The Mike Douglas Show

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The Mike Douglas Show

The Mike Douglas Show was an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
daytime television

Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
talk show

Talk show

A talk show or chat show is a television or radio program where one person or group of people come together to discuss various topics put forth by a talk show talk show host....
hosted by Mike Douglas

Mike Douglas

Mike Douglas, born Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr. , was an United States entertainer....
that ran from 1961 to 1982.

ormer big band

Big band

Discussion

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Format and production

Mike Douglas Studio Lobby Entrance 1965 72

A former big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
singer, Douglas moved to television in the 1950s. The Mike Douglas Show started December 11,1961 in Cleveland as a local show on Westinghouse

Westinghouse Broadcasting

The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric . It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for television syndication....
's KYW-TV

WKYC-TV

WKYC-TV, channel 3, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company. Its studio is located on the shores of Lake Erie, while its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio....
(now WKYC-TV), it proved popular and, in July 1963, was syndicated by Westinghouse to all five of its owned-and-operated station

Owned-and-operated station

In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the television network with which it is associated....
s. By 1967 the show was available in 171 markets and seen by an audience of six million viewers a day.

The program featured light banter with guests and musical performances. Instead of an opening comedic monologue (as was the case with The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show

The Tonight Show is a long-running American late-night talk show and variety show airing on NBC whose The Tonight Show with Jay Leno has been hosted by Jay Leno since 1992....
with Johnny Carson

Johnny Carson

John William ?Johnny? Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years....
, for example), Douglas, given his vocalist background, would begin each show by singing a popular song for the audience. Each week would have a different co-host who would appear every day with Douglas. The program was initially aired live on KYW-TV but, after Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor

Zsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian people-born American actress and socialite....
in 1965 called Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam was a veteran United States television actor and comedian, renowned for his large, ready supply of jokes. He is probably best known for his role as Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s....
a "son of a bitch," the program then aired on a one-day tape-delay basis. This allowed for the editing-out of any objectionable material. Live broadcasts (with a seven-second delay) were attempted only on a few special occasions thereafter, such as when the Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are an ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League ....
won the Stanley Cup

Stanley Cup

The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League Season structure of the NHL#Stanley Cup playoffs champion....
.

In August 1965, the show moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia to a small basement studio located in the KYW-TV

KYW-TV

KYW-TV channel 3 is the CBS owned and operated station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister The CW Television Network station WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia and its transmitter is located in the Roxborough, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania section of Philadelphia....
building at 1619 Walnut Street (see photos on right). This studio held 140 seats. In July 1972, the show moved to a new studio in the newly constructed KYW-TV studios at 5th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. That studio ("Studio A") was the first and only studio especially constructed for the program. While the overall new studio was larger, it accommodated only 120 seats. The original musical director in Philadelphia was Ellie Frankel. In 1967, Joe Harnell

Joe Harnell

Joe Harnell was an American easy listening composer and arranger.His father was a vaudeville performer who also played in jazz and klezmer ensembles....
, an accomplished musician, composer, and band leader took the position of musical director. Harnell continued as musical director through 1973. Joe Harnell was followed by musical director Frank Hunter and the show ended with musical director Joe Massimino.

During much of its time on the air, it remained strong in ratings, consistently finishing among the most popular daytime television shows nearly every season. Douglas took the success lightly. He made a surprise visit to the set of Match Game
Match Game

Match Game was an United States television game show featuring contestants attempting to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions....
in 1976, a competing show which managed to score higher ratings than Douglas' program during the mid-1970s, in order to congratulate host Gene Rayburn

Gene Rayburn

Gene Rayburn was an American radio and television personality. Born Eugene Rubessa in Christopher, Illinois, he was an only child of Croatian immigrants and graduated from Knox College ....
on making the game show the #1 daytime TV show.

The show's run spanned 21 years and more than 6,000 episodes. In 1978, production of the show moved to Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
, where it remained until the end of the show's run in 1982.

