True. The French take plenty of time to allow their pigs to root out truffles, too.
Posted on 02/26/2003 4:25:17 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Phil Donahue is done talking for MSNBC.
The network canceled his prime-time program yesterday, ending a return to television for the legendary talk-show host that began in July.
"We're proud of the program, and we're disappointed that the show was not able to attract the viewership we had hoped for and expected," MSNBC general manager Erik Sorenson said in a statement.
Donahue was unavailable yesterday, but is expected to release a statement today.
Taped episodes of the program will air tonight and tomorrow. Next week, an expanded version of "Countdown to Iraq" will air from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
MSNBC lured Donahue back to TV as part of yet another plan to boost its ailing prime-time fortunes.
But despite a 30-year career, Donahue's presence wasn't enough to turn the network around. The show started with an average of 630,000 viewers, but by September had hit a low of 383,000.
In November, MSNBC programmers tried to juice the telecast by having Donahue work before a studio audience. Ratings creeped up, but nowhere near expectations.
During the past month, the show averaged 446,000 viewers. In comparison, Fox's Bill O'Reilly drew 2.67 million and CNN's Connie Chung averaged 985,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"I think MSNBC felt that the way to beat Fox was to do a liberal version of what Fox was doing and Phil was a good person to do that," said Steve Friedman, former producer of NBC's "Today" and CBS' the "Early Show." "I don't know if they were really committed to that."
Friedman suggested that MSNBC's lineup didn't complement Donahue's show.
Ironically, Donahue's viewership was the largest of any program on the network, including "Hardball With Chris Matthews."
"There was some improvement" with Donahue," said MSNBC spokesman Alan Winnikoff. "But it wasn't sustained or consistent and we didn't see any opportunity for long-term growth."
Donahue was paid $1 million a year to do the show, which, when combined with network's promotion costs for the show, made it an expensive experiment.
"Phil was the cornerstone of the new MSNBC," Friedman said, "and that cornerstone never developed."
There was speculation, immediately denied by MSNBC's Winnikoff, that Donahue was dismissed because of his anti-war views.
Having "Countdown" with Lester Holt anchoring the 7-9 p.m. slot should work fine, provided there's a war. However, if a confrontation is avoided, MSNBC programmers will have to shift gears.
The network recently signed a deal with Jesse Ventura, the grappler who became Minnesota's governor and is now a talk-show host, to anchor a program. There have also been talks with Sam Donaldson about anchoring a program, although that deal seems to be moving slowly.
True. The French take plenty of time to allow their pigs to root out truffles, too.
Talk about delusionary thinking...isn't this guy implying that it failed because it wasn't allowed to be liberal enough?
People who work all day want to see people sit and discuss issues, not emote like high school actors. If you can't figure that out, you sure shouldn't be running a network.
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