Gawker: montel williams

Montel Williams: He's Back!

Hamilton Nolan — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:03:23 EDT

Hey, empathetic bald man Montel Williams is "getting his own national radio show through a multi-year deal with Air America Radio," which is kinda like Maury Povich getting a "national" column in Steppin Out.

Ha, joking, Air America! We're just saying it's maybe not the biggest thing Montel has ever done...

For 17 years, Williams was host and executive producer of The Montel Williams Show, one of the longest running daytime Talk shows in TV. He is currently launching a multimedia business based on his "Living Well with Montel" brand. He's also published eight best-selling books.

Bonus benefit: there is once again at least one black person working in the media. That was quick! USA! [Mediaweek]

Reacting late last night on Daily Kos to...

Mark — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:45:55 EST

Reacting late last night on Daily Kos to the news that daytime TV's Montel Williams Era was coming to an abrupt end, Brandon Friedman speculates that a recent Fox News Channel appearance, in which the former Marine decried his hosts' obsession (and, to be fair, that of the entire American media) with covering Heath Ledger over the Iraq war, might have had something to do with his show's whacking, as a non-renewal by a number of Fox-owned stations contributed to its demise: "Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job." There's more to the argument than that pullquote (he has video, and also readily recognizes that Montel might have already known his show's fate and decided to "cut loose"), but we'll end there to fuel conjecture that somewhere, a displeased Rupert Murdoch whispered to a lackey, "I want his career buried deeper than that instigator Sally Jesse Raphael's." [Daily Kos]

Montel Williams Show Axed!!!

Joshua David Stein — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:08:22 EST

Montel Williams, the man who has done the more for innovations in men's collars since Jawaharlal Nehru, is out of a job. CBS is pulling the plug on his eponymous talk show after 17 years. In the daytime talk show milieu, Montel was always—to me—the hip one I could relate to. He didn't wear a collar (as noted); he had a big diamond stud in his ear; he was not gay but had a certain prance to his body. He also introduced me, at a tender age, to the concept of polyamory which I have never forgotten. He was trashy, sure, but with joyous almost feral eyes and a quick easy laugh, Montel lacked the shrillness of Jerry Springer (now being recreated by Harvey Keitel on Broadway); the self-seriousness of Geraldo; the prurient school marminess of Sally Jessy Raphael and the stale obesity of Ricki Lake. After the jump, some of our favorite Montel moments.

Oh, those are all we found. No wonder his show got cancelled!

Long before Dr. Phil first browbeat a thick-headed...

Mark — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:15:17 EST

Long before Dr. Phil first browbeat a thick-headed Oprah couch-guest into taking control of her drug/weight/self-image problem (we think we've covered the likely bases there) and ushered in a bold new era of daytime TV tough-love, there was Montel Williams, who, unlike the aforementioned, shouty fake-doctor, hardly needed to raise his voice to let the troubled know it was time to shape up. Alas, the Montel Era is coming to a close at the completion the current season, the show's 17th. Maybe it's just our grief talking, but we feel like it's not the craziest thing to hope that Williams might soon be fielding a call from Barbara Walters, offering him a chance to be The View's first penis-bearring permanent co-host, as seemingly countless days listening to Sherri Shepherd's nonsense have finally made her consider shaking up their tired format. [USA Today.com]

Montel Williams: Newspaper Interns Are Dangerous, Must Be Eliminated

Maggie — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:50:53 EST

Over the weekend, multiple sclerosis victim and talkshow host Montel Williams threatened a teenage newspaper intern who asked him a question at a press event. "Don't look at me like that," he said to her. "Do you know who I am? I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up." On the next "Montel Williams Show"—"Former U.S. Naval Officers Behaving Badly: What to do when your child is threatened by crazy men with expert tactical ordnance deployment."

What Could Montel Williams Be Looking At?

Joshua Stein — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:15:14 EDT

Talk show host and proponent of the collarless dress shirt Montel Williams was at the Fox Business channel launch last night, sporting some serious diamond studs and an escort who had perfected the art of the side-boob. He waited for a lonnnnnnng time to talk to Rupert Murdoch.