Ah, the road not traveled…
Ever since I had a choice in the matter I’ve mostly taken a pass on mainstream television. I can vaguely remember watching the final episode of Cheers on May 20, 1993, for example (I looked it up) – guess all the hype got to me.
Because as usual, the media hyped the series finale for the sitcom about a bar “where everybody knows your name” into a must see event. The last show even has its own Wikipedia page, for gosh sakes because 42.8 million households allegedly watched it.
However, that was only good for a second place finish,. That’s because MASH, another sitcom I seldom to never watched drew 121.6 million pair of eyeballs for its final show ( which also has its own Wiki page).
I never watched Saturday Night Live either during it’s heady early years. I’ve only tuned into it a handful of times to see specific artists or guest hosts.
In other words, I’m just not that guy.
The guy who fits right in and walks in lock step with mainstream society. Oh I keep track of things – try to anyway, For example, when I started writing a column in the Kansas City Star in the early 1990s I began subscribing to the National Enquirer (still do) and other weeklies to try and maintain a heightened awareness of news, celebrities and pop culture.
So I could pass those ample benefits on to readers.
How else would I have been able to report Harrison Ford‘s drunken stripper expedition in Southeast Kansas?
Or Nicole Kidman’s stay at Topeka’s Menninger Clinic while husband Tom Cruise supposedly hung out in Paul Newman‘s place and played pool in local bars.
Which brings us to the final week of David Letterman on CBS.
Everybody got their black armbands ready for this one?
Twenty-two years is a long time, but with rare exception I never bothered to watch.
Bill Clinton must have, the former president will make his 10th appearance on the show Tuesday. Didn’t Clinton play sax on Letterman when he was first running for president – oh wait – that was on Arsenio.
And get this; comedian Don Rickles is going to be on the show tonight.
Reckless was the dude that on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson all the time like in the 1970s. He’s still alive? And alert enough to be in public? Guess so, he’s only 89.
So yeah, Letterman’spulling out all the stops, lining up all the icons – Howard Stern, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey. It’s like the end of an era – but not just the David Letterman Era – an era in which mainstream America watched these sort of host/guest nighttime shows right before they went to bed on weekday evenings.
But you know, it wasn’t like they had a lot of choice. Old black and white movies, anyone? I mean, really old. Joe Pyne? Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman?
Jack Poessiger is a big Letterman guy.
Try getting Jack out of bed to answer the phone after 10:30 pm.
But now that there are zillions of channels – not to mention Netflix , Hulu and Amazon – who below the age of maybe 55 watches shows like the network evening news or Letterman.
That’s way too structured for me – always was. Like I’m gonna be home watching television in my underwear at 10 pm on Saturday night.
So chances are I won’t be tuning into any of these last Letterman shows. Jack’ll let me know if I miss anything crucial or I’ll catch a whiff of it somewhere else in the news.
Tell you what’s really sad about all this…
And that’s that America’s losing a more contemporary comedic icon in Stephen Colbert.
Because when Colbert resurfaces as letterman’s replacement, his satiric character from Comedy Central‘s highly regarded Colbert Report is also going away.
Talk about rolling the dice, who knows what Jack and the rest of Letterman heads will think of Colbert’s new persona playing himself?
Will everyone be digging out their hankies in 20 years when Colbert hosts President elect Chelsea Clinton on his farewell show?
don rickles is indeed alive. he did a segment with seinfeld on his ‘comedians in cars getting coffee’ web series. think it was season 3? still seemed pretty sharp.
I miss Conalrad, the true detective. Once upon a time, television programming did not go all night. I can still recall staying up all night in college to see a marathon of Sherlock Holmes with Basile Rathbone. Where did the test pattern go? Most can’t remember the Star Spangled Banner every night at midnight, or the powerful draw of Gregory Graves as nourishment for the growing child. There was Saturday fight night, brought to us by Gillette and the parrot asking us how we were fixed for blades. It has changed, neither for better or worse. It’s just changed, and it will change again. Gone are the shows like Maverick, with Bret and Bart. Gone is Kooky Burns on 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaian Eye, and Route 66. I best not write too loudly, as the networks may opt to repeat the shows with new actors, rather than read a few books and find new talent…too late. Times change, from the low budget reality tv to cable’s Madmen and Game of Thrones. LETTERMAN IS DEAD; LONG LIVE LATE NIGHT?
I liked Dave. He was very nice to Jimmy Walker, had him on often, in fact we timed many of his shows with Dave with appearances at Stanfords so Dave would mention it on his show. Dave used to write for Walker. It was a great run. They all end.
I see Jack mentioned that Johnny Carson is forgotten as is Leno already…. Jack in this new social media world of people under 25 EVERYONE IS FORGOTTEN AND FAST. Very sad. Makes all the hard work of accomplishment seem a bit worthless these days. Only matters to us and family and friends, even then fleeting. No more history…its not taught in shcool or anywhere else. In time the fame game will just be for those who are getting attention right now. So this is the better modern world huh. ‘Who is Johnny Carson’…I don’t like it.
cg… I can’t recall the specifics because I didn’t read it, but there was some study just published that young people today couldn’t recognize some of the most famous people in the world. the story had a pic of john lennon (clickbait I’m sure), but I didn’t take the time to do that. think it was nbc.com.