More Than 5 Million Tune In To Barbara Walters’ Final Day On ‘The View’

An average of 5.2 million people tuned in to say so long to Barbara Walters on Friday’s The View. It’s not the show’s most-watched episode ever – that would be the 6.6 million who tuned in July 29, 2010 for President Obama’s first visit to the daytime gabber. It’s also not the second-most-watched episode in the show’s 17-year history – that being the 6.2 million who watched the Day of Hot Topics after the presidential election on November 5, 2008. Babs’ swan-song also sits behind the Day of Hot Topics after the East Coast 2009 snowpocalypse, which clocked 5.233 million viewers. Babs’ goodbye  —  which featured a parade of female news and infotainment talent who’ve followed in Babs’ footsteps including Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, Savannah Guthrie, Connie Chung, etc. — goes into the books as the No. 4-rated episode in the franchise’s history. (One day earlier, the return of all 11 of the show’s co-hosts to bid Babs adieu logged an average of 4.2 million people.)

Related: Highlights From Barbara Walters’ Last Day On ‘The View’: Video

To put the 5.2 million in some perspective, Walters drew a bigger crowd than CBS’ Monday sitcom Friends With Better Lives (4.8 million) scored in primetime last week, and a bigger audience than Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen scored last Thursday at 8 (4.9 million).

Related: Barbara Walters Tribute Tops Friday With 9.3M Viewers