Silly Thinking

STNews presents





A Special Report.

A few more thoughts on Johnny Carson.

From the ST West Coast Media Center, here is ST News correspondent Jim Farris.



JF: I’ve been watching the tributes and reports about Johnny Carson the last few days, for those of us who lived threw the thirty years of Carson’s reign on “The Tonight Show” (from 1962 to 1992) we understand why his passing is also a mark of time passing and reflection about those times and our lives.

Johnny’s death has had a profound effect on many diverse people I’ve talked to in the last few days, not just taking a moment to acknowledge his talent, but also a sober time to contemplate ones age and place, to search memories, and reflect.

For those too young to have shared this time, it may seem like a lot is being said and done about a talk show host.

Taking a look at Carson’s longevity, with social and personal thoughts aside, he had an amazing success on TV, a business not known for long runs. Thirty years as host of “The Tonight Show” on NBC, Monday threw Friday at 11:30 pm. To give you some kind of idea as to his tremendous success, I thought I would report that an even more amazing record is held by Mister Carson.

In thirty years, only one program put on the air against Johnny was a success.

One.

Everybody and everything else was a flop. Here is a list of as many of Carson’s competing programs as I could remember.

1. Soon after Johnny got “Tonight”, in 1962, ABC tried a talk show from Los Angeles entitled “The Les Crane Show”. This program was truly ahead of it’s time, it was more serious in tone and featured the host roaming the audience, encouraging comments and questions. The gimmick on “The Les Crane Show” was the host’s “Shotgun mike” a microphone that looked like a shotgun. Watching him shove a shotgun into an audience members face always seemed cruel.

2. “The Steve Allen Show”. Also in the early sixties; Allen (the second host of the Original Tonight Show) hosted a syndicated talk show following the formula he (more or less) invented. From Hollywood Steve did a wild party of a show, but it could not compete.

3. “Playboy After Dark” was a weekly party featuring Hef, Bunnies, and a cocktail party with guest stars. It was a dismal failure.

4. “Jerry Lewis LIVE” was a talk show ABC put on at 9:30 pm Saturday nights, thinking it would catch on and they could move it to weeknights. It was gone in thirteen weeks.

5. “The Joey Bishop Show”. A regular fill in host for Johnny, Joey Bishop got his own Hollywood talk show on ABC in the mid sixties. A good copy of “Tonight”, Bishop’s side kick was a young unknown named Regis Philbin. It was a respectable second place finisher for about four years, but finally could not compete.

6. “The Dick Cavett Show”. ABC kept trying and in the late sixties got one of Johnny’s writers to host a hipper, more sophisticated talk show from New York. Cavett was urbane and witty, and the show dealt with serious issues as well as comedy and variety. He never dented Carson’s ratings.

7. CBS tried syndicated talk host Merv Griffin to mount a challenge to Carson at the same time. Griffin had had a successful program on local stations in the late afternoon and prime time for years. CBS Spent lavishly on the show, basing it at Television City in Hollywood. It flopped.

8. CBS then put on “The CBS Late Movie” a network series of movies that included several World Premiere films. It sank into the toilet, but CBS kept it for years.

9. ABC tried a rotating format after Cavett called “The Wide World Of Entertainment”. It included a few days a week of Cavett and they lured Jack Paar out of retirement for a few weeks, but his comeback was awful. Other elements included dramas and cheap variety shows. The only thing that came out of this series that is still around is “Dick Clark’s New Years Rockin’ Eve”.

10. In syndication Alan Thicke (an unknown at the time from Canada) got a raunchy piece of shit called “Thicke of The Night”. It was gone in less than a year.

11. “The Jerry Lewis Show” another shot for Jerry, this time in syndication. It was gone in a few months.

12. ABC finally put on a show that did stay on the air, and is still on today. “Nightline” from ABC News with Ted Koppel.

13. “Late Night with Joan Rivers” was the FOX networks first try at late night. Rivers was Johnny’s regular guest host, and was discovered by him. Joan’s FOX show was a disaster. Johnny never talked to her again.

14. “Arsenio Hall”. Another syndicated talk comedy show actually got some traction and was slightly denting “Tonight’s” ratings. But after five years Arsenio took his posse and left the airwaves.

15. “The Chevy Chase Show” was another FOX attempt to crack late night. It was one of the worst talk shows ever produced and was jerked off the air within weeks of it’s debut.

16. “Pat Sajack”. CBS tried again with affable, bland Sajack. CBS said (at the time) that they did not think they could win, but wanted to do respectable business so when Carson retired Sajack would be there. Show was on less than a year. Carson continued for over a decade.

And those are just the ones I can remember. There were countless reruns, game shows, talk shows, and movies for years.
Nothing could compete with Johnny Carson.