MSNBC Dumps Donahue Show

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Last night his sole guest was- Rosie O'Donnell.

All together now- AWWWWWWWWWWW.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...762&e=4&u=/nm/20030225/en_nm/media_donahue_dc

MSNBC Dumps Donahue Show, Cites Weak Ratings


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cable news network MSNBC on Tuesday canceled Phil Donahue's nightly talk show after only six months on the air, citing poor ratings.




A pioneer in the talk show arena, the white-haired, energetic Donahue, 67, reemerged on MSNBC in July 2002 after a six-year hiatus. MSNBC hoped his star power could revitalize the flagging network which is running a distant third to rival news outlets Fox News, which is owned by News Corp. Ltd. and CNN, part of AOL Time Warner Inc.


"We're proud of the program and we're disappointed that the show was not able to attract the viewership we had hoped for and expected," MSNBC President Erik Sorenson said in a statement. The network and associated Web site are a joint venture of General Electric Co's NBC News and Microsoft Corp.


From the start, the show failed to draw an audience, and severely lagged behind "The O'Reilly Factor," the popular Fox News talk program hosted by Bill O'Reilly.


During February, a key "sweeps" month when viewership totals are used by television stations to set advertising rates, "Donahue" averaged just 446,000 viewers, MSNBC said. "The O'Reilly Factor" regularly drew more than 2 million, according to industry reports.


Donahue's last live show, featuring an interview with actress Rosie O'Donnell, aired on Monday, and repeat programs will air for the balance of the week. Starting next week, the time slot will be filled by an expanded version of "Countdown: Iraq" which is hosted by Lester Holt.


The move highlights the dire situation at 6-year-old MSNBC, which experts say has struggled to define itself next to the straight-laced tone of CNN's news programming, and the conservative swagger of Fox News.


MSNBC has failed several times to cobble together a hit prime-time schedule.


The departure of Donahue, whose previous self-titled show ran from 1967-1976, could now thrust the spotlight on a planned MSNBC program starring former Minnesota Governor and pro wrestler Jesse Ventura. Details of the show's start date and time period have not been announced.


The network also recently signed talk radio host and author Michael Savage
 
"The political talk show format has yet to prove -- and may never -- that it can support a liberal voice, said Andrew Tyndall, head of ADT Research, a television news consulting firm."

I wonder why that is... :rolleyes:


Diesle
 
Since MSNBC is pretty much the bottom of the list for cable TV, I wonder where he'll end up next?

Can't see him making it in sydication. Maybe this new liberal talk radio network that's being started?

Works for me. Phil will just drive it into the grave that much faster.
 
Poor baby. I feel for these people, I really do.

- Gabe
 
Most people have an aversion to rabid, drooling lunatics. Donahue fit that bill better than anyone except James Carville.

And now they're talking about Jesse as a host? Are they looking to gain the 14 year-old WWF fan demographic for a political talk show?

Anyone who's into stocks should short MSNBC.
 
A pioneer in the talk show arena, the white-haired, energetic Donahue, 67, reemerged on MSNBC in July 2002 after a six-year hiatus.
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Trends are a bitch, aren't they? ;)

There's a message here; don't expect the elitists of the left or their enablers in the [formerly] Big Three to recognize and/or admit it.

This is a very good thing...
 
MSNBC hoped his star power could revitalize the flagging network which is running a distant third to rival news outlets Fox News
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When is putting commie pinko bedwetters on considered a "draw"? :rolleyes:


I was hoping to read that his last show had been pre-empted by an infomercial. :evil:
 
In my dream of a perfect world, MSNBC would take on a decidedly libertarian slant to do the news. That way I'd have a news channel I could watch without getting indigestion.
However, the heads over at 30 Rock who are in charge of NBC and MSNBC broadcasting would never in a million years come up with such a plan, and given that MSNBC is based in New Jersey, it'd never fly.

Though I'm not surprised by MSNBC's flagging viewership. It's something that's been in the offing for nearly two years. (First occurence was when NBC canned a bunch of their graphic talent and shifted more of the burden over to MSNBC.)

The only on-air talent with any, well, talent is/was Ashleigh Banfield, and I haven't seen her on that channel in quite some time.

The article is right, though. Despite MSNBC's incredible graphics department, and awesome soundstage, they can't find a voice of their own, and its definately going to bite them, hard.

Hiring Donahue may prove to be the first major nail in the coffin of marginalization in the ratings.

Anyone who's into stocks should short MSNBC.
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MSNBC is a joint project between NBC Broadcasting and Microsoft. NBC is owned by (IIRC) General Electric, so even assuming MSNBC completely tanked, it probably wouldn't be even a blip on the radar of the stock market.
 
Recycling doesn't always work

... and that's all Donahue offered. (Plus his original audience following is mostly dead or in nursing homes.)

In "Ye Olden Days" his show was something different from the ususal network daytiome crap and soaps. He was "warm and engaging" and the middle-aged and up housewives loved him the way they follow Oprah today.

In the ad business we say his "demographics skewed older" - try ancient.

They even quietly overlooked it, when the self professed "devout Catholic" dumped his wife of 20 plus years and kids and married Marlo Thomas a couple of weeks later. It's his choice, but don't be a hypocrite about it, OK?

His original audience has moved on, in more ways than one and now, he's competing with hundreds of choices instead of three.

