The TV thread

Except for the last decade when he checked out.

Dave on CBS was nothing like he was on NBC.

 

Antenna TV has been airing old Tonight Shows with Johnny Carson since 2016 and Roku has an entire Carson channel now. I keep waiting for the old NBC Lettermans to appear somewhere.

 

It was indeed a different show on CBS. As silly as it seems now, there was a lot of thinking that his 12:30 show wouldn't play at 11:30. So he changed some stuff up.

I'm not one who thought he checked out for the last decade. I'm a big fan, so I'm sure that influences my opinion. But I think it's impossible to not change in that role when you're at TV host for 30-plus years.

Think he was NBC for 11 years and CBS for 22. Helluva run.

 

Top Ten lists were my favorite; Stupid Pet tricks; man on the (NY) street; so good.

I liked Letterman so much, one time my best man speech was "Top Ten Reasons__ is marrying ___" (#10-2 got laughs, #1 "Mom's taken!", not so much, oh well 10 for effort).

 

Did he ever bang Terri Garr? Lord knows he sure acted like he wanted to.

The suit of magnets and the fridge, the huge bowl of Rice Krispies, “this is just an exhibition, not a competition, please, no wagering.”

 

Jeez I can watch any episode (except the alternative universe ones) and have cackles and ROFL moments.

 

The one second was enough for me to recognize almost every episode.

 

I've never seen an entire episode. Same with Friends.

 

I don't know what made me start thinking of this this morning, but how did first-run syndicated shows become a thing in the late 80s and 1990s, and why did they fade away all around the same time?
There was about a 10-year run where you had some absolute classic shows (Stark Trek: TNG and Deep Space Nine, Baywatch) mixed with some fun genre shows (Highlander, Renegade, War of the Worlds). A lot of them were enough of a hit to last a few seasons and seep into the public consciousness — and sometimes live on for decades afterward — but never aired on a major network. They were all on some UHF station at 11 p.m. Sunday or something like that.
Then by the late 1990s almost all of them had run their course and nothing replaced them. By the early 2000s or so it seemed like it was dead as a genre.

Did the genre morph into originals for growing cable networks like SyFy, USA and FX, and then later for the different streaming platforms? Did the stations that air them shift their programming philosophies? Did they start to get too expensive to produce and air? Was it just a moment in time that flashed and was gone?
Among the many now-gone things that would be hard to explain to this generation, trying to tell the story of how a beloved show like TNG was on at a different random time in every city during the weekend feels like a weird one.

 

Too bad for anyone who hasn't seen a single Seinfeld episode all the way thru. You're missing out.

It ain't Friends by a trillion universes.

 

I'm guessing you're right that they went to cable networks. Some of the independent channels that aired those shows became affiliates of Fox, WB and the CW over the years and didn't need such programming.
There used to be four independent channels in the LA market and now there are two. One is now Fox, one is the CW, one is all news and the other shows Big Bang, King of Queens and Seinfeld from 8-11.