Talk-show pioneer returns to television

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- In the beginning, there was Phil.

History reminds us that on Nov. 6, 1967, "The Phil Donahue Show" premiered.

Then, 29 years and nearly 7,000 shows later, after a million audience members had passed through his studios in Dayton, Ohio, then Chicago and New York, he taped his final "Donahue" on May 2, 1996.

By then, the genre he pioneered -- the syndicated weekday talk show with audience interaction and viewers phoning in -- was jammed with tawdry alternatives.

"The daytime arena changed, the ground moved under my feet," says Donahue with a knowing laugh, "and I was glad to leave."

Now he's back, ready to start anew Monday night on MSNBC, a cable network that wasn't born yet when he last asked "Is the caller there?"

Since its July 15, 1996, sign-on, MSNBC has spun its wheels in competition with CNN and especially Fox News Channel. Now it hopes to gain traction with a revamped schedule on which "Donahue" will occupy a key position.

During the same period, Donahue says he was happy learning how to sail and not wearing a necktie. He threw in with Ralph Nader's third-party presidential bid, which in November 2000 received 3 percent of the vote. Last September, like millions of others, he was rocked by the terrorist attacks.

Corporate, Catholic pull

Soon after that, corporate corruption and scandals in the Catholic church began to grab headlines. Donahue felt like getting back in the talk-show game.

"There was never a smorgasbord of issues in my lifetime like we have now," he says, cocking his silver head for that familiar pop-eyed take with which he highlights a point.

In his freshly claimed office at MSNBC headquarters, he outlines "Donahue" Redux: news-based, most often live, no studio audience for him to dash up and down the aisles of. It will be, he promises, "a thoughtful program that we hope will feature lots of voices. We're gonna spend a lot of time on what ails us" as a society.

Airing weeknights at 8 p.m. EDT, the new "Donahue" will pit the Old Master against cable-news talk champ Bill O'Reilly on Fox and CNN's recently acquired marquee talent Connie Chung.

So here he is, a TV veteran who in December will turn 67, reprising his act on a medium usually beholden to the next new splashy thing.

And, most intriguingly of all, he remains a self-avowed, unapologetic liberal -- not exactly commonplace on TV, however vilified by some the media may be for its supposedly liberal slant.

"Much buzz!" says Donahue. "'Here comes the liberal. Will he be fair? Will he be messianic?' I don't think conservatives have to take this test. They're not scary. Liberals are scary. Liberals challenge the present order, and we cannot be surprised that they're not very celebrated."

By contrast, conservative pundits are on a winning streak.

Maybe Donahue will be TV's next has-been. Or maybe, just maybe, he will be the beneficiary of an enduring cultural truth: Everything old is new again.

Of course, Donahue's participation in the Nader campaign isn't necessarily a plus, as he is the first to admit. "That's not a hot launching pad for talk-show faces at this moment in our national life."