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Who best exemplifies Generation X?
ALLISON KAPLAN
Special to The Jewish News
he phone rang
right on
schedule:
10:22 a.m.,
the second commercial
break.
For once, my
mother was not calling
me at work with the
Question of the
Day" — which
often turns into the
Inquisition of the Century
when the question is something like,
"What do you most admire about
your mother?" and my harried
response is not quite as slick as
Meredith Vieira's pre-programmed
epiphany.
No, on this day, my mother was
on a mission to improve my career.
Following months of immature
commentary and so-hip-it's-horrible
outfits, twentysomething co-host
Debbie Matenopoulos is off "The
View" — daytime television's answer
to inter-generational girl talk among
thinking women.
Except, some of the most noted
discussions have been about
Meredith's distaste for wearing under-
pants.
Barbara Walters, creator of "The
View," recently announced that
Debbie, the youngest and ditziest co-
host, was leaving the cast to "spread
her wings." Straight to the unemploy-
ment line.
My mother told me to send a
resume immediately. She figured the
two of us already make a career of
chattering brilliantly about everything
from politics to Calista Flockhart.
Might as well get compensated for
the phone bills.
I'll stick to print. But hundreds of
women my age are flooding the show
with letters and resumes, determined
to become the voice and face of our
generation.
There are precious few public
venues for a person my age to reach a
national audience that stretches
'C
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beyond the MTV genera-
tion. A new crop of TV
dramas and magazines
speaks to our age group,
but twentysomethings
seem to be the only ones
listening.
Which could explain
why Barbara Walters
originally thought a
silly blonde, more
famous for partying
than an insightful
viewpoint, would
make a fitting repre-
sentative of younger
women.
Is there an ideal twentysome-
thing for this phenomenally high-
profile job?
More than older age groups,
people in their 20s are all over the
map in terms of career, relationships,
maturity. U.S. Census figures show
over 65 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds
are married. Among Jews in this age
bracket, the marriage figures are
slightly lower: 62 percent for women,
46 percent for men.
For every married friend, I seem to
have another friend who can't get past
a second date. I have friends in
school, friends in management,
friends in food service. Most of my
friends are at work when "The View"
airs.
Twentysomethings who help make
up the regular audience are more
than likely young mothers home with
babies. They probably relate to
Meredith's married mom character
more than Debbie's swinging single
routine anyway.
So in comes Amanda Yu, the first
in what promises to be a drawn-out
series of twentysomethings audition-
ing live on the show to become
Debbie's permanent replacement.
Curiosity got the best of me. I
taped it.
Amanda is 25 and married. She is a
sales clerk at Nordstrom. She thinks
men should always pick up the bill.
She has a college loan to pay off— a
slice of reality Barbara Walters seems to
really like in a twentysomething host.
Amanda also has an annoying
strand of hair that sticks to her lip
every time she opens her goody-
goody mouth. I think it is safe to
say she will not be leaving
Nordstrom any time soon. But she
is an interesting reaction to Debbie:
traditional, conservative and with-
out so much as a television intern-
ship to her credit.
I'm all for real people on TV. But
"The View" is hardly a show of real
people. Meredith is a former "60
Minutes" correspondent. Star Jones, a
lawyer, previously consulted on Court
TV and "Today." Joy Behar is a pro-
fessional comedian. And there's
Barbara.
A bumbling salesclerk to fill the
twentysomething niche is insulting.
Even more offensive is the way
producers have turned the search for
a twentysomething co-host into a
condescending circus, with Meredith
promising to show audiences some of
the more "bizarre" audition tapes and
Star Jones telling young women to
send their bribe gifts to the produc-
ers, not the hosts.
The next three candidates all have
media experience — if you count a
stint on MTV's "The Real World."
At least producers learned something
from the Amanda fiasco.
But television reporter or sales
clerk, the candidates are being put in .
a very public position of begging to
be liked by the older hosts — only to
have their ideas dismissed as "so
young.
I applaud Barbara Walters for rec-
ognizing that twentysomethings do
have opinions, often distinct from
our mothers. Now I'd like to see our
viewpoints taken seriously — on sav-
ing Social Security, and wearing
underwear.
You're not going to find a woman
in her 20s with many national news
programs to her credit, but you
might find one working her way up
the ladder. You might judge her the
same as the other hosts, on her inter-
view skills and quick wit.
Then — even if she's married
when I'm single, even if she believes
Clinton should be impeached, even if
I wish I had sent in my resume after
all — I will start to believe that abili-
ty can establish respect faster than
years.
"
Allison Kaplan is a freelance writer in
Chicago. You can e-mail her at
Singlstyle@aoLcom