The Jackie Mason Show

He never came off as unlikable. Unfortunately it suffered the same fate as "Geraldo" and "Springer" and went into obscurity. That being said, he hit it hard. This was one of the best public affairs programming on television. This had a polished look. Unfortunately, it didn't last as long as "Bey" or "Downey" did but it was true public affairs. While Bey or even Downey Jr could have come off as unconvincing as public affairs hosts, Mason was always a serious philosophical-minded person. He was a comedian, but he was also a well-studied scholar of public affairs. WPIX never had anything to topple WWOR when it came to these type of shows. WPIX was crap. He never came off as Allied Nordicist Yankee "Friends"-watching "Seinfeld"-hating too.

And to add to my UPN/Warner Bros./WB flagship, Mr. Mason was in "Caddyshack 2," a WB movie, just 4 years prior to this show.

The Jackie Mason Show was a brilliant, though short-lived attempt to blend 'real people' talk with entertainment chat. A show that seemed an appropriate forum for both Phil Donahue and Joan Rivers, The Jackie Mason Show presented an interesting, timely and often hilarious look at events and issues of the day.

Mason stood on a platform surrounded by well over a dozen guests sitting in risers to his left and right. The group always took on hot topics, breathing fresh perspective into stories that were familiar to a news savvy audience.

Guests ranged from regular people off the street to high profile newsmakers to celebrity panelists.

WWOR-TV produced the show and yanked it off the air after only one season. Given time to evolve The Jackie Mason show would surely have developed into a poignant and thought-provoking forum, much like "Real Time with Bill Maher" or "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."