LATE SHOW NEWS by Aaron Barnhart February 3, 1997, Issue 141: Directing Dave: Jerry Foley ... Tom Snyder profiled ... NBC to Dave: Drop dead ... Talk Stew for real? ------ THE LATE SHOW NEWS THIRD ANNIVERSARY GREAT GRAFT GIVEAWAY The Great Graft Giveaway is back, and it's bigger than ever this year! Because I have so terribly much graft -- everything from T-shirts to watches to coffee pots to videos -- and so little time to organize the giveaway, here's how I'm gonna do it this year. (1) On February 1st, I grabbed a copy of the LATE-SHOW-NEWS subscriber list, about 9,400 names. (2) No later than February 9th, I'll choose twenty-five [25] subscribers at random from the list. The picks will be notified and asked their snail mail addresses. Picks must reply by February 28th in order to win a share of the graft. (3) If you aren't on the list right now, go ahead and subscribe, and after February 28th I'll have a supplementary drawing of at least fifteen [15] and no more than twenty-five [25] names. Any picks from the first drawing that did not reply in time will be discarded and replacement picks will be made in the supplementary drawing. (4) Winners will receive a Priority Mail pak stuffed with as much graft as I can get in under the 2-pound limit. A select number of winners may receive mailings of heavier graft. Every effort will be made to send a variety of graft in each P.M. pak. Just remember, this is all for fun -- it's a token of my gratitude to the thousands of readers who have made LATE SHOW NEWS such a rewarding enterprise and one of the surest signs that, AOL be damned, the Internet *works.* ------ DIRECTING DAVE (Part 2) By Jim Windolf [The following is an expanded version of a report that originally appeared in The New York Observer, where Jim is deputy editor. -- AB] You know when you leave work and you're dead and it takes an enormous effort to say a word to anyone? Meet Jerry Foley, director of "Late Show with David Letterman." It was 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 13, little more than an hour after he had finished up with another 5:30 p.m. taping of "Late Show." And now he was expected to take part in a discussion entitled, "Directing Late Night" at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City. A thin handsome guy dressed in black, Foley acted as though he weren't in the mood. He said his motto as director of "Late Show" is this: "Don't screw it up." He spoke in a kind of depressed murmur as he described his daily routine at the Ed Sullivan Theater: "We have high hopes early in the day," Mr. Foley said. "Then, gloom. Dave shows up at 2:00 or 2:30, and then we block out in a rough fashion what may or may not happen. The rehearsal time is to convince Dave that there *will* be something by 5:30. One of the mistakes I made early on was trying to get it in better shape than it is. But Dave can get more out of nothing than anyone I know." Responding to the remark by Hal Gurnee -- Dave's director of 15 years who made Foley his hand-picked successor -- that he found directing Dave not to be a challenge, Foley said, "When Hal was the director, he already had millions of dollars." In describing the video shoots outside the studio that have resulted in some of the best Letterman comedy, Foley said, "It's not a creative endeavor. It's more of an exercise in safety and diplomacy. Dave and the writers will go off and have a *very* intense conversation about something -- and then you learn a bus will run down Paul." When Gurnee said the key to catch improvised shenanigans on camera was to get the camera crew on your side, Mr. Foley sighed. "I'm hoping that will happen soon," he said. [Note: LSN reader Brian Rose, who has a series of interviews with late-night directors currently appearing in the pages of Television Quarterly, attended the same seminar, saw Jim's original report on Foley, and dissents: "Yes, Hal was his usual ebullient self (and it's no act), but Jerry Foley was not quite the sad sack depressive. There's no question he feels a bit cowered by Hal (who *wouldn't* be, especially given [that] Dave has yet to ever mention *his* name on the air), but that night he was rather dry and witty in his responses, and frequently drew laughs for his comments. Jerry has a persona to play as well, especially seated next to his former master, but I feel he handled himself with good humor and self-deprecating grace. A lot of people in the