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View Full Version : Hip to be Square: Mike Douglas, r.i.p.


Crimen y Castigo
11 Aug 2006, 05:21 PM
Mike Douglas, Talk Show Host, Dead at 81. (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Douglas.html?hp&ex=1155355200&en=5a698c2b927a57bb&ei=5094&partner=homepage)

My mom used to watch The Mike Douglas Show religiously.

But even as a kid, I knew that guy was the squarest guy on the planet. Which is why I was so shocked when I found out he had John Lennon and Yoko Ono as guest hosts for a full week in 1972. There's a nice account of that sociological explosion here (http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/07/a_week_imagined.html) and here (http://citypaper.net/articles/070998/covsidebar.shtml).

I remember seeing clips of those shows online, but now that Rhino is selling DVDs of the whole week, I can't find them anymore. But it's really a great time capsule, watching the hippies mix with the straight world -- as well as gawking at the genuine weirdness that was Yoko Ono.

So Mike gets serious props for sticking his neck out. Rest in peace.