Phil Donahue, the game-changing daytime television host, died last week at 88. Mr. Donahue turned “The Phil Donahue Show” into a participation event, soliciting questions and comments on topics as varied as human rights and orgies.
Michael Barbaro explains what Phil Donahue meant to him.
Background reading:
• An obituary for Mr. Donahue (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/arts/television/phil-donahue-dead.html) , who died last week at 88.
• Here are 3 episodes (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/19/arts/television/phil-donahue-show-episodes.html) that explain Mr. Donahue’s daytime dominance.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
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Thank you for this. Like you I listened to Donahue throughout my entire childhood. It helped me find my way to feminism and very much shaped me in ways that set me on a path very different than the Nixon and Reagan supporting home I grew up in. I’m still grateful.
Who actually listens to this drivel. NYT claims 7.1 million online subscribers. For f*ck sake Bryan Tyler Cohen has half that and he basiscally works out of his garage. Hey NYT, you want more subscribers? Better change how you report your version of the “news” if that’s what you still call it, because nobody is buying the sh*t you’re shoveling currently.
What a brilliant tribute to an amazing man!
Thank you for the tribute to Phil Donahue, one of the first TV moderator who treated women like they really have brains and can do more than stay home nd bake cookies. I disagreed with Ayn Rand and Phil was very nice to the women who were asking questions. Ayn Dand was rude and Phil cslled her on it. Also, apparently he was a great husband to Marlo Thomas. I heard him once joke he not only married Marlo, be also married a hospital (St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital in Memphis.) (Marlo’s Dad, Danny Thomas, was very instrumental in getting this hospital built.)
Omg, those were the shows I never missed too! This is a great podcast, thank you so much!