Morton Downey, Jr. Documentary

[umfan]

http://wowway.net/news/read/categor...eveals_how_morton_downey_jr_pioneered_loud-ap

Will air on CNN tonight (Aug 20th). Should be interesting, Downey certainly had great entertainment value in his day.

 

[LKellerIII]

http://wowway.net/news/read/categor...eveals_how_morton_downey_jr_pioneered_loud-ap

Will air on CNN tonight (Aug 20th). Should be interesting, Downey certainly had great entertainment value in his day.

Yes, it should. The only thing that bugs me is the claim that Downey "pioneered" the in-your-face combative TV format. Wally George in LA was doing "Combat TV" (his term for it) as early as 83. George also claimed to be the "Father of Combat TV."

But if you go back to the early and mid 60s, you'll find Joe Pyne, who was syndicated to local TV stations including Metromedia stations, and really could lay claim to being the pioneer of the format. His show originated at KTTV in Hollywood, and spawned imitator Alan Burke at WNEW in New York. Pyne was more low-key than Downey or George, but no less insulting, and he didn't get up from his seat, and rage around the set - perhaps because he had a prosthetic leg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLYYIh8uEo0


The only Pyne-ism I still recall was his entreaty to guests (and callers on the radio) that he didn't like: "Go gargle with razor blades!"

 

[LKellerIII]

The show aired last night on CNN. I was watching at the gym and couldn't access the sound, but I could see that they did pay homage to both Joe Pyne and Wally George. In fact, they had a clip of Downey, when he was still only on the radio, appearing on Wally's program. It looks like Wally and George came to blows - the video showed guards breaking up a fight between the two. I would bet anything that the "fight" was agreed to ahead of time