Phil Donahue Dead at 88

[sparebulb]

Phil Donahue dead at 88.

I didn't really like him a lot back when, but, in retrospect, he was pretty classy compared to today's content.

 

[fisharmor]

Phil Donahue dead at 88.

I didn't really like him a lot back when, but, in retrospect, he was pretty classy compared to today's content.

He was exactly as trashy as his contemporary society would allow him to be, which makes him indistinct from anyone pushing boundaries today.
He was the herald of things to come. He gets no excuses.

 

[CaptUSA]

The best thing about Donahue was when his guests destroyed him. It happened quite a bit, but to his credit, he kept having them on. Here's a few greatest hits:

 

[jct74]

This is how I will always remember Phil. RIP.

Fired by MSNBC for Giving Voice to Iraq War Opposition, Phil Donahue (1935-2024) Was Courage Personified
The journalist and TV show host, who died Sunday at the age of 88, made his mark on our society. He fought for the underdog. He did it with style and grace and a wonderful sense of humor. He changed my life and the lives of so many others.

Jeff Cohen
Aug 19, 2024

Phil Donahue passed away Sunday night, after a long illness. He was beloved by those who knew him and by many who didn’t.

He started as a local reporter in Ohio, was a trailblazer in bringing social issues to a national audience as a daytime broadcast TV host, and then he was pretty-much banished from TV by MSNBC because he—accurately, correctly, and morally—questioned the horrific U.S. invasion of Iraq.

...

I was a senior producer on Phil’s short-lived MSNBC primetime show in 2002 and 2003. It was frustrating for us to have to deal with the men Phil called “the suits”—NBC and MSNBC executives who were intimidated by the Bush administration and resisted any efforts by NBC/MSNBC to practice journalism and ask tough questions of Washington before our young people were sent to Iraq to kill or be killed. Ultimately, Phil was fired because—as the leaked internal memo said—Donahue represented “a difficult public face for NBC at a time of war.”

...

No one on American television cross-examined Israeli leaders like Phil did when he interviewed then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and later, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. They seemed stunned—never having faced such questioning from a U.S. journalist.

But “the suits” ruined our show when they took control and actually mandated a quota system favoring the right wing: If we had booked one guest who was antiwar, we needed to book two that were pro-war. If we had one guest on the left, we needed two on the right. When a producer suggested booking Michael Moore—known to oppose the pending Iraq war—she was told she’d need to book three rightwingers for political balance.

Three weeks before the Iraq war started, and after some of the biggest antiwar mobilizations the world had ever seen (which were barely covered on mainstream TV), the suits at NBC/MSNBC terminated our show.

...

read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/phil-donahue-iraq-war

 

[oyarde]

RIP P. D. , two most famous Buckeyes are Jerry Springer and P D, In Indiana at least weve got J. Dillenger and Jim Jones

 

[acptulsa]

RIP P. D. , two most famous Buckeyes are Jerry Springer and P D, In Indiana at least weve got J. Dillenger and Jim Jones

We're happily proud of Jim Garner and Will Rogers.

Did anyone ever figure out how Donohue managed to make his hair look like a helmet?

 

[jmdrake]

This is how I will always remember Phil. RIP.




read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/phil-donahue-iraq-war

You cannot give Reputation to the same post twice.

 

[jmdrake]

The best thing about Donahue was when his guests destroyed him. It happened quite a bit, but to his credit, he kept having them on. Here's a few greatest hits:

The definition for someone who has people on his show that he disagrees with and actually lets them talk is called "journalist." Sadly those are few and far between these days.

On another note, when you watched the Ayn Rand segment and Phil talked about "Gas could be at $2.50 a gallon" did you go "Where can I find some of that?"

 

[Valli6]

RIP

Donahue’s show was not as bad as the trash that came after him. He often had really good guests you weren’t likely to see interviewed anywhere else.

In case you forgot…
Phil Donahue was married to Marlo Thomas…

who was the daughter of Danny Thomas…

who founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

 

[acptulsa]

On another note, when you watched the Ayn Rand segment and Phil talked about "Gas could be at $2.50 a gallon" did you go "Where can I find some of that?"

I can score you as much as you can carry for $2.759. Of course, you'll burn it all up and then some getting back home.

But, yeah, old footage of people used to using money that was worth something telling each other horror stories about the future is funny stuff. And sad -- why didn't you nip this crap in the bud?!

 

[Anti Globalist]

RIP.

 

[jmdrake]

Donahue’s show was not as bad as the trash that came after him. He often had really good guests you weren’t likely to see interviewed anywhere else.

In case you forgot…
Phil Donahue was married to Marlo Thomas…

who was the daughter of Danny Thomas…

who founded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

I had the BIGGEST crush on Marlo Thomas and watched "That girl" re-runs whenever I could as a child. My grandmother hated that show for reasons she never would explain.

 

[sparebulb]

Danny Thomas was A-ok.

I've never personally met a Lebanese that I didn't like.

 

[acptulsa]

Danny Thomas was A-ok.

I've never personally met a Lebanese that I didn't like.

He was. And I haven't either.

Some of those neighbors of theirs, on the other hand...

My grandmother hated that show for reasons she never would explain.

I had female relatives who hated it because the main character was such an airhead.

 

[Cleaner44]

Donahue was a liberal but he was fair and provided an open exchange of ideas. When politicians these days say we should have a national conversation about something, Phil actually hosted those conversation in a respectful way that allowed people to learn. That was valuable public discourse and is sorely missing now.