Fascinating folk in 2012
Barring any secret alien origins, there are but a few key differences between Barbara Walters and the average television viewer. Walters is an award-winning journalist who has interviewed Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro and Indira Gandhi. She also hosts The View and has been impersonated on Saturday Night Live. The rest of us, not so much.
But one thing bonds us with Babs: our fascination with all things, well, fascinating. While lately I’ve been enthralled by the piece of lint that magically appears in my spouse’s belly button at the end of each day, Walters thankfully sets her sights higher.
Tonight, she hosts her annual special dedicated to the year’s newsmakers, the somewhat obviously titled Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2012.
Among her guests are Argo actor-director Ben Affleck, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, perfectly coiffed Brit band One Direction, and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Perhaps most scandalously, she also welcomes Fifty Shades of Grey author E L James. (I’ll bet, with that announcement, the more conservative among us are positively fit to be tied.) Proving that Walters knows how to grab a headline — she drew fire in 2011 for putting the Kardashians on the list — Us Weekly reported last week that the cherub-faced, seven-year-old pageant princess known as Honey Boo Boo is also on the list.
A television staple since 1993, the Barbara Walters specials celebrate the top names in entertainment, sports, politics and pop culture. This year as usual, the most fascinating person will be announced during the 90-minute broadcast. Though network execs have their lips zipped tighter than a pair of post-Thanksgiving jeans, past honourees include Barack and Michelle Obama, J.K. Rowling, Paris Hilton, Gen. David Petraeus, Nelson Mandela and — posthumously — Steve Jobs. (ABC — 10:30 p.m.)
Love her or hate her, Chelsea Handler celebrates the 1,000th episode of her late-night show Chelsea Lately. And there’s more to come — the chatfest has been renewed through 2014. (E! — 9 p.m.)
Modern Family meets HGTV in the episode Diamond in the Rough, cleverly named to refer to Manny and Luke’s baseball team making the playoffs and Claire and Cam deciding to flip a house. (ABC, Citytv — 10 p.m.)
Chicago Fire, a Top 30 show in Canada, finds Jose injured in an auto machine shop blaze and forced to go on disability. Meanwhile, Cruz tries to snatch his brother from the grips of a gang. (Global — 8 p.m., NBC — 11 p.m.)