From Chicago: Dial 'El' for murder ... it's Letterman News for
Thursday, February 17, 1994
Issue #1 A new electronic sheet, published irregularly
JAY'S STEAMED
Too bad Jay Leno doesn't have Helen Kushnick as his handler anymore.
The original "Helen, the Ill-Tempered Ticket Lady" could have called up
the _Late Night with Conan O'Brien_ folks and screamed obscenities at
them for booking David Letterman as a guest on the 12:35 show for
Monday, February 28th.
_E. T._ is reporting that Jay is peeved at Conan, not merely for booking
Jay's chief competitor, but (a) for not informing anyone at _Tonight_ of
the scheduling -- Jay had to read about it in the papers -- and, on top
of that, (b) because on the day Conan was named the new _Late Night_
host, Jay had him booked immediately on _Tonight_ and *even went so far*
as to *bump* a scheduled guest. Wow ... Jay bumped a guest once.
My guess is that a new talk-show war is brewing -- who gets the
_Tonight_ show when NBC finally dumps Jay's sorry ass! Canny move, Conan.
***
From Chicago: No admittance without hard hat ... it's LATE SHOW NEWS
for Tuesday, March 1, 1994
Issue #3 A weekly electronic sheet by Aaron Barnhart
DAVE WITH HIS (ROSE-COLOURED?) GLASSES ON
Consider the following a minority opinion. Our initial scan of the Net
determined that many of you who watched Monday's edition of _Late Night
with Conan O'Brien_ featuring special guest David Letterman were not at
all impressed with the young carrot-topped host. You think he's not a
very good interviewer and that some of his comedy falls flat, and that
if it weren't for Dave's appearance, last night's show would just be
another in a long string of embarrassing time-wasters for NBC. In fact,
many of you stayed up later to catch the hosting debut of Greg Kinnear
and decided right then and there you'd just seen Conan's replacement.
We will simply reprint what Dave himself told Conan in the middle of
their conversation last night: "You guys do an incredible amount of
comedy ... that is very high-level, and the volume and the quality of
the stuff just knocks me out. There's nothing like this show on
television and I really, really appreciate that."
Hear hear. For those of us who don't catch Conan all that much,
Monday's show bore out Lorne Michaels's strategy of hiring a sketch
writer over a standup comedian: he may not have the snappiest comebacks,
but those sketches are funny and original.
(Well, the guy "dressed" as a streaker was less than memorable.)
*And,* as a bonus, Conan actually had a great interview with Dave --
though true to his old _Tonight_ show guesting form, Dave appeared ready
with twenty minutes of material in case things started to get slow.
Conan got Dave to explain why he had lined the windows of his old 14th
floor office at NBC with half-inch-thick hockey rink plexiglas. And
when Dave prefaced a story about Johnny Carson with, "Remember
*Johnny?*" and got a big laugh, Conan played along, saying: "I'm
fourteen years old! This tie is a clip-on!"
The interview ended with Dave confessing that he always enjoyed being a
guest on Johnny's show during the old _Late Night_ years, and that he'd
like to renew that tradition ... at the *new* _Late Night._ We were
pleasantly surprised by what sure sounded like Dave's sincere
endorsement of the show. (It happens so rarely, our ears actually prick
up like an Airedale's when we hear one.)
Conan O'Brien on his best nights, and last night was one of them,
exceeds all expectations set for him. Otherwise, he's still a
successful comedy writer. His sidekick seems badly miscast, but that
error is more than offset by the tunes coming out of Max Weinberg's
shiny little ensemble. As for those rumours of Greg Kinnear assuming
the _Late Night_ slot six months from now ... well, we watched his first
show, and even after giving Greg what we feel is a very generous benefit
of the doubt, we think Conan can breathe easy.
***
From Chicago: Gateway to Milwaukee ... it's
LATE SHOW NEWS for Tuesday, August 30, 1994
Issue #28
A weekly electronic sheet by Aaron Barnhart
NOT BEHIND CONAN ?
