Jim,
Here's the article:
02/06/1998 04:31 EST
MORTON DOWNEY JR. TO RETURN TO TV
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK(AP)--Prepare to lower the volume-- "The Mouth" is coming back
to television.
Confrontational talk show host Morton Downey Jr. is planning to revive his bare-knuckles show that flared briefly as a hit a decade ago before flaming out. It starts this spring.
Downey, known as "The Mouth" for his abrasive personality, was host of television's "The Morton Downey Jr. Show" in syndication during the late 1980s. He said the time is right for a return now that Jerry Springer has drawn big ratings by cornering the market on brawling strippers.
"Everyone says, 'Well, Springer's doing your show now,'" Downey said. "That's not true. I didn't do sleaze. There were times that I did things that were a little sleazy, but I didn't do shows on my neighbor's collie dog having sex with my neighbor's wife."
His old show's lowlights included a fistfight between activists Al Sharpton and Roy Innis. Downey said he's already itching to do a new show on the sex life of Linda Tripp, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky's friend.
Downey said he appeals to the middle class, "but I appeal to the middle class that has some intelligence."
One industry insider predicted that Downey will have a tough time succeeding in an already crowded talk show scene that is also planning for the debuts of Roseanne and Donny and Marie Osmond.
"I don't think he can out-Springer Springer," said Richard Kurlander of Petry Television.
Downey said his New York-based show will appear in 105 television markets and in 46 percent of the country. So far, the show lacks outlets in the key markets of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
A former chain-smoker, Downey is now an anti-smoking activist after losing a lung to cancer in 1996.
"I've learned how to compensate for that," he said.
(EOM)
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