Welcome To Your Fantasy on Instagram: "On May 1, 1981, the Chippendales made their very first appearance on the Phil Donahue Show. It was a huge opportunity for the young organization. In 1981, Donahue averaged 8 million viewers a day, giving the Chippendales a huge national audience to introduce themselves to. But the payoff went both ways. May was “sweeps month” when television audiences were measured to determine the viewership size and help set revenue rates. Donahue knew that a bunch of stripping men could send his numbers through the roof. Through the years, he would have the Chippendales back during sweeps month over and over again. This particular clip is from a 1983 appearance featuring dancers Michael Rapp and Creagan Richardson, dancer/choreographer Enrique “Henry” Flores, and host Dan Peterson.But not everyone was happy with what Donahue was doing on his show. That same year, Donald Wildmon, a fundamentalist minister who headed up a group called the National Federation for Decency, an organization that was later renamed the American Family Association and became a major figure of the burgeoning religious right, threatened a national boycott of Donahue’s sponsors because he claimed two out of every five Donahue shows pertained to sex. Donahue’s camp didn’t disagree. As the show’s senior producer Pat McMillen told the Chicago Tribune, “The sex shows are generally the ones that have the most audience interest and most audience participation.” Judging by his ratings, Donahue’s audience clearly had no problem with his show’s attention to issues about sex. Neither did his peers. In 1981, the Phil Donahue Show won the Emmy for Best Talk Show for the fourth year in a row, an award the show would receive a total of ten times. (Phil Donahue won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host also ten times.) And Donahue would keep having the Chippendales back. The men were clearly ratings gold. Source: Donahue, 1983#chippendales #Cuffsandcollars #welcometoyourfantasy #spotifypodcast #michaelrapp #danpeterson #malestrippers #phildonahue #donahue #80saesthetic #daytimetv #daytimetalkshow" | Zootzle
