As you may know, David Letterman was considered by Johnny Carson to be his rightful heir on the Tonight Show. Unfortunately, Jay Leno got the job instead. So, the question I would like to ask is this: What would be the effects on the entertainment industry if Letterman was chosen as the host of the Tonight Show instead of Leno?
WI: David Letterman succeeded Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show
- Thread starter GrandMaster
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Well, Leno would probably jump ship to CBS then, and would definitely perform better than most of CBS's previous attempts to go against the Tonight Show. I'm not sure how long Leno would still last, considering he wouldn't be working under a prestigious title like The Tonight Show. And conversely, Letterman may still have a ratings decline by the mid-90's, but working under the Tonight Show umbrella might still keep him at #1.
I've always had the impression that Carson's base audience in the early 90s were basically the same people who had started watching him in the early 60s, IOW if you were a 25 year old watching him in 1962, you were a 55 year old watching him in 1992.
As such, I think Letterman's style, which was pretty clearly aimed at the more ironic sensibilities of late boomers and early Gen X, would have alienated a lot of the people who were already watching the Tonight Show.
(Caveat, I'm basing this mostly on personal impressions, plus the opinions of my father, who was born in the mid-30s and REALLY didn't get Letterman. He was quite happy with NBC's decision to go with Leno.)
As such, I think Letterman's style, which was pretty clearly aimed at the more ironic sensibilities of late boomers and early Gen X, would have alienated a lot of the people who were already watching the Tonight Show.
(Caveat, I'm basing this mostly on personal impressions, plus the opinions of my father, who was born in the mid-30s and REALLY didn't get Letterman. He was quite happy with NBC's decision to go with Leno.)
It might prevent NBC from humiliating themselves trying to claim Stupid Pet Tricks and Top 10 Lists as their intellectual property.
That's not me joking, that really happened.
That's not me joking, that really happened.
@Mort the Reaper
Mort, my Liking of your post was an accident(finger hit the icon by mistake), but I think I'm gonna let it stand.
And to play Devils Advocate, I wouldn't be automatically dismissive of NBC's claim. Based on the situation as described in the article, I think DL had the law on his side, but I could imagine other circumstances where, even though the routine was always done by one specific comedian, the network would retain ownership.
Mort, my Liking of your post was an accident(finger hit the icon by mistake), but I think I'm gonna let it stand.
And to play Devils Advocate, I wouldn't be automatically dismissive of NBC's claim. Based on the situation as described in the article, I think DL had the law on his side, but I could imagine other circumstances where, even though the routine was always done by one specific comedian, the network would retain ownership.
I don't think this would have happened, Letterman taking over the Tonight Show for some reasons already mentioned (older "Boomers" and Greatest Gen people not getting him), but David Letterman had no desire to move his show to L.A. From everything I've read, he hated L.A. and wanted to keep the show based in New York. And Leno's more bland humor was more appealing to the older audience that grew up watching Johnny Carson; they just didn't get things like Stupid Pet Tricks or Larry "Bud" Melman standing around the Port Authority Bus Terminal handing out hot towels to people coming off buses (hilarious!) By the early 90's, Letterman was ready to jump ship from NBC anyway, as his constant feuds with the "G.E. pinheads" that ran the network can attest to.
A good book to read—and a decent HBO movie—is the Late Shift which covers this area. Letterman, like many comics, was absolutely obsessed with The Tonight Show and would have done nearly anything to get it.
We discussed a similar situation in some detail in a thread a couple years back as well.
We discussed a similar situation in some detail in a thread a couple years back as well.
Carson preferred Letterman, without a shadow of a doubt. They were on good terms and Carson both appeared on Letterman's CBS show early on (segments, not as a guest) and even submitted jokes to Letterman to use. Leno was a good corporate man for NBC. And he engineered himself into that position. And Carson would never respect that. Carson respected loyalty.
I don't agree that Leno was a bad comedian or bland, as others have said. He became bland to fit a role. And he really should not have gotten that role. Leno should have went to Fox and been an Arsenio Hall host. On the Tonight Show he felt like he was wearing his dad's suit.
Just for the record, the cohort I had in mind as not getting Letterman were the Silent Generation(ie. my 1930s-born father et al). But yeah, Greatest Generation would have appreciated him even less.
Letterman went a lot straighter on CBS. I have always felt that was his way of showing how he was as a Carson styled "adult" host. Late Show Letterman was much more like Conan. Leno straightened out by becoming duller, by contrast. Also, I would argue Leno's audience were perhaps younger than Carson's but also not as hip. If you watch Leno with Carson's old pool of guests, the audience gets easily offended and unresponsive. Check out Don Rickles on Leno. My pet theory is Leno got a more Midwestern tourist audience.