Phil Donahue, influential TV talk show host, dead at 88
Phil Donahue, whose influential TV talk show aired for nearly 30 years, has died at age 88.
Donahue died Sunday night of an undisclosed illness, according to a family statement provided to ABC News by a representative for Donahue’s wife of 44 years, actress Marlo Thomas.
The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or the Phil Donahue/Notre Dame Scholarship Fund, according to the statement.
After working as a local TV reporter in his native Ohio and launching a talk show on local CBS affiliate WHIO in Dayton, he moved his The Phil Donahue Show to the local NBC affiliate WLWD, also in Dayton, in 1967. Three years later, it entered nationwide syndication, now simply titled Donahue.
The show would run for 26 years in syndication, produced at NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza, until its last show in September 1996.
He is survived by his wife, Thomas, to whom he had been married for 44 years.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Hulu has dropped the trailer for season 2 of the romantic drama Tell Me Lies. The new season picks up with Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco — played respectively by Grace Van Patten and Jackson White — returning to college and picking up their addictive dynamic, despite not speaking after breaking up at the start of the summer. Meanwhile, their friends must deal with the fallout from their breakup and the unexpected impact it has on their lives. Cat Missal, Spencer House, Sonia Mena, Branden Cook, Alicia Crowder and Tom Ellis return for season 2, along with newcomer Thomas Doherty, who plays Lucy’s new love interest. Tell Me Lies returns with two episodes Sept. 4 on Hulu …
Netflix has announced Oct. 31 as the premiere date for season 2 of The Diplomat. After Kate — played by Keri Russell — learned that Britain’s prime minister was responsible for the attack on one of its warships, she’ll have to prove it in season 2, series creator Debora Cahn tells Netflix’s Tudum. She’ll also have to contend with the bomb that exploded in the season 1 finale, in which Kate’s colleagues and her estranged husband, portrayed by Rufus Sewell, “are victims of a politically motivated attack in London that takes some lives and shatters the rest. The marriage she thought was over, the relationship she thought was beginning … all of it, in pieces.” Allison Janney will join the cast for season 2, playing Vice President Grace Penn …
The Apple TV+ comedy thriller Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, is already getting a sequel ahead of its premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival, kicking off Aug. 28, with Wolfs helmer Jon Watts to write and direct the follow-up. Wolfs features Clooney as “a professional fixer hired to cover up a high-profile crime,” per the streaming service. “But when a second fixer — played by Pitt — shows up and the two ‘lone wolves’ are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected.” Amy Ryan, Richard Kind, Austin Abrams and Poorna Jagannathan also star. Wolfs opens in limited release Sept. 20 and streams on Apple TV+ Sep. 27 …
The Oscar winner will play Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower in the upcoming film Pressure, Deadline reports. The ticking-clock drama will follow the events of D-Day, with Fraser acting as the army general who went on to become the 34th president of the United States.
Alongside Fraser in the film is Andrew Scott, who was previously cast to star as Britain’s Chief Meteorological Officer James Stagg.
Anthony Maras is set to direct Pressure, which follows the true story of Stagg informing Eisenhower of the weather conditions that would either make or break the Normandy invasion during World War II.
“In the 72 hours leading up to D-Day, all the pieces are in place except for one key element — the British weather. Britain’s Chief Meteorological Officer James Stagg is called upon to deliver the most consequential forecast in history, locking him into a tense standoff with the entire Allied leadership,” the film’s official synopsis reads.
Netflix has just dropped the trailer to its annual Geeked Week festivities. As the streamer puts it, it’s a “Netflix celebration of geeks, chosen by geeks.”
The trailer teases the next seasons of returning favorites like Squid Game, Stranger Things, Wednesday, Cobra Kai, Avatar: The Last Airbender and One Piece, as well as new projects, including an animated Tomb Raider series and an anime adaptation of the hit video game series Devil May Cry.
Also stuffed into the sneak peek are cosplayers and other fans who have expressed their love for various shows through body art.
The Geeked Week action kicks off Sept. 16 and culminates with a live, in-person fan event called Geeked Week Live on Sept. 19 in Atlanta.
Fans who can’t get there in person can get in on the action via Twitch, YouTube and X starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Netflix teases viewers “can expect sneak peeks, news and surprises” from their favorite — and new favorite — shows; in the past, Geeked Week has featured interviews, Q&A panels and video messages to fans from various shows’ casts.