
David Susskind
Production · 1920 – 1987 · New York City, New York, USA
David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond the scope of others of the day. His first job after the war was as a press agent for Warner Brothers. Next, he was a talent agent for Century Artists, ultimately ending up in the Music Corporation of America's newly minted television programming department, managing Dinah Shore, Jerry Lewis, and others. In New York, Susskind formed Talent Associates, representing creators of material rather than performers. In 1954, Susskind became a producer of the NBC legal drama Justice, based on case files of the Legal Aid Society of New York. His program Open End began in 1958 on New York City's commercial independent station WNTA-TV and was so titled because the program continued until Susskind or his guests were too tired to continue. In 1961, Open End was constrained to two hours and went into national syndication. The show was retitled The David Susskind Show for its telecast on Sunday night, October 2, 1966. In the 1960s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out against American involvement in the Vietnam War. In the 1970s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out for gay rights. The show continued until its New York outlet canceled it in 1986. During his close to three-decade run, Susskind covered many controversial topics of the day, such as race relations, transsexualism, and the Vietnam War. His interview with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, which aired in October 1960, during the height of the Cold War, generated national attention. It is one of the very few talk show telecasts from the era that was preserved and can be viewed today. In a now notorious interview with then 25-year-old Muhammad Ali during a recently-unearthed 1968 appearance on the British program The Eamonn Andrews Show, Susskind displayed an intense antipathy and vitriol towards the famous boxer, whom he excoriated with withering criticism for refusing to be conscripted into the U.S. military for the Vietnam War. Some commentators have described this as a racist attack. Susskind was also a noted producer, with scores of movies, plays, and TV programs to his credit. His legacy is that of a producer of intelligent material at a time when TV had left its golden years behind and had firmly planted its feet in programming which had wide appeal, whether or not it was worth watching.
Series9
TV7.5Talk ShowThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · 96 votes
TV6.9ComedyNewsA late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.
Saturday Night Live
1975 · 527 votes
TV7.0FamilyComedyFour panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.
What's My Line?
1950 · 29 votes
TV5.8ComedyTalk ShowThe Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
The Mike Douglas Show
1961 · 11 votes
TV6.8Talk ShowThe Merv Griffin Show
1962 · 12 votes
TV6.8Talk ShowThe Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
The Dick Cavett Show
1968 · 22 votes
TV7.0Talk ShowThe David Susskind Show is an American television talk show hosted by David Susskind. The program began its existence in 1958 as Open End, and was broadcast by WNTA-TV in New York City. The title referred to the fact that the program continued until Susskind or his guests were too tired to continue late on a Sunday night.
The David Susskind Show
1959 · 2 votes
TVTalk ShowThe Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, was an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1970 and 1996. In 2002, Donahue was ranked twenty-ninth on TV Guide magazine's list of the fifty greatest television shows of all-time.
TV7.0Talk ShowComedyJackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine
1962 · 2 votes
Movies7
Movie7.7DramaRomanceWalter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
A Raisin in the Sun
1961 · 152 votes
Movie7.2DramaAfter suffering a brutal defeat and being told he can no longer fight, 37-year-old, scar-ridden prizefighter Louis 'Mountain' Rivera struggles to find a new direction in life.
Requiem for a Heavyweight
1962 · 86 votes
Movie6.3ComedyScience FictionA group of scientists take Simon, a psychology professor, as a test person for a brainwashing experiment and try to convince him that he is a living being from another planet.
Simon
1980 · 24 votes
Movie7.1DocumentaryBrash boxer Cassius Clay burst into the American consciousness in the early 1960s, just ahead of the Civil Rights movement. His transformation into the spiritually enlightened heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali is legendary, but this religious awakening also led to a bitter legal battle with the U.S. government after he refused to serve in the Vietnam War. This film reveals the perfect storm of race, religion and politics that shaped one of the most recognizable figures in sports history.
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
2013 · 20 votes
MovieDocumentaryIn 1961, David Susskind conducted a series of interviews with former President Harry Truman in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri. After picking Truman up at his home to take him to the Truman Presidential Library for the interviews over a number of days.
- Movie
Unsold pilot for Carol Lawrence's talk show
Movie9.0DramaTV MovieThe story of John Henry Faulk, a radio/TV personality of the 1950s, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Faulk sued the organization that was behind the blacklisting, and the resultant trial, and Faulk's victory, helped to put an end to the blacklisting period.
Fear on Trial
1975 · 1 votes