The Montel Williams Show

History

The series premiered July 8, 1991, with a thirteen-week trial run in select American markets. Based on its initial performance, the program entered national syndication beginning with its 14th broadcast week. In its early years, Montel was similar to most tabloid talk shows especially The Jerry Springer Show. As time went on, however, the genre became less popular, and toward the end of the show's run, Montel usually focused on inspirational stories and less controversial subjects. Common themes seen on Montel include finding lost loves, reuniting mothers who gave their children up for adoption, or stories of strong women who faced certain danger (such as rape or attempted murder) and fought their way out. Multiple sclerosis was also a frequent topic, as Williams suffers from the disease.

Most Wednesdays (and sometimes on Fridays as well during the summer), self-proclaimed psychic Sylvia Browne was Montel's guest, and performed psychic readings of guests as well as discussing her ideas about spirituality and the afterlife. Her predictions have been the target for much criticism, and her psychic abilities explained as cold reading by critics such as Robert S. Lancaster. She refused to partake in the One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge from James Randi, a prominent skeptic.

During its final week on the air, Montel's television talk show aired a series of clip shows known as "Finale Week" looking back on the show's past 17 seasons, including past guests and Browne's past appearances on the show.

Production and distribution

The series was produced by Mountain Movers for its entire run, with Out of My Way Productions co-producing on its first four seasons and then Letnom Productions for the following two seasons. The first three seasons were distributed by Viacom Enterprises. After Viacom's purchase of Paramount Pictures in March 1994, Viacom Enterprises was merged into Paramount Television's distribution arm, Paramount Domestic Television. PDT began distributing the show in fall 1994, and became CBS Paramount Domestic Television after the Viacom/CBS Corporation split in 2006. Its distributor changed names once again in 2007, as CPDT was merged with King World Productions to form the current distributor, CBS Television Distribution.

Montel originated from Television City in Hollywood, California, for its first season. For season two, the show moved to Unitel Video's studio space on West 53rd Street in New York City, where it remained for the rest of its run.

On January 30, 2008, the end of production of new episodes of The Montel Williams Show at the end of the 2007–2008 television season was announced.

Reception

Critical response

New York listed it as one of the worst television shows of 1995.

Awards and nominations

Cancellation and further developments

It was reported in Variety that CBS TV Distribution terminated the show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008–2009 season. The final episode aired in most markets on May 16, 2008, with some markets airing it at a later date (one week later).

In June 2008, Ofcom of the UK ruled that ITV2 (which aired the show during its run) "breached standards with a repeat of the Montel Williams Show in which a 'desperate' couple were told by self-professed psychic Sylvia Browne that their missing son, Shawn Hornbeck was dead - even though he turned up alive the previous year." The ruling concerned "breaching rule 2.1 of the Broadcasting Code, which relates to protecting viewers against offensive material."

Notes

References

References

1. Johnson, Allan. (1998-06-09). "Staying power montel williams steers his talk show straight ahead to a new time". Chicago Tribune.
2. Lavin, Cheryl. (1996-04-10). "Climb Every Mountain Montel WIlliams Hosts the Fastest-Rising Talk Show on TV, Stars in a Prime-Time Drama and Has Written His Autobiography, but There's One Peak He Thinks He'll Ever Conquer". Chicago Tribune.
3. Ramsay, Carolyn. (1991-07-08). "The New Host on the Talk-Show Block : Television: Montel Williams, a former Navy man and lecturer to teens, wants to dethrone Oprah and Phil. His 13-week trial run begins today.". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
4. James Endrst; Courant TV Critic. (1995-12-25). "Montel Broadens Role From Talk To Action - Hartford Courant". Articles.courant.com.
5. (January 2012). "More Than Just Talk Not Satisfied With His Daytime Chat Show, Montel Williams Makes a Play For Primetime on "Matt Waters"". [[New York Daily News]].
6. (1991-08-30). "The Montel Williams Show". [[Entertainment Weekly]].
7. (October 1, 2021). "Williams now active voice for MS studies". [[The Baltimore Sun]].
8. (June 1, 2018). "Montel Williams Hospitalized 'Out of an Abundance of Caution' After 'He Overdid It' Exercising". [[People (magazine).
9. (October 28, 2007). "Sylvia Browne: is she for real?". [[The Guardian]].
10. (April 17, 2014). "Hauntings, homeopathy, and the Hopkinsville Goblins: using pseudoscience to teach scientific thinking". [[Frontiers in Psychology]].
11. (September 7, 1999). "Gotham's Unitel shutters units". [[Variety (magazine).
12. [http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6527311.html The Montel Williams Show to End Original Production - 1/30/2008 7:25:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable] {{webarchive. link. (December 23, 2008)
13. Leonard, John. ["Television: Worst"]({{Google books).
14. Morfoot, Addie. (March 8, 2004). "Vice-depiction Prism noms announced". [[Variety (magazine).
15. Marcus, Lawrence. (January 24, 2006). "GLAAD hands out noms". [[Variety (magazine).
16. (January 30, 2008). "Montel Williams calls it quits". Variety.
17. (2008-02-01). "The Montel Williams Show to End". [[Entertainment Weekly]].
18. (2008-03-19). "Last taping of the {{sic". [[New York Daily News]].
19. (June 23, 2008). "ITV wrong over psychic claim repeat". [[The Press Association]].