Hot Seat

"Hot Seat" was a syndicated politically-orientated television talk-show that began in the early 1980s, hosted by Wally George. It was shot in the studios of KDOC, a UHF television station in Irvine, 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 "liberal lunatics" and "fascist fanatics," including 1960s drug guru 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 some ways, "Hot Seat" inspired other similar shows hosted by Morton Downey, Jr. and Jerry Springer.

In the late 1990s, George fell ill, and KDOC only showed reruns of past shows. After George died in 2003, KDOC stopped showing reruns altogether.