our cultural history.”  Whoopi said, “You are a white lady telling me what is racist to you, and that’s fine.”  Rosie O replied, “I am a gay American, who has been called a dyke, I know what hatred and homophobia looks like.”  Whoopi said, “That’s not the same!”  Rosie O said she has helped raise a black child and that you don’t have to be black to know what racism is.  Whoopi said, “YES YOU DO.”   Laverne said there have been many white folks out there protesting with their black friends who see and understand that racism exists.  And Whoopi said her point is America is not just a racist country and she will not accept the blanket statement that America is racist.

Guests:

Katie Couric: Stephen Collins’ image was shattered after TMZ released audio of him admitting to some disturbing crimes of sexual abuse.  Yesterday, he broke his silence about the accusations to news anchor Katie Couric, who joined The View to give an exclusive sneak peek at her interview.  Katie said the recordings were released about two and a half months ago and there were a lot of rumors surrounding them.  Stephen said he wanted to give his version of the events.  He admits that there have been incidents in the past but he didn’t want to be approached by TMZ or paparazzi and asked about the tapes.  He wanted to sit down in a controlled environment and tell his story in order to say what happened.  They showed a clip from Katie’s interview where Stephen admits that in 1973 there were two occasions where he exposed himself to a young girl who was just 10-years-old at the time.  And several months later, she came to visit their family.  After his wife went to sleep, he took the little girl’s hand and moved it so she was “touching him inappropriately.”  He said he knew he was doing something “unthinkably wrong.”  Katie said there were 3 victims and 5 separate occasions, spaced over the course of three decades.  He admits he had a problem but insists those were the only times it has ever happened.  In 1994, Stephen started getting therapy, did a confession at the Episcopal church, attended workshops in a therapeutic setting, and continues therapy today.  He insists those were the only times any abuse has ever happened and that it has not happened since 1994.  They discussed why his wife decided to tape the therapy sessions and Katie thinks perhaps she worried he was a danger to other children and therefore wanted to make it public.  Collins told Katie he didn’t really want to focus on the tapes themselves but on what he did so he could apologize.   He’s not hopeful this will rehabilitate his image, she said.  Stephen has been dropped from Ted 2 and Scandal but she thinks he came forward because he felt trapped and wanted to tell his side of the story.  Katie Couric’s interview with Steven Collins will stream on Yahoo Global and broadcast on ABC’s 20/20 this Friday, December 19th, at 10pm EST.

Nicki Minaj:  The most successful female rapper of all time and one of the biggest music superstars, Nicki Minaj, sat down with the ladies of The View to discuss her new album The Pinkprint and her European tour!    Nicki said she feels at peace, blessed and grateful about her life and career these past few years.  When Nicolle asked Nicki about her style she said she actually doesn’t like getting dressed up and would rather wear jeans and a Santa sweater (like Nicolle) if she’s sure she won’t see anyone.  Rosie P told Nicki how proud she was of her and all of her sucess.  She loves her bravery and how she embraces her sexuality because, she told her, “as women, we have that right.”  And she loves the name of her new album The Pinkprint.  Nicki said she felt like she owed it to her fans who have followed her career for the last few years, to strip off another layer off herself and show them more of who she really is.  She needed people to see she was more than the wigs and the crazy outfits and that she is a regular woman going through regular things like relationships and heartbreaks.  Nicki said the album is a lot more mature than her first two.  She said it’s still fun but very real too.  Nicki said she was inspired to name her album because of Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint.  She wanted her album to be a staple in hip hop culture where the raps are “on point” and also because she’s known for the color pink.  She’s about to start a European tour with Trey Songz starting in March of 2015.  She’s done a world tour before but this one is exciting for her because she gets to perform these particular songs for her fans.  She said seeing the faces of her fans makes her “feel alive.”  Her video Anaconda has over 300 million views on YouTube!  She didn’t know the song Anaconda would become a pop hit like it has.  She just wanted to embrace curvy girls and then she said the song just took on a life of its own.  You can purchase The Pinkprint on iTunes now!

