MSNBC Axes Phil Donahue's Talk Show

[Guest Spicy McHaggis]

I just report the news...

 

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...tv/tv_donahue_6

 

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

 

NEW YORK - MSNBC fired Phil Donahue on Tuesday, abruptly ending the veteran talk show host's return to television after six months of poor ratings.

 

 

AP Photo

 

 

 

Donahue's final show will be Friday night. The news show that precedes him on the air, "Countdown: Iraq," temporarily will be expanded to two hours to replace him.

 

 

"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," said Erik Sorenson, MSNBC president. "We thank Phil and his staff for their dedication, commitment and passion."

 

 

Donahue's office referred calls to his agent on Thursday, and he did not immediately return a call for comment.

 

 

The move was not a surprise. MSNBC hoped "Donahue" would provide a liberal counterweight to Fox News Channel's competing "The O'Reilly Factor," but the ratings started poorly and didn't improve.

 

 

MSNBC tried to tweak the show in November, putting Donahue in front of a live audience in New York instead of in a New Jersey studio, but it made little difference.

 

 

The political talk show format has yet to prove — and may never — that it can support a liberal voice, said Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research, a television news consulting firm.

 

 

Donahue's chances weren't helped by MSNBC's impatience, he said.

 

 

"They're very quick to cancel shows," Tyndall said. "Right from the start, they haven't settled on a format and let it grow so people can find it. If it's not working in a few months, they cancel it and move on to something else."

 

 

MSNBC also has sought a younger audience than its cable news rivals and the hiring of Donahue, 67, went against that strategy. "Anyone who's under 25 doesn't remember when his old talk show was on the air," Tyndall said.

 

 

During this month, a "sweeps" month in which ratings are watched closely to set advertising rates, "Donahue" averaged 446,000 viewers. O'Reilly drew 2.7 million viewers, up 28 percent from February 2002, according to Nielsen Media Research.

 

 

Connie Chung's CNN show that debuted shortly before "Donahue" averaged 985,000 viewers this month, Nielsen said.

 

 

"Countdown: Iraq," with Lester Holt as host, is one of the network's few success stories, occasionally inching past CNN to second in the cable news ratings.

 

 

Donahue was a nine-time Daytime Emmy winner for his syndicated talk show, which began in 1967 and aired nationally from 1970 to 1996, paving the way for dozens of such shows to follow.

 

 

He began his MSNBC show July 15 with a panel discussion on whether the United States should try to oust Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). On Monday night, with Rosie O'Donnell (news) as guest, they talked about the same topic.

 

 

The show's failure is "a footnote" to Donahue's career, Tyndall said. "His legacy is unharmed," he said. "He invented an entire genre of television."

[Guest JMA]

Damn. Well, it was good while it lasted. At least he can rest easy that he fought the good fight (I can do it too). Go get 'em, Phil...

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Two hours a night of Countdown: Iraq now? Man, an hour of sabre-rattling was enough as it was. Now what do they run stories on?

 

"Abner Greenfield, an Iowa farmer, gives his viewpoints on the looming invastion of Iraq, tonight on COUNTDOWN: IRAQ!"

[Guest Jobber of the Week]

Oh boy, double the Joe Scarborough. I'm quaking in my boots with anticipation.

 

The worst thing about Phil were his awful cadence and his even more awful segues. After commercial it would snap back to Phil smiling maniacally at his guest waving his hand around over his head and then saying something like, in never-varying cadence or tone(think Howard Cosell):

 

SO NOW MR GINGRICH WE HAVE A CHILD WITH NO MOTHER, CAN'T WALK, CAN'T TALK, DOESN'T KNOW HIS A-B-C'S, AND THE DOGS ARE BARKING NEXT DOOR AND THE TV ANTENNA IS BROKEN AND DAD HAS HAD A LITTLE TOO MUCH TOO DRINK AND THE BABY IS CRYING AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT ALL THIS I ASK YOU MR GINGRICH?

[Guest Some Guy]

The move was not a surprise. MSNBC hoped "Donahue" would provide a liberal counterweight to Fox News Channel's competing "The O'Reilly Factor," but the ratings started poorly and didn't improve.

 

MSNBC tried to tweak the show in November, putting Donahue in front of a live audience in New York instead of in a New Jersey studio, but it made little difference.

 

The political talk show format has yet to prove — and may never — that it can support a liberal voice, said Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research, a television news consulting firm.

 

No one cares whether the show is in front of a studio audience or not. It makes no difference. The format wasn't the problem, the host was. Phil Donahue is boring and not really knoweldgeable about politics. He is 67 years old and never advanced past the Vietnam War and the Great Society. He is outdated and so are his politics.

 

I beleive a Liberal voice could succeed on TV. Logic states that if about half the country votes that way then they would support a good show. Donahue was not a good show. I think the inherant negativism of Liberalism hurts the shows as well. No one wants to hear that the sky is falling all the time and that everything must change. Most people want a little tweaking to the current sustem one way or another, not a total overhaul and that's how many Liberals come across on TV, especially when pitted against a Conservative. It almost becomes a contest as to who can be the most radical on their side of the political spectrum sometimes.

 

I honestly can't think of a Democrat who has both the intelligence and charisma and isn't an elected official to host a talk show successfully other than Bill Clinton and he doesn't have the disipline to do it everyday.

[Guest NoCalMike]

This sucks, I liked the show. I like the live studio audience format over a one-on-one yelling match that we get with other cable news talk shows(even though I enjoy those for the most part as well). Oh Well.....NEXT~!

[Guest Dangerous A]

This sucks, I liked the show. I like the live studio audience format over a one-on-one yelling match that we get with other cable news talk shows(even though I enjoy those for the most part as well). Oh Well.....NEXT~!

Next will be Jesse Ventura. It's too bad I see his show potentially failing because he might not be able to get anyone with any cred to go on to debate things.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

The worst thing about Phil were his awful cadence and his even more awful segues. After commercial it would snap back to Phil smiling maniacally at his guest waving his hand around over his head and then saying something like, in never-varying cadence or tone(think Howard Cosell):

 

SO NOW MR GINGRICH WE HAVE A CHILD WITH NO MOTHER, CAN'T WALK, CAN'T TALK, DOESN'T KNOW HIS A-B-C'S, AND THE DOGS ARE BARKING NEXT DOOR AND THE TV ANTENNA IS BROKEN AND DAD HAS HAD A LITTLE TOO MUCH TOO DRINK AND THE BABY IS CRYING AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT ALL THIS I ASK YOU MR GINGRICH?

My god.......that is SO damn acurate. Right down to the hand waving!

 

 

Too bad the show got canned. Its not like anyone is surprised though, its been doing ratings limbo (how low can they go?) for almost 6 months now. The problem is that the show never really had a purpose. I remember it was origninally a "talking head" show a la O'Reilly. I turned it on a few months back and it was a studio/townhall style show. I never cared for the current townhall format because most people in the audience never said anything intelligent.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Ding Dong the witch is dead, which old witch? the old liberal witch! Seriously, BRING ON JESSE VENTURA!

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

That show was good for a laugh. Speaking as a moderate, although I disagree with a lot of what he said, he seemed genuine.

 

Bye, bye. Now go back to the O'Reilly show and get into some heated debates -- those were entertaining as heck...

[Guest JMA]

Well, I'll be watching Ventura. Could be a good show.