Morton Downey, Jr. – Before His Time?

The birth of trashy talk shows has to be Morton Downey, Jr. With just a little research – I found out that I’m not alone in my thinking.

I remember watching his show when nothing else was on (even more possible back then) and thinking:

Wow! This guy really has a national show? He’s annoying and crass and so are his guests. Though sometimes, I don’t mind watching it.

After all, this was ground breaking trash TV – only nobody knew it.
Hell, my parents hated that I watched The Three Stooges and The Young Ones.
Nobody knew The Morton Downey Jr. Show would lead TV into Ricki Lake, Leeza Gibbons, Jerry Springer, etc.

Since Ron Paul is in the political spotlight recently, I’ll post his visit to the show first.
Watch and listen to how an audience member and Ron Paul trade verbal attacks – this didn’t happen before The Morton Downey Jr. Show.

Here’s the proof of the birth of trash talk TV. Remember, this is well before any popular trash talk TV you watch today. Almost cheesy compared to today’s trash talk TV.

I don’t think you need any more proof, over 6 minutes combined from these 2 clips has to be enough.