You-tubery: Barbara Walters TMNT Interview

Like many of you, I grew up with the Ninja Turtles. I also respect Barbara Walters... mostly. I do find the woman to be partially responsible for the death of serious journalism but more on that later. Occasionally she does things that make me kinda want to ignore her or think less of her. This is one of those.



First off, the woman is a professional. She is interviewing a bunch of men in foam costumes that look like giant turtles with a somewhat straight face. This is a woman who cares about her job. That said, what passes for comedy here is rather... iffy. At one point, Donatello does a visible face palm at something Barbara says about at 1:04. The guy in the foam rubber turtle costume thinks you're doing a bad job. That says something. For that matter, keep an eye on him throughout the video. He's the one who is thinking, "I went to Julliard for this? Dear god!"

Now, I know this is something I shouldn't be taking seriously but at the same time, you can actually feel journalism die during the video. Watch this then watch Frost/Nixon and try to tell me that we still have journalism like that? I don't care what Miley is up to and this is where the root of the problem began: The Barbara Walters Special. Soft lighting, easy questions, nothing that might catch the subject off guard, a smacking of everything being rehearsed. The subject of the interview knows that they will come out of everything looking like gold, not a scumbag or like they did anything wrong in their life with a few faked tears put in for good measure. That isn't even the worst thing abut this video though.

Here's my favorite part: Barbara is evil. She makes the turtles cry and she cackles like a super-villain. Dear god, it's kinda messed up. Here's a woman, a professional, and she delights in making these creatures cry. She does something Shredder never could: She defeats the Ninja Turtles. It's all kinda pathetic and terrible. She's laughing because they don't have parents. She's reveling in the misery of others. It's like she thought to herself, "Well, this'll make up for giving everyone else softballs."

You-Tube. You can find anything there. Even evil journalistic sell-outs.