Maybe I’ve been watching too much TV talk lately, but could it be that Barbara Walters is becoming a dominatrix in her old age? It seems like it from the way she’s forcing Rosie O’Donnell to feminize her image for the one-time queen of daytime talk’s arrival as a regular on the panel of The View. First we laughed when, during the Daytime Emmy awards telecast, View creator Barbara announced that "MISS Rosie O’Donnell" (Barbara’s emphasis) would be her new co-host. Walters’ prominent elocution of the word "MISS" seemed to miss the mark in describing O’Donnell, who is married to Kelli Carpenter and co-parent of four children.

Then, a few days later came press reports that Barbara had insisted on putting a clause in Rosie’s contract requiring her to wear her hair long for the show. Walters reportedly did not want a recurrence of the 2002 crop cut that, according to an Associated Press report, "shocked fans." In other words, if Rosie wants to share a desk with Miss Walters, there will be no more of the butch look. It seems that only Barbara gets to wear the pants on her television panel. We just hope that Rosie is not required to put on frilly pink cocktail dresses when she interviews someone, like, well, vice presidential daughter Mary Cheney.

Cheney donned a spiffy pantsuit when she appeared before the cameras this month for an out-front interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC’s Primetime. Mary minced no words in endorsing gay adoption and said that she considers herself to be married to her partner of 14 years, Heather Poe. Mary even concurred with Sawyer’s suggestion that the President her father serves is behind the times in his views on gay-rights. "On these issues, he hasn’t caught up," she said.

Cheney also admitted that she "struggled" with inner conflicts about her support of the Bush administration, for which she served as a campaign adviser in the 2004 election. She said she almost quit when Bush pushed for an anti-gay-marriage amendment to the Constitution in his State of the Union address, and she refused to attend the speech. However, she said that she didn’t have the "luxury" of being a "single-issue" voter. Ever the dutiful daughter, Mary stayed on.

When Sawyer asked whether she would be a Republican if her father weren’t vice president, Mary took the easy way out, stating that she doesn’t answer "hypothetical questions." Although she came off as likeable, Mary Cheney still appears to have contradictions to resolve between her political and personal life. You can read more of her story in her new political memoir, Now It’s My Turn.

Meanwhile, Bette Midler recently admitted that she’s finally beginning to understand the moral character of many of the gay men who have been the stalwarts of her career for over three decades. As you may recall, Bette surprised longtime fans by expressing skepticism about gay marriage, particularly between males, in an interview with TV talk host Larry King in the fall of 2003. In that interview, she said she was used to being around homosexuals who love to play the field (a throwback to her Bathhouse Betty days), and she doubted that gay men are willing to commit to monogamous marriages. Her statement, and similar remarks in the months following, swept her into a firestorm of criticism from fans like me (who has managed to maintain a relationship with the same man for 33 years, exactly the length of time it has been since the release of Midler’s first album The Divine Miss M.)

Now, as Bette promotes her truly superb new album of Peggy Lee songs (her first to go top 10 in 20 years, with a top-10 dance hit to boot in the remix of "Fever"), the 60-year-old says she has reevaluated her opinion. When an interviewer for the music website Contactmusic.com recently informed Bette how many gay couples have joined in civil unions in Britain since they became legal last December, the singer responded, "Wow! I didn’t know there were that many people in love! You know, I’m old-school. I’m this age, and I’ve been through a lot and I didn’t quite get it. I understood the civil part of it, but I knew a lot of people who wanted to live alone [or] have serial partners. It was very hard for me to grasp, I think. It was hard to see that it was an idea whose time had come. …I know a lot of gay people, but I didn’t know anyone who was rushing to the altar. But when I see people who are so committed, I think human beings are bound to want that."

I guess you’re never too old to learn.

At least Bette has the good grace not to announce to the entire world that she’s retiring from the stage, only to go on and on and on with the show. That’s the way of Cher, whose diminutive upper torso busty Bette used to tease mercilessly back when they were both competing as top concert box-office draw. Well, the competition may be back on, less than a year after the "Dark Lady" hung up her chaps for good.

As many of us recall, Cher’s farewell tour went on for years. She gave her first finale performance in Orlando nearly four years ago; then she returned for another swansong a couple years later. Last year, she hit several smaller towns in our area, and the running joke was that she would soon announce her really-truly-absolutely-last tour stops at the Moose Lodge in Umatilla, Florida and the Elks Hall in Milton, Delaware. We could no longer "Believe."

So, it comes as no surprise to read reports that the singer has signed a deal to take over Celine Dion’s show hall at Caeser’s Palace in Las Vegas for an extended stay next year. As with Celine and Wayne Newton, Cher has realized it’s nice to have a steady job without wondering which American Legion post is willing to take you in next.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone; stay and play safe. We’re off to North Carolina to meet my second grand-nephew, William Stewart Novotny, brother to one-year-old Ben, who is a big fan of Neil Young’s voice. Hang on, kid, the Old Man’s coming with copies of all the songs you’ve missed. And does he ever have stories to share about Neil’s 1970 hit "Ohio"!