The TV industry is made up of "Born Followers". They are not going to risk the muliti millions it takes to put together a program, find advertisers and produce a show unless they have close to a guarantee of success to some degree.

The pitiful records of ever liberally skewed show is going to make it hard for any newtork or cable operation to risk it.

Bill Maher original version of Politically Incorrect on Comedy Central was really interesting and had a variety of opinions on each show. You'd find a panel with Ann Coulter, Alan Dershowitz, a Chicago Fireman and a housewife from Ohio on the show. It was genuinely interesting and funny.

The minute he moved to network he started to skew the guests to the liberal side and picked people that agreed with him. Guess what! All the people, me included, tuned out. We voted with our remote.

Bye Phil. Go back and count Marlo's shoes.

Don P.
 
I saw something about Maher being resurected on HBO recently...

- Gabe
 
Donahue couldn't draw flies if he smothered himself in feces!

Maher is back and on HBO. YAWN!!! The show is predictably liberal and anti-American. What else is new? I'll not be tuning in!
 
Maher is back and on HBO. YAWN!!!
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Exactly.

It always bothered me that that hypocritical bastard claimed to be a lbertarian while carrying buckets of water for the lefties.

Expect the sort of profile on his new show that we see on Sunday mornings with Stephie Stephanopolous...multiple leftists, sociofascists and neo-Marxists arrayed against a lone conservative, George Will.

That's about the right ratio... :cool:
 
Read the part about the "internal NBC study" for a good laugh.




Donahue rips MSNBC over cancellation
Thursday, February 27, 2003 Posted: 11:33 AM EST (1633 GMT)



NEW YORK (AP) -- Phil Donahue struck back at MSNBC on Wednesday for his firing, suggesting the network was too quick to pull the trigger and that it might be trying to "out-fox Fox" with conservative voices.

Donahue's political talk show, a distant third in the cable news ratings in his time slot, was abruptly pulled from the air after Monday's show. The show premiered last July 15.

The legendary talk show host noted that "Donahue's" ratings were better than anything else in struggling MSNBC's prime-time lineup.

"It took almost three years for Fox (News Channel) to overtake CNN," Donahue said in a statement Wednesday. "We had six months."

"My wish for the people who replace us is a longer time in the ring and a more patient management team loudly cheering on from the corner," he said. "This is the only way for a cable host on MSNBC to have any chance of being a contender."

MSNBC spokesman Alan Winikoff wouldn't comment on Donahue's assertions. "Phil has a right to issue a statement and we respect that," he said.

Donahue, a liberal who stumped for Ralph Nader's presidential candidacy in 2000, said he had been hoping "to break through the noisy drums of war on cable" and become a responsible platform for both sides of the issue.

He noted that the network recently hired conservative commentator Mike Savage as host of a weekend show, and retired GOP politicians Dick Armey and Joe Scarborough as contributors.

This suggests "a strategy to out-fox Fox," he said.

Meanwhile, the Web site www.allyourtv.com posted a commentary on Wednesday by Rick Ellis saying that he had been leaked an internal NBC study that described Donahue as "a tired, left-wing liberal out of touch with the current marketplace."

The report allegedly said Donahue presented a difficult face for NBC at a time of war, saying a nightmare scenario would be one in which his show becomes "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

Marlaine Selip, executive producer of "Donahue," said she was unaware of any such report.

"I think it's pretty incredible, if in fact it's true," she said.

Winikoff and Allison Gollust, spokeswoman for NBC News president Neal Shapiro, said they weren't aware that any such study existed. Gollust said the network wouldn't comment on an internal report anyway.

"Donahue," which is presenting reruns until the end of the week, will be replaced by an expanded version of MSNBC's war preparation news show "Countdown: Iraq."

According to Nielsen Media Research, the audience for Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" at 8 p.m. EST was six times larger than that for "Donahue."



http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/27/tv.donahue.ap/index.html
 
i've been laid up at home sick with the flu the last week, and had the distinct displeasure of watching phils interview with rosie o-o-o-o-please dont die odonnell.

in hindsight, that probably kept me sick for an extra day or two, but what was really mindboggling was that rosie kept bringing up how rich she was and how she had lots and lots of money. no joke, she kept bragging about her loot.
and heres something else that was maddeningly maddening: her take on the potential draft is that there should be one, so that the rich upper class, the senators, the rich people, can all then reconsider having their kids sent off to war. pity the buffoon didnt realize that HER adopted kids would also be drafted and her money couldnt save them from it.

funny thing is, i kept imagining an entrance wound on her left temple and an exit wound on her right.
 
It always bothered me that that hypocritical bastard claimed to be a lbertarian while carrying buckets of water for the lefties.
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Yeah, I have to agree with you on that one. When Maher said he was a "libertarian", I almost choked on my water. I think he wouldn't know libertarianism if it walked up to him and told him his fly was open. I always figured he had no idea about the meaning of the word. It sounds vaguely like "liberal", so I think he just claimed the label because he figured "libertarian" was some sort of principled or uber-liberal.
 
Donohue demise = free market in action, i.e., "Phil, we ain't buyin' whut your selling." Go home, stay home. Look up the meaning of the word "irrlevant". Enjoy your retirement. AMF!

Spaceman, Rosie's money most certainly can/will save her kids - she can just ship 'em off to school someplace offshore, like France, till the war is over - :D. Drft-dodging ain't that hard if you put your mind to it. Amazing how a few bucks can turn a common NYC guttersnipe into an elitist, eh?
 
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