The Tonight Show

Someone online made this point the other day. The guys who had demons (Carson, Letterman when he gave a shit) were just better hosts. They were more interesting. Hell, you could throw Howard Stern in there as well.
Other good point I'm stealing, one thing Carson did well (one of many things) is that he was well read, or at least appeared to be. He could have an engaging conversation with an author and actually looked like he was genuinely interested in said conversation (and probably was). No one on today is doing that. I don't think most of these guys read books, and it shows.

 

Stewart's interviews with authors of books I'd never imagine I'd be interested in reading are better than his interviews with actors pushing their latest project.

I do hope Fallon encourages guests to stick around on the couch after their segment is done. It can lead to some amusing moments.

 

They don't book many authors, either. When The Tonight Show was 90 minutes, a lot of authors were guests in the last 30 minutes. When they trimmed back to an hour, very few made the cut.

Letterman has an interest in the environment and they'll sometimes book authors on those topics, but that's rare.

With very few exceptions, all the "interviews" are just designed to lead the guests into the stories that have been vetted by the staff in the pre-interview. So now it's "Sam has a story about being stranded at the Omaha airport."

It becomes, "You travel a lot, Sam. How has that been going for you?" Then Sam is off and running with the Omaha airport story.

 

There are also probably better outlets for the book people at this point - Daily Show, Colbert and Ferguson regularly feature authors and give them 5 to 10 minutes.

 

I read something on Carson years ago - might have been his Rolling Stone cover story - that mentioned that he was a voracious reader who always tried to have read a guest author's book.

 

Good point on Stewart. I should have been clearer, I was talking mostly of the network guys.

 

They dumped Jay Leno for this guy?!?!?! He's not funny in the least and is just filling dead air.

If I want to watch one of those guys (and I don't do it often), I'd watch Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert.

 

Ferguson would be great as Dave's successor. His show as currently constituted wouldn't translate to 11:35 but he'll adapt and refine his format to fit. If you caught his 15-20-minute bit on Britney Spears several years ago, you'd see he's not just an off-the-wall late night host.

CBS will have to allow Ferguson (or whoever) to formulate his or her own format. The network can't pound a square peg into a round hole or vice versa. Remember Alan Thicke? He was saddled with that horrendously inane "Thicke of the Night" format that bore absolutely no resemblance to the wonderfully entertaining and informative talk show he did previously in Canada.

 

Fallon is great. You sure you're watching the right show?

 

Johnny Carson was a prick to many people as well as a perfectionist with his show. He cut off Joan Rivers not because she tried to start her own show on FOX in 1986 but because Rivers never gave Carson a heads up about it beforehand. He found out about it watching TV.

Carson also held more power in television than any on-air person will ever again. In 1979, he told NBC he was quitting and the network freaked out. In the end, Carson wielded the power, regaining ownership of the show, keeping all of his vacation (8 or 10 weeks, I believe), only four new shows a week plus trimming it from 90 minutes to 60. Carson's deal was like the Treaty of Versailles.

Even as NBC was clearing $50 million a year in profit off Carson's show, the network wanted to make sure whoever succeeded Carson would be a "yes, man" and agreeable to their ideas.

Enter Letterman. Clearly the more talented and edgy host compared with Jay Leno in the 1980's. Like Carson, Letterman was an angry perfectionist about his show. He was miserable to be around after each episode of Late Night as he would watch the tape and dig and pry for any mistakes that anybody did.

In television, that's how the elite performers operate. They're assholes and pricks. Doesn't make it right but they hold themselves to an incredibly high standard.

NBC passed on Letterman because he was a prick and Leno would be more than happy to fly to Toledo, Topeka and Tulsa to shake hands with the news anchors and do promos. (I met him twice at different NBC stations in my career -- good guy and truly loves what he does).

Once Letterman landed the CBS job in 1993, he tried hard for a month and then flipped it into cruise control, the only exceptions being his heart surgery and post 9/11.

NBC is determined NEVER to let another prick sit in the Tonight Show seat, never to have another host with the juice to own his own show (like Carson or Letterman at CBS), one who "knows his place". Letterman made a living out of ripping NBC and GE from about 1985 on and that actually sealed his fate to never host the Tonight Show.

Conan O'Brien was out of the Letterman mold, never afraid to rip the network and also not shy about ignoring input from network executives. Once the ratings crapped out, Conan was done.

Fallon will do whatever it takes to hold onto the job, similar to Leno. He won't be edgy but he'll be agreeable to new ideas -- or at least he will flatter the executives.

NBC also benefits from having a "D-League" of comedic league on SNL. The second they don't like Jimmy Fallon, they can just look to whomever is doing Weekend Update as a possible replacement.

 

Did people see the Olympic wolf prank Kimmel played?

That was freaking hilarious...

 

I mean ... c'mon.

http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/segments/1401