^ ^ ^
NBC executives confirmed last week what many who have seen the show have
suspected: that _Late Night with Conan O'Brien_ is in trouble. By
waiting nearly until the final month of O'Brien's contract before
deciding whether or not to renew it, and then announcing that it would
do neither, allowing the host merely to stay on the air until instructed
to do otherwise, the network failed to send the ambiguous signals it had
intended to send.
Granted, judging strictly by the numbers, there is no reason for panic.
_Late Night_ has cleared the convenient Nielsen benchmark of 2.0 --
that is, 2% of all American t.v. households, or double the audience NBC
had promised to deliver to advertisers in 1993-94 -- three out of the
last four weeks. This is up a third from Conan's mid-season nadir of
1.5. Since that time he has swapped guest appearances with Dave
Letterman, who has had nothing bad to say about the show (or at least
about the aspects of the show he cares to praise), and Conan has
benefited from higher visibility in NBC late-night promotions. Perhaps
most encouraging, the ratings for _Late Night_ now regularly exceed
Arsenio Hall's final average of 1.9, and with an important difference:
where Arsenio, whose talk party once had a bigger audience than
Letterman's, was on his way down and out, Conan has not even completed
one year on the air. Surely he is up and coming.
Or maybe not. For despite an otherwise smoothly running program --
great band, funny writing, very un-Dave riffs on familiar
self-referential comedy themes -- Conan as a host is spinning his
wheels. The flop sweat is still perched on that brow, ready to burst at
each commercial break. The on-air presence of his sidekick, Andy
Richter, is even more widely loathed, though he may simply be a useful
diversion for the abuse no one really wants to see heaped on O'Brien,
who is widely (and we hear deservedly) liked. The critics beat up on
Regis Philbin, too, when he was Joey Bishop's right hand in the late
'60s; eventually he got the boot and that was the beginning of the end
for Joey. Nor will the '94-'95 season be any easier for _Late Night._
NBC suits seem to think Lorne Michaels devoted too many of his people
and resources to the show last year and not enough to his flagship,
_SNL_; Michaels is responding by overhauling the latter. This
undoubtedly will take time and maybe people away from Conan's show. And
with Tom Snyder's and Jon Stewart's arrivals this fall, making the 12:35
slot genuinely competitive, there is reason to wonder if O'Brien hasn't
topped out in the ratings. All of which would explain NBC's tenuous, if
patronizingly generous, embrace of its Greg Kinnear warmup.
***
... From Chicago: Serve well chilled ... it's LATE SHOW NEWS for
Tuesday, January 17. 1995
Issue #47 A weekly electronic sheet by Aaron Barnhart
WALK ON ... AND ON
At the risk of borrowing one of t.v.'s most loathsome journalistic
devices, we are prepared to declare early winners in the 1994-95
postmidnight race. This despite the fact that results have barely begun
arriving from the West Coast, where the latest entrant in the "fringe"
category, _The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder,_ only has five episodes
in the can as of this writing.
The winners are _Late Night with Conan O'Brien_ and (as we will explain
in the next story) Snyder on CBS. Conan wins because last week NBC
Entertainment chief Warren Littlefield issued a statement last week
praising _Late Night_ "rose to the challenge and shined" this season.
That and the report that the show has been rewarded with an extension
that runs through July. Although still missing a full one third of the
viewers who watched Dave in the early '90s, Conan has brought the show
along about as far as he possibly can -- indeed perhaps as far as any
comic talent who wants to punish himself broadcasting five nights per
week is going to bring a 12:35 program.
We were in New York last week and took in a taping of _Late Night_ at
NBC's Studio 6A. Thanks to the prestige and influence of LATE SHOW
NEWS, and the fact that three people ahead of us in line suddenly left
to use the restroom, we were seated in the front row on a center aisle
seat. Overall, the hour-and-ten-minute taping -- in which two
commercial breaks went long, once by design to shoot a for-future-use
sequence with one of the guests, once because of an unexplained snafu
that had both O'Brien and his producer, Jeff Ross, clearly peeved --
only served to reinforce our view that NBC has sunk so much money into
this project that, short of unmitigated disaster, it would have been
insane to back out of it now. The crew is plainly top notch. The set,
designed to look like an old, unrestored parlor, is even more impressive
up close (the camera does not do justice to the fake water stains
streaked across the walls). And whatever you think of the Max Weinberg
7, their Big Beat sound is electrifying inside the studio and, to its
mostly younger hearers, fresh. You have already heard about the show's
fine writing.
