In answer to one question you asked, over the last few weeks, Leno has been dropping in highlight packages and retrospectives into episodes (best of man on the street stuff, that sort of thing). Having a few of Carson's anniversary shows in my collection, he did on occasion try to show a highlight reel of monologue jokes, but lacking the context and pop-cultural references of the day, they didn't always work, so for Jay (whose monologue is almost exclusively rooted in current events) to not include such a monologue reel is a forgivable omission.
If it was me and I had produced Jay's final show, everybody who had done walk ons at the top of the show would've emerged from the wings and joined Garth on stage to sing "Friends In Low Places." It seemed disjointed that Jay's friends joined him earlier in the episode but not at the end. Leno posted a crew photo on his Twitter feed, and I actually paused and stopped the closing credits. I counted more than a dozen names who had been with the show since Johnny Carson. I'd like to describe Roberta the backstage manager as a sweet and gentle person, but she ripped me a gaping new a-hole the first time I encountered her (she eventually warmed to me once I realized those hallways belonged to her, hallways she and I would often share as I often worked in the studio across the hall). I will single out Tom Patino, unquestionably the kindest man in the history of NBC. In addition to a litany of other responsibilities (like NBC's coverage of the Rose Parade), whatever studio Jay operated from was his purview, as well as the personnel contained within the studio, but an outside observer would never know he was so high up the food chain. His referrals got me several jobs in the industry. Franz Hahn has been in charge of makeup at NBC Burbank forever (and I don't think that's an exaggeration... fairly certain he was there when they opened the doors. These names mean little to many, but the work they did has been seen by billions of people over the years. Three links I'll share, the first a photo album on the Facebook page of a guy who worked behind the scenes at NBC for decades. He has additional albums worth checking out if you are into behind the scenes of vintage (or cheesy) TV shows and specials. https://www.facebook.com/Dcvideodavid/media_set?set=a.1239751666323.2033527.1005211240&type=1 The second link is a 1958 clip from "The Steve Allen Show" when he was in Studio One (Carson's eventual home) in Burbank, wherein he decides to go see Dinah Shore in her studio (eventual home to "Days Of Our Lives"). Having led tourists through those halls myself, I was astonished by how little the facility changed in 50 years... they built it right, they built it to last, and why didn't anybody tell me Frank Sinatra once sang on the exact same spot where I led tourists into the building for over a year? Seriously, it was one part of the tour where I had no historical footnote to share. But as you see Allen move, he walks through the Studio One elephant doors, to the left of which you can glimpse the shoeshine stand that stayed for over 40 years, passes what was for decades the Tonight Show hallway (aka Roberta's domain), down the hall past what was the production office for The Howie Mandel Show and Your Big Break, they pass Studio Ten (home of KNBC's local news until last week), dance through Scenic Operations (where all the sets on the lot were built), encounter Sinatra at what would become the Guest Relations entrance, and then conclude in Dinah's studio. It really is a terrific time capsule of the building's history (as well as some of my own history). http://youtu.be/05pU6l4PEJw This article is underwhelming, but it does include a sidebar by Dennis Haskins, known to many as Mr. Belding from "Saved By The Bell." He was, like Tom Patino, just a good guy who was always around. He writes about hanging out when his show was across the hall from Jay's, but as a page I frequently saw him roaming the halls after his show had relocated. He just liked the people. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/feb/06/jay-leno-signs-off-tonight/ On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 10:54 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > Thursday night's goodbye was seen by 14.6M people, more than all Tonight > Show with Leno episodes except the one following the Cheers finale, his > first episode, and the one following the Seinfeld finale. I guess not > coincidentally, those are 4 of the relatively few Leno Tonight Shows that I > have seen as well: > > > http://www.eonline.com/news/508460/jay-leno-s-final-tonight-show-ratings-the-biggest-audience-since-1998 > > I watched it yesterday, and realized I am not in a good position to > evaluate it. It seemed pretty much what you would expect. The main > retrospective (perhaps they did other similar things all week and this is > the only one I saw?) was introduced by Leno saying something like one of > the things he would remember best was the fun he had had with politicians. > I am pretty sure that if Dave were to give a similar intro to a > retrospective on his last show, what would follow would be highlights of > his interviews with politicians; for Leno, it was all various bits - I > guess one of his signature pieces has been photoshopping video of > politicians in humorous ways. I'm sure most of these were funny in the > original context (some were funny just as clips), but it struck me as a > strangely impersonal way to summarize Leno's 22 years at the show. It would > have been better introduced as an homage to his writing and production > staff than as a retrospective on his own contribution to the show. It was > also odd in that everything I have read about Leno vs Fallon has emphasized > Leno's almost complete lack of an online, viral footprint (which apparently > is Fallon's signature). These videos seemed to scream: "Here is the kind of > thing we were never very good at, but the next guy is great at". > > Bill Crystal, who for my money has aged the worst of every comic of his > generation (I don't mean in his looks, but just in how annoying and unfunny > he has become) did some kind of pale echo of his old Oscar intros, but at > least tried to get closer to what I would have thought would have been the > Leno signature - highlighting jokes, or at least punchlines, from his > monologue over the years (at least, I assume Crystal was giving us actual > Leno punchlines, and not making up lame parodies of the kind of think Leno > would have said). I would have much preferred seeing a montage of say > Leno's 22 best monologue jokes (one for each year?). That is supposed to be > his strength - lets see it (we certainly did not see a lot of evidence of > that during the actual last monologue). > > He did at least reference Carson at the very end (as I recall, he did not > mention him at all in his first show, or if he did it was very muted) - > though to my ear it was clunky and, predictably, derivative. Again for me > the inevitable comparison to how I think Dave would have done it was > unavoidable (if obviously unfair). Nobody in late night television > (including IMO Paar) is as good as Dave sitting behind his desk just > talking to the home viewer. Though to be fair, I did see Dave on Thursday > night, and while he did acknowledge Leno's last show, it was perfunctory > (it seemed like he was reading from Leno's wikipedia page) and lacked the > intimate notes from their personal history that he has at times dropped. > > The central paradox that is Jay Leno to me was best captured (really, > reenacted) in his final comments at the desk. He said: > > "It's just been incredible. I got to work with lighting people, who made > me look better than I really am. I got to work with audio people who make > me sound better than I really do. And I got to work with producers and > directors, and just all kinds of talent people. They made me look a lot > smarter than I really am." > > Certainly nice enough that he gave credit to the "little people", though > it seems trite and forced to me. But more importantly, it seems so opposite > the actual truth, which is that Leno has never looked and sounded worse and > dumber than he did when he was actually on camera in the Tonight Show, and > he comes across so much better in almost every other forum (as long as > Oprah is not around) that I have seen him in. > > I don't think Garth Brooks sang this song, but for me it would have been a > fitting benediction to Leno's career: "How Can We Miss You When You Won't > Go Away"? > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > 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 > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
