Barbara Walters: The Ultimate Celebrity Profiler in Focus - A Hulu Documentary Exploring Her Life and Legacy

Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything premiered at the Tribeca Festival in June and is now available on Hulu. The documentary, produced and directed by Jackie Jesko, profiles the late broadcast journalist who passed away in 2022 at the age of 93. Walters is portrayed as a pioneer who broke down barriers in the male-dominated world of broadcast media, developed the in-depth celebrity interview concept, co-hosted The View, and tried to balance her personal life with her professional life.

The documentary features interviews with Barbara Walters and a wealth of archival footage, as well as appearances by Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Andy Cohen, Connie Chung, Cynthia McFadden, Bette Midler, and Monica Lewinsky.

The Gist: Barbara Walters’ tenacity and approachability define her journey from her early days on The Today Show to her rise as a profiler and interviewer. In 1961, as a junior member of the show’s on-air staff, Walters was relegated to fluff and women’s interest stories but fought for more substantive opportunities and to be taken seriously as a professional. Her bold, piercing interview style became her calling card and the standard format for an emerging celebrity profile industry.

The documentary assumes a certain base of knowledge about its subject and does not establish a linear timeline in Walters’ professional life or personal relationships but connects her biographical info to her growth. For example, Oprah Winfrey notes that both her career and personal life were sacrifices in her attempts to balance a career with motherhood.

The documentary also explores how Walters’ tough, personal questions made celebrities and political figures human, despite what many in the hard news establishment believed at the time. Connie Chung, one of several women journalists interviewed who recognize Walters as a mentor, says that Barbara asked tough questions of presidents, foreign dictators, and Hollywood movie stars alike.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The documentary reminds us of other Hulu documentaries such as Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge and Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold. And of course, The View, Barbara Walters’ unprecedented concept – a show for “women who want to listen to other women” – remains an enduring force in daytime television.

Performance Worth Watching: The directing and editing in Tell Me Everything keep things moving with the speed of a news report and employ a smart visual aesthetic with footage that appears in consecutive boxes – three different celebrity interviews or converging news events – all connected through the constant of Walters’ presence. It’s as if the documentary itself was live from a control room where tape was being cut together around its subject.

Memorable Dialogue: Barbara Walters brings receipts when discussing her workplace experiences with male co-anchors over the years. She recalls dealing with Peter Jennings, Frank McGee, Harry Reasoner, and other bullies who put her down.

Sex and Skin: The documentary examines some but not all of Barbara Walters’ marriages and focuses especially on where her personal life intersected with her professional world. Did you know she dated Roy Cohn and Alan Greenspan? Walters might have also slept with Richard Pryor.

Our Take: Imagine if there was only one podcast that aired once a month and everyone in the country swore by it as the only real access to any person who happened to be in the public eye. That was once the case when Barbara Walters was putting up numbers with her primetime specials and one-on-one interviews with celebrities