Come to think of it, the only late night host to avoid the desk with any amount of success was Arsenio Hall, but you can chalk that up to his efforts to be the "anti-Carson". In truth, his show was more traditional than he'd have cared to admit at the time.
On May 19, 1:51 am, Keith Privett <[email protected]> wrote: > Reinvent the set? Did you never watch Larry Sanders????? > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8D2uLxm6i0(start at 3:58) > andhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUR1nJHnEsU(start at 6:05, though a name > more prominent today comes up early...) > > --- On Mon, 5/18/09, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Tom Wolper <[email protected]> > > Subject: [TV orNotTV] Re: First picture of Conan's new set... > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Monday, May 18, 2009, 5:16 PM > > > On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 5:29 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 1:32 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > >> NBC had a huge budget and the opportunity to build > > the Tonight Show > > >> studio from the ground up and that gives them more > > possibilities in > > >> set design. I just sense that they were looking > > for risk avoidance and > > >> being overly conservative and that leads them to a > > mediocre set. > > > > There's a difference between conservative and > > traditional. Some > > > people, myself included, are ticked off that The > > Tonight Show isn't > > > still in Studio One at the Burbank studio facility. > > Older generations > > > are ticked off that Johnny Carson moved the show to CA > > from NY. Having > > > a set that is familiar on a show that has been running > > more than 50 > > > years is, at least, a nod to tradition. And a part of > > me thinks that > > > Conan is at least somewhat sentimental about the role > > of Tonight Show > > > host (I recall how excited/nrvous he when they did the > > show out of > > > Carson's old studio when I worked with him years ago), > > and that he > > > might actually want the set to be in keeping with the > > old school. > > > > Personally, I've never understood the desk as a talk > > show set piece > > > (looks like a job interview is taking place), but I > > think Conan would > > > be uncomfortable in the Tom Snyder styled set with > > only two chairs on > > > the set (for those interested, rumor has it that > > Leno's set will not > > > have him behind a desk; he'll be going "out of the > > box" as many local > > > newscasts attempted in the 1990s... I predict he'll > > get a desk within > > > 3 months). > > > Costas did Later without a desk and Tavis Smiley doesn't > > have one. > > > To the question of tradition in set design, there has to be > > some way > > to determine its value. If by keeping to a traditional > > design to make > > people who watched Carson feel safe, even at the risk of > > seeming > > boring to a younger audience, that's demographic poison. > > Conan has a > > real challenge in finding a way to stand out - from Leno > > and Fallon, > > and also from Letterman and Kimmel. A good start would be > > to reimagine > > the talk show set. > > > Tom W --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
