• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

OBIT: Mike Douglas

O

oldschooler1

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) Mike Douglas is dead.
He was an afternoon T-V staple for decades. Long before ``Oprah'' and ``The View,'' Douglas was hosting a daytime talk show that featured just about everyone who was anyone. From rock stars to comedians to politicians, they all turned up on ``The Mike Douglas Show.''
[EDIT]

-0-
In Syracuse, Mike ran on channel 9 -- WNYS, then WIXT. Sometimes, they'd run only an hour of the show -- it was designed so stations could do that -- rather than the full 1.5 hours. An hour-and-a-half daytime talk show! Remember the stick mics, on the gooseneck mike stands?

[EDIT-paragraph truncated because its use is unauthorized by Associated Press. Unauthorized use of copyrighted material is prohibited in the TOS of AP and radio-info. In the future please post a URL so that interested readers may read further. Sorry about any inconvenience, Global Moderator]
 
Good family safe stuff back then..something for both generations of that day. Some of my favorite 60s/70s rockers appeared on that show including Gary Lewis,Lesley Gore,Dusty Springfield....And Kenny Rogers duetting with ON-J. What if Oprah would have done something like that..Seems to work for Ellen D a little bit. Miss that good stuff. Not like the "white trash circus" talk programs of today.

We miss 'ya Mike!
 
Douglas (a vocalist with Kay Kyser's "Kollege of Musical Knowledge") also had a top ten single
(#6/ Jan '66) "The Men In My Little Girl's Life", a schmaltzy tune about how quickly a "little girl" can grow up.
Douglas also did the singing for Prince Charming in Walt Disney's 1950 animated classic "Cinderella."

Here's a link to a good overview of "The Mike Douglas Show"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mike_Douglas_Show
 
Mike Douglas was a pioneer when it came to daily variety entertainment and talk programming. He was a gentleman, which is no wonder that Douglas was able to attract people from all facets of politics and show business to be his guests. People like Jackie Gleason, John Lennon just to name a few.

It’s rare for any TV show to last 21 years, let alone start out in a single market (Cleveland) and end up being carried nationwide by over 200 stations. That success can be attributed to Mike Douglas’ personality and talent.

The Mike Douglas Show was a program hosted by someone who not only loved his profession, but made his audience feel like they were part of a family. You don’t see that type of programming on TV these days.

Mr. Douglas must be also given a great deal of credit for refusing to allow his show to deviate from its format in order to compete with the gutter trash programs that were just starting to take off. Shows like Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones and the other copy-cats that bombarded the airwaves with profanity, adultery, and other topics targeting the lowest common denominator in television viewership.

When the distributors of the Mike Douglas Show tried to go for a more “hip” audience, they replaced Douglas with John Davidson. No offense to Mr. Davidson, but Mr. Davidson’s foray as a TV host lasted as long as an orange on a grocery shelf. Meanwhile Mike Douglas stayed on the air until he decided to retire.

Those of us who remember Mike Douglas and his show will miss him very much. It would be nice if one of the numerous cable TV networks would air reruns of his program.
 
Mike Douglas was definately a class act. He was off the air, however,before the wave of trash-TV got started (Donahue was around, but not the rest). Like Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas was available in both 90 minute and 60 minute versions.
 
gr8oldies said:
Mike Douglas was definately a class act. He was off the air, however,before the wave of trash-TV got started (Donahue was around, but not the rest). Like Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas was available in both 90 minute and 60 minute versions.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, you're right. I thought that Springer started in the early 80s, but it might have been after 1981 when Douglas went off the air for good.

Again I hope that TV Land or some other cable channel can land the rights to carry Mike Douglas' old shows or at least run a series of them for a day or week as a tribute to the man.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom