Article 3790 of alt.zines: Path: news.cic.net!condor.ic.net!news1.oakland.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!ddsw1!not-for-mail From: barnhart@MCS.COM (Aaron Barnhart) Newsgroups: alt.fan.letterman,alt.fan.conan-obrien,alt.tv.talkshows.late,alt.zines,rec.arts.tv Subject: LATE SHOW NEWS 5/24/94 Followup-To: alt.fan.letterman Date: 23 May 1994 23:53:16 -0500 Organization: The Colorcast Lines: 230 Message-ID: <2rs17s$mtu@Mercury.mcs.com> Reply-To: late-show-news@mcs.net NNTP-Posting-Host: mercury.mcs.com Summary: Send the message "subscribe late-show-news" to listserv@mcs.net to join the LATE SHOW NEWS distribution list! Xref: news.cic.net alt.fan.letterman:23099 alt.fan.conan-obrien:896 alt.tv.talkshows.late:1101 alt.zines:3790 rec.arts.tv:109113 From Chicago: Psst, buddy, want to buy some Bulls tickets? ... it's --------------------------------------------- LATE SHOW NEWS for Tuesday, May 24, 1994 Issue #15 A weekly electronic sheet by Aaron Barnhart --------------------------------------------- 3. LIVE FROM NEW YORK, IT'S [fill in the blank] NIGHT! Apparently in the mind's eye of _Washington Post_ t.v. critic Tom Shales, there's nothing wrong with David Letterman's show that a week of watching _The Tonight Show with Jay Leno_ can't fix. Shales, having freshly whacked Dave's L.A.-based broadcasts for lousy guests and unrelenting fat-guy jokes, lumbers right back on the _Late Show_ bandwagon this week with a column excoriating Leno as nothing more than a lackey to the "creative leadership" of _Late Show._ "_Tonight_ from New York often came off as a response to Letterman and his dominance, or an outright imitation of the Letterman style, rather than as an even vaguely original approach," he wrote, echoing the sentiments of the AP's Frazier Moore and other writers who have just begun noticing Jay's ongoing efforts to jump-start his show off Dave's batteries. Well, we started the trend, so let us be the first to spread reports of its demise. Admittedly, the Jay crew did themselves no favors opening Monday's show with a painful knockoff of a Letterman-Shaffer film featuring guess which two performers -- narrated by Dave's honey Kathie Lee Gifford, no less. There were stupid human tricks, too, not the least of which was Madonna's surprise walk-on that even Tom Snyder, normally a non-partisan in these late show battles, took a dig at on-air, wisecracking that "imitation is the sincerest form of thievery." But these were swept into the whirlwind of sweeps-period coverage, while left behind were the show's quieter efforts to bring Jay's strong suit, his jokes, more and more to the front. Noteworthy were a very funny New York version of his "Mr. Brain" Q&A and a pretaped segment in which Leno cruises the town in a convertible, trying out material on a melting pot of pedestrians. The surprise appearances of Madonna and Jack Paar caught a frightful load of flack from the press, but what did you expect the _Tonight_ staff to do after a week's worth of reviews that all but coronated their rival as the only reason to watch late-night t.v.? Were they supposed to ignore the fact that Johnny Carson had agreed to go on Dave's show after spurning their program -- the former Carson franchise -- for nearly two years? Just lick their wounds and go on? No, they brought on Paar, the brooding presence in whose shadow Johnny had to toil at least a year or two before his show went meteoric, and Dave's own worst nightmare, Madonna, to show that not everyone had given up on Leno. Pathetic, yes, but when your goal is to somehow tame a media stampede, it's as good a tactic as any. But Jay wasn't finished. He followed with Howard Stern in a terrific, over-the-top Friday performance calculated for maximum impact. Howard obligingly appointed himself Jay's co-host and "hatchet man," just as he had in 1992, one month into the new _Tonight_ show, to counter negative public comments made by Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen. Donning a Carson mask, Howard strode out on stage and began tearing into Johnny's _Late Show_ performance as a stupid and pointless exercise in aggrandizement, as only an fellow aggrandizer can do. Jay, playing the good cop as best he could, appeared pained at the shower of insults raining down on his behalf. Howard, who brought along two complete wardrobe changes, including one he performed on camera, later commandeered the interview of supermodel Paulina Porizkova with questions revolving around her attraction to husband and Stern lookalike Ric Ocasek. (With Howard in the middle of a clothing change, standing momentarily in his black bikini briefs, Leno joked that now he knew what Ocasek had that Howard didn't.) As the piece de resistance, the _Tonight_ staff had persuaded the outrageous Blue Man Group to stage the spectacular finale of their hit New York show in the studio. With its miles of unraveled toilet paper and splotches of cobalt paint, it was visually worlds better than _Late Show_'s foray into performance art, the trashcan lid-clanging weirdness of Stomp. Fixated on his Letterman carbons, the Jay-bashers failed to credit him with scoring much better celebrity guests and interviews than Dave did in Los Ann-ge-leez. Tom Shales dwells on Stern's calling the iconic and gracious Paar "that old fossil ... sitting at home in Connecticut waiting for the phone to ring." Shales writes, "Leno smirked silently as Stern ridiculed not only Paar but also Carson and Letterman ... Leno offered not a word of protest, looking every inch the spineless worm." Well, sorry, Tom, but Dave does not exactly throw himself on the train tracks when the Howard 'L' gets out of control on *his* show. Maybe Jay doesn't raise a loud "oh, STOP," the way Dave does -- but we thought you wanted Jay to get away from apeing the Letterman show. It so happens that Leno has his own interview style, and it's not _Late Show_ style. As we go to press, he's sure getting a lot more mileage