WI Letterman, Arsenio, and Miller ruled Late Night

What if Letterman got the Tonight Show, Arsenio Hall kept his show (and it got a FOX contract), and the Dennis Miller Show got an ABC contract, say? (Let's also say Leno gets Late Night on NBC)

How would late night humor change? How would the news, like Monicagate, get covered differently?
 
Here's one thing I'm thinking -- if Dennis Miller has more influence of public perceptions, that could be enough of a butterfly effect to make McCain winning the nomination in 2000 more likely...:rolleyes:
 
If you're right on the McCain thing, I would gladly build a time machine and travel to the past to make it happen. Of course, I need to have knowledge on things like building time machines.
 
I don't know if Denis Miller would have all too much an effect politically. It's one show, in the age of Cable, and if it had any Conservative undertones, would just be one of of many others.
 
I don't know if Denis Miller would have all too much an effect politically. It's one show, in the age of Cable, and if it had any Conservative undertones, would just be one of of many others.

Well, put this way, he'd be roughly where Jimmy Kimmel is today with a less evolved Cable competition; which I guess kind of goes against my point :eek:

But seriously, does nobody think the coverage of the news would be different, with a completely different (more sophisticated) character in late night comedy? Can anyone see Monicagate playing out differently because of this?
 
Was Miller much more liberal back in the day though? i seem to recall him being so back in the SNL era....
 
Yeah, IIRC it was after 9/11 that Miller saw the light - he grew to like GOP because of Bush and Giuliani. Nevertheless he is still quite moderate, especially on social issues. I have a feeling that in a more prominent position, many conservatives would actually like him less, as he would have to spend much of his program ripping on Sarah Palin. Can't ignore Palin's oddities when you host a network program...
 
My opinions:

First, in 1993, it would take an extremely strong, popular personality to compete against the Tonight Show. Hall and Miller certainly weren't doing it, despite both being entertaining personalities. Of course, they were both stuck in syndication, instead of having a network contract.

Really, the only possible person who can compete with the Tonight Show (at that time) is Letterman, and if he's on the Tonight Show, well, there's no chance. Even Leno couldn't compete with that (the only reason he survived, IMO, is because of his show's name and history).

So, Miller and Hall with network contracts stick around for a couple of more years, then they both move on to other projects. They are gone long before to still be around into the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks out. Various other talk show hosts might come in and have their turn in their timeslots, until the networks return to some other kind of really inexpensive programming for that timeslot.

Letterman polishes his act up a bit when he takes over the Tonight Show, with more money behind him, just as he did when he moved networks OTL. He might get a little complacent without competition, so his show loses some of its wackier edge.

It's possible that butterflies can bring someone else in later who can compete, especially with a complacent Letterman. Perhaps just in time to take over Miller or Hall's slot and slowly build up a following. Jon Stewart, maybe, before he becomes big on cable OTL.

Maybe whoever replaces Letterman after the Tonight Show, if it isn't O'Brien, gathers enough of a following to bring them over to compete with him on ABC or CBS -- and that would make Letterman (who probably saw himself as mentoring the guy) very, very mad, and the game would go up a few notches. You know, that could be Dennis Miller right there...
 
First, in 1993, it would take an extremely strong, popular personality to compete against the Tonight Show. Hall and Miller certainly weren't doing it, despite both being entertaining personalities. Of course, they were both stuck in syndication, instead of having a network contract.

Really, the only possible person who can compete with the Tonight Show (at that time) is Letterman, and if he's on the Tonight Show, well, there's no chance.

That may be a good point; worth considering...

Even Leno couldn't compete with that (the only reason he survived, IMO, is because of his show's name and history)... Maybe whoever replaces Letterman after the Tonight Show, if it isn't O'Brien, gathers enough of a following to bring them over to compete with him on ABC or CBS -- and that would make Letterman (who probably saw himself as mentoring the guy) very, very mad, and the game would go up a few notches. You know, that could be Dennis Miller right there...

You know, as it happens, I was thinking of having Leno do Late Night :eek:

It's possible that butterflies can bring someone else in later who can compete, especially with a complacent Letterman. Perhaps just in time to take over Miller or Hall's slot and slowly build up a following. Jon Stewart, maybe, before he becomes big on cable OTL.

I like the thought, I'll admit... :rolleyes:
 
One major issue for Arsenio Hall was his choice of guests. With guests like Louis Farrakhan and Andrew Dice Clay, Arsenio Hall often lost as many guests as he attracted with the people he brought in. Then again, he was able to bring Bill Clinton in 1992. During the 1996 election, there was talk that Clinton would show up again. One item that could happen is that Arsenio Hall uses the show to have Clinton talk about the Lewinsky affair...

As for the issue of future stars, there will be some interesting PODs. First, up until the end of the show, Arsenio Hall was romantically linked with Paula Abdul. This would at the very least "butterfly" Paula Abdul from American Idol, if not the show altogether...
 
You know, as it happens, I was thinking of having Leno do Late Night :eek:

Although the irony (is that irony?) is interesting, I doubt it would happen. NBC basically had a choice between Leno and Letterman for the Tonight Show. Letterman was seen at the time for being a little more adventurous in his choices, with quirkier humor, and because of this he was more popular with the younger audiences.

NBC probably chose Leno because he was seen as 'safe', his humor more mainstream, and therefore more likely to retain the Tonight Show audience. NBC's original preference probably would have been to keep Letterman where he was to maintain their ratings at his timeslot.

The fact that Leno is still around proves that they made the 'right' choice. The fact that Letterman is still around proves that they could have gone the other way and still had similar ratings, just with a different audience -- but that's hindsight.

So, to cut to the chase, what I'm saying is that if Leno is around, and NBC management hasn't been replaced with Fox Executives (which would cause huge butterflies), he will get the Tonight Show. So, the best way to give it to Letterman is to make sure Leno isn't available. Then Letterman becomes Carson's sole heir apparent, and there's no real choice to make.

On a side note, I've been toying around with an idea in my mind lately, after seeing Leno's column in Popular Mechanics, of him having taken a slightly different show business path. He starts hosting a DIY car show on PBS in the '80's, alongside one or two straight-man expert mechanics, perhaps as a lead-in or follow-up of This Old House. If the gig is strong enough, he might stop doing guest-hosting on Carson, and have little interest in taking on a general talk show later.
 
Leno's show ends up becoming big enough to cross over the Atlantic, unlike our history where Top Gear crossed here.

Maybe. I was picturing it more as a DIY show, like Car Talk crossed with This Old House, talking about taking care of your car and becoming your own mechanic, with forays into car shopping and auto industry news. Leno would partner with an experienced mechanic. Some occasional racing and hot rodding segments. And, of course, Leno showing off all of his cars.
 
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