The Montel Williams Show
Encyclopedia
The Montel Williams Show (also known as Montel) is a syndicated talk show hosted by Montel Williams
.
On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years. A rerun package offered by Montel's distributor, CBS Television Distribution
, was sold into syndication for the 2008-2009 season, and reruns also aired on Black Entertainment Television
(BET).
s. As time went on, however, the genre became less popular, and so toward the end of the show's run Montel usually focused on inspirational stories and subjects that are less controversial. 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 murder) and fought their way free. Multiple sclerosis
is also a frequent topic.
Most Wednesdays (and sometimes on Fridays as well during the summer), self-proclaimed psychic
Sylvia Browne
was Montel's guest, and performed psychic reading
s 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 has refused to partake in The Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge from James Randi
, a prominent skeptic
.
The first several seasons were distributed by Viacom Enterprises
. After Viacom
's purchase of Paramount Pictures
in 1994, Viacom Enterprises was merged into Paramount Television
's distribution arm, Paramount Domestic Television
. PDT began distributing the show in fall 1995, 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
.
In August 2007, The Montel Williams Show was awarded The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award for peddling pseudoscience
and superstition
to its audience for every episode that has showcased Sylvia Browne
, Other winners have been Psychic Detectives
, Paranormal State
and SciFi's Ghost Hunters
.
On January 26, 2008, during an appearance on the show Fox & Friends, Montel criticized the media's lack of coverage of the Iraq War and he took the hosts (and the media in general) to task for their excessive coverage of the recent death of actor Heath Ledger, contrasting it with their sparse coverage of the US Soldiers dying in Iraq.
It was taped at the AMV Unitel 53rd Street, 433 West 53rd Street Studio
in New York City
.
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 last year." The ruling concerned "breaching rule 2.1 of the Broadcasting Code, which relates to protecting viewers against offensive material."
Montel Williams
Montel Brian Anthony Williams is an American television personality, radio talk show host and actor. He is best known as host of the long-running The Montel Williams Show, and more recently as a spokesperson for the Partnership for Prescription Assistance...
.
On January 30, 2008 it was announced that The Montel Williams Show would stop production on new episodes at the end of the 2007-2008 television season after seventeen years. A rerun package offered by Montel's distributor, CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
, was sold into syndication for the 2008-2009 season, and reruns also aired on Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
(BET).
History
In its early years, Montel was similar to most tabloid talk showTabloid talk show
Tabloid talk shows are a genre of American television programming talk shows that achieved peak viewership during the late 20th century. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through broadcast syndication, this genre originated with The Phil Donahue Show and was popularized by the...
s. As time went on, however, the genre became less popular, and so toward the end of the show's run Montel usually focused on inspirational stories and subjects that are less controversial. 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 murder) and fought their way free. Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
is also a frequent topic.
Most Wednesdays (and sometimes on Fridays as well during the summer), self-proclaimed psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne is an American author who describes herself as a psychic and spiritual medium...
was Montel's guest, and performed psychic reading
Psychic reading
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information with clairvoyance and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs...
s 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
Cold reading
Cold reading is a series of techniques used by mentalists, psychics, fortune-tellers, illusionists, and con artists to determine or express details about another person, often in order to convince them that the reader knows much more about a subject than they actually do...
by critics such as Robert S. Lancaster
Robert S. Lancaster
Robert Starrett Lancaster is an American computer programmer and skeptic who created the websites Stop Kaz and Stop Sylvia Browne.-Biography:...
. She has refused to partake in The Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge from James Randi
James Randi
James Randi is a Canadian-American stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of paranormal claims and pseudoscience. Randi is the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation...
, a prominent skeptic
Scientific skepticism
Scientific skepticism is the practice of questioning the veracity of claims lacking empirical evidence or reproducibility, as part of a methodological norm pursuing "the extension of certified knowledge". For example, Robert K...
.
The first several seasons were distributed by Viacom Enterprises
Viacom Enterprises
Viacom Enterprises was a television distribution company formed in 1971 as the successor to CBS Enterprises, and spun off in 1973 due to now-repealed FCC bylaws prohibiting networks from syndicating their own shows....
. After Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
's purchase of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
in 1994, Viacom Enterprises was merged into Paramount Television
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
's distribution arm, Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television
Paramount Domestic Television was the television distribution arm of American television production company Paramount Television, once the TV arm of Paramount Pictures...
. PDT began distributing the show in fall 1995, and became CBS Paramount Domestic Television
CBS Paramount Domestic Television
CBS Paramount Domestic Television was an American television distribution company/production that was formed on January 17, 2006 and owned by CBS Corporation...
after the Viacom/CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
split in 2006. Its distributor changed names once again in 2007, as CPDT was merged with King World Productions
King World Productions
King World Productions, Inc. was a production company and a syndicator of television programming in the United States until its eventual 2007 incorporation into CBS Television Distribution...
to form the current distributor, CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution
CBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
.
In August 2007, The Montel Williams Show was awarded The Truly Terrible Television (TTTV) Award for peddling pseudoscience
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status...
and superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
to its audience for every episode that has showcased Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne is an American author who describes herself as a psychic and spiritual medium...
, Other winners have been Psychic Detectives
Psychic Detectives
Psychic Detectives or Psychic Investigators is a television program produced by StoryHouse Productions for Court TV, as of 2006 in its 5th season. The program documents real-life cases of situations in which police departments have enlisted the aid of psychics in solving difficult cases...
, Paranormal State
Paranormal State
Paranormal State is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on the A&E Network on December 10, 2007. The program follows and stars the Pennsylvania State University Paranormal Research Society, a student-led college club...
and SciFi's Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters
Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004, on Syfy . The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as...
.
On January 26, 2008, during an appearance on the show Fox & Friends, Montel criticized the media's lack of coverage of the Iraq War and he took the hosts (and the media in general) to task for their excessive coverage of the recent death of actor Heath Ledger, contrasting it with their sparse coverage of the US Soldiers dying in Iraq.
It was taped at the AMV Unitel 53rd Street, 433 West 53rd Street Studio
All Mobile Video
All Mobile Video is a business owned by the Duke family that owns sound stages and offers outside broadcasting services in New York City.Its current president is Eric Duke.In 2001 it acquired the sound stages of Unitel Video for $26 million....
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Cancellation and further developments
It was reported in VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
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
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
of the UK ruled that ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
(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
Sylvia Browne
Sylvia Browne is an American author who describes herself as a psychic and spiritual medium...
that their missing son, Shawn Hornbeck was dead - even though he turned up alive last year." The ruling concerned "breaching rule 2.1 of the Broadcasting Code, which relates to protecting viewers against offensive material."