Della

Back in the mid-70's, I worked at "Long Island's (NY) First Commercial Television station," WSNL-TV, and in the last six months or so of its existence (1973-1975), it offered what I remember as the Della Reese Show. As I recall, Della sang a song after the opening introduction, then retired to a typical talk show set and interviewed her guests. It was obvious that the shows were reruns since timely topics were never discussed. I recall that I found her a bit loud and irritating. Perhaps it was because it was aired at 10 a.m. and I wasn't really awake yet. I much preferred the style of Phil Donahue's Chicago-based show. The only other thing I remember was that one of her guests was Steve Martin in his banjo-toting stand-up days. He was quite unique at the time.