Say It Ain’t So, Late Shows [tv]

Y’know, I can remember a time when giving out canned hams and Top 10 Lists were things of beauty in the spectrum of late night variety TV. If you know anything about my comedy sensibilities, you’d know that I grew up watching reruns of Taxi, new episodes of Cheers, and if I could swing it with the parents, staying up late to watch Letterman and old Saturday Night Live episodes. To me, those shows will always be frozen in my mind as examples of classic comedy.

So now, when I see Letterman coming in 3rd to Leno and Nightline, a part of me has to wonder how much of that is due to the fact that maybe Letterman’s crowd is just more prone to watching DVDs or their backlogged TiVo’s during those late night time slots, or if it’s b/c Letterman has truly slipped off his game. Meanwhile, the bulk of America continues to watch Leno (even during the periods where NBC fell off its top spot of primetime television), and continues to give a shit about mundane celebrity interviews, kid inventors, and headlines or jaywalking. It’s hard to believe that it was about 15 years ago that the whole Late Show war started with Dave hopping over to CBS after feeling horribly insulted that Carson’s show went to Leno (and for those that know the whole story, it’s not like Leno was having the time of his life either).

But in a day and age where even Craig Ferguson can outperform Conan, is it time to admit that Late Shows are an unnecessary staple of network television? Already there’s news out that Jimmy Fallon will take over Conan’s spot when Conan (all but assuredly) takes over Leno’s spot, and the reaction has been less than enthused. And today, if I wanted to see an interview with Michael Cera or a performance by Jason Mraz, I’d just look it up on youtube. The writing’s been less than inspired lately even on Conan, and downright abysmal on Letterman for a large chunk of the creative time the show leaves for itself, while networks like E! and Comedy Central are producing talk shows for a fraction of the price with the same amount of success and modest profits. I wonder if the convention of “The Late Show” will always exist, or if eventually studios will just expand primetime, choosing to put more risky adult-themed content at the 11:30 hour. C’mon, how many of you wouldn’t love to see an Apatow-produced hour sitcom that lets the characters talk a bit more frankly about drugs and sex. I’d tune in every week at 11:30, and I think a lot of the younger demographic would too. But then again, I guess I’m not the demographic the late shows aim for, because I don’t read US Weekly and don’t care about shitty celebrity interviews.*

I don’t have any way to end this entry, so here’s a totally irrelevant picture of crazy Gary Busey:

*I’ve actually always supported Carson Daly’s Last Call, b/c I think for the most part, having one guest on per show and a band is a good idea, and the guy is a great, intimate host. Say what you will about his TRL time, but the dude can straight up carry an interview, and he usually has pretty good musical guests.