audience seemed to feel the same way." Emphases mine. -- AB] Regarding musical segments, Foley said he used to give notes to his cameramen for the musical segments, so that they would make sure to get their cameras on the guitarist's hands during a solo and such. Gurnee, as longtime viewers will recall, had some pretty ramshackle musical segments, but then he thought of them as mere breaks in the show, not particularly important. Foley also mentioned he tries to draw up "shot sheets" before the night's taping, a rough outline of what camera will be in use at a given time. Upon hearing this, "SNL" director Beth McCarthy, who was also on the panel, laughed. "Excuse me -- shot sheets?" she said. "I don't do a shot sheet. I do a kind of zone defense." In his defense, I should point out that Foley brought along a clip of one of the best bits in the last few years -- when Elaine Stritch came on the show and treated Dave like a pool boy, saying words to the effect of, "If you remember your place, you and I will get along juuuuust fine." The clip showed good stage direction: Stritch moved past the desk, walking imperiously, heading stage left, stopping dead when she was way upstage. The camera shot Foley used was hilarious, with the old Broadway dame standing huge in the foreground and Dave looking very tiny in the left of the screen. She also had her body turned toward the blue exit doors and had her neck craned backward so that she was looking over her right shoulder. There must have been a hundred shots of Bette Davis or Joan Crawford holding such a pose as they cut some man to bits. PILOT OF THE AIRWAVES by Aaron Barnhart [The following article originally appeared in the Kansas City Star, which owns the copyright.] LOS ANGELES -- It's an hour and 15 minutes until show time, and Tom Snyder is warming up his pipes by talking about his favorite subject: broadcasting. "The first night that we went on the air two years ago, I was so proud to say it was The Simulcast. You know how many stations were on the first night? Six." Now he laughs that big, booming stage laugh instantly recognizable to regular viewers of "The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder." The six stations Snyder is referring to are the radio outlets that were carrying his CBS talk show the night it made its debut in the post-David Letterman slot in January 1995. "I said, `I don't care how many stations you get -- just get me one, so I can call it `The Simulcast.' " The big laugh. The pipes. The familiarity with small, cramped studios, including the oversized cubicle here at CBS Television City where Snyder does his show. These are not signs of a TV personality, but of a radio guy. And although he has spent most of career in front of a camera, Snyder is still a product of his upbringing with radio. "This is a very simple, late-night, television slash radio program," he says. "The feedback I get and the mail I get from the crowd that watches and from people on the street -- they get it. They get it for what it is: basically, picture radio." Quite a few Kansas Citians are getting Snyder's "picture radio" program. "Late Late Show," which used to be broadcast at 2 a.m. on Channel 5, was moved to 12:35 a.m. in mid-1996 and regularly wins its time slot. Not that the picture-radio guy pays much attention to the ratings, or anything else that TV executives care about, for that matter. "I'm very fortunate because I defy research," Snyder says. "I mean, the people that did research on me for the network before I came here (said), `He's too old, nobody will watch.' I've got the youngest crowd in town." But that hasn't stopped the mill from churning rumor after rumor that he's going to be replaced. Again, Snyder has heard it before. "I don't have time to get bogged down in conjecture, speculation and paranoia," Snyder says grandly. "I have enough confidence in myself as a broadcaster, that I'm good at what I do, and just because a man, for example Jon Stewart, comes in and fills in for a week for me, it's not going to destroy my career." He pauses, then leans in and lowers his voice, as he does on the air whenever he wants to add a little dramatic flair. "And *incidentally,* if that's the grand plan somewhere, there ain't much I can do about it anyway." Snyder knows because it happened to him in 1981, when the "Tomorrow Show," the pathbreaking interview program that followed Johnny Carson for eight seasons, was