On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 10:27 AM, Jon Delfin <[email protected]> wrote:

> I think Colbert would be bored in a standard talk-show format. But
> while the idea of Letterman doing a PBS/HBO interview show makes me
> laugh unreasonably, I suspect Ferguson could evolve to that
> eventually. He, at least, knows how to listen and respond.


I am not a Ferguson hater, just not as big a fan as many here are. I have
been impressed by many of the extended conversations he has had with
guests, but also have found many of his interviews with celebrities to be
not just silly but, I guess worst of all for someone in his position,
boring. I know this is a charge frequently leveled at Dave, and it is true
to a large extent, but it seems to me to be even more true of Ferguson -
that he gets bored himself with doing a talk show, and if he is not really
captured by his guest, his attention and focus seem to wane.

In my eyes Dave is consistently the best serious interviewer of all the
late night TV shows, and I would include the two Comedy Central guys in
that. It is true that he often has little patience or interest in many of
the various entertainment celebrities that flow by, but when he gets
someone that he is interested in he produces riveting television. I am at a
point where more often than not I will fast forward through the monologue
and start watching with his desk piece, which, especially when they forgo a
scripted bit and just let Dave by Dave for 5 minutes, can often be the
highlight of the television day. If he has an interesting guest (and mostly
here I mean not a guest who is interesting to me, but a guest that seems
interesting to Dave) I will watch the rest of the program.

This is why I say that I would like to see Dave in retirement have a show
where he only invites guests that he is interested in talking to, without
the pressure of interviewing the stars of that week's blockbuster films or
current television programs. Maybe I am the only one, but I
would definitely watch all of that program once or twice a week.

-- 
TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People!
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