About

I'm Barbara Walters and This Is 20/20 is a catchphrase used by news anchor Barbara Walters to welcome viewers to the ABC newsmagazine show 20/20. In late 2019, the phrase spread in supercut videos of Walters saying the phrase to express anticipation for the year 2020.

Origin

In 1979, Barbara Walters joined 20/20. In 1974, she became a co-anchor, giving her the opportunity to greet viewers to the show.^[2]

On September 12th, 2019, the website "thisis2020.com" was registered and launched.^[1] The site acted as a countdown to the new year, 2020.

Spread

On November 15th, 2019, YouTuber Barbara Walters posted a video supercut of Walters saying the line. The post received more than 94,000 views in less than two months (shown below).

On November 18th, Instagram user @thisistwennytwenny posted a video of Walters saying the line.

On December 31st, ABC published a video of ABC stars saying the line. The post received more than 113,000 views in less than two days (shown below, left).

On CNN, during the Countdown to 2020, hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen welcomed comedian Cheri Oteri to do a Barbara Walters impression, while also highlighting the supercuts. When posted to YouTube, the video received more than 1.3 million views in two days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

when the clock strikes 20 | 20 🥳 pic.twitter.com/lXELW9mT1y

— Déjà The View (@dejatheviewpod) December 31, 2019

And this is 2020! pic.twitter.com/r3JB4KVGaO

— RetroNewsNow (@RetroNewsNow) January 1, 2020

Search Interest

External References