The Phil Donahue TV show producer and host "Phil Donahue" dies at 88
The producer and host of the old and famous Phil Donahue TV show
By Sajar Nafees
22 August 2024
Pioneering daytime host of The Phil Donahue TV Show passed away on 18th of August, Sunday. Although the reason has been undisclosed yet, according to a statement made by his family he died of a long illness and was surrounded by most of his family in the last hours.
It is come into record that Phil Donahue health had been taking a trip downhill for a long time now and was very well hidden from media and public, only his closest ones knew about it.
When did The Phil Donahue tv show come into existence?
10 years after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1957, Donahue started producing and hosting a daytime TV show called The Phil Donahue Show in 1967. He was the first person to implement the idea of studio audience interaction and bring new ideas into American living rooms. It was not long before The Phil Donahue tv show started to gain unimaginable fame mainly because Donahue’s devotion to focusing on controversial and social issues touching on matters of women’s rights, homosexuality and misdeeds of the Catholic Church. A big step came when production was moved to WGN-TV in Chicago in 1974, with the show’s title shortened to Donahue.
He won his first daytime Emmy for Outstanding Host in 1977. Phil Donahue net worth is estimated to be $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Why did Phil Donahue retire?
Phil Donahue paved the way for a lot of other existing and well-known hosts of that time such as Geraldo Rivera, Sally Jessy Raphael and Oprah Winfrey.
According to NBC News, Winfrey said, “If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no ‘Oprah Winfrey’ show. He was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes — that we’re intelligent, we’re concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves.”
Unfortunately these talk shows became the reason Donahue had to retire when he started losing viewers to Raphael and Winfrey and after years of declining ratings he decided to retire before the show could get canceled.