Looking at my previous Blog-Entries I realized how negative my spin on American culture has been so far. But as an American Studies major there must be something I like about it, right? I dug deep to find my single favorite cultural phenomenon from the US and am ashamed to say if I had to name the most addictive and enjoyable thing to come out of the US I’d have to say: The View.

Hear me out.

I can see it’s awful. Four or five women talking, more often shouting at each other. Segments on baking and self-help books, awkward interviews and of course the best/worst part: Hot Topics. Barbara Walthers and her patronizing ways, Joy Behar and her monopoly on liberal shrillness, Sherry Shepard who’s not entirely convinced that the world is round and global warming actually exists and Elisabeth Hasselbeck who is, oh well, Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Only Whoppi Goldberg has an impenetrable air of coolness, even though you could hardly tell based on the stuff she’s wearing. She often looks like a character from Sesame Street. It’s the crazy combination of all of these characters that simply makes great television. The political arguments often get off track, yet sometimes hit poignant marks (N-Word discussion).

As obnoxious as the panel can be, there is something insightful about American culture and politics to be found and it actually is the fact that it is not filtered that there is a ring of realness to it. It’s just people with very different approaches and fairly varied degrees of knowledge sharing opinions. I prefer this over the snoozefest of political talkshows from my homecountry any day! That being said, I’m obviously aware that this is as guilty as a guilty pleasure can be. Still, I love it. It’s the View.