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KDOC airing upcoming Hot Seat retrospective

S

ShawnHill1

I saw this on their Facebook page this morning, but KDOC will air a Hot Seat retrospective (Wally George: Remember the Hot Seat) this coming Saturday night (October 5th) at 8pm. Longtime local radio/TV personality Richard Blade will be the host of this special.

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I keep reading news items claiming that Wally George "pioneered" this kind of combat television. Please. Joe Pyne pioneered it on KTTV (and in wide syndication) in the mid 1960s, and spawned a few imitators (Alan Burke) when Wally was just a regular a**hole on the street. Admittedly, Wally took it over the top...I don't remember any chair-throwing on Joe Pyne.
 
LKellerIII said:
I keep reading news items claiming that Wally George "pioneered" this kind of combat television. Please. Joe Pyne pioneered it on KTTV (and in wide syndication) in the mid 1960s, and spawned a few imitators (Alan Burke) when Wally was just a regular a**hole on the street. Admittedly, Wally took it over the top...I don't remember any chair-throwing on Joe Pyne.
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No, Joe Pyne was merely baiting, abrasive and insulting. What he did could have been done on radio. But Wally George's Hot Seat was pure theatre and well-suited to television. It wouldn't surprise me if he prompted his guests before the show to throw a tantrum and, if I recall, a few even returned and did it again. Wally's daughter, Rebecca de Mornay, may have hated him (and I don't think they ever reconciled) but he had a lot of loyal fans. Such were the wild and wooly days (or rather late nights) of KDOC.
 
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I finally got around to watch the Hot Seat special on DVR last night. It not only awakened my memories of the show, but it also showed how much KDOC has grown from a rinky-dink UHF indie to a station whose presentation is light years better than before. Hot Seat, to me, was pure unintentional comedy regardless of what your political beliefs may be.
 
Carmine5 said:
No, Joe Pyne was merely baiting, abrasive and insulting. What he did could have been done on radio. But Wally George's Hot Seat was pure theatre and well-suited to television. It wouldn't surprise me if he prompted his guests before the show to throw a tantrum and, if I recall, a few even returned and did it again. Wally's daughter, Rebecca de Mornay, may have hated him (and I don't think they ever reconciled) but he had a lot of loyal fans. Such were the wild and wooly days (or rather late nights) of KDOC.
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Last week's OC Weekly featured a Wally George retrospective since it's been 10 years since his death. A lot of regulars of Hot Seat commented about being on the show and that is was pure schtick that people just ate up. Wally would call his guest a liberal loonie and throw him off the show to the cheers of the rambunctious studio. Then backstage Wally would shake hands with the guest he just "destroyed" and ask to have them back sometime.

It's funny that Richard Blade hosted the retrospective. His quotes in the OC Weekly article didn't paint Wally in the greatest light. Richard felt he was a buffoon that fell ass backwards into success (at least local success).
 
Robnoxious said:
It's funny that Richard Blade hosted the retrospective. His quotes in the OC Weekly article didn't paint Wally in the greatest light. Richard felt he was a buffoon that fell ass backwards into success (at least local success).
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Um Wally was Sam Yorty's right hand man. He also was a regular on Alan Thicke's Thicke of the Night. Also who could forget Wally's commentaries on the new Rollergames. Wally worked for the T Birds and didn't even know who Skinny minny Gwen Miller was? Never heard of Ralphie Valladeris or Big Tall John Hall either? Anyway Hot Seat was carried nationwide on Channel America, and Wally had 1700 Great American Restaurants located throughout the United States . OK he just had one and I heard it was really bad. I miss Wally. On YouTube there is a collection of hours worth of people goofing on his live KDOC Hotseat Hotline show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ld8-vL6xWI
 
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Hot Hits said:
Um Wally was Sam Yorty's right hand man. He also was a regular on Alan Thicke's Thicke of the Night. Also who could forget Wally's commentaries on the new Rollergames. Wally worked for the T Birds and didn't even know who Skinny minny Gwen Miller was? Never heard of Ralphie Valladeris or Big Tall John Hall either? Anyway Hot Seat was carried nationwide on Channel America, and Wally had 1700 Great American Restaurants located throughout the United States . OK he just had one and I heard it was really bad. I miss Wally. On YouTube there is a collection of hours worth of people goofing on his live KDOC Hotseat Hotline show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ld8-vL6xWI
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Hot Hits, if you are unaware of the Wally George group on Facebook, here ya go: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wallygeorge/
 
LKellerIII said:
I keep reading news items claiming that Wally George "pioneered" this kind of combat television. Please. Joe Pyne pioneered it on KTTV (and in wide syndication) in the mid 1960s, and spawned a few imitators (Alan Burke) when Wally was just a regular a**hole on the street. Admittedly, Wally took it over the top...I don't remember any chair-throwing on Joe Pyne.
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Damn Wally George influenced some elements of Jerry Springer, Glenn Becks Blaze and Fox News before Trash TV Talk Shows were born in the 1990's and recently the Political shows on Fox News, Blaze, and MSNBC came into play. I think Morton Downey ran with some of this on KFBK Sacramento and Nationally before Rush came into play. and Richard Bey ran with some of Wally George Tactics at some point.
 
Hot Hits said:
Um Wally was Sam Yorty's right hand man. He also was a regular on Alan Thicke's Thicke of the Night.

I remember a TV Guide article Alan Thicke wrote after his late-night debacle finally tanked. Don't have it on hand for an exact quote of course, but he said something like he had Wally George on his show about 30 times, which was about 29 times more than he wanted.

Fred Silverman, who produced the Thicke show, may have been trying to use it as a platform to launch Wally nationally. (If anyone's keeping score...it didn't work.
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