Jerry Lewis to step down as host of the MDA Telethon

[BobJacobsenVer1]

This really saddened me to hear today. It was such a tradition...It's also shortening from 21 1/2 hours to 6...

[JerseyBob]

This saddens me too.     Jerry's done so much for kids with muscular dystrophy.

[Kirsten Vaccaro]

That's sad. 

[wpghi5]

To think Jerry not hosting the telethon anymore wasn't bad enough the telethon itself is now being cut down from 21 1/2 hours to just 6 hours. Which therefore the event itself is being cut down from a 2 day event to a event that will only take place for just one day. Very sad indeed. 

[trytobecharming]

Jerry is about as old as Barker, isn't he.

[rodroddyfan]

Yep, jerry lewis is 85 years old.  I know I have heard he has lots of health issues also.  May god bless him.  It will always be known as the Jerry Lewis Telethon.  They are chopping that telethon to shreds.

[trytobecharming]

Reminds me of a moment during the maingame of $100K Pyramid. Category I believe is things associated with charity or something to that effect. Jerry Lewis comes up, and the contestant blanked on who he is. Dick Clark then explained about Jerry's Labor Day Telethon and charity.

[therealcu2010]

To think Jerry not hosting the telethon anymore wasn't bad enough the telethon itself is now being cut down from 21 1/2 hours to just 6 hours. Which therefore the event itself is being cut down from a 2 day event to a event that will only take place for just one day. Very sad indeed. 

The decision to cut the event down to six hours was made way back in October in an effort to cut costs...donations have been stagnant, local stations have been dropping the telethon, and Jerry's health was an issue.

[Superballer]

Likely losing Ed McMahon was somewhat of a blow as well.  Not unforeseen, though, given Jerry's declining health as noted.  Hopefully, though, he'll hang on long enough to hear an announcement that some kind of permanent cure has been found. 

[rodroddyfan]

The decision to cut the event down to six hours was made way back in October in an effort to cut costs...donations have been stagnant, local stations have been dropping the telethon, and Jerry's health was an issue.

Yep, I know labor day weekend last year, wrex channel 13 here in rockford dropped it also because of the cost cutting.  But they continued welcoming donations. 

[trytobecharming]

The decision to cut the event down to six hours was made way back in October in an effort to cut costs...donations have been stagnant, local stations have been dropping the telethon, and Jerry's health was an issue.

Back in the 70s-80s, there were more telethons on the air and they ran for hours, and game show hosts like MOnty Hall and Tom Kennedy and Dennis James hosted them. Monty hosted Variety Club telethons, as he's been associated with that charity for years, and Dennis James did the United Cerebral Palsy for several years, and Tom Kennedy hosted an Arthritis telethon back in the early 80s(mentioned it on Password PLus) Alex T. hosted the United Negro COllege Fund telethon at one point.

[JonSea31]

Not to mention the fact that I heard that Casey Kasem was going to continue doing his job as an announcer for the Jerry Lewis Telethon, even after he retired from radio broadcasting and hosting the two spinoffs of American Top 40 back in July 2009.

From what it sounds, the MDA Telethon is likely losing steam - with many local affiliates dropping it in favor of better programming, and when local affilates dropped the show, the show didn't make much money in recent years, therefore they have to do some cost-cutting.

In St. John's, Newfoundland (where I live), the local CBC affilate airs the Janeway Hospital Children's Miracle Network Telethon on the first weekend of June every year (they've been doing it since 1984, I think), and to this day, public support is great.  Even though it only airs locally, the marathon starts on a Saturday night (I think?) and closes on a Sunday evening.

But I can't see why demand for the MDA Telethon is low nowadays.  But if cost-cutting is a factor, I understand greatly.  After all, a smaller telethon beats none at all.

[temptation1979ga]

Even though it only airs locally, the marathon starts on a Saturday night (I think?) and closes on a Sunday evening.

Don't know if this is true now, but I remember in the past it began Sunday night and ended Monday night. That stands out in my mind because that day's Price is Right episode was always preempted by my affiliate carrying the telethon.

[JohnHolder]

Dennis James did the United Cerebral Palsy for several years

47 years, to be exact. I just looked it up on the UCP Website.

[FieldsFan336]

I remember when our local CTV affiliate held a telethon every year in support of the Hospital for Sick Children, I think I watched almost every one through the 1990s (even almost pulling an all-nighter).  They stopped doing that in 2001