Blog Posts by Nikki Boyer

The ladies love cool James, and Barbara Walters is no exception! During his interview on "The View" Monday, LL Cool J could not ignore the historical announcement made by Walters earlier in the show that she is retiring from television in 2014. So he took a moment to relay his feelings about it: "I just wanted to say to you, Barbara, that what you've done in your career is amazing, and the example that you've set for women -- I hope my daughters take that example and run with it." Walters was so moved by the kind words that she asked for a hug and a kiss, to which he gladly obliged. Sherri Shepherd then tried to lighten the mood by saying, "I don't know if you know this, Barbara, but LL's been working out; he can, like, bench-press you too if you want." After some laughter, Walters responded, "When nobody's looking. When this section is over, we have a date."

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[Which Hoda actually made, landing at No. 79!]

Just think how high she could've scored if she'd posed with an adorable fuzzy little tin-can-chewing baby-goat Hoda! But wait, hang on: They really named them "Hoda" and "Kathie Lee"? Not "Goata Kotb" and "Kathie Lee Goatford"? Come on, you've goatta be kidding me!

But cheer up, kids, it could be way

“The View” kicked off a new series called “Barbara Learns to …,” in which Barbara Walters attempts to learn skills she hasn’t already mastered in her eventful life. And on Friday, the show welcomed Golf Channel’s Michael Breed to teach Walters how to golf. An admittedly terrible athlete, Walters said her highest achievement in sports came at a summer camp when she was named Most Improved Athlete because, as she says, “They had to give me something.” And it turns out she’s right, because watching her try to learn golf was as funny and painful to watch as it probably was for her to experience! After the putting lesson, which didn’t go well, Breed gave Walters a children’s inner tube he named “Happy Harry” to help in the full swing lesson. And while Walters didn’t fare much better taking full swings, she did take a liking to Happy Harry!

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Anderson Cooper welcomed fellow daytime TV host Wendy Williams to his show "Anderson Live." Their discussion turned toward Williams's love of hot sauce and how she loves to put it on popcorn. So Cooper decided to try the snack for himself, and it did not go well!

Cooper's distaste for Williams's munchies didn't stop him from giving her a very special gift -- a personalized bottle of hot sauce, complete with bedazzling and a strap to wear it around her neck! And since Cooper was in the giving spirit and wanted to appeal to Wendy's love of Wonder Woman, he also gave her a life-size cardboard cutout of Wonder Woman that talks! At the push of a button, it says, "Anderson and Wendy, you are absolutely wonderful.”

Hot sauce necklace Wonder Woman cutout

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And when Natalie Morales tried to do the newscast, she suddenly found herself being videobombed! Maybe he was just looking for the little boys' room. Hey, it happens. Either way, Natalie seemed pretty flustered by the Zach attack. She tried to recover but instead blurted out, "Hello? Hi, Jack -- I mean Zach!" Which makes me wonder, who did she think he was? Jack Black? Jack White? Jack in the Box? Hey, it was getting close to lunchtime.

But go easy on yourself, Natalie. At least you didn't get surprised by Mike Tyson -- or his tiger!

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 On Wednesday, "Good Morning America" opened up something called the GMA Vault and dug up this little time capsule from 1990: Why, it's a 15-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio!

(To place this in historical context, it would be post-"Santa Barbara" but pre-"Growing Pains" and way before "Gilbert Grape." So this was even before Leonardo would've been given "The Great Gatsby" to read in a 10th-grade English class!)

In the clip, Li'l Leo is doing one of his first-ever on-camera interviews, related to the short-lived first attempt to make a TV series out of the 1989 Steve Martin movie "Parenthood." He's sporting a Yankees cap and is already displaying some of his trademark swagger: He gives a shout-out to his "two favorite actors, Joe Pesci and Jack Nicholson," and extends an invitation to them to watch his new movie.

At that age, we're guessing Leo knew Pesci from "Home Alone" more than "GoodFellas." As for Nicholson, who knows? Maybe DiCaprio was a Tim Burton "Batman" fan?  Ah, the late '80s/early

"Anderson Live" introduced us to the newest Marine mascot, an English bulldog named Chesty. Right now he's a recruit, but in the near future they will have a ceremony in which he'll become Private Chesty, the 14th of the U.S. Marine Corps. He'll have a service record book, a rank and a uniform just like any other service member. Capt. Jack Norton, who brought Chesty onto the show, said that English bulldogs are "kind of cranky and tough to get along with, but at the same time they're very resolute and are going to get done what you need them to get done. So what better mascot for the U.S. Marines than an English bulldog?" But as you can see, it didn't take long for Chesty to get along with Anderson Cooper!

This current line of Chestys goes back to the 1950s, and a vetting process to choose the right dog involved a number of breeders in the Washington, D.C, region. A responsible family with a very good reputation for breeding was selected. Chesty will be stationed in Washington and will

It's the dance dare that Billy Bush accepted, even if Matt Lauer never knew he'd made one! When Billy sat in with Hoda and Kathie Lee on Tuesday during the fourth hour of "Today," they asked him to help critique Matt Lauer's sexy, smooth dance moves from a recent appearance on "Ellen."

Kathie Lee almost couldn't watch, worrying that Matt was about to embarrass himself: "I always get nervous when a man dances. Especially if I have the man in high esteem. I'm like, 'Don't ruin it! Don't spoil it! Don't come out and do an Elaine!'"

Sweet Fancy Moses!

Ever the gentleman, Billy kept things positive in his review, cautioning Matt to "keep the arms in ... but other than that, I thought he was great!" Something about seeing Matt show off his Lauer Power must have stoked Billy's competitive fires, because before he knew it, he was boasting about his own rug-cutting abilities. Billy: "My skills are pretty solid. But what I do is I read