NEW YORK MAGAZINE, VULTURE: Time Capsule: The Original Rona

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Before Barbara Walters became the queen of celebrity TV interviews, a woman named Rona Barrett basically created the form. She became a national star with her gossip and interview segments on Good Morning America, but her best work may have been a series of daytime specials she did for CBS in the late 1970s and early ’80s. These were candid conversations with big names of the era such as Cher, Jack Nicholson, Carol Burnett, and Burt Reynolds. And unlike today’s TV interviews, micromanaged in advance by celebrity handlers, the questions were tough and the answers surprisingly honest. The good news: Earlier this year, six of these specials quietly showed on Amazon Prime Video, where they’re free to stream for anyone with a Prime subscription. Check out a clip from her chat with Cher above.