PHIL'S FINAL REGRET - FIRED FOR BEING NICE!

PIONEERING talk show titan Phil Donahue went to his grave furious he was forced to walk away from his once-dominant daytime chatfest because he wouldn't imitate bottom-feeding competitors like Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael, who pandered to the lowest common denominator with bawdiness and brawls.

Donahue, who died Aug. 18 at the age of 88, invented the genre by inviting audiences to question the guests - a format that's become standard.

He got his start on a local station in Dayton in 1967, then took the show national in 1974.

Donahue was a smash, seen in more than 200 markets and winning nine Emmys. But by the mid-1990s, the ratings had dropped dramatically as audiences turned the channel to watch the tawdry confessions, screaming matches and free-for-all mêlées on his rivals' shows.