I just saw Phil Donahue has died
By snowy
@snowy22315 (179440)
United States
August 19, 2024 9:05am CST
Before there was Oprah there was Phil. He had a daytime talk show, and was an institution in daytime television here in the US for many years. During the 70's and 1980's he was very well known. Phil did a number of controversial interviews in his day, but it wasn't smut TV, like Jerry Springer, Maury Povich and others. I always liked the Donahue show. He was 88.
11 people like this
9 responses
@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
19 Aug
I enjoyed the show. I think every American of a certain age, probably knows who Phil Donahue was.
2 people like this
@sallypup (60696)
• Centralia, Washington
19 Aug
@snowy22315 I liked his accent.
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@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
19 Aug
@sallypup Accent? He just sounded like the Midwestern he was to me.
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@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
19 Aug
Yeah, but that wasn't his primary focus. He started off at least as a legitimate news guy. He went into a lot of interesting topics though. He was famous for getting feedback from audience members.
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@divalounger (6039)
• United States
20 Aug
I liked his a bunch--he was calm and interesting and he always had interesting people on as well--
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@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
20 Aug
I enjoyed the Donahue show. Oprah said there never would have been an Oprah show without Phil Donahue.
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@divalounger (6039)
• United States
20 Aug
@snowy22315 That is probably correct. He was one of the first--
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@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
20 Aug
Yes, I think he definitely made his mark on the world.
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@kobesbuddy (78882)
• East Tawas, Michigan
19 Aug
Phil Donahue was married to Marlo Thomas, for many years.
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@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
20 Aug
@kobesbuddy Phil and Marlo probably driving from Cleveland to NYC on the scenic route along Lake Erie stopped in a in s.all grocery inmy home county and bought subs. The clerk asked them why they were there, Phil responded with his trademark wit."Everybody has to be somewhere." Not absolutely certain that rea!ly happened, but sounds likely.
@kobesbuddy (78882)
• East Tawas, Michigan
19 Aug
@snowy22315 They had a quiet existence, which I admire.
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@Shivram59 (34735)
• India
19 Aug
I did not know him;nor have I watched his shows.Actually I watch news only on TV.
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@JimmyDeen (252)
•
20 Aug
He was the original talk show hosts. He set the bar high. He had very interesting topics and faced the issues head on. Just saw an interview he did with the Jackson's including mama Katherine and daddy Joe. He had a real repore with them and they looked like a peaceable family on his show. Donahue is a legend of daytime talk shows.
@snowy22315 (179440)
• United States
20 Aug
Yeah his show was different from the from the fluff shows that came before.
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