August 11, 2006

What was daytime TV talk like in the 1970s?

I'm trying to remember, as I see that Mike Douglas just died. See him in action here, talking to Frank Zappa in 1976. And here he is with Johnny Cash... and Don Rickles. Cash calls Rickles a "great spiritual leader," and Mike asks Cash if he always wears black.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted the show for a week. Here's what Douglas had to say about one of the guests they picked out, Jerry Rubin:
He just got on my nerves. It sounded like this guy hated the president, the Congress, everyone in business, the military, all police and just about everything America stands for.
RIP, Mike.

UPDATE: Now you have to go to the links. The embedded videos were making this page too slow-loading.

10 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

You're blaming Nixon on Mike Douglas?

MadisonMan said...

dave, Nixon was President of the US. Hope this helps.

MD was on in the afternoon when I got home from school. I vaguely recall multi-colored circles on the set, which I'd see as I channel hopped by him. (What teenager was watching Mike Douglas when the Flintstones were on!?)

Maxine Weiss said...

Dinah! and Friends, the John Davidson Show, Dick Cavett, David Frost, Rona Barrett, David Hartman, Mort Sahl, Richard Dawson, Virginia Graham, Abc 3:30 movie

Peace, Maxine

Troy said...

Mike Douglas rocked. He introduced the world to Tiger Woods -- a 4 year old or so driving into a screen.

I blame Arsenio Hall for Bill Clinton. Letting that guy wear ZZ Top sunglasses and blow anything on TV was too much.

Following Art's prompting... by extension Roger Ailes is responsible for Gerald Ford -- and also Jimmuh Carter since Carter beat an inept campaigner in Ford. And then he's responsible for Reagan since Reagan beat the wussy-like Carter (if only he could've treated Iranian fanatics like he did killer bunnies)and Bush I since he rode Reagan's coattails.... And we all know as an article of faith that FOXNews wrangled a Bush "victory" in 2000 and '04.

That leaves Arsenio Hall as the fly in the ointment to Roger Ailes' universal domination of American Presidential politics -- the real muscle behind Rove and Cheney. Arsenio better watch his back.

Ann Althouse said...

Madison Man: "What teenager was watching Mike Douglas when the Flintstones were on!?"

Go over to YouTube and search for Mike Douglas and see how many rock bands were on. But now that I think of it, I only watched in the 60s. I didn't even have a TV when John and Yoko co-hosted. I think I remember wanting to watch, but not enough to acquire a TV.

tiggeril said...

Wait, so who's the guy who was on 60 Minutes?

SippicanCottage said...
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Ann Althouse said...

That colorful background was those giant asterisks that signified flowers in the visual language of the 60s. Those things were everywhere, most notably as rubbery things that you stuck onto the bathtub to keep people from slipping while taking a shower. But what were those flower graphics called? There was a name for them. It's driving me crazy (and it's hard to Google).

SippicanCottage said...
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Ruth Anne Adams said...

Mike Douglas is dead? This is certainly not news to his wife, Cathy Zeta-Jones.