The Phil Donahue Show: Rev. Bob Harrington and Madalyn Murray O'Hair

The Phil Donahue Show: Rev. Bob Harrington and Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Syndicated
March 1970
Talk Show
VHS
B-

"The Chaplain of Bourbon Street" debates "the most hated woman in America."  It may be just my own biases, but Harrington comes across as smarmy and O'Hair as likable.  As in the Jerry Rubin episode, Phil is an awkward host, at one point facepalming over a simple phone call.  This is an edited together version of two episodes, one with a surprisingly good-natured one-on-one conversation between the two guests, and the other with the callers and studio audience.  Harrington is still a believer (he has a Facebook account); O'Hair was murdered, along with a son and grandson, in 1995, by a typesetter who worked for her organization, American Atheists.

This is the 1000th program I've reviewed from the 1970s!  And it won't even be the last.  But I promise I will get back to the '90s soon.