The Mike Douglas Show

The Mike Douglas Show
Genre	Talk show
Presented by	Mike Douglas
Narrated by	Jay Stewart Charlie Tuna
Opening theme	"Here's Mike"
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	18
No. of episodes	4017
Production company(s)	Group W Productions / Westinghouse Broadcasting Company (1961-1980) Mike Douglas Entertainment (1980-1982)
Distributor	Group W Productions (1961-1980) Syndicast (1980-1982)
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndicated
Picture format	Black-and-white (1961-1967) Color television (1968-1982)
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	December 1, 1961 (1961-12-01) – November 30, 1981 (1981-11-30)

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that aired in syndication from 1961 to 1982, distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations.

The program featured light banter with guests and musical performances. Instead of an opening comedic monologue (as was the case with The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, 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 in 1965 called Morey Amsterdam 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 won the Stanley Cup.

The Mike Douglas Show studio at KYW-TV in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia "Mike Douglas Show" lobby-entrance

In August 1965, the show moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia to a small basement studio located in the KYW-TV 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, 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 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 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, where it remained until the end of the show's run in 1982.

In the fall of 1980, Westinghouse dropped Douglas in favor of John Davidson, although his show continued, with Syndicast taking over the program's distribution. However, in an effort to boost falling ratings during the show's final season, a third of the staff was fired and the program was revamped with a traveling roadshow format, retitled The Mike Douglas Entertainment Hour. The format change did not help, and Douglas' show was cancelled at the end of the 1981-82 season.

Guests

The show featured the first television appearance of then 2 year old Tiger Woods who showed off his swing for Bob Hope and James Stewart. Others who appeared on the show over the years include Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Meredith, Sam Sheppard, Mother Teresa, Jerry Rubin, Angela Davis, Madelyn Murray O'Hair, Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Gene Kelly, Gene Tierney, Lucille Ball, Vivian Vance, Mark Hamill, Ginger Rogers, Ricardo Montalban, Howard Keel, Celeste Holm, Dorothy Lamour, Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, Natalie Wood, Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, Peter Lawford, Nanette Fabray, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Carrie Fisher, Robert Wagner, Diahann Carroll, George Hamilton, Victor Buono, Peter Ustinov, Tammy Grimes, Valerie Harper, Richard Dreyfuss, John Travolta, Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Ethel Merman, Sammy Davis, Jr., Harrison Ford, Eydie Gorme, Jack Jones, Harry Belafonte, Liza Minnelli, Paul Anka, Robert Goulet, Carol Lawrence, Edie Adams, Debbie Reynolds, Gwen Verdon, Connie Francis, Olivia Newton-John, Ben Vereen, Joey Heatherton, Frankie Laine, Eartha Kitt, Sergio Mendes, Buddy Rich, Jerry Vale, Lola Falana, Frankie Valli, Pearl Bailey, Lou Rawls, Yank Barry, Tina Turner, Tom Waits, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Kenny Rogers, Ray Stevens, Janis Ian, Bernie Taupin, Ian Anderson, Marcel Marceau, Muhammad Ali, Howard Cosell, Joe Namath, Mason Reese, Ralph Nader, Rex Reed, Martha Mitchell, Victor Borge, Kreskin, Imogene Coca, Phyllis Diller, Fannie Flagg, Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers, Elayne Boosler, Milton Berle, George Burns, Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks, Alan King, Bill Cosby, Henny Youngman, Jack Carter, Redd Foxx, Rodney Dangerfield, Jan Murray, Shecky Greene, Buddy Hacket, Joey Bishop, Red Skelton, Steve Allen, Dan Rowan, Dick Martin, Marty Allen, Robert Klein, George Carlin, Sandy Baron, Artie Johnson, Frank Gorshin, Soupy Sales, Jonathan Winters, Charlie Callas, Norm Crosby, Rip Taylor, Foster Brooks, Irwin Corey, Leonard Barr, Pat Cooper, Rich Little, Stan Kann, Steve Landesberg, Andy Kaufman, Jimmie Walker, Jay Leno, Moe Howard of The Three Stooges, Gloria Parker with her Musical Glasses, Ruth Dickson, Jimmy Edmonson (better known as "Professor Backwards" who appeared more times than any other guest).

Musical performers

• The Electric Light Orchestra
• The 5th Dimension
• James Brown
• The Beach Boys
• The Bee Gees
• Chuck Berry
• Brooklyn Dreams
• Ray Charles
• Cher
• Bo Diddley
• Minnie Riperton
• The Electric Prunes
• Every Mother's Son
• Aretha Franklin
• Liberace
• Virgil Fox
• Gary Lewis and the Playboys
• Genesis
• Herman's Hermits
• The Jacksons
• Jefferson Airplane
• Dick Jensen
• John Lennon
• KISS
• Little Anthony & the Imperials
• The Miracles
• Moby Grape
• The Rolling Stones
• Linda Ronstadt
• Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.
• Sly & the Family Stone
• Barbra Streisand
• Donna Summer
• The Supremes
• The Turtles
• Frank Zappa
• Billy Joel
• The Raspberries
• Luiz Bonfá
• The Four Aces
• Player

Guest co-hosts

There was a different co-host every week on the show during its entire run, including James Brown, Cesar Romero, Jackie Gleason, Barbara Streisand, Joan Fontaine, Anne Baxter, Jimmy Dean, Richard Thomas, Florence Henderson, Brooke Shields, Shelley Berman, Richard Pryor, Dyan Cannon, The 5th Dimension, Suzanne Somers, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, Minnie Pearl, Shirley Bassey, Bobby Darin, Tony Randall, Kaye Ballard, Totie Fields, David Brenner, Ted Knight, Bernadette Peters, Kate Jackson, Harry Chapin, Rod McKuen, Dick Gregory, Joe E. Brown, Forrest Tucker, Pat Carroll, Vivian Vance, Anita Bryant, Louie Nye, Pat O'Brien, Linda Darnell, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Pat Harrington, Jr., George Jessel, Dody Goodman, Billy DeWolfe, Hildegarde, The Smothers Brothers Cicely Tyson, Karen Valentine, Johnny Mathis, Joel Grey, Carol Channing, Anne Murray, Anthony Newley, Marvin Hamlisch, Patty Duke, Cher, Mel Tillis, Steve Lawrence, Martha Raye, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Frankie Avalon, Charlton Heston, Gordon MacRae, Richard Harris, Red Buttons, Billy Crystal, David Steinberg, Hugh O'Brian, Burt Reynolds, William Shatner, John Lennon & Yoko Ono. The producer for the episodes with John Lennon and Yoko Ono was Michael A. Krauss, who came up with the idea to book John and Yoko.

Awards

Year	Award	Result	Category	Recipient
1967	Emmy Award	Won	Program and Individual Achievements in Daytime Programming - Individuals	Mike Douglas
1977			Outstanding Individual Director for a Daytime Variety Program	Don Roy King (For episode "Mike in Hollywood with Ray Charles and Michel Legrand")
1978			Outstanding Individual Achievement in Daytime Programming	David M. Clark
1981			Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts - Costume Designer	Dayton Anderson (For episode on February 9, 1981)

External links

• Official website, being licensing link for Mike Douglas Show clips from King World Productions, now part of CBS Television Distribution.
• The Mike Douglas Show at the Internet Movie Database
• The Mike Douglas Show at TV.com