Mike Still Makes Your Day, Page 4

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Mike Makes Your Day IV Hollywood and The Bitter End *When Mike had been a staple of the CBS o-and-o stations, he had done occasional two-week or three-week stints at Television City in Hollywood.

However, he was still the hometown fellow at heart to his audience. While the move to Burbank provided a more accessible guest roster, a portion of the charm of The Mike Douglas Show was lost. The daily afternoon visits began to look similar to every other talk offering in syndication, with the exception of Phil Donahue. The Mike-Merv-Dinah race just had different home bases (Mike at NBC Burbank, Merv at the Hollywood Palace and Dinah at CBS Television City). While Mike still had a loyal following and led in most of his markets, the Mike in Hollywood shows somehow didn't have the same fit as Cleveland and Philadelphia.

In February 1979, some rumblings developed---some even beyond the knowledge of Mike Douglas. In a few long-time Mike markets, ratings began a southward turn. In 1978, The Mike Douglas Show was still pulling a 47 per cent share of audience in Jacksonville. In winter '79, the numbers suddenly and abruptly fell to a 31 share. Was it the Hollywood move? Was it the audience suddenly getting older? Was it Merv opposite on the NBC affiliate? Was it an increasing inroad by popular off-network sitcoms on the ABC affiliate? Or the rise of independent stations? The Jacksonville story was just one of several, though in the hinterlands, Mike was still the king.

As Mike later said publicly and in his book, When the Going Gets Tough, he knew the ratings concerns. What he did not know was Group W, the syndicator for whom he made made millions for 18 years, was quietly scouting for his replacement.

In February 1980, the shocking news was delivered: The Mike Douglas Show would be canceled in September 1980, to be replaced by The John Davidson Show, an attempt at a younger, hipper afternoon audience (notwithstanding the fact Davidson had failed in three attempts at summer variety shows on NBC and ABC). The news was devastating to Mike on two accounts: one, his perceived disloyalty from Group W (in Vicki Lawrence's autobiography, she recounts a conversation at the time of her battles with Group W over her '90s talk show and Roseanne recounted to Vicki how Group W was the company which did in Mike Douglas, a long-time favorite of both comediennes); and two, his anger at Davidson---a friend whom Mike had showcased frequently during the '60s and '70s and whom had co-hosted the Douglas show on at least two occasions.

Mike's anger became public in a hurry. In a Good Morning America interview with David Hartman, Mike made no bones about his hurt at Westinghouse and his bitter disappointment at Davidson. The next week, Davidson was interviewed by GMA, in which Davidson said he had tried to call Mike but Douglas would not take the call. He said he still considered Mike a friend.

But in a rally not seen in television since Lawrence Welk put together a massive syndicated network after his cancellation on ABC, Mike quickly aligned with syndication distributor Syndicast (which had predominantly offered sports programs and specials) to put together a network of 188 stations, including some in markets which had previously dropped Mike. Broadcasting magazine called Mike's reconstituted show "the biggest success story of the 1980-81 season" and "one of the biggest and quickest comebacks ever." In many cities, Mike would have a direct shootout with Davidson. A major coup was in Chicago, where Mike would be slotted in the noon-to- 1:30 p.m. slot on WGN, which was just ascending as a national superstation, as the lead-out for the surging Donahue. Variety suggested "The Mike Douglas Show may turn out to become John Davidson's worst nightmare."

But Broadcasting suggested two causes for concern in Mike's camp. First, to get the Syndicast deal, Mike was virtually having to bankroll the production himself, rather than relying on the partnership with Group W for production dollars. Second, the "new" Mike Douglas Show would be distributed on a "barter" advertising arrangement, in which the 90 minutes would result in stations splitting ad time with the syndicator on a 10/10 basis, with Syndicast and Mike Douglas Entertainments, Inc., getting a full ten minutes of commercial time for national ads. If The Mike Douglas Show was to survive on stations giving up so much advertising inventory, it had to establish ratings success quickly.

Mike pushed a huge promotional campaign. A new, jazzy opening to the show, with the ironic shot of Mike with his back to a still camera wearing a sweatshirt bearing the words MIKE'S BACK, launched the debut in September 1980. Mike moved to a smaller L.A. studio, which had more of the feel of Philadelphia. He even brought on three of the stars of television's hottest series, Dallas (Steve Kanaly, Victoria Principal and Linda Gray) as co-hosts on separate weeks in the first two months of the revival.

But the cracks developed early. Partially because of frequent pre-emption by Chicago Cubs baseball in the first month of the new series, Mike's ratings never got off the ground on WGN. In Jacksonville, WTLV---the ABC affiliate which had faced Mike for 19 years---picked up Mike for 4-5:30 p.m. for a half-hour earlier start on Davidson on WJXT. Neither Mike nor Davidson were hitting the target and WTLV, which was trying to expand its early news to an hour, was not getting the lead-in numbers it desired. In 26 weeks, Mike had shifted to the weaker WJKS for a one-hour morning slot. In Atlanta, a long-time stronghold for Mike, the ratings were his lowest ever. In Philadelphia, Mike's numbers fell to an all-time low 3. The Philly fanatics still hadn't forgiven him for leaving, much as Chicago viewers would turn on Donahue in the '80s for bolting for New York.

However, few television personalities have ever faced the vitriolic barbs of the kind dished out by Chicago Sun-Times critic Gary Deeb. Almost from the beginning of Mike's move to WGN, Deeb was relentless in his attacks on Mike. I asked Mike about that in a phone call question in 1983 during his guest shot on Mutual Radio's Larry King Show. He said: "Yes, it was one of the most difficult things we ever encountered. What's the hardest about it is when you're not really sure why. I had never even met Deeb. But he decided to make us his favorite target. The only thing you can do is try to ignore it and one day realize, he'll probably get his." And Deeb ultimately faded from view as a major TV critic.

Mike tried everything short of Merv Griffin's much-lampooned "theme" shows to regain the audience. In early 1981, he even added a series of "contributing editors," including Roots author Alex Haley. Nothing seemed to work. WGN had relegated to Mike to 3:30 a.m. Even in Dothan, Ala., Mike was filling the overnight hours at 4 a.m.

Syndicast agreed to hang in one more year in the fall of 1981 with a retitled Mike Douglas Entertainment Hour, reduced to 60 minutes---a trend Johnny Carson had begun the previous year by slicing the length of The Tonight Show. Mike still hung onto about 115 stations, mostly in the morning and overnight hours. But in his 9 and 10 a.m. slots, he was often facing the new king of daytime, who had revolutionized the attention of the younger female audience of the '80s: Phil Donahue. In every situation, Mike was killed in the ratings.

By midseason 1982, Syndicast and Mike agreed to part company and Mike strung together a patchwork series of stations with syndicator MT Television, which had distributed The Richard Simmons Show. However, the weak financing forced Mike to do some near-embarrassing money deals, such as originating an entire hour from a bowling center and focusing the show on bowling, in exchange for the lanes footing the bill for the day's production.

In March 1982, 21 years after its triumphant start in Cleveland, The Mike Douglas Show quietly faded from view. Viewers in most of the country were not even aware Mike was still on the air, as he had lost most of his key cities or stations. But it wasn't over yet.