A Former TV Journalist's Short Tribute to Television Pioneer Phil Donahue

Phil Donahue died Monday. The once iconic talk show host was 88 years old. He had been off the air for so long after leaving his daytime talk show in 1996 (he tried an ill-fated comeback on MSNBC a few years later) that I doubt many people today understand how influential he truly was. He literally changed the game of the daytime television talk show for the better.

Before Donahue, there were daytime talk shows, but they were quite different. 'The Mike Douglas Show' and 'The Merv Griffin Show' and others were more variety shows meant to entertain with several guests per program, some serious, but mostly just fun. That's what TV executives believed women wanted from daytime television. Housewives just needed a break from their daily grind.

Donahue broke the mold. His programs were one topic for a whole hour, a first. It could be a celebrity interview, but it could also be controversial. He seemed to have an infatuation with outspoken ashiest Madelyn Murray O'Hare, who was on his program several times. A Catholic, Donahue would also sometimes bring on a Catholic Priest to challenge her beliefs. Other serious topics including shows on the AIDS epidemic or race relations as with his memorable program discussing race and and the black Muslim movement with boxer Muhammed Ali. Politics were not off limits either, like the time he was schooled on the benefits of free market capitalism by conservative economist Milton Friedman. Viewpoints which challenged his own world view in some way were welcome.

Donahue was also the first talk show to use questions from the audience extensively, a technique which would be subsequently copied by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Ricki Lane to the outrageous Morton Downey Junior, albeit in different ways.

One episode which I vividly remember was when he had on as a guest then Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca introducing his newest vehicle sitting right there on stage with him, this strange contraption he called a 'minivan'. The show wasn't a car commercial. Iacocca, a natural salesman, explained what made the minivan so special and the thought processes Chrysler used to develop it. I was oddly mesmerized as was the audience as evidenced by their very curious questions about something no one had ever seen before. Iacocca told Donahue that it would revolutionize the car industry, and it did for a time. A trailblazer interviewing another.

He was liberal to be sure, a vocal voice for feminism for example as the movement was finding its feet. I can recall an episode where feminist actress Marlo Thomas was the guest. At the end of the show they were sitting together on the set and she told him something to the effect of "I can tell you really respect women." Donahue did, and he really liked her. They would end up getting and staying married for forty-four years until his death.

Phil Donahue inspired me as I was growing up wondering what I wanted to do with my life. At one point I wanted to be him ... interviewing people from all walks of life, learning from some of their ideas and challenging others. I wasn't alone. Oprah Winfrey has been quoted as saying that there would have never been an Oprah Winfrey Show had there not been Donahue. He pioneered it, she perfected it. My career path on the other hand took me toward TV news, and I do believe my respect for his work played a role in that. He was a journalist, just a different type of journalist, and I learned valuable insight by watching his work.

Phil Donahue would have a great first act, but there would be no second. It's why few under 50 are not going to recognize just what a pioneer he was. But I do.

Thank you Phil!