The host himself has benefitted from his association with the two comics
whose shows both precede and dwarf his own. Just this morning, in an
appearance with Regis and Kathie Lee, Conan pointed to Dave Letterman's
guesting last February 28th as a turning point for _Late Night_ -- that
Dave's old fans could enjoy the new model on its own merits. And
O'Brien's getting up at 9 a.m. to appear on daytime t.v. reflects the
example set for him by Jay Leno, whose own show has earned 7% higher
ratings this year seemingly by sheer will power, relentless
self-promotion and overwork. As we filed into Studio 6A on Friday, the
P.A. was blasting Neil Young's "Walk On," a song that emphasizes old
loyalties over show biz fickleness. For Conan O'Brien, the comedy
writer's comedy writer, who is now assured of completing two full
seasons on the air against all odds, the song is apt.
***
LATE SHOW NEWS
August 20, 1996, Issue 121: Controlling Conan
THE CARROT CRUSADER VS. THE MUST-SEE EMPIRE
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN ushered in a sparkling new set August 6
that pert near maxes out the vertical capacity of Studio 6A at NBC.
Conan's "home base" now has the appearance of a Manhattan penthouse at
night. (In a wonderfully understated moment, Andy Richter stepped behind
the guest area and tapped on one of the "buildings" to puncture the
effect.) The change of scenery was nice, but for some viewers it did
not compensate for another more menacing bit of tinkering done to the
show by the boys in Burbank.
Last month at press tour, I asked Rick Ludwin, who heads up NBC's
late-night programming, why the network was mucking around with the
"Late Night" opening sequence. For two years or so, Conan opened his
show with a goofy animated strip that depicted a sweat-spraying young
host; later, a non-perspiring Conan was substituted. Then the animation
was replaced with an amusing live-action sequence, in which Conan pedals
through the city on a big blue bicycle.
But a couple of months ago, the network stepped in and began making
their own changes to the opening. The theme song, played every night
with great gusto by Max Weinberg and the band, was shortened by several
bars, with distinctly uneuphonic results.
A few weeks later, another dreadful alteration: NBC began pulling clips
from later in the taping and front-ending them in the *middle* of the
opening as a "preview" of what was to come that night. That's not a bad
technique to use if you're producing "SportsCenter," but on a late-late
personality show the effect is positively jarring. And any shots of
Conan on his Schwinn were conspiculously missing.
When I asked Ludwin about these atrocious edits, he told me it was part
of the network's strategy to lure back viewers who had sampled Conan's
show in the summer of '93 and, as he put it, "never watched again
because they thought he was a geek." Although he did not say so
directly, there's little doubt Ludwin had in mind Jay Leno's viewers,
who supply Conan with a sizable lead-in audience, usually in the mid-3
ratings range. Burbank feels that the opening sequence is a crucial
time to grab these viewers and let them know the next 60 minutes are
going to be worth their while. Hence a mini-promo during Conan's
opening sequence that performs the same function as those 30-second
spots for the "Tonight Show" NBC runs during prime time. But what about
that new live-action opening? According to Ludwin, Burbank was
unimpressed by it because, sitting atop that three-speed, Conan *still*
looks like a geek to them.
What these changes, and Ludwin's defense, make clear is that there are
some within the network who still cling to the fantasy of "NBC Late
Night" -- that idiotic branded concept of a seamless, three-hour block
of shows they think viewers will want to watch, one right after the
other, just like they do on Must See TV Thursday. (You may recall
Warren Littlefield trying to sell Dave Letterman on this idea as part of
a last-ditch effort to keep him at NBC.)
