Donahue wasn't extreme, to be sure, but he set the stage for the confrontational format the other guys exploited. It was Donahue that eschewed the big time movie-star-plugging-their-latest-flick appearance or the musician singing their big hit, a staple of shows before Donahue.

Instead, he took on issues with unknown guests, solicited questions from the audience and even took phone calls when it was on locally. Nobody had done that on TV before. 

It can be argued the Riveras and the Morton Downey Jrs. took what he started and perverted it into what became the Jerry Springer prototype, which sadly still exists today in shows like Steve Wilkos, a former Springer on-set security guy. Obviously he learned a lot stopping the fights on that show.

Unfortunately, now he seems more interested in starting them. 

Too bad he also paved the way for another "Phil" to become famous on talk TV.
Dr. Phil.
ugh.

 

Hansa wrote:

The ironic thing is Springer, a former local news anchor (and mayor!), launched his show as a serious, Donohue type show but quickly pivoted to tabloid to compete with shows like Ricki Lake and Sally Jessy Raphael and ended up becoming the master of the shlock format.

Springer was a very odd character. He got elected as a Cincinnati councillor as a young man, but then got involved in a scandal in which it was discovered he was crossing into a notorious red light district in nearby Kentucky - and paying the ladies of the evening with cheques signed in his own name! 

Cops easily traced them back to him and it almost destroyed his career, but he was so open about it, the city eventually forgave him and even elected him mayor! You have to wonder if that could happen today.

And as you say, his show was originally quite straight but a confrontation on one of the episodes showed the potential and so they went with it, as the ratings shot up. The rest is history and what we're left with now. 

The critics called it Schlock TV and it was no one's shining moment.