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Great, great interview with Bryant Gumbel. Enjoy.
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Because that kind of television doesn’t exist anymore. On any given night, almost half the country would watch the news or Johnny.
The audience is forever fractured. Too many choices, which will eventually lead to less choices, outside of YouTube, which is endless.
He was one of the best, but those shows are going away, at least in that form.
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His used to be the only show like it at that time.
Now, there are three almost exactly like it at the same time slot.
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Not true. Johnny Carson had competition. He crushed every single one of them.
Watch the interview of what made him and his show successful. This is what this thread is about. Inevitably someone is going to come in and replicate the same type of entertainment. He/she is going to score.
Your pining for a time before cable, internet and streaming.
Yeah Carson crushed who ever was on against him but then the average American had like 4-7 tv channels to pick from and almost all stopped broadcasting between midnight and 1 am.
That format will not come back, not on broadcast TV. There are streaming podcasters with huge audiences, like Joe Rogan, Crime Junkie or Call Her Daddy that do the Carson style interview format.
But as FS pointed out todays audience is too fragmented.
Young people do not watch much if any broadcast TV now.
In my home, I am the only one left that watches broadcast TV.
The future of TV is online not broadcast. Broadcast TV is like Facebook something only old people use.
Jimmy Kimmel had a shot, i will give him the benefit of the doubt, but wheels fell off as the nighthosts became political as the decade carried on.
Colbert, fallen, no chance, not even from the jump. I was a giant Letterman kid as a kid.
My routine growing up was Letterman, Caroline in the City, News Radio, and turning the TV as the Mash theme song rolled at midnight. Night in, night out for years.
I was like 9 years old lol
I am so old that I watched Steve Allen, then Jack Parr host The Tonight Show.
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You are making an assumption. No one gave a change to Gutfeld. He is now #1.
This proves that nothing is set in stone. Making people laugh is a gift. The one that comes in and refuses to talk about politics and stays funny on all subjects you will see people flocking to him/her.
Carson’s interview is fascinating because he actually refused to take the “controversial” path. He did that on purpose. People had no idea for which party he voted. People loved him because he made everybody laugh and be comfortable.
Making people laugh without using profanity is a extremely hard. Carson did it.
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Carson was great but it was a different world back then.
I really liked Conan but he’s moved on from late night. I didn’t watch him much in recent years though as my late night tv viewing habits have changed.
My dad and I watched Letterman quite a bit together when I was in HS. Not sure that would happen if I were a teenager today (obviously not Letterman specifically).
We’ve also become so divided on what we think is funny.
I knew you were angling to praise Gutfeld. You are so transparent. But he is also, not on broadcast TV, he is on cable TV and his lead in is a built in RW audience. I have watched his show, not that funny and he bashes the left. Then again, I only kinda find Jimmy Fallon a bit funny but mostly his skits.
I watched a lot of Nightline with Ted Kopel, that was counter programming.
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“angling to praise Gutfeld” Don’t go there. If he is #1 that is by his ratings.
I want to see another Carson. This is a perfect opportunity for a Carson clone.
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You’re the one who brought him up.
Don’t take this political.
Who could be a Carson clone?
Suggestions.
I don’t think Carson would be Carson (in terms of success) today. There won’t be another “Carson.”
I think there have been some talented late night hosts since Carson. The game has just changed in many ways.
There won’t be another. Joe Rogan and his show is the closest if your trying to make a comparison for younger viewers.
Yep, that’s a good comparison.
People say that late night talk shows are dying. I am not sure they are dying but the audience is certainly shrinking. Too many entertainment options these days. Linear TV ad revenue is declining too. Talk shows have high production costs, e.g, talent, band, technical and production crews. Seth Myers eliminated his band last year from Late Night to reduce production costs.
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