When it comes to packaging prime-time shows, NBC is state of the art,
thanks to its two-pronged strategy of elaborate promotional campaigns
and lead-in preservation tactics. Why do you think the commercial break
between sitcoms was eliminated, and the closing credits shunted to the
right side of the screen? It preserves the lead-in audience. Not 30
seconds after the last joke is cracked on "Friends," the first one is
being tossed out on "The Single Guy." The gutting of Conan's opening
sequence brilliantly accomplishes both strategic tasks: before Jay's
millions have a chance to reach for their remotes, they're watching a
promo for the show already in progress.
Rick Ludwin is one of the most respected executives in late night;
unlike a lot of network suits, he's devoted to this time period, and his
commitment to Jay Leno helped make possible the "Tonight Show"'s
turnaround last year. He is, however, dead wrong on this matter.
Johnny Carson knew what he was doing when he instructed David Letterman
in 1982 not to deliver a monologue (and not just because Dave, as we've
since learned, isn't a monologist). Each late night show has its own
sensibility, and the last thing it wants is to be confused with the one
immediately preceding it. In an odd way, Rosie O'Donnell has
demonstrated this with her late-night show that's cleverly disguised as
a daytimer. Had "Rosie" debuted at 12:30 in the morning, she might have
been lost in the shuffle; but by juxtaposing herself with hucksters like
Springer and Sally, she stood out, and became an overnight sensation (so
to speak).
The last thing Conan O'Brien wants or needs, especially now that the
press on him is finally turning favorable, is to be subjected to the
same promotional push given to the "Tonight Show." They're two
different programs aiming at two different audiences, and the
differences are likely to become more pronounced now that Conan is on
higher ground with his critics and viewers. He is no more interested in
appealing to Jay's viewers in 1996 than Dave Letterman was in appealing
to Johnny's viewers in 1986. (That's why Tom Snyder is such a perfect
complement to Letterman at CBS. While Dave is kind enough to mention
Snyder's show in his nightly signoff, there are no illusions about who
will stay up and watch and who will switch to Conan. A "seamless block
of programming" it ain't.)
Back when no one cared what kind of ratings the 12:30 show pulled in,
viewers could look forward every night to hearing the easy, familiar
wail of Paul Shaffer's Hammond organ and Bill Wendell's delightfully
demented voice-overs during the opening sequence of "Late Night with
David Letterman." Maybe the best thing Burbank could do for "Late
Night" today is to act as if ratings didn't matter now, either.
***
LATE SHOW NEWS #160
July 8, 1997 by Aaron Barnhart
Charter reader Bob Rossney is still with LATE SHOW NEWS after three dot
five years and sends along a crit-o-gram so right and so good (and
anyway, it sure beats having to think it up myself), that I had to
reprint it at
length:
"I think that Conan O'Brien's is far and away the most consistently
entertaining, funny, charismatic, and - idiotic recurring characters
notwithstanding - intelligent show in the genre. I've been watching it
almost nightly for a couple of months, and while of course it often
fails to entrance, it's often very, very good.
"Last night, for example, a rerun of the David Bowie/Justine Batemen
show. Not only did Conan interview Bowie very well - giving the singer
plenty of space to show some of his eccentric and prankish wit - the
interview also incorporated some characteristic comedy, with a montage
of the chameleonlike personae that Bowie purportedly adopted during his
career. (The Elegant Hunchback and The Buck-Toothed Wizard stuck in my
mind.) *And* he let Bowie play not one but two songs, one of them
acoustic and one with a full band.
"There is, in this, a recognition that when you have real talent on the
show you just wind it up and let it rip and the hell with the format.
There's so much false spontaneity on late-night TV right now that it's
hard to recognize the real thing when you see it.
"In that same show, during an interview with the dreadfully
uninteresting Justine Bateman (during which O'Brien casually turned on
all of the conversation-dominating tactics that he shut down while Bowie
was on stage), Bateman, an amateur pilot, was asked to give an example
of pilot-speak. She rattled off a bunch of jargon that she would radio
to the tower, translating it as "This is who I am; I'm here; I want to
take off." And out of left field Andy Richter, who ordinarily is silent
during interviews, said "That sounds like the lyrics to a Sammy Davis,
Jr. song," a connection so fast, and so bizarre (and absolutely right
on) that I don't think anyone would have noticed it if Conan hadn't
shone a little light on it -- not to make sure everyone got the joke,
but to make sure everyone knew there was a joke there to get.