abruptly canceled by NBC. "One day they called me in and said, `We've made an arrangement with David Letterman.' And that was that." Another pause, and this time Snyder leans back and grins. "Well, as it turns out, I have *also* made an arrangement with David Letterman!" He laughs that big Snyder laugh again. Then, as the room quiets down, he changes gears flawlessly. "I asked (Jerry) Seinfeld when he was here, and he said it's like when you're out with a bunch of people at dinner at a restaurant. You know it's coming to an end, but you don't know exactly when. And then all of the sudden, dinner's over and everybody realizes it's time to go home. And I like that analogy." Not that he's waiting for the check, mind you. "Listen, I get a tremendous charge out of coming to work every day, and as long as I get a big charge out of coming to work every day, dinner will continue." With that, Snyder extends to his full 6-foot-4 height and strides down the hall. Those pipes of his are primed and ready to go. In less than an hour it will be time for Tom once more. EXCERPT THIS! NBC's John Agoglia personally turned down CBS's request for permission to use selected clips from David Letterman's 11-1/2 seasons on "Late Night" on tonight's anniversary program marking Dave's 15 years as late-night host, reports Bill Carter in the New York Times. Agoglia's office is claiming that CBS's request for show clips was unreasonable and had been "designed to be turned down," having asked for too many and given NBC too little time to fulfill the request. "Late Show" producer Rob Burnett would only say he was "disappointed" with Agoglia's action. In fact, it seems unlikely that NBC would have had any trouble honoring the request. Producer Barbara Gaines and others have kept an impeccable log of Dave's 2,500-plus shows at NBC and CBS, and would have been able to cite episode, minute and second of each master tape they needed to the NBC's archivists. Agoglia's reason for denying the CBS request amounts to a red herring. This latest skirmish supplies further proof that, regardless of what Letterman and his people think of the Leno operation (and they don't think much of it), their real feud is not with Jay but with Agoglia and Warren Littlefield, the two men who opposed Dave's promotion to Johnny Carson's position six years ago. READER MAIL Good insights from longtime reader and broadcasting student Harrison Wyman: "Woody Allen had a great line about a guy with a depression who moved to San Francisco from New York thinking it would solve his problem. 'It didn't solve it, he just moved his depression 3,000 miles,' Allen said. The problem is not physical location or a 450-seat theater which could be shot more intimately: the problem is a host who seems to have lost his bearings in great measure and seems to have lost both a support system and people around him who can look him straight in the eye and tell him what's wrong. "Never forget that David Letterman was and is, according to Mike Ovitz, the most insecure talent he had ever seen. Look at who left before and during this current slump. Hal Gurnee, who had almost a telepathic relationship with Dave. Howard Stringer and Ovitz ... [the two men who] got Dave out of NBC hell. The abrupt termination of Robert Morton. Peter Lassally in L.A., supervising Tom Snyder and not able to work with Dave on a day-to-day basis. ... [There's] nobody in his organization with the rank or stature to either sit him down or grab him by the lapels and tell him to snap out of it." BREAKING LATE NEWS [In tribute to a master columnist, Herb Caen, who passed away this weekend, the following section will appear without the dot dot dots.] A report appearing in Variety says that Jon Stewart is indeed doing a late night talk show for Worldwide Pants, the Letterman-backed company that signed Stew to a development deal last year. Stewart "expects" publication of an upcoming book of humorous observations to coincide with the show's debut Tuesday's post-State of the Union coverage will include a live edition of "Charlie Rose" and a special prime-time version of "Politically Incorrect" that will begin live as soon as the Republican response is over and go until it's time to break away for late local news (a full half-hour on the West Coast). The same panel will tape a second show to air in the usual late-night slot that night Ratings: "Tonight" pulled in 4.9% of households and 