Reply #33: He was indeed. I had the pleasure of working around him once. [View All]

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It was during one wee aberrant time in my career when I worked at the then-fledgling CNN in L.A. LONG before they became what they became, and they were still sneered at, called "Chicken Noodle News" by a lot of other people in the industry who were rawther, well, short-sighted, shall we say. By then, Mike Douglas was in the waning days of what had been an impressive career. He was depressed, you could tell, because all he had by then was this "Mike Douglas - People NOW" show in the same time block that Larry King now occupies. It was as though they threw him a bone. One time, his whole show got preempted because news needed the satellite time to feed something so HQ in Atlanta could get it right away instead of waiting til Mike Douglas's show was over, an hour or so later. I remember the assistant bureau chief at the time going to him and explaining it - "Mr. Douglas, we needed the satellite time. I'm very sorry, but it couldn't be helped. But we saved 60 dollars." The "60 dollars" was what was saved by not having to order up extra satellite time to feed the news story. It just hurt like hell to watch this gentle veteran, such a pro, listen to this pathetic excuse and nod graciously. When the assistant bureau chief went back into the news room, Mike Douglas was still standing there in the hallway, shaking his head. He was understandably upset about having his whole frickin' show dumped for this. And he muttered - a couple of times - "...but we saved 60 dollars. SIXTY dollars." I was SO embarrassed by that, and I'd had nothing to do with it. But it was just fucking EMBARRASSING!!! By then, someone of the caliber of Mike Douglas deserved to be treated with - oh, say, maybe a LITTLE more respect. That was such an awful, painful moment. And he handled it so gracefully. Somebody else woulda thrown a tantrum or something. And you KNEW, deep down, just by looking at him, how it had hurt him to the heart. Even so, he had class and old-style elegance, and treated everyone around him, down to the lowest underlings and rookies, with great respect and comaraderie. He was a genuinely nice man.

Mike Douglas deserved better than that. A LOT better. And frankly, Larry King was HARDLY an improvement. May he rest in peace, and may God give him a MUCH better timeslot!