It was Carson for me. He could do a very good interview. He could seem to get folks to really open up and reveal something folks didn’t know.
When he left the show, I tried watching Letterman.
It seemed to me like this guest were mainly folks coming on to hawk a new movie. You learned nothing new by watching. It was just a plug for the movie and off they went.
Leno wasn’t a smooth interview IMO. He never seemed real comfortable in the host’s chair. Perhaps that’s because Carson was so good.
I did like Leno’s man on the street interviews, but always wondered how many they did to get the really stupid clips they showed us. I never quite bought the shtick, even though it was a good premise.
At any rate, I’d imaging there are lots of folks out there who liked Leno as good or better.
I’m sure not one of them.
I miss Carson very much. It’s a strange thing to say, but life hasn’t been the same not having him there to tune into at night.
I watched his show on and off for decades. I did not watch every night, but all was right with the world when you knew he was there.
At any rate, thanks for broaching the subject.
People that we see everyday on television begin to feel like people we actually know. I felt that way about the local DC news station anchors - Gordon Peterson and Maureen Bunyan especially, and Bunyan has been let go now...
I guess they just become something steady and reliable to us that’s going to be pretty much the same despite anything else happening in the world.