Barbara Walters hosts 'The Barbara Walters Special' Sunday night at 7:00 on ABC.

If the Oscar is a familiar sign of Academy Awards night, so is Barbara Walters. Last year, ABC aired the veteran journalist's traditional Oscar interview special several nights before the ceremony, but her show usually is adjacent to Hollywood's top event. This time, it's back where it belongs: Walters talks with Academy Awards host Ellen DeGeneres and nominees Helen Mirren (The Queen), Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy (both for Dreamgirls) on The Barbara Walters Special tomorrow, on ABC.

"I think this is one of the best shows we've had," Walters says. "We've got a great cast, and there are things that made us almost sit up and applaud. Often when you're doing an interview and you ask someone to sing a little something, they'll say, 'Oh, no, I'm sorry. I don't have my music or my arranger.' Well, Jennifer Hudson just opened her mouth and this sound came out! We were staggered."

Hudson sings the show-stopping Dreamgirls number And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going for Walters, who declares it "the first time people who have not seen the film (or the stage show) will hear it. Her story is like the one in Dreamgirls, about the girl who's told she can't make it, then gets the biggest part there is."

Interviewed twice before by Walters, Murphy "came in very quiet and serious, then at one point, just opened up and was hilarious," she reports. "I said there were many people who hadn't seen him in a while and thought he'd become a recluse, and he went into a whole routine. It was just a marvellous interview. We were thrilled."

The big show

Mirren has been widely acclaimed as Queen Elizabeth II, but she "had many difficult years and talks very personally" about those, Walters says. "We also interviewed her very accomplished husband, (film director) Taylor Hackford. He said that a couple of years ago, when he was nominated for Ray, she went along and was the object of the 'Who are you with?' questions. Now he's experiencing that."

Since Walters' programme precedes the live Oscar telecast in the East (itfollows the Oscars in the West), many viewers will get a taste of DeGeneres right before she hosts the big show. "She took us around her house," Walters reveals, "with (her partner) Portia de Rossi, two dogs and three cats. Ellen has really been working out for the Oscars, doing exercises and truly being in training. She told us she will not do controversial jokes, and she will not dance."

Walters isn't the only person with an ABC Oscar interview special this year. Oprah Winfrey also has presented one, but Walters felt no threat.

"She didn't have (this year's) nominees," Walters notes. "She had past Oscar winners interviewing each other. I love Oprah, so I could never be mad at her, no matter what."

As a producer, Walters also isn't upset over th profile of her weekday ABC show, The View. The boost can be attributed largely to the addition of Rosie O'Donnell - known nemesis of Donald Trump - as a co-host alongside Walters, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

"One of the charms of Rosie is that she is so forthright," Walters reasons. "She is an independent voice, and I respect that and like it. I think that's why people are tuning in, to some degree. Her opinions might not necessarily be mine or the rest of the cast's, but it's what makes her interesting and exciting. It's been a wonderful year."

- Jay Bobbin, Zap2it