Our Fab Finds Under $50:  The ladies of The View each showed the audience the gifts they love for under $50 each!  Whoopi’s favorite gifts were The Magic Light Wand, Tigerbear Republik Beastie Besties flats and Garnet Hill character hats.  Nicolle’s favorite gifts were Edward Marc Chocolates, Dogeared Jewelry and monogrammed candles.  Rosie P’s favorite gifts were stemless goose neck personalized wine sets, personalized bakeware, and chalk talk mugs.  Rosie O’s favorite gifts were 100 Good Deed Bracelets, a World Munny and Joni Mitchell’s “Love Has Many Faces” box set.  Laverne’s favorite gifts were the games Catch Phrase Decades, Taboo Buzz’d and Trivial Pursuit Hints.   The audience went home with one of everything!!!

The Rosies enjoying A glass of wine!

See The View:
Rosie O will be on The Late Show with David Letterman TONIGHT!
Tomorrow (12/19) Whoopi will be reading The Night Before Christmas at the New York Philharmonic!

Audience Giveaway: Everyone in the studio audience received a copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Blu-ray, a copy of Nicki Minaj’s new album The Pinkprint and one of each of the items in the Our Fab Finds Under $50 segment!  Score!

Take a little time to enjoy The View.

written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions

ESPN’s College Football Day reporter Samantha Ponder and her little baby Scout joined the ladies at the table as today’s guest co-hosts!

Rosie & baby Scout Ponder taking a little time to enjoy The Bottle

Hot Topics:

Game Over: Whoopi asked Samantha if she thinks we should stop playing football because of all the injuries and concussions due to the sport.  Samantha, who is married to Vikings quarterback Chris Ponder, admitted that football is a brutal sport and she understands why parents don’t want their kids to play but she compared it to driving which she says is also very dangerous but we let our 16-year-olds drive.  Nicolle said she will never allow her 3-year-old son to play football.  She said her problem with the sport is the game itself.  Nicolle said the game even sounds like a car crash and they’re not even in a car.  She thinks the concerns about the violence and the injuries due to the sport are legitimate.  Rosie P doesn’t think they should do away with football completely but she does think reforms are necessary.  She said if you take a look at the game of rugby they do not have the same head injuries because they do not wear a helmet.  She suggested we change the game to play without helmets in an attempt to reduce concussions [which will encourage players to not hit with their heads].  Rosie O said she read that every tackle is equivalent to a car accident and she said she didn’t let her boys play football.

A little pre-View fun with baby Scout.

Sony Hacks Getting Worse: The Sony hackers have now made terror threats against any movie theater that shows the comedy The Interview.  Because of these latest threats, the New York premiere and the stars’ press appearances have been canceled.  Whoopi told the “Guardians of Peace” that their name “went out the window” as soon as they made threats of violence.  And she said they had Americans on their side until they made threats of violence and now they’ve made people want to see the movie, whether it’s good or not.  Rosie P said she was never “with” the hackers.  She thought what they did was illegal and she thought they should have been prosecuted.  But she agrees that it went to the next level because of the threats of violence.  She said Aaron Sorkin and Howard Stern sound very valid with their points now [that we should stand with Sony and treat this as a terror attack and not be consumers of it].  Rosie P said this isn’t just about the jobs of Seth, James and Amy Pascal.  She said there are a lot of jobs on the line now because of the hack.  Nicolle read the details of threats to American movie goers made by the terrorists.  She said we cannot let threats from bullies and thugs change our way of life.  She hopes that anyone that wants to see the movie goes out and sees it anyway.  Nicolle said the Department of Homeland Security is investigating the threat to determine whether or not it’s credible.  Rosie O asked the audience how many people would now not see the movie because of the terrorist threat.  She raised her own hand and said she wouldn’t go because of it.  Rosie P said it goes against what we as Americans stand for. She said Seth Rogen and James Franco have a right to freedom of speech and to express what they want to through their art.  Whoopi knows if a movie like this came out in North Korea about our president, we’d be pissed off too but she doesn’t think we would stoop to this to get people to not go see it.

