Spotlight on Barbara Walters

When comedian Rosie O'Donnell joined The View the next season, ratings soared. Rosie hadn't hosted a show since her own talk show went off the air, but when Meredith Vieira left for the Today show, Barbara knew they needed a big name to fill her shoes. When Barbara asked Rosie to consider coming back to television to take over The View's moderator spot, she was surprised when Rosie agreed. "Rosie said, 'I do not want to drive the bus. I want to ride the bus,'" Barbara says "The problem was that she had always driven the bus. She could not just ride the bus."

Barbara says Rosie took over the show from the day she got there. "It was like Diana Ross and The Supremes," she says. "Rosie made some wonderful changes, but it was also very difficult."