out of the mellowed Eddie Murphy than Dave did last Friday. From our vantage, then, the _Tonight_ shows from New York earn passing marks, a week that scored more hits than misses. With these programs Leno has confirmed the insight of those who said he's far from terrible, he simply isn't the best, and while this may be embarrassing given that he's sitting on the storied NBC franchise, there's nothing anyone can do right now except let him slowly reinvent his show. Interestingly, in the long run Jay may wind up taking less from the Letterman show and more from the man who has essentially assumed control of late night at NBC: Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of both _Saturday Night Live_ and _Late Night with Conan O'Brien._ Michaels's influence was certainly evident all week as Jay did his shows from _SNL_'s home base, Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. _Tonight_ appropriated a couple of the familiar and effective images that are production staples of _SNL_: the shot of the studio audience taken from over the guest host's, or in this case permanent host's, right shoulder, and shots of the Statue of Liberty and the Chrysler Building that have appeared in _SNL_'s opening montage for years. There was also a commercial-free bridge between Jay's show and _Late Night,_ used every night in an attempt to preserve viewership. _SNL_ regular Adam Sandler even ran out of Jay's show on Monday and down two flights of stairs, camera in pursuit, to join the audience at the start of Conan's show in Studio 6A. (The new transition may be a trial run of that harebrained "seamless block of comedy" concept that NBC weasels were trying to sell to Letterman to get him to stay on at 12:35 after Jay had gotten _Tonight._) Leno also seems to have picked up some design pointers from the spacious and versatile set in 8H, telling people afterwards that he was going to modify the stage in Burbank to allow floor seating for some audience members and to spread out the band more. One also can't help thinking what a boost it was for Leno to be spending a week in the camp of a man who oversees two of t.v. most critically embattled programs besides his own, and who, like Jay, has not fared well in comparisons with King David. 2. F.Y. EYES Ted Koppel's _Nightline_ actually was the big winner last week, but significantly some of Jay's New York shows aced out new Letterman programs. The night Jackie O died, an extended one-hour _Nightline_ rated a remarkable 8.6/24 in the Nielsen overnights, followed by 5.9/15 for Leno and 4.8/15 for Dave. The night before, Jay and Dave finished dead even at 5.9 but Koppel had won Monday and Tuesday with two-part look at the diaries of Nixon aide H. R. Haldeman ... Bobcat Goldthwaite is being charged with two misdemeanors for setting Jay Leno's guest chair on fire by Burbank law enforcement officials with a lot of time on their hands ... Already Paramount says it has sold Jon Stewart's late-night talker to 40% of the market ... And _Entertainment Weekly_ cites "unconfirmed reports" that CBS negotiations with Tom Snyder have broken down over -- *money*? Hard to believe. And of course, we're getting treated to another round of second thoughts from "CBS insiders," read weasels, who think Tom "skews too old." Hey, skew *this.* 1. THE LINEUPS LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS, 11:35 P.M. EST Tu 5/24 Woody Harrelson, Isiah Thomas, Louie Anderson We 5/25 Lily Tomlin Th 5/26 Rosie O'Donnell, Chris Isaak Fr 5/27 Daniel Stern, The Pretenders Mo 5/30 Geena Davis, Aerosmith (rerun from 3/3/94) It's Indy week, or rather fortnight. No new Dave till June 13th. Monday's rerun, though, is tops -- the "guys walking through the background"/"Dave Saves Lives"/"Haa-Kutsut!" shoo. THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC, 11:35 P.M. EST Tu 5/24 Brett Butler, Carl Reiner, Allman Brothers Band We 5/25 Ted Danson, A.J. Jamal Th 5/26 Helen Hunt Fr 5/27 Shelley Long, Gin Blossoms Mo 5/30 TBA LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC, 12:35 A.M. EST Tu 5/24 Astronaut Alan Shepard, Frente! We 5/25 Thomas Calabro, Ann Miller, Sam Phillips (our pick to click) Th 5/26 Lily Tomlin, Mark Leyner, the Radiators Fr 5/27 Gaby Hoffman, Harland Williams, Penny Marshall Mo 5/30 Jay Thomas, Barbara Eden, Lemonheads (rerun of 3/17/94) LATER WITH GREG KINNEAR, NBC, 1:35 A.M. EST Tu 5/24 Al Michaels We 5/25 Bill Maher Th 5/26 TBA Mo 5/30 TBA -- Thanks to S Trowbridge THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW, Syndicated Tu 5/24 Babyface, Carrot Top We 5/25 Patti LaBelle, Bob Saget Th 5/26 Paula Abdul Fr 5/27 LAST SHOW: Whoopi Goldberg, James Brown, others Also, don't miss TOM SNYDER on CNBC, airing live Monday-Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern with a rerun of that evening's show at 1 a.m. Reruns also air at those times Friday through Sunday. The E! entertainment television cable network broadcasts reruns of _Late Night with David Letterman_ "seven Daves a week" at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Monday through Friday, reruns can also be viewed at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern. The following schedule was taken from the E! update line. Mo 5/23 Billy Crystal, Tom Waits, Steve Timmons (10-5-88) Tu 5/24 Jay Leno, Livingston Taylor, John Alpert (4-15-82) We 5/25 Bill Murray, Jerry Seinfeld, David Sanborn (3-19-87) Th 5/26 Richard Lewis, Robert Palmer (7-15-88) Fr 5/27 James Brown (7-12-82) Sa 5/28 Bernhard, Sly Stone (2-21-83) Su 5/29 Martin Short, Fats Domino (8-2-88) If you have ever wondered whether any guest stayed on for more segments than Madonna -- and who among us can deny having given pause to consider this issue of our time? -- then watch Friday's show. Very special thanks this issue to S Trowbridge. --------------------------- Entire contents Copyright (C) 1994 by Aaron Barnhart. All rights reserved. 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