14% of t.v. sets in use (Leno's "share"), Koppel scored a 4.8/13 and "Late Show" 3.7/11 for the week ending Jan. 17. "Politically Incorrect" scored a 2.8/9 but bear in mind that it's delayed in many markets (not that this is such a bad thing: here in Kansas City, where everything is up to date except the 90-minute-delayed "PI," Maher & Co. scored a *thirty-four* share last Wednesday) Things I learned from Rob Burnett's AOL chat last week: The contretemps involving Cindy Crawford last October "was way overblown," he said. "She didn't mind what happened nearly as much as the press indicated. In fact she's tentatively booked to come back in a few weeks." And in response to a recent rumor-mongering about Dave moving to L.A., "I can't believe Entertainment Weekly wrote that. I called the reporter and asked her why she would write that without talking to me first. She was apologetic. I can assure you that there's absolutely no truth to that rumor. If you think there is, just come and check out the renovation I just started on my NEW YORK apartment" The Museum of TV & Radio in Beverly Hills has scheduled a night with Bill Maher for March 14 at 8 p.m. Call 213/466-1767 for tix Jay Leno has a cameo role in the upcoming Rodney Dangerfield flick "Meet Wally Sparks," as does Gilbert Gottfried and some stars from prime time t.v. Robert "Bob" "Morty" Morton says he wants to write a memoir of his 25 years in the t.v. business -- half of those with David Letterman. Like Charles Grodin, he plans to base his book on William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade" And mark your calendars: in May the "American Masters" series on PBS will spotlight the titanic, the incomparable Jack Paar. Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY Mo 2/3: In 1918, Joey Bishop is born as Joseph Abraham Gottlieb. Before hosting yet another of ABC's late-night failures, Bishop -- the rich man's Buddy Hackett -- held the pre-Joan Rivers record for appearances as guest host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (177 shows). Tu 2/4: In 1987, the night of Liberace's death, when "Nightline" host Ted Koppel wishes to have comments from another guest, Milton Berle suggests to Koppel, "Oh shut up." We 2/5: In 1948, Christopher Guest is born. A "Saturday Night Live" cast member during the 1984-85 season, Guest is perhaps better known as guitarist Nigel Tufnel in the film "This is Spinal Tap." Th 2/6: In 1992, NBC airs "Late Night's 10th Anniversary Show at Radio City Music Hall." Everything you'd expect from an anniversary show, except, of course, for the sheep leaving Radio City via taxicab. Fr 2/7: In 1966, recent "Saturday Night Live" escapee Chris Rock is born. HBO helps celebrate Rock's birthday this year by premiering his new talk show TONIGHT (2/7)! His guests: Johnnie Cochran and the Artist fka Prince. Sa 2/8: In 1940, Ted Koppel is born. Yes, it's his real hair. In 1996, having been located by "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in a nationwide search, presumed-lost character actor Whitman Mayo (aka Grady from "Sanford and Son") appears onstage amidst fog, fireworks, confetti, balloons, and a giant neon sign reading GRADY!. Su 2/9: In 1985, "Saturday Night Live" host Harry Anderson eats Skippy the Guinea Pig during his monologue. By the way, it was a *joke*: Skippy survived to a ripe old age. (Which for a guinea pig is, what, about a day, maybe two?) Remember the interview on the Vegas's "Nate@Night" radio show? Well, it's been rescheduled for Friday, 2/7/97 on 105.1 KVBC FM. Personally I blame those lame promos for NBC's ASTEROID! movie. [Thanks to Dave Tanny, Tim Brooks, Earl Marsh, Ted Koppel, and "Damone" (damone@ios.com). Special thanks to Donz5, who reminds us that the only really useful tip in golf is the one you give to the starter.] Info on "Die Harald Schmidt Show," random threats, and medical updates on the condition of Generalissimo Fransisco Franco may be sent to Tom Heald at . You don't have to live in Germany, but it couldn't hurt. THE LINEUPS (with Sue Trowbridge) LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Mo 2/3 *** SPECIAL 15 YEARS OF DAVE BROADCAST *** Stupid Human Tricks, Elle MacPherson, Charles Barkley *** AND NO CLIPS FROM THE OLD NBC SHOW *** Tu 2/4 Billy Bob Thornton, The Tokyo Shock Boys We 2/5 Fran Drescher, Isabella Rossellini, Tony Bennett Th 2/6 Pierce Brosnan, Yasmine Bleeth, Brian Regan Fr 2/7 Brett Favre, David