Written by Rick Ellis, Thursday, February 27th, 2003

I remember once seeing this comedian, who had an entire bit about how marriage changes you. "This woman can't wait to be married to you. She pursues you, she wants you. But once she has you, then she starts to see you as a fixer-upper. She doesn't like the way you dress, the people who are your friends. She thinks your tastes in food are terrible, and she does everything she can to change you. Then after she's spent all of this time changing you, she wakes up and wants a divorce because she claims you're not the man she married."

This story popped into my mind more than once yesterday, following the response to my column about MSNBC's cancellation of Phil Donahue.

Click Here To Read That Column

I made the point that at least some of the executives at the network were concerned that Donahue presented a challenge for the company, at a time when the U.S. was preparing to go to war. I quoted a report which had been leaked to me, which described a possible "nightmare scenario" where the show becomes "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

That story brought to light a battle that has been raging behind the scenes at MSNBC. It has taken place between network executives who didn't believe in the need for a liberal equivalent to Bill O'Reilly and proponents of the show those who felt that executives were shackling the host and not allowing "Phil to be Phil." It was that battle--as much as the ratings issue--which ultimately brought on the cancelation of "Donahue."

One indication of just how serious the rift had become came from Phil Donahue himself. On Wednesday, he released an uncharacteristically sharp criticism of his former network, and indicated his displeasure with the level of support he received from the higher ups at General Electric and NBC.

"We met a lot of nice folks in Secaucus, New Jersey and were reunited with many old friends at Thirty Rock," Donahue said. "They were all rooting for us. I hope in the future they'll be visited more frequently by the GE/NBC brass who should know that these worker bees have kept on in spite of the turmoil of high program turnover, bad press and even a very public rebuke from their own CEO, Jeffrey Immelt."

He wasn't much happier with the management of MSNBC, whom he claimed had not shown enough patience and support for the program. He also corrected the impression that the show's ratings were flagging.

"From launch to date DONAHUE has been the highest rated program on the MSNBC primetime line up. Of that we are proud. The national ratings data also reveals that we raised the audience for our time period beyond anything that appeared at eight o'clock before us. It took almost three years for FOX to overtake CNN. We had six months. Alas, our numbers and our upward trend were, in the view of management, not good enough or fast enough. My wish for the people who replace us is a longer time in the ring and a more patient management team loudly cheering on from the corner. This is the only way for a Cable host on MSNBC to have any chance of being a contender."

But the comments which have received the most response this morning are the ones in which he describes his frustration with a lack of diversity in the voices at MSNBC.

"We were hoping to break through the noisy drums of war on Cable and become a responsible platform for dissenters as well as Administration supporters. The New York Times op-ed page features a variety of views regarding the Bush war on Iraq, including regular columnists who have been quite critical of the Administration's foreign policy team. MSNBC's voice should be no less diverse. The hiring of Mike Savage, Dick Armey and Joe Scarborough suggest a strategy to out-Fox FOX."

While I haven't yet talked to Mr. Donahue, it's clear from those I have spoken with that this battle for the heart of Donahue's show has been raging privately for months. Several network insiders described Donahue and his staff as "intransigent" and "unrealistic about the current marketplace." While those familiar with the show described a process in which the network sought to cleanse the show of even a perceived liberal bias in guests or topics.

It's not unusual for a network to attempt to micromanage a program--particularly one it doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in. But this battle seems a curious choice for a network which is running a distant third. Whether or not you like Bill O'Reilly, it's clear that one of the reasons he is successful is that he projects a sharp, consistent message.

The irony of this situation seems to be that the more MSNBC fiddled with the format of Donahue, the less likely they were to get a program which could be compelling enough to build an audience.