Parental Guidance:  Pundits and brothers, Brad and Dallas Woodhouse, got into a heated debate over Obamacare on C-SPAN until they were shut down by their mother who called into the show.  Here is the video.  Rosie O said it was her favorite clip ever!

Pakistan Attack: The women of The View sent their thoughts and prayers to the people of Pakistan who were recently impacted by a terrorist attack that killed over 100 children.  Whoopi asked all the people of the United States and Australia who are headed over to join ISIS and the Taliban, if this was what they were signing up for.  Rosie P said the issue of “how low can you go” is prevalent around the world today.  What really saddened her was that it took THIS incident to upset the world.  And even the Taliban in Afghanistan denounced their actions.  Nicolle referred to it as the “bleakest picture you can show the world about the true nature of the Taliban.”  She said this is the ideology of ISIS and who we’re fighting.  She also said we all agree it’s vicious and disgusting but we live in a country where we’re free to debate what to do about it.  And she said in this part of the world, this is an accepted means of how to fight a war.  Nicolle explained that the attack was carried out by the Pakistani Taliban who is against children and girls going to school and they’re willing to kill babies to do it.  Rosie O hopes this act will galvanize the people of Pakistan to make change.  She referenced how this weekend was the terrible anniversary of Sandy Hook which galvanized a lot of Americans to stand up and say they’ve had enough.  Whoopi said it was a purposeful attack against the people who were trying to protect the citizens of Pakistan.  Samantha does not think we can even reason with these types of terrorists because they are essentially evil and they don’t have the same basic understanding of the value of a human life.  Whoopi ended the conversation by saying, “If you’re fighting for your people, you don’t kill your own people.”  She hopes this will make the people of Pakistan finally “wake up” and get these terrorist people out of there.

Thank you Live Nation: Yesterday they ran out of time when Idina Menzel performed and they wanted to thank Live Nation for generously giving yesterday’s audience Idina Menzel concert tickets!

Come to Jesus Moment: It’s apparently a lot easier to find Jesus this Christmas because more and more families are putting GPS tracking systems inside baby Jesus before putting him in the nativity scene in the front yard.  They’re doing this because people keep snatching baby Jesus!  Rosie O wanted to know what people were doing with Jesus once they stole him and Samantha wanted to know if there’s a black market for baby Jesuses.  When Rosie O drops her kids off at school there are several houses with nativity scenes and none of them have baby Jesus in them.  She thought this was perhaps the reason why but Whoopi said she thinks it’s because he doesn’t get delivered until next week.  Ahhhh, that makes sense. 

Guests:

Ruth Wilson, who plays a married woman caught up in an affair with a married man in The Affair on Showtime, sat down with the women of The View to discuss her role in the series.  Rosie O called it, “One of the greatest shows on TV.”  Ruth is British but you would never know by watching the show because she has mastered the perfect American accent!  Nicolle said after watching The Affair she needed a sleeping pill or a glass of wine to come down from it because it is so intense!  Ruth said the show is told from two different perspectives- from a male point of view and a female point of view.  She said it’s about how people oftentimes structure their own narratives to justify their actions sometimes without even knowing we’re doing it.  And it’s also a complicated love story between two people who are both married with kids.  Ruth said the relationship on the show is a complicated situation that many people go through.  Playing the role has really made Ruth value marriage and also realize how difficult marriage can be.  The season finale of The Affair airs this Sunday night (12/21) on Showtime.  Ruth also talked with Rosie O and Nicolle about how she’s recently started previews for the play Constellations on Broadway also starring Jake Gyllenhaal!

Musical Performance: Emily Padgett and Erin Davie, the stars of Side Show on Broadway, graced the stage to sing “Who Will Love Me as I Am” from the hit Broadway musical.  Sideshow is playing through January 4^th.  Go see it!

Rosie & the stars of Sideshow on Broadway!

Flashback Wednesday: Here’s a clip of Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner performing the same song 17 YEARS ago on The Rosie O’Donnell Show!

Audience Gift: Members of the studio audience each received two tickets to see Sideshow on Broadway!

Take a little time to enjoy The View!

written by Kelly Weist
KidRo Productions