Barbara Walters was a television icon who still serves as an inspiration to many in the media, especially women in journalism and broadcasting. I grew up watching her on “The View”, as well as her Academy Awards and “10 Most Fascinating People” specials. Had the chance to meet her in 2010. She called me “Handsome”, which I’ll never forget.
Walters left “The View” in 2014, and TV altogether a few years later. I watched the multi-hour tribute / documentary special ABC aired in ’14 that covered much of her life and career. It was re-aired on New Year’s Day 2023 (Walters died a couple days earlier at the age of 93), and I watched the majority of it again. So heading into the ABC News Studios’ new 95-minute doc on Walters (streaming on Hulu), I hoped it would be more than a regurgitation of what I already knew. And thankfully it is, you just have to get past the first 15 minutes or so.
One of the interesting decisions director Jackie Jesko makes is having us only hear Walters reflect on what she went through, not see her, until only a couple moments later on in “Tell Me Everything”. The majority of the interviewees are former colleagues and those she knew at ABC, including Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Cynthia McFadden and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Some of the juiciest soundbites come from “20/20” / news division employees, who share scintillating details on Walters’ intense, relentless need to book the interview, her “killer” approach during the conversations — and her constant battles about and with Diane Sawyer within the walls of ABC.
Walters thrived in writing her own questions and editing her content. She was highly career driven and cared deeply about the ratings of her specials. And she was immensely proud of her accomplishments, while always hungry for more. There’s some excellent archival footage of her all over the world, in key interviews with leaders and important figures, and alongside other journalists and anchors, such as an envious Walter Cronkite. What “Tell Me Everything” also shows, especially to those who don’t know much about Walters, is how she pioneered and greatly influenced the way celebrity interviews are done — the fascination with seeing stars in their own homes and learning the most intimate details about their personal lives
The second half is stronger than the first, featuring insights on the iconic Monica Lewinsky one-on-one and Walters’ complicated relationships with her husbands, daughter Jacqueline, and Roy Cohn. She is not portrayed as a perfect person, sometimes making decisions that weren’t the most ethical, including using manipulation to get what she wanted. The best documentaries are well-rounded and enthralling. Barbara Walters’ doc isn’t quite the second thing, but it’s definitely the first, and for that, you have to give the network she called home for decades some credit.
LCJ GRADE: B
Running Time: 95 min.