To say I have contempt for The View and for Barbara Walters would be to soft-peddle my feelings. But this little feud between Star Jones and Barbara Walters is quite revealing. First of all, Barbara Walters who still claims to be a serious journalist — sometimes — sees nothing wrong with admitting that she plain lied about why Jones left the show. Presumably if her cover story stayed intact she would have gamely gone about lying to the entertainment press and whoever else asked her about it. Even more interesting is the pseudo-eventiness of the whole spectacle. The show is a fake conversation between women pretending to be actual friends. This “controversy” is the result of the “revelation” that the whole thing is fraudulent which, of course, was an open secret to begin with. Star Jones who has become famous for being famous as a result of the show is angry because her replacement, Rosie O’Donnell, was catty toward her and Walters didn’t stick up for Star in a way that real friends should, even though they make their living merely pretending to be friends on TV. Got all that?

Heaven forbid anyone note how all of this reinforces various stereotypes about how women behave.