Frost and Dick Cavett were my two favorite talk-show hosts when
I was a teenager in the early '70s; there actually seemed to be
real conversation on those shows, and both hosts were extremely
intelligent (although I think most past guests would say that Merv
was the best listener; Cavett once said that he never really
listened to his guests since he was usually concerned about breaking
for a commercial at the right time). Of the five major talk-show hosts
of the early '70s (Frost, Cavett, Carson, Griffin, and Douglas), only Cavett
is left, and talk shows are the poorer for it (if I had it to do over again and
had the charisma to be a television personality, I'd like to use the theory of
"what goes around, comes around" and put on a talk show like the ones of
the pre-Donahue era--which too many hosts have carried 'way beyond what
I think Phil intended).
Re the Nixon interviews: IIRC, Frost never did get Nixon to admit he'd
done anything wrong in his handling of Watergate.
There are two "TW3" incidents that come to mind: the British version,
on the weekend of JFK's assassination, scrapped its planned program and
put together what may have been the most appropriate tribute to him aired
anywhere in the world that weekend. Second, "TW3" had scored well in the
ratings in a Friday-night slot on NBC in the winter of 1964; in the fall, NBC moved
it to Tuesdays (when Frost took over from Elliot Reid as host of the American version)
against "Peyton Place" and "Petticoat Junction." Because "TW3" had been savaging
Barry Goldwater, he bought the Tuesday 9:30 (ET) slot on NBC every week but two
between September and the election on November 3, 1964. By then, viewers had
committed to one of the competing shows. On November 10, "TW3" opened with a
line, something like, "The regularly scheduled political program will not be seen tonight,"
but it was too late, and "TW3" was not renewed for the 1965-66 season.
Frost had an illustrious career on both sides of the big pond. I, too, say R.I.P. Sir David.
