http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/montelwilliams http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/montelwilliams Reacting late last night on Daily Kos to the news that daytime TV's Montel Williams Era was coming to an abrupt end, Brandon Friedman speculates that a recent Fox News Channel appearance, in which the former Marine decried his hosts' obsession (and, to be fair, that of the entire American media) with covering Heath Ledger over the Iraq war, might have had something to do with his show's whacking, as a non-renewal by a number of Fox-owned stations contributed to its demise: "Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break. Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job." There's more to the argument than that pullquote (he has video, and also readily recognizes that Montel might have already known his show's fate and decided to "cut loose"), but we'll end there to fuel conjecture that somewhere, a displeased Rupert Murdoch whispered to a lackey, "I want his career buried deeper than that instigator Sally Jesse Raphael's." [Daily Kos]

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=351251&view=rss&microfeed=true Long before Dr. Phil first browbeat a thick-headed Oprah couch-guest into taking control of her drug/weight/self-image problem (we think we've covered the likely bases there) and ushered in a bold new era of daytime TV tough-love, there was Montel Williams, who, unlike the aforementioned, shouty fake-doctor, hardly needed to raise his voice to let the troubled know it was time to shape up. Alas, the Montel Era is coming to a close at the completion the current season, the show's 17th. Maybe it's just our grief talking, but we feel like it's not the craziest thing to hope that Williams might soon be fielding a call from Barbara Walters, offering him a chance to be The View's first penis-bearring permanent co-host, as seemingly countless days listening to Sherri Shepherd's nonsense have finally made her consider shaking up their tired format. [USA Today.com]

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