Is There a Future for Late-Night Talk Shows?
Big changes are coming to the longtime staple of television programming, as the genre struggles to make the leap to the streaming world.
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Is There a Future for Late-Night Talk Shows?
- Thread starter nomadcowatbk
- Start date
One of the issues here is that the NBC, CBS and ABC shows are decidedly polarizing, with neither the right nor the center being well served. I can't watch any of the three as I am an independent centrist, and find the content disturbing as it almost intentionally offends at least half of all adult Americans with some of the commentaries.Is There a Future for Late-Night Talk Shows?
Big changes are coming to the longtime staple of television programming, as the genre struggles to make the leap to the streaming world.web.archive.org
Those with memories going back to Steve Allen and Johnny Carson remember that the shows poked fun at everyone and were not deeply political. The guests were interesting, the music mainstream and the content a nice end to the day. Today, the shows are ripe with partisanship and seldom just "good fun".
I can't say that I have watched anything in that genre/time slot since Letterman retired.
I'm watching Perry Mason re-runs on MeTV at 11:30
I'm watching Perry Mason re-runs on MeTV at 11:30
I think we've already had this discussion about awards shows, prime time, and even radio. Real time media is fading away. The future of late night talk shows is creating content that can be consumed on demand, as James Cordin did with Carpool Karaoke. Late night TV isn't appointment viewing any more. It has nothing to do with the hosts, the guests, or the concept. It has to do with changing media consumption patterns. They could bring back David Letterman or Johnny Carson, and it wouldn't change the fact that people have other options (including sleep), and they won't tune in with the mass numbers they once did.
Agreed and considering I'm center-left depending on the issue, I should perhaps be one of the folks they'd expect to lap this stuff up. I'm not. Even those of us who like to keep up on political happenings do just want to tune in and be entertained at times. If I want to see programming or comedy with a political bent, there are channels or shows I can go to for that. Often when you see a headline about Kimmel, Colbert and at times Fallon or Meyers, it describes how they've taken down someone in the world of politics with a segment or joke or showed a video clip to use their words against them. That was never the case with even relatively recent hosts like Craig Ferguson. Letterman occasionally would challenge a guest or call them out on something they said, but it was relatively rare. Lots of comedians did impressions of Reagan and H.W. Bush during their presidencies, but they were usually lighthearted and jovial, rather than mean-spirited or cutting. In short, there's a place for everything, and a time and place to simply provide "entertainment" to the masses.
Carson was asked why he didn't do political humor. His response was something to the effect that "he would piss off half his audience no matter what his comments were". Sounds pretty much the truth.
I don't stay up that late watching anything however earlier (about 7pm my time) I enjoy old Western movies then hobble off to the sack.
They are not considered 'late night' but I also enjoy Bill Maher and John Oliver's shows. Those are where my political humor flows and that's enough for me. I don't live to reenact the Civil War every day on TV.
Given their very topical nature, late-night talk/variety shows need to be enjoyed within 24 hours of their broadcast to be truly enjoyed. Otherwise, they get stale very fast.
Even Friday-night editions of the late-night talk shows, which are reruns of shows first aired as short as a couple of weeks earlier, seem stale.
Going forward, the challenge for producers of late-night shows and the networks that carry them, will be to somehow convince people to watch these shows when they air or ASAP after they air.
Even Friday-night editions of the late-night talk shows, which are reruns of shows first aired as short as a couple of weeks earlier, seem stale.
Going forward, the challenge for producers of late-night shows and the networks that carry them, will be to somehow convince people to watch these shows when they air or ASAP after they air.
Nope. Going forward the challenge for producers will be to create content that viewers can watch when they want and where they want.
That's why Carson's shows are still being shown. Where is Bob Hope today?
Johnny would be different in these times. He would instinctively try to abstain but it would be pointless. He was too clever to understand that when someone is trying to steal an election --among other things- that it is ok to take a stand against it. He wouldn't have dwelt on it just made some clear points.
It's very difficult to tell just what Carson would have done. His whole career was non-political and pointed towards light humor and the Hollywood crowd. He had certain acts (such as the zoo lady) that came on from time to time but that kind of thing was very occasional. Although his popularity was at its highest in the 60's and 70's I never heard him say anything, on the show or otherwise, about the Vietnam War. And those were the days when everyone had something to say.
I was never a big Carson fan but viewing some of his current digi-net shows these days are great comedy - unfortunately from performers who are no longer living.
I have no idea why unless his estate bought the time for several years. Ford, Carter, and Reagan jokes are irrelevant today. He might as well be talking about Ike. So are guests that are now either dead stars, has-beens, or never-wases that got their 5 minutes of fame from Carson and were never heard from again.
The only funny elements of his show are the non-political jokes in the monologue (mostly about his own staff), the second segment with Carnak, the Tea Time Movie, etc, or the few remaining guests from his era that are timeless (Jack Benny, Rodney Dangerfield, and the like).
Like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, he's still dead.
Not to the millions of us who remember them. Of course, Ike was nothing to joke about....except perhaps his golf game (which was in the news almost constantly).
Exactly my point. Now that I don't have a working person's bedtime I can watch what I missed all those years.
Of course but what I meant was that you don't see Hope and company on TV (digi-net or otherwise) any longer because his humor was almost always topical and doesn't have a very long shelf life.
The other evening I watched an old Carson show (the only kind I suppose) and Red Skelton was his guest. It was hilarious and, of course with Red, it was also clean. I remember Red's show and was a faithful viewer and the combination of he and Johnny was great entertainment even though both are no longer living. My granddaughter watched it with me and asked where was Red's show today. I explained he had died and she was sad that she never knew about him but loved his many clown characters. Now she gets to know him and most all the rest of the great (appropriate) comics of yesteryear. She is 11.
Bob Hope was supposedly not a great comedian in his own right and certainly not good at ad-libbing or being "funny", which is probably another reason his stuff is less timeless. Everything Hope did needed to be written for him and where a lot of comedians enjoyed straying from the script a bit, when they performed with Hope they more or less had to play it as written. Carson was often annoyed when he'd be told Hope was making yet another appearance on his show, often replying with "Again?!?!" and in later years when Bob Hope's hearing was failing, having him as a guest was an obvious struggle.
Jonathan Winters didn't care to act alongside Hope, as Winters loved to ad-lib and throw out lines and responses off the cuff, while Hope needed to stick to the script. Winters admired Bob Hope as a business man (Hope supposedly owned an incredible amount of land, and when he'd renew his contracts with networks or studios, part of the contract sometimes involved their buying some of his property, in addition to pay), but also said he was cheap, even feeding stars boxed lunches at times when they'd come to his home.
I love watching the old Carson re-runs at night
and on Roku TV there is a whole channel devoted to just running old Carson Tonight shows
I think the reason for this is that the American right has taken for granted a "status quo" that works in their favor. These hosts, right after the local news, are working to shift the tide away from that. Since the right tends to be intellectually lazy, hosts and newspapers can readily shape a status quote that is away from the idiocy and lunacy the right has taken for granted for so long. And...seriously. Those people raided our capitol. Who cares about them?
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Harvey_Dogg
Guest
They ran off the conservative's. They ran off their moderate viewers. They offend some of us on the left with the hatred they spew. David Letterman and Jay Leno's replacements have no one to blame but themselves for making half their audience go away.
A comedian's role is to entertain and make people laugh. So some of you and they think the stupid American sheep need the TV to educate and indoctrinate us.
A comedian's role is to entertain and make people laugh. So some of you and they think the stupid American sheep need the TV to educate and indoctrinate us.
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