Legendary TV talk show host Phil Donahue dies at 88 - eviltoast
Donahue died on Sunday night following a long illness, his family said in a statement.

A lot of you are probably too young to remember Donahue, but he was there every single day on TV. Sometimes his topics were trivial, sometimes they were vital, but he always tried to push a progressive angle.

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
    502·
    4 months ago

    Don’t forget that Donahue was fired from MSNBC in 2003 for providing critical coverage of the US invasion of Iraq.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
      7·
      4 months ago

      Thanks. I didn’t read that far down on the page because I was just looking for stuff I already knew about him to quote, but I vaguely remember that.

  • Volkditty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    4 months ago

    Didn’t know he was still alive and definitely thought he’d be older than 88…his hair went white 40 years ago.

  • xylazineDream@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    11·
    4 months ago

    One of my elementary school teachers used to play his interviews of Farrakhan & the episode with Huey Newton + Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu in summer school, shit changed my whole frequency, peace to that man

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
      381·
      4 months ago

      Except with far more integrity. And much better politics.

      The article I linked called him trailblazing, and I agree.

      Some bits from the Wikipedia page on his show:

      He focused on one guest or topic for the entire hour and invited the audience to ask questions. On November 6, 1967, Donahue hosted his first guest, atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair.[2][3] Though he would later call her message of atheism “very important”, he also stated she was rather unpleasant and that, off-camera, she mocked him for being Roman Catholic.[4] On May 19, 1973, Donahue’s guest was Dr. Cody Sweet who brought the subject of body language to the US nationally syndicated television audience for the first time.

      In 1984, Donahue introduced many viewers to hip-hop culture, as a program featured breakdancing for the first time on national television, accompanied by a performance from the hip hop group UTFO.

      The talk show field became increasingly saturated as the 1990s progressed. Many of these shows took an increasingly tabloid bent. Donahue shied away from this trend, continuing to take a “high-road” approach. These factors led to a marked decline in ratings. The show’s ratings also began to plummet after Donahue expressed his feelings regarding the first Gulf War.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phil_Donahue_Show

      Also, from his main Wikipedia page:

      In the 1980s, during the Cold War period of openness by the USSR, Donahue and Soviet journalist Vladimir Posner co-hosted a series of televised discussions, known as the U.S.–Soviet Space Bridge, among everyday citizens of the Soviet Union and the United States.[14] It was the first event of its kind in broadcasting history: Donahue hosted an audience in an American city while Posner hosted an audience in a Soviet city, all on one television program. Members of both audiences asked each other questions about both nations. While the governments of both nations were preparing for the possibility of nuclear war, Donahue said: “We reached out instead of lashed out”.

      In 2024, Donahue was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.[29]

      He really was a terrific person in so many ways. The only criticism I will make of him is that he campaigned for Nader in 2000, but he and Nader were also good friends- Nader was one of the most frequent guests on his show back when he was all about advocating for consumers.

  • oxjox@lemmy.mlEnglish
    5·
    4 months ago

    I’m not sure if I’m misremembering this but I feel like he was relatively reasonable for the majority of his career until the likes of Springer and came along. My immediate reaction upon seeing this was that he was a huge dick. But I don’t recall if he was always that way or if it was more of an act in the later years of his show.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
      8·
      4 months ago

      No, he was definitely a decent guy, at least when he had his show. I didn’t really pay much attention to him after it was canceled. But I pasted a bunch of info in a reply to someone else if you want to check it out.

  • hswolf@lemmy.world
    61·
    4 months ago

    damn these people who never died before are now dying out of nowhere, what’s going on?

    even the Brazil’s tv presenter Silvio Santos died

  • wheeldawg@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    4 months ago

    I remember seeing him, but I was too young to care about anything that wasn’t animated.

    My (super conservative) Mom always hated his opinions but said she liked that he gave both sides a chance to talk. I don’t really remember the content of the show I just remember the very 80s logo and later (within the last year or two) I saw a clip of his interview with Jerry Falwell.

    I don’t feel much about him personally, but later once I found out Mom didn’t really like him (other than "his willingness to talk) I looked him some just on principle. But I do the same for just about any liberal personality at this point in my life for the same reason.