Hot Seat (talk show)

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Hot Seat was a syndicated politically-orientated, though often satirical and comedic, television talk-show that began in the early 1980s, hosted by conservative commentator Wally George. It was shot in the studios of KDOC, a UHF television station licensed to (and, at the time, having their studios in) Anaheim, California.

George hosted the show sitting behind a desk and wearing a red, white, and blue necktie, and a completely white toupee. Behind him was a photo of a space shuttle launching with the caption that read, "USA Is #1."

The show gained national attention in 1983 when an avowed pacifist named Blase Bonpane, who was discussing his opposition of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, suddenly erupted in anger over George's taunts, and flipped over the host's desk before storming off the show. A clip of the altercation aired on national news programs.

At the height of its popularity in 1984, fans of the show would wait for several hours to get a choice spot among the studio's 80 audience seats, where they waved U.S. flags and chanted, "Wal-ly! Wal-ly!" on cue. George engaged guests whom he called "ludicrous liberal lunatics" and "fascist fanatics," including 1960s drug guru Dr. Timothy Leary and Tom Metzger, a white supremacist leader.

George called his delivery "combat TV," a phrase he used in his autobiography published in 1999. Johnny Carson, referring to the show's choreographed hysteria, once called George the William F. Buckley of the cockfighting set. But George drew most of his ideas and interviewing style from a 1960s radio and TV host named Joe Pyne.

In many ways, Hot Seat inspired and was the precursor of other similar shows hosted by Morton Downey, Jr. and Jerry Springer.

In the late 1990s, George fell ill, and KDOC showed reruns of past shows hosted by an increasingly frail-looking George. After George died in 2003, KDOC stopped showing reruns altogether.

George is also the father of actress Rebecca De Mornay.