Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything

Entertaining journey of the first woman of television news, Barbara Walters, a staff writer at NBC's Today Show in 1961 New York City who was brought on camera to do puff pieces which eventually took her to the co-anchor's chair. Ambitious, competitive, but insecure, Walters faced down her misogynistic male adversaries until she grew to be so popular (with political heavyweights, with show business royalty, and with the TV-watching public) that her prowess in the industry couldn't be ignored. This documentary from director Jackie Jesko isn't exactly thorough, but then again Walters herself doesn't acknowledge an early foray into women's afternoon television with "Not For Women Only", a 1971-1976 precursor to "The View" (Walters also did two episodes of "Girl Talk" in 1967). Barbara's prized interviews are the meat and potatoes here, however I wish we didn't just hear her incisive questions but also the answers (Monica Lewinsky's interview--which reached some 70 million homes--gets the most time, though it was always one of Walters' least-aggressive and therefore most colorless chats). Still, the woman was an icon, a formidable lady, and yet somewhat of a mystery. We may never get to know "the woman behind the façade", but this is a great starting off point. *** from ****