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Phil Donahue, Comeback Kid
Just days after reports surfaced linking the mothballed Phil Donahue with a new gig on MSNBC, the talk TV icon has inked a deal bringing him back to the airwaves after a six-year absence.
The 66-year-old Donahue signed a contract with the ratings-starved cable news network early Wednesday. Terms weren't disclosed. The lefty-leaning Donahue will get the prime 8 p.m. ET weeknight slot--squaring off against Fox News' juggernaut The O'Reilly Factor, hosted by the conservative Bill O'Reilly, and CNN's upcoming Connie Chung show.
"I want to win," Donahue said during a conference call with reporters. "I always have. It's even more exciting to go against a personality that has been so successful as of late. Let's ring the bell and see what happens."
The still-untitled Donahue gabfest could debut as early as June. The new show will focus on hot topics and feature Donahue chatting it up with newsmakers, reporters, analysts and other talking heads. "We will be bouncing off the front pages of the newspaper as other cable shows do," says Donahue. "I hope we'll be civil, I hope we'll be different and, please God, I hope we won't be boring."
Donahue will lose the studio audience that was so integral to his long-running syndicated daytime talk show.
MSNBC was looking for a name host to generate some Nielsen heat--the network continues to get pasted by rivals Fox News and CNN--and had also reportedly approaced the likes of Dennis Miller, Bill Maher, Ted Koppel, Sam Donaldson and even Sally Jessy Raphael. But the top choice was always Donahue, a nine-time Daytime Emmy winner as host of the pioneering Donahue, which ruled daytime TV in the days before Oprah.
Upon his retirement in 1996, Donahue vowed never to return to the airwaves. He instead became active in several causes and campaigned for Ralph Nader during the 2000 election. Following the events of September 11, he apparently had a change of heart and felt keyed up for a comeback. The New York Times reports Donahue had made a verbal committment to MSNBC a week ago.
TV critics say the move makes sense. Gail Shister of the Philadelphia Inquirer says MSNBC "needs a jolt, and Donahue guarantees a huge initial tune-in." And Newsday's Verne Gay writes, "At 66, [Donahue] hardly passes for a spring chicken, in a business that places a premium on spring chickens. Morever, he's a strident, unapologetic liberal, who has staked positions that are even far left of some liberals...[But he] knows how to get attention, and MSNBC badly needs some of that right about now."
To make room for Donahue, MSNBC is rejiggering its schedule. Brian Williams' hourlong nightly newscast will move from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m. Hardball with Chris Matthews shifts from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will be shown exclusively on MSNBC (the show had also been broadcast on sister network CNBC, but NBC officials felt that undermined ratings).
In addition, Ashleigh Banfield's Region in Conflict broadcast gets pushed back to 10 p.m. and Alan Keyes' little-seen Making Sense will be shoved in the 11 p.m. slot.
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