Joan Rivers and her FIRST Talk Show, "That Show"

I had NO IDEA that Rivers had a daytime show in 1968-69, "That Show with Joan Rivers." It's on Hulu now. Each half-hour episode has a featured topic discussed by one expert and one celebrity (such as Johnny Carson, on episode two). I've found no info about the show except an episode guide and a listing on imdb. Based on those, it says there were 200+ episodes (I've seen either 214 or 255 as the count) from September 16, 1968 until September 12, 1969. The set was clearly designed to appeal to women (who were usually home) of the era and the topics were similar to what you'd see on daytime now: interior decorating, natural childbirth, cosmetic surgery, etiquette, hypnosis, etc. Below is a clip (not from Hulu, where you may need a Hulu+ subscription) featuring a cringey Jerry Lewis discussing kids in showbiz families (episode eight):


The two most interesting things about this show are 1) it seems totally forgotten, and 2) we all know the trouble Joan had when she got her own late-night show on Fox in 1986. That led to Johnny Carson totally cutting off ties with her forever (after being very, very close for the previous 20 years), because she didn't tell him until the night before the announcement. Clearly, since appeared on episode two of "That Show" (and later in the run, we see Ed McMahon and several others with strong Carson-ties), he was not offended by this daytime show... and that's likely because 1) it wasn't a direct competitor to his show, 2) she was not yet his permanent guest host (as she was from 1983-86), and 3) she DID tell him about this one. We'll never know. I think the reverse view of, "why should Joan have had to kowtow to Johnny in 1986 when negotiating with Fox?" -- is amply considered in this piece.