MovieChat Forums > Classic TV > Favorite classic talk-shows?

Favorite classic talk-shows?

posted 9 years ago by MyMovieTVRomance
9 replies | jump to latest

Talk shows don't get enough love – yet they are what we always turn to, when we want to learn more about our favorite stars or feel closer to them, or just get an unexpected laugh from the show that is spontaneous, fresh, and for the most part, unscripted.

So, what are some of your classic TV favorites in terms of talk shows? I think they can be shows anywhere from the 1950s all the way through the 90s, because I think the 90s were probably the last area of "trash TV" in the classic talkshow style that we all remember. Ever since roughly the 2000s, talk shows have become more roundtable discussion shows with a rather cold, tabloid feeling to them. They don't seem as spontaneous, as natural, as exciting, or as open to us – the viewers.

So with that in mind, list some of your favorite classic talkshow titles, and even YouTube clips of those classics, if you can find them.

Some of my favorites include:

All of Dinah Shore's talk shows

Some of the old David Letterman stuff

Some of the old Joan Rivers stuff

And even some stuff from Phil Donahue.

Here is one of my favorite episodes of DONAHUE – guest starring Zsa Zsa Gabor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsN7fUNIUyM

Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!

[–] Patricia91 9 years ago

The Tonight Show with Jack Paar

[–] tmaj48 9 years ago

The Tomorrow show and The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder. Sure, Tom sometimes talked too much and went off on weird tangents, but that just made
the show more interesting. He usually interviewed only one or two guests in an hour, so they were more interesting than the 6-minute format of many of the other
talk shows. He always appeared to be asking questions off the top of his head (one
of his weirdest moments: interviewing musician Leon Redbone and insisting that Redbone was the same guy who played the character of Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live in the '70s. Redbone, mystified, kept denying it until Snyder
finally calmed down).

Many of the Dick Cavett interviews with classic stars are now available on DVD, and they're great to watch. Again, he often focused on one or two stars in an hour, so more in-depth talks with stars such as Robert Mitchum and Mel Brooks
are fascinating. His hour with Alfred Hitchcock is a lot of fun, and the outtakes
of the Katherine Hepburn interview, in which she demands that the set be rearranged to suit her grumpy self, is of interest both to her fans and non-fans
(like me).

Although the show was before my time, Open End, starring David Susskind, seems to have been a similar talk show. His 1965 interview with Jerry Lewis is available on DVD, and it's a fascinating show for people who grew up
with "funny" Jerry and may want to see the other side--pompous, egotistical Jerry. They won't be disappointed.

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] opryphantom1 9 years ago

Cavett; Susskind. Susskind once had Joey "the Hit man" on his show. I'm not talking about best selling records.

[–] just1Hitch 9 years ago

Dick Cavett was my favorite followed by Merv Griffin and Phil Donahue.

 Excuse me for talking while you're interrupting.

[–] Thor-Delta 9 years ago

An interview with a hitman certainly sounds like compelling television to me.

Poof! There Goes Perspiration!

[–] Angela11 8 years ago

I miss all of those shows, too. Plus, the Mike Douglas Show and the Vicki Lawrence Show.

[–] vvjti 8 years ago

in UK, 'Wogan' talk show.

Rio olympiad
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pVuC5sQvuU

[–] vein6 (1) a year ago

I watched the show from 1992, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which for me was very good because it included comedy and a unique musical performance https://monopolygo.io/