Guests

Among the musical performers featured on the show were Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.Chuck Berry is an influential figure and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music....
, Every Mother's Son

Every Mother's Son

Every Mother's Son was a rock band formed in New York City in 1967. Brothers Dennis and Larry Larden had originally performed as a folk music duet ....
, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Turtles

The Turtles

The Turtles are an United States Pop music and folk rock band led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman, who became notable for numerous Top 40 hits beginning with their cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" , and "Happy Together " ....
, Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer, and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock music, jazz, electronic music, orchestral, and musique concr?te works....
, Donna Summer

Donna Summer

Donna Summer is an United States singer-songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of music.Summer was trained as a gospel music singer prior to her introduction to the music industry....
, Brooklyn Dreams

Brooklyn Dreams (group)

The Brooklyn Dreams were a successful singing group of the late 1970s and early 1980s mixing doo-wop harmonies with contemporary dance/disco music and best-known for a number of collaborations with singer Donna Summer....
, KISS

KISS (band)

Kiss is an United States Rock music Musical ensemble formed in New York City in December 1972. Easily identified by its members' trademark face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid and late-1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and...
, Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an United States rock music band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
, Moby Grape

Moby Grape

Moby Grape is an United States rock music group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country music, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music....
, Cher

Cher

Cher is an American pop music singer-songwriter, actor, film director and recording industry. She has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame....
, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an United States pianist, singer, and songwriter who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues....
, Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley , was an original and influential American rock and roll singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was known as "The Originator" because of his key role in the transition from blues music to rock & roll, influencing a host of legendary acts including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton....
, Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand is an United states singer and film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, political activist, film producer and film director....
, Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock and roll, blues, Pop music, Rhythm and Blues and Gospel music....
, Genesis

Genesis (band)

Genesis are an English rock music band formed in 1967. With approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide, Genesis are among the top 30 List of best-selling music artists....
, The Supremes

The Supremes

The Supremes, an American girl group, were one of the signature acts on Motown Records during the 1960s. Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, Michigan in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop music, soul music, Broadway theatre show tunes, psychedelic soul and disco....
, Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Maria Linda Ronstadt , known as Linda Ronstadt, is an United States popular music Singing and entertainer whose vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career....
, The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock music band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards....
, The Bee Gees, Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits were an England pop band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as 'Herman & The Hermits'. The group's management and producer Mickie Most emphasized a simple, non-threatening and clean-cut image, although the band originally played Rhythm and blues numbers ....
, Sly & the Family Stone

Sly & the Family Stone

Sly & the Family Stone is an Music of the United States Funk music, soul music and rock music band from San Francisco, California. Originally active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music....
, Little Anthony & the Imperials

Little Anthony & The Imperials

Little Anthony & The Imperials is a rhythm and blues/soul music/doo-wop human voice musical group from New York City, first active in the 1950s....
, The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes are a rock band who first achieved international attention as an experimental psychedelic group in the late 1960s, and contributed two tracks to the soundtrack of Easy Rider....
,The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band. Formed in 1961, the group gained popularity for its close harmony and lyrics reflecting a California youth culture of cars and surfing....
,George Carlin,Ron Howard. Notable among guest co-hosts were Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin

Bobby Darin was one of the most popular American big band performers and rock and roll teen idols of the late 1950s and early 1960s.Darin performed widely in a range of music genres, including pop, jazz, folk and country....
, John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles....
and Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

, born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933, is a Japanese people artist and musician. She is known for her work as an avant-garde artist and musician, and her marriage and works with musician John Lennon....
, Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter was an Academy Award-winning United States actress....
, and Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal

'William Edward' "'Billy'" 'Crystal' is an United States actor, writer, film producer, comedian, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the American Broadcasting Company sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the box office successes Wh...
. Many people have tried to take credit for producing the episodes with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but the real producer at the time of the episodes was Michael A. Krauss

Michael A. Krauss

Michael A. Krauss is a television producer, a packager, and a radio interviewer. He is also an experienced company president having headed numerous compaines including Michael Krauss Productions, Make It Happen Entertainment and Broadcasting, and Group M Productions....
, who also came up with the idea to book John and Yoko.

