Posted on 06/28/2006 7:48:25 AM PDT by Liz
A few hours after a televised display of saccharine warmth and affection between Barbara Walters and Star Jones Reynolds - who yesterday surprised her "View" colleagues by announcing she's leaving in mid-July - their relationship turned very chilly indeed.
Never mind Walters' previous public assurances that Jones Reynolds was welcome to stay on the show as long as she wanted. Yesterday, "The View's" alpha female - the show's co-owner and co-executive producer - told me that she lied "to protect Star" from the damaging news that ABC long ago decided not to renew her contract.
"I have always told the truth on this program, except in the case of Star," Walters told me, her voice the temperature of liquid nitrogen. "The network decided long ago not to renew her contract. Her contract is with the network, not with me. I was trying to protect Star and her sensitivities. She has, after all, been on the program."
Sticking in the knife, Walters added icily: "There are very strong reasons why [ABC execs] felt she had lost the audience. I had then decided, along with [executive producer] Bill Geddie, that whatever she wanted to say - that she had a new job, that she was starting a new chapter - we would back her up."
Jones Reynolds declined to get on the phone with me yesterday, but her PR rep, Brad Zeifman, disputed Walters' assertion that she was losing viewers.
"This was never brought to Star's attention," Zeifman E-mailed. "To the contrary, in November Star was told by executive producers that there's no truth to the tabloid rumors and that they were happy with her performance ratings and had no issues or concerns."
But after Jones Reynolds was quoted yesterday by People magazine saying that her contract for a 10th season wasn't renewed and "I feel like I was fired," Walters threw her under the bus.
The ABC diva was clearly irked by the timing of Jones Reynolds' announcement, which caught her and the other "View" panelists off-guard. "Oh! How long are you going to be with us?" she asked on the air. And Walters basically accused her departing co-host of breaking a solemn promise.
"I was totally surprised," Walters said. "We had been together for hours before the program. Everyone was surprised. There had been an agreement between Star and me that she would make an announcement this Thursday. The agreement was made many weeks ago that she would stay on the program till late July, and whatever reasons she wanted to give, I would back her up and give her a wonderful send-off."
That doesn't seem to be in the cards anymore.
"This is sad. This is sad," Walters told me. "I wish her well. I've been trying all along to protect her. I'd like to continue - as much as I can."
Which obviously ain't much.
Walters' cold pronouncements about Jones Reynolds were in stark contrast to her show of love and support on yesterday's "The View," when she gestured to the studio audience to give Star a standing ovation, and stood up herself and applauded along with co-hosts Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
"Don't do that! Sit down!" modestly responded Jones Reynolds, wearing the same pink Emanuel Ungaro suit she sported in April, when she returned to the show after complications from breast-implant surgery.
She'd already thanked Walters "for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime."
On the air, Walters responded prettily: "I have no doubt that you're just going to be so successful. Anyone would be lucky to have you."
So far, Jones Reynolds' employment future is unclear. But starting July 10, she'll host the already-taped week-long HGTV series "House Hunters NYC," in which folks are helped in their search for a place to live.
Can "Show Hunters SJR" be far behind?
LOL!!
She covered a whole lot more than that.
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