Celebrity Interview
Lisa Ling, of The View
Lisa
Ling, the 29-year-old popular co-host of the morning kaffeeklastch, The View,
shocked fans recently by announcing she would be leaving the show on December 5
to join the 7-West nursing staff. We caught up with her to get the scoop about
the career move.
Youíre young, beautiful, Asian without an accentóan Oxygen network executiveís dream. But you chose 7W. Why?
First, let me say that I loved The Viewóthe girls, the guests, the talk, everything. And when I started, I was coming off a stint as an international correspondent, so my ideas and opinions were based in experience, interviews and research. I talked and people listened. And why not?
You were informed.
I was, and as I talked, my audience became informed. But you know weíve been doing this show a few years now. And just the other day I was arguing with Starr about our countryís motives for war with Iraq, or was it Bosnia? Whatever, the one with the oil. Anyway, I looked into the audience and saw that people were nodding, listening, actually believing me. I looked into the cameras and realized that thousands of women at home were doing the same. And I thought to myself, ìLisa, what basis do you have for these opinions? Have you read a newspaper lately? Whenís the last time youíve spoken to someone who has? Upon which gossip session are your current convictions based?î
No. I felt just fine with that. I think the problem was me being looked to as an authority, these people taking my unfounded statements as fact. It was irresponsible and, on such a scale, dangerous. I wanted to lose that responsibility. I wanted an environment where people felt comfortable making assertions without foundation, speaking without restraint, where they were judged not by the substance of their words, but by the sheer number of them. 7W is that environment. It is The View, only without the audience.
We have each other of course, the 7W nursing staff, all female. Sometimes weíll have an attending, a couple residents and a student, all held captive while a patient labors down the hall. Days when Dr. Helferís on are best. She keeps the students alert, refuses to page them and sometimes wonít even turn to tell them sheís leaving to see a patient. They just wait at her side, trying to anticipate her next move, though most of the time is spent watching her do paperwork. Some try to study, but our chatter is overpowering. On a slow day, if Helfer stays in the station, weíll have the students for 12, up to 16 hours even. The longest we ever had on The View was an hour.
How would you compare The View to 7W? Letís start with your co-hosts.
On The View, we tried to represent a cross section of America. We had an Asian, an overweight African American, a Caucasian protestant, a comedian Jewess and an aging celebrity journalist. Itís much the same on 7W, with a wide variety of overweight white women, hair color and style ranging from long and blonde to butch and brown, some with glasses, some without, some over 40 years of age and some under.
Dr. Benton is very much the Barbara Walters of 7W, superior in age and credentials, but with an outdated wardrobe and set of mores. I canít change her mores, but I will get that woman into loose-fitting scrubs, you just wait.
Starr wouldnít last a day up there, what with all the snacks and candies. Lindaís milk balls will do me in if Iím not careful. Ha.
OK, but seriously. One thing that could be a challenge is the change in schedule.
Definitely. Iíve been working mornings, Monday through Friday, one hour at a time. Iíll be switching to a completely new slot, most likely 7 pm to 7 am, q3. Before, we were competing with the likes of Regis and Kelly, Bonaducce and Dick Clark and, you know, that Slater guy from Saved by the Bell. This will be a new challenge, going up against Conan, Jay and Dave.
But this isnít late night TV. This is nursing.
It is and it isnít. No, I wonít be performing the traditional nursing duties, such as taking vitals, giving meds, talking with patients. But in all other senses, I will be functioning as a nurseósitting in chairs, snacking, complaining about residents, eating, talking, snacking, you know. The nurses tell me the patient load is manageable. Where they need help is in the nurseís station. They need more rear-ends to fill all the chairs and counter tops. They need more voices to feed the conversation. They tell me that on some nights, two or three nurses might be called away at the same time to tend to patients. This leaves just two or three voices to maintain the chatter. Honestly, if it werenít for the commitment of a few select nurses, really going all out and talking for 40-50 minutes without pause, we could have dead air. And dead air is death in this business.
Dr. Forsetter. Heís sweet. He makes me laugh. He turns his boxers around backwards and we spoon.