The show also featured the first television appearance of Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time....
who showed off his swing for Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, Order of the British Empire, Order of St. Gregory the Great , was an British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway theatre, and in radio, television and movies....
and James Stewart

James Stewart (actor)

James Maitland Stewart , popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an United States film and stage actor best known for his self-effacing persona....
at the age of 2. Others who appeared on the show include Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Malcolm X , also known as Hajji Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans....
, Jerry Rubin

Jerry Rubin

Jerry Rubin was a left-wing United States social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. He became a successful businessman in the 1980s....
, Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was an United States Academy Award-winning film and Broadway theatre dance, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of seventy-six years, during which he made thirty-one musical films....
, Judy Garland

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
, Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime films to historical film and period piece and occasional comedy, though her greatest successes were h...
, Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an United States dancer, actor, singer, film director, Film producer, and choreographer.A major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen....
, Gene Tierney

Gene Tierney

Gene Tierney was an United States film and Theatre actor. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best-remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Academy Award for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven ....
, Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball

Lucille Ball was an United States comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model , film industry, and star of the landmark sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy....
, Moe Howard

Moe Howard

Moe Howard was an United States comedian, best known as the leader of the Three Stooges, the slapstick comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades....
of the The Three Stooges, Ted Knight

Ted Knight

Ted Knight was an United States actor best known for playing the comedic role of Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Henry Rush on Too Close for Comfort , and Judge Smails in Caddyshack....
, Totie Fields

Totie Fields

Totie Fields was an American comedian who was not afraid to poke fun at her own weight problems....
, John Travolta

John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta is a two-time Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning United States actor, dancer and singer, best known for his leading roles in films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction ....
, Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer.Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence on jazz, shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers....
, Gloria Parker

Gloria Parker

Glorious Gloria Parker is an United States entertainer and female icon during the Big Band or Swing Era, as an all girl bandleader. The Gloria Parker Show aired nightly coast to coast on WABC and Gloria entertained her audience playing the marimba, organ and the singing glasses or glass harp....
with her Musical Glasses, Jay Leno

Jay Leno

James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedian, television host and writer, who succeeded Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1992....
, Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford After an absence of nearly two years from the screen, Crawford staged a comeback by starring in Mildred Pierce , for which she won the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Actress....
, Angela Davis

Angela Davis

Angela Yvonne Davis is an United States political activist and university professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee....
, Mason Reese

Mason Reese

Mason Reese is a former child actor in numerous television commercials in the 1970s, particularly for Underwood Deviled Ham. Reese's peculiar precocity, red hair and slight lisp made him a very recognizable figure, and was a frequent guest on the Mike Douglas Show....
, Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is a retired United States boxing and former three-time List of heavyweight boxing champions.As an amateur, Ali won a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games in the light heavyweight division gold medal....
and many others.

Awards and other achievements

Douglas earned five Emmys for the show. His book, I'll be Right Back; Memories of TV's Greatest Talk Show was published in 1999.

Many subsequent talk hosts – in particular Jay Leno, David Letterman

David Letterman

David Michael Letterman is an United States comedian, known for hosting the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS since 1993. Letterman's Irony, often Surreal humour comedy is heavily influenced by former The Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen, Johnny Carson and Jack Paar....
and Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell

Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American television host, stand-up comedian, actress, singer and author. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT social movements activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family Vacations....
– have acknowledged their personal debt to Douglas and his work.

External links

, being licensing link for Mike Douglas Show clips from King World Productions
King World Productions

King World Productions, Inc. was a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution....
, now part of CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution

CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, a merger of CBS Corporation's three television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television, and King World Productions including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment....
.
TV Tome entry (Author: Gil Cosnett)