The origins of today?s trash daytime talk shows lie in Phil Donahue?s entrance to the talk show arena in the late 1960s. Previously, morning talk shows consisted of a combination of news stories, discussion and interviews, but his show, Donahue, was the first of its kind to involve audience interaction. More importantly, Donahue was the first to showcase controversial or unique real life stories. In the early seventies, topics on his show included homosexuality, which had never been addressed on national television before, adultery and other things that were considered too graphic and sexually explicit to be exhibited on television. As a result of this groundbreaking style of talk programming, Donahue often had trouble with censorship and was the only television show at the time that was frequently boycotted by major stations. Although Phil Donahue is today seen as one of the greatest talk show hosts of all time, ?many of the things people are complaining about on today?s talk shows were around more than 20 years ago on Donahue? . In the 1980s, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jesse Raphael and Geraldo all came onto the daytime talk show scene, adhering closely to the format which Donahue had proven

Some topics in this essay:
Jerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Vicki Abt, Fran Lebowitz, Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahues, Camille Paglia, African American, Whining Jer-ry, Cultural Tool, rikki lake, trash talk, jerry springer, oprah winfrey, daytime talk, talk viewers, tv talk, public forum, audience interaction, home viewers, springer rikki lake, jerry springer beating, trash talk viewers,