Spade, Silverchair Mo 2/10 Brett Butler, Fugees Tu 2/11 Sarah Jessica Parker, Geoffrey Rush, Barry Manilow TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC >From Las Vegas: Mo 2/3 Tom Arnold, Tyra Banks, Wayne Newton Tu 2/4 Heather Locklear, John Leguizamo, Cirque du Soleil We 2/5 Chevy Chase, Rebecca Romijn Th 2/6 Dennis Rodman, Tracey Ullman, Lance Burton Fr 2/7 Martin Short, Pat Boone >From Burbank: Mo 2/10 Shaquille O'Neal Tu 2/11 Bridget Fonda, Troy Aikman, David Bowie LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Mo 2/3 Helena Bonham-Carter, Bob Newhart Tu 2/4 Rhea Perlman We 2/5 Don Rickles Th 2/6 Adam Arkin, Harlan Ellison Fr 2/7 Actor/filmmaker Billy Bob Thornton ("Sling Blade") Mo 2/10 Former FBI agent John Douglas Tu 2/11 Deepak Chopra We 2/12 Dean Koontz LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Mo 2/3 Kevin Bacon, Bonnie Hunt, J.R. Havlan (R 12/12/96) Tu 2/4 Mary Tyler Moore, Eric Bogosian, Billy Burr We 2/5 John Leguizamo, Rod Steiger, The Cardigans Th 2/6 Fran Drescher, William Shatner, Paul Lukas Fr 2/7 Pierce Brosnan Mo 2/10 Whoopi Goldberg, Jack Palance, Simply Red (R 12/19/96) Tu 2/11 Big Head Todd & the Monsters POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Mo 2/3 Mark Hamill, Lisa Kudrow, Lisa Schiffren, Jeff Greenfield Tu 2/4 State of the Union Special: Michael Moore, others (2 shows) We 2/5 Ed Asner, Carl Lewis, Ward Connerly Th 2/6 Chevy Chase, Jennifer Grossman. Fr 2/7 Willie Brown, Tony Robbins, Tony Blankley CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Mo 2/3 Winona Ryder Tu 2/4 State of the Union panel (live) We 2/5 Katharine Graham (Wash. Post) Th 2/6 Gore-Chernomyrdan summit panel Fr 2/7 Milos Forman, Sam Nunn Mo 2/10 Bill Bradley, Rhodes Scholar panel THE DAILY SHOW, Comedy Central Mo 2/3 Rob Estes ("Melrose Place") Tu 2/4 Montel Williams We 2/5 TBA Th 2/6 John Leguizamo LATER, NBC Tommy Davidson with ... Mo 2/3 Pam Grier Tu 2/4 Gilby Clarke We 2/5 Traci Bingham Th 2/6 Heavy D Mo 2/10 John Singleton Tu 2/11 Vivica A. Fox SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network Fridays with a Saturday repeat (and I've misplaced the listings, once again ...) HOWARD STERN, E! Mo 2/3 Grillo's IQ Test (I), Heather Locklear Returns (I) Tu 2/4 Grillo's IQ Test (II), Heather Locklear Returns (II) We 2/5 Abby the Doorman, Howard's Black Monday Th 2/6 Penthouse Pet in a Suit (I), Robin, The "New Boff" Fr 2/7 Penthouse Pet in a Suit (II), Lisa Pence Sa 2/8 Tori Spelling, Ralph and the Condom List Mo 2/10 Stuttering John/VH1 Fashion Awards, Howard's College Friend Andrea Tu 2/11 Phil Collins (I), Bush in the New Studio (I) We 2/12 Phil Collins (II), Bush in the New Studio (II) Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE, ABC CHARLES GRODIN, CNBC CARSON'S COMEDY CLASSICS, Family Channel MAD TV, Fox SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, Comedy Central DENNIS MILLER LIVE, HBO THE CHRIS ROCK SHOW, HBO ====================================================== AARON BARNHART IN THE KANSAS CITY STAR This week: ... "Pilot of the airwaves" (see above) ... "New owner hopes to revitalize KYFC" (local station taken over by born-again home- shopping czar Lowell "Bud" Paxson) ... "WDAF to become 'Fox 4'" (possibly of interest to industry watchers; it's a New World station) In the archive: ... "CBS claims it's happy courting older viewers, buuuut ..." (feature) ... Arsenio Hall returns to the tube (news story) ... Overheard at the TV critics' tour in Pasadena ... "Tuning in to digital TV" (hyperlinked page-one feature) How to find my articles in the Star archive: (1) Go to . (2) Under the "Additional search criteria" heading, type Aaron Barnhart in the "AUTHOR" entry blank. (3) If you're looking for a specific story from the list above, try typing a word from the headline into the top entry blank. (4) Click the Search button. (5) When your search results are returned, you can view the stories by clicking on the button that looks like a tiny newspaper. Currently the Star Library is not friendly to plain jane Web browsers like Lynx. ====================================================== Entire contents Copyright 1997 by Aaron Barnhart. All rights reserved. Distributed by e-mail and BBS to over 10,000 readers weekly. Late Show News is made possible with the generous assistance of ECHO, New York City's premiere online service. Send news for and comments about this newsletter to aaron@tvbarn.com