Posted on 08/23/2022 3:58:00 PM PDT by Libloather
In July, TBS announced that, after seven seasons, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" would not be returning, and Desus Nice and The Kid Mero disclosed that their Showtime show, "Desus & Mero," was ending. That news came just months after James Corden revealed that he'd be leaving "The Late Late Show" and about a year after Conan O'Brien decided to say goodbye to late-night after almost 30 years.
If late-night television had a true golden age, we probably passed it sometime in the past decade. After a period of what looked like unchecked expansion, with new late-night shows popping up like wildflowers (or sometimes weeds), the reaper seems to have arrived. Late night's future is now looking much more limited, if not completely grim.
The genre's winnowing arguably began with Jon Stewart's decision in 2015 to walk away from "The Daily Show," which he hosted for more than 16 years. Unlike David Letterman and Jay Leno, who both stayed on well into their 60s, Stewart was only 52 when he stepped away. And O'Brien was only 58.
While Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are still around as network hosts, their ratings have certainly taken a hit, especially among audiences between the ages of 18 and 54. And among the newer hosts who are still surviving, it seems unlikely many will have runs anywhere near as long as the recent legends.
Losing hosts of color, like Nice and The Kid Mero, and Bee, the most prominent woman host since Joan Rivers in the 1980s, is also not a sign of a prospering genre. At least Amber Ruffin, who broke out on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and is now starring in her own show on Peacock, has made a strong start.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I remember pulling down the live feed Carson on my C-band satellite dish and seeing all the stuff that went on during the commercial-breaks. Nothing like live comedy.
TV died when the sitcom was replaced by shows about unwed 20 somethings living together. Happened sometime in the mid 90s.
Late night TV died when it all became Democrat propaganda.
Leftists aren’t funny and they can never drop the the politics. people want to be entertained and forget about politics that has overtaken everything.
“The A-Team, Night Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, Airwolf, Johnny Carson, etc”
The A-Team was not bad, Night Rider ok, never a big Dukes fan, Airwolf ok, Johnny Carson was amazing/great sometimes.
I’m old enough to remember Steve Allen and Jack Paar...it’s been downhill since, with the exception of Johnny Carson.
“Losing hosts of color”
Who cares what color they are? Are they funny? Interesting? Are their shows entertaining? Is there an attempt at balance by mocking liberals? The jokes about Biden that are just waiting to be told. Gutfeld is lucky in that he basically seems to have a monopoly on viewers who want to laugh at liberals.
No more Samantha Bee?!? Happy dance, happy dance!! Maybe we can deport her back to Canada.
It’s just Propaganda now
Late-night TV hasn’t been worth anything since the invention of the infomercial. That put an end to most of the strange old movies they used to show during the wee hours. I never did like talk shows, not even Johnny Carson.
“In July, TBS announced that, after seven seasons, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” would not be returning...”
That makes the end of a “golden age?” That was possibly the least funny show of all time. She is cringe.
“ You could still watch old Carson episodes and laugh out loud. “
You still can. There’s a Johnny Carson channel on Roku, one of “Roku channel’s” “live tv” channels. Probably other places, too.
The 11:00 local news was the only way to find out who won a ballgame that night (without actually watching the game) and to find out what the weather would be the next day (well, 50/50 chance of them being right about that).
At 11:30, most people would switch over to Johnny if just to catch the monologue, as I did. The monologues were usually razor sharp. His guests were mostly boring if I recall. Tony Randall seemed to be a guest every other week. Then you had people doing magic tricks, dogs running through hula hoops, the general late-night mayhem.
Young David Letterman had a late-late night show for the real insomniacs. He was actually cutting edge back in the day, before he turned into a totally nasty person both on and off stage. Johnny Carson however was classy to the end.
Rondney Dangerfield on Johnny Carson.
Good stuff.
https://youtu.be/ms8nkQ38A7g
Yeah! Watching Johnny Carson with guests such as Don Rickles or Dean Martin was magical. Nowadays, it is just stuff like Colbert virtue signaling how much he hates Trump.
I referenced a Carson skit the other day where he was playing Reagan, and he nailed it.
Yeah, a “host of color” is the only thing that really matters to me when deciding to watch a late show. Being humorous, a good interviewer, or having any other talent pales in comparison (pun intended).
It has been total garbage since Carson and Leno...
Nothing but fellow-traveling sycophants...
Or Rodney Dangerfield. Burt Reynolds was also always a great guest. And then of course Steve Martin, especially when he did "The Great Flydini".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.