> Lots of good observations. Thank you, and the same about your post.
> The evolution of talk shows depends on a lot of > variables, the biggest of which seem to be the > writing staff and network notes. One thing about the Letterman-Leno rivalry was the sense one got from the outside that Jay was more likely to take network notes than Dave was. I'm sure both had their moments of doing the other thing, and some of the notes might even have been useful. > Various celebrities singing or even lip-syncing might be > entertaining to some, but it isn't "writing." And to me those sorts of > segments only highlight a host's inability to conduct an interview or > converse naturally with guests. If they can fill a segment with something like a game that requires very little writing, it's that many fewer minutes they have to worry about. > I think the third most important variable would be the available guests. > Back in the day of Carson, early Letterman, Cavett, etc. while it was > important to get big-named guests, there seemed to be greater emphasis on > booking guests who could do more than sell whatever they were there to > promote (or even appear despite having nothing to promote). I think that Carson, his predecessors, and Late Night Letterman benefited greatly from the lack of competition. It's much easier to say no to a given celebrity if you don't have to worry about him or her going on another network and hammering you in the ratings that night. So no matter how much any particular host might not want to talk to the reality star du jour, it's hard to say no. And then someone like Amy Sedaris, who would do atypically goofy segments with Dave, ends up making the rounds, so there's not quite that special feeling that we'd get from Leno appearing on Late Night. > I'd still jump at the chance to work on the 1:35am timeslot for a network. You have my vote, which I'm afraid doesn't count for much. -- -- 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/d/optout.
