POPS To Be The New Barbara Walters

/

BARBARA WALTERS WENT PUBLIC with her list of "Fascinating" people for 2013. I think she said there were ten but I could only remember nine. And actually, some were groups.

Miley Cyrus
The Royal Baby
Edward Snowden
Duck Dynasty cast less Phil. He was purported to be hunting.
Kanye West & Kim Kardashian
Robin Roberts
Pope Francis
Jennifer Lawrence
Hillary Clinton

No offense to Ms. Walters or those she found fascinating, but my list would be different with the possible exceptions of the Pope and the Royal Baby.

Barbara announced that this would be her last TV special about her fascinating people. That's a shame--she does a good interview and I like the intent.

Photo of Barbara Walters that is old enough I can hopefully post it without getting sued.

Photo of Barbara Walters that is old enough I can hopefully post it without getting sued.

So I am happy to announce that I will be stepping in to her pumps and developing the list of Fascinating People for 2014.

The whole thing will be a little different though. First, my list will be less populated with "famous" people because those types are unlikely to give me the time of day much less a sit down interview (and frankly, they're not always that fascinating). Also, at this time I don't have a commitment from a major (or minor) news medium to air the "special."

But, good news, I do have this little forum here at About POPS. That is one of the wonderful things about the WWW. It's provides such a wonderful way for anyone to have a say, sing a song, rant or rave, publish a book or a movie, etc.

I don't know at this point how many will be on the list. I'm not going to be limited to the Top 10 or Twelve or whatever. That kind of limitation puts you in the unnecessary position of having to ultimately choose one as more fascinating than another. Also if you have a certain number of spots to fill it puts you in the unfortunate situation, as Barbara found herself, of having to include brutally unfascinating people like Kim Kardashian and Kanye just to fill out the list.

That brings us to what seems to be the most daunting part of this challenge: identifying who is fascinating. I'm keeping the criteria broad at this point. I am definitely interested in your suggestions on whom I might consider. So keep your eyes and ears open for fascinating people. Oh and here's a hint: if by some chance, our paths should cross, act fascinating; you might just make the cut.