"This was a pretty good episode, but it wasn't atypical. Conan and Andy
have grown out of that horrible first year into a graceful pair that is
often very fun to watch, just to see them make it look easy.
"Also, they closed last week by letting the Charlie Hunter Quartet play
a six or seven minute long muscular jazz cover of a Bob Marley song.
There's something you won't see on Letterman."
***
LATE SHOW NEWS #197 April 7, 1998
published April 8 by Aaron Barnhart
Conan O'Brien has followed his sidekick Andy Richter onto the college
lecture circuit. He spoke Monday at the University of Pennsylvania.
Darren Glass was there and files this report:
"The evening opened with a 5- or 10-minute package of clips from 'Late
Night,' including the documentary parody of Ken Burns's "Baseball" and
other greatest hits. Then Conan came out and the fun began. He wanted
the talk to have a message, and the message he chose was roughly, "Don't
be afraid to get in over your head." He spent the first hour and a half
basically going through his career, from his graduation from Harvard
(which got boo-ed every time he mentioned it, something he seemed to get
a real kick out of) up until "Late Night." He showed some clips from
the 'Wilton-North Report' (he said, 'I was 6 foot 4, 165 pounds, and I
have no idea what was going on with
my hair!'), the Simpsons and 'SNL,' as well as clips from his audition
tape for 'Late Night' ('Watch this tape and feel a lot better about
yourself'), which were all quite amusing to see. Throughout the evening
he mentioned several times how he knew performing was for him and how he
has the best job in the world. He also kept emphasizing his theme,
saying that throughout his career he has done things that he really
wasn't ready for, but somehow he survived it all.
"Then he took questions. Even though he was originally nly scheduled to
take about 20 minutes worth of questions, he said he would keep going
until they were all answered. I left after about 45 minutes of q-and-a
but he was still going strong. Some highlights:
"On Howard Stern: 'Howard is one of the few people who can regularly
make me laugh out loud ... Do I think he will kick 'SNL's' butt?
Probably not. He might polarize the audience for awhile, but I would
guess that 'SNL' is here to stay.
"On his favorite SNL performer: 'Phil Hartman was always the most
underrated. He could make you laugh but he could also make you laugh at
the other people. He would play a freak in one skit and a 55-year-old
man in the next. He is a genius.'
"On his side projects: 'Anyone who does a talk show and also dabbles in
ten side projects isn't really doing their talk show. It just takes too
much time.'
"On a show he'd like to do: 'I really want to do an entire show on a New
York subway. Start down in the financial district and end up in Harlem
or something. And have the guests get on and off at appropriate stops.
I don't know if it would be technically possible, but it's something
I'd like to do someday.'
"On fame: 'The lame thing is that I actually do have a stalker, but she
lives in Germany. Dave's stalker like breaks into his house and stuff,
but mine just writes me letters that I don't read.'
"I was quite impressed at both the way he handled the audience's cheers
and innuendo, and also at how honest and straightforward he was when
asked questions about things like 'Why does "The Simpsons" suck now?' or
'Do you ever partake of [marijuana]?'"
***
LATE SHOW NEWS #221
October 13, 1998 by Aaron Barnhart
Kathie Freeman was in the dress-rehearsal audience for the 5th
anniversary special of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" that aired in
prime time last month. The energy level for the dress rehearsal was so
good that large chunks of it were included in the special that you saw
(including the two mock-awards presentations that featured Tony Randall
and Tom Arnold).
Kathie writes, "I thought the whole show came off great, though Conan's
anxiety was really obvious during the breaks. Wow, is he tightly
strung! I was caught off-guard -- I didn't expect to see such a truly
extreme level of intensity. ... I'm also 35, raised Catholic and the
third of six children. Believe me, I understand all of that "It's got
to be good"/"I have to earn it"/ depressive/guilt-driven motivation.
It's what we tend to be *made* of. But, geez-o-might, I'm now actually
worried about the guy. I can see why he jokes about the impending heart
attack."
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