The roots of raunch and rage

You can thank (or blame) Morton Downey Jr., who died last week, for planting the seed that produced today's in-your-face TV genre.

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 19, 2001

To some, he was a blustery, overblown hype master whose 15 minutes of fame ran out almost as quickly as they began.

But to me, Morton Downey Jr. will always be the father of modern television.

He showed us all just how far -- some might say how low -- TV could go.

Downey, 68, died of lung cancer last week, an ironic end for a chain-smoking TV bully who delighted in blowing smoke at guests who displeased him.

Debuting to New York City audiences in 1987, his show (along with Geraldo Rivera's Geraldo) shredded daytime talk TV convention: Guests screamed at each other like professional wrestlers while Downey whipped up his audience with stunts like slapping a gay activist and wrapping his behind in an American flag to "salute" an Iranian visitor.

Before Downey went national in 1988, TV was like a 6-year-old child that hadn't really tested its boundaries. His parade of anger and bizarre behavior didn't just inspire talk schlockmeisters such as Maury Povich and Jerry Springer; every combative, in-your-face show, from CNBC's Hardball to CBS' Survivor, owes a debt to the wiry master of TV mayhem.

Take a look at the true TV legacy of an American original.

The Phil Donahue Show (1970-1996)

The grandfather. Nationally syndicated in 1970, Donahue pioneered the daytime talk format of plunking interview guests before a studio audience and taking questions from the crowd. But daytime TV's growing taste for raunch and rage was the beginning of his end.

Sally Jessy Raphael (1985- ) and Oprah (1986- )

Both started as female-skewed Donahue clones. Raphael's show has veered toward tabloid topics such as "Teens Who Flaunt Their Sexuality" while Winfrey has built an empire on her cult of personality and self-improvement.

The Morton Downey Jr. Show (1987-1990) and Geraldo (1987-1998)

These shows developed what one expert calls "confrontainment TV." Downey proved that you could draw an audience with screaming guests, shouting audience members and a host who silences people by shouting "Zip it, puke brain." Geraldo's slightly more measured approach proved that Downey should have distanced himself more from the sleaze.

Robert Downey Jr.

No relation.

The Maury Povich Show/Maury (1991- )

Launched into "confrontainment" after anchoring the tabloid TV news show A Current Affair, Povich offers the same exploitative topics Downey and Rivera pioneered, cloaked in a veil of empathy and kindness.

Jerry Springer (1992- )

Hosting a more extreme parade of weirdness than Downey ever attempted (one topic: "You're Too Fat to Make Porn!"), Springer uses Downey's justifications (giving voice to the working class), but carefully distances himself from the circus he creates.

Add pointy-headed political junkies

The O'Reilly Report (1996- )

Former Inside Edition anchor Bill O'Reilly also claims to represent the common man while shouting down Washington insiders on his Fox News Channel show.

Hardball (1998- )

Give host Chris Matthews a cigarette and take away some IQ points, and he could be channeling Downey in this MSNBC political shout-fest.

Follow Downey's most extreme guests home

Cops (1989- )

Video verite clips of police arresting mostly poor, often minority lawbreakers. Demonizes the working class better than Downey or Springer ever could.

Add a European-style taste for bizarre relationship shows

Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? (2000)

Riding the fine line between shocking viewers and repulsing them, this televised travesty of a wedding went too far.

Survivor (2000- )

Isolating 16 people on a tropical island with little food or amenities, this CBS show took the controlled reality of "confrontainment" TV to new heights.

Chains of Love (2001)

What's left after stranding people on a desert island? UPN will chain four of them to a prospective mate for several days April 17, eliminating one after another until a couple is left. Somewhere, Downey is dragging on a Marlboro and smiling.

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