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Phil Donahue, Talk Host Who Made Audiences Part of the Show, Dies at 88
New York Times ^ | 19th August 2024 | Clyde Haberman

Posted on 08/19/2024 9:45:07 AM PDT by Cronos

Phil Donahue, who in the 1960s reinvented the television talk show with a democratic flourish, inviting audiences to question his guests on topics as resolutely high-minded as human rights and international relations, and as unblushingly lowbrow as male strippers and safe-sex orgies, died on Sunday at his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by Susan Arons, a representative of the family.

“The Phil Donahue Show” made its debut in 1967 on WLWD-TV in Dayton, Ohio, propelling Mr. Donahue on a 29-year syndicated run, much of it as the unchallenged king of daytime talk television.

Almost from the start, “The Phil Donahue Show” dispensed with familiar trappings. There was no opening monologue, no couch, no sidekick, no band — just the host and the guests, focused on a single topic.

... Few subjects, if any, were off limits for Mr. Donahue, who was said to have told his staff, “I want all the topics hot.” It mattered little that at times the subjects made some viewers, and local station managers, squirm. His very first guest was guaranteed to stir controversy: Madalyn Murray O’Hair, at the time America’s most famous, and widely unpopular, atheist.

...Among his thousands of guests, Mr. Donahue often cited Ralph Nader as his favorite; he campaigned for Mr. Nader when he ran for president in 2000. Less successful was Bill Clinton during the 1992 presidential election. Mr. Clinton grew annoyed with nonstop questions about sexual flings and marijuana use, and he angrily demanded that Mr. Donahue stick to “real issues.” The audience applauded him and booed Mr. Donahue.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
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1 posted on 08/19/2024 9:45:07 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

Caused more damage to this country than anyone of his era.


2 posted on 08/19/2024 9:46:37 AM PDT by bray (It's not racist to be racist against races the DNC hates.)
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To: Cronos

I remember a Phil Hartman SNL spoof of the Phil Donahue Show in which a couple of the guests - including a macho Kevin Nealon - get in on the act.


3 posted on 08/19/2024 9:47:57 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: bray

Not a fan. An arrogant, liberal jerk. May he find his reward.


4 posted on 08/19/2024 9:53:07 AM PDT by Luke21
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To: Cronos

Another commie bites the dust.


5 posted on 08/19/2024 9:54:12 AM PDT by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.)
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To: bray

I’ve got nothing good to say about him….


6 posted on 08/19/2024 9:55:17 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Luke21

I always thought he was a liberal dick, sort of an early pioneer of all the filthy democrat doucheness we see today.


7 posted on 08/19/2024 9:56:13 AM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo Un)
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To: Cronos

Donahue was a leftie to the core, but he still provided a voice to conservatives and let them talk. I remember when Ayn Rand was featured in a large portion of his show many decades ago.


8 posted on 08/19/2024 9:58:46 AM PDT by fwdude
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To: Cronos; ransomnote
That's the third death at 88 just this week alone.

What was he thinking?

Where we're going we don't need That Girl.

9 posted on 08/19/2024 10:01:05 AM PDT by Ezekiel (🆘️ "Come fly with US". 🔴 Ingenuity -- because the Son of David begins with MARS ♂️, aka every man)
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To: Luke21
> Not a fan. An arrogant, liberal jerk.

True, no doubt.

But I do find the story about how someone from an family without any connections become so successful interesting.

Finding a way to distinguish yourself from a crowed field of like minded media leftists is not an easy feat.

10 posted on 08/19/2024 10:04:12 AM PDT by SecondAmendment (The history of the present Federal Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations ...)
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To: bray

“Caused more damage to this country than anyone of his era.”

How so?


11 posted on 08/19/2024 10:06:57 AM PDT by BB62
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To: Cronos

Wow! I’m just......just....


12 posted on 08/19/2024 10:09:33 AM PDT by Right Brother (From Biden to Harris. From pee pads to kneepads.)
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To: bray

Agree he was a commie POS, but not sure he did more damage than Springer or Oprah.


13 posted on 08/19/2024 10:15:21 AM PDT by Levy78 (Reject modernity, embrace tradition. )
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To: BB62

By dredging up the worst elements of society and putting them on display in America’s living rooms in the hours right after the kids got home from school; and also for the layabouts and housewives. I only watched brief snippets because I had comic books to read.


14 posted on 08/19/2024 10:16:13 AM PDT by webheart
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To: fwdude

“Donahue was a leftie to the core, but he still provided a voice to conservatives and let them talk. I remember when Ayn Rand was featured in a large portion of his show many decades ago.”

Exactly. Good point. Say what you will about the guy, but Donahue was not about shutting people down, even those with whom he disagreed.


15 posted on 08/19/2024 10:17:29 AM PDT by River Hawk
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To: Right Brother

Just.....
Well....
We’re Waiting.


16 posted on 08/19/2024 10:18:19 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (ALL Things Will be Revealed !)
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To: SecondAmendment

I compare his preachy pestilence in the Reagan years to Richard Simmons, who avoided politics as another star of the era; a gentle soul who fought his own demons privately and was himself a pioneer.

Donahue and Marlo Thomas were married for 44 years. She was a McGovern activist. So he found his soul mate. He was so preachy in pushing the leftist message I couldn’t stand to look at his face. He did what The View does now.


17 posted on 08/19/2024 10:18:46 AM PDT by Luke21
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To: Ezekiel

Marlo Thomas has had so many facelifts and cheek tucks, she’s getting to look like the late Jackie Stallone, “Rocky’s” mother.


18 posted on 08/19/2024 10:19:51 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: Cronos

Another one of those people that we used to think of as trustworthy, normal, or interesting but in the end were outed as woke anti-American communists. I think Walter Cronkite is another good example.


19 posted on 08/19/2024 10:23:41 AM PDT by 13foxtrot
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To: Levy78

Oh crap it was Springer I was thinking about. Donahue was just boring.


20 posted on 08/19/2024 10:24:11 AM PDT by webheart
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