Behind the Scenes of ABC's The View

I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of ABC's The View this week. I was a guest on what turned out to be a historic news day: The morning after the President announced Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a daring raid. When I had heard the news the night before I thought my segment, discussing my new book The Web-Savvy Patient, would be bumped. But, happily, after the first half hour discussed the raid and gained insight from ABC's chief correspondent Brian Ross, it moved on to LL Cool J and me in the second half hour. This was a live one-hour show and I was very impressed with the professionalism of the producers, led by executive producer Bill Geddie, the production crew, and the hosts, led by Barbara Walters.

It was Barbara Walters who interviewed me along with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. As for Barbara, I thought I was meeting a queen – in journalism, to be sure. She was gracious and thoughtful. She also didn't seem jet-lagged, even after covering the Royal Wedding just days before.

It takes many people to produce a topical daily show like The View. There is the crack studio crew – mostly men in their 40's – who seems to have cameras, booms and mics down to a science. There is a platoon of makeup people – even someone to roll lint from my dark jacket just before going on camera. And there are the segment producers who are nervous until you "deliver" on camera and then smiling when it is all over and the executive producer is happy.

I started my career in live television – local TV news. But this hour long topical entertainment world is different. More show biz but still performing a tremendous service for a national audience. It fuels discussion. I was delighted to be a part of it for a brief six minutes and my hat is off to the team of professionals who have done this day in day out for many years. No wonder they have millions of viewers.

I appreciated that the team wrote a blog about the segment, and also made a replay available. All of this is helpful in being able to help more patients obtain good informaiton to support their best health, and that's what it's all about. For more on The Web-Savvy Patient, visit websavvypatient.com, and for further assistance in using the Internet for helpful information, visit patientpower.info.