LATE SHOW NEWS #202 May 5, 1998 by Aaron Barnhart To join or leave the LATE-SHOW-NEWS mailing list, instructions are at end of message. Craig Kilborn, host of "The Daily Show," has been named as the successor to Tom Snyder in another move that confirms the stupefying sameness, the unmitigated mediocrity of late night television. Instead of naming a woman, a minority, a decent interviewer or even a cultural satirist to be the new host of "Late Late Show," CBS and Worldwide Pants have cast their lot with a baby-faced former sportscaster whose main talent on "The Daily Show" is needling celebrity guests and pitching scripted questions to his far more qualified correspondents. The only upside I can see from this decision is that one of the "Daily's" genuinely funny people will likely get to sit in Kilborn's chair. Kilborn was brought in to rejuvenate CBS's aging late-night lineup of Snyder and Letterman, but he may actually present more problems than would a more seasoned personality. For starters, no one knows what he can do other than read a TelePrompTer and conduct mild banter. Kilborn's ad-lib skills are nearly nonexistent; some nights, when his celebrity guest is giving him trouble, you can see him itching for the "Five Questions" theme song. Add to that his reputational problems. He is widely blamed for the departure of "Daily" co-creator and head writer Lizz Winstead, though Winstead likely had deeper problems with executive producer Madeleine Smithberg than with Craiggers. (That hasn't stopped one Winstead fan from calling for a boycott of CBS. See this page: ) But perhaps the biggest hurdle CBS will face in winning viewers to Kilborn's "Late Late Show" is the abundance of comedy options available to viewers at that hour: off-network repeats like "Seinfeld," delayed showings of "Politically Incorrect" and the competing broadcast of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" present three solidly-established, highly-rated alternatives to a guy who's rarely played to more than 1 percent of the Nielsen household universe at one time. Instead of counter-programming "Late Night," CBS is going to try drafting on NBC's success. Oh sure, a slightly different audience will be the aim -- jaded 25-to-54-year-old males instead of hormone-charged 18-to-34-year-old females and males watching Conan -- but from a creative perspective the point could not be more clear: Comedy sells in late night, nothing else. As I see it, this represents a clear and total victory for Conan O'Brien. In the past it was possible to condition the success of "Late Night" but no longer; CBS's announcement makes Conan's triumph complete. "Late Night" now bests Letterman in the overnight ratings with frightening regularity (and not only on "must-see TV" Thursdays). It creates huge momentum into NBC's "Later," another conversation show sacrificed to the gods of yuks a few years back. "Later" airs an hour after Snyder in most markets and does not even have a regular host, yet attracts a larger audience than "Late Late Show" practically every night. And now adding to its list of accomplishments, "Late Night" has scared CBS into following the NBC party line: Nothing But Comedy. But it is a setback for viewers, who will lose yet another alternative in late night. There are plenty of hosts out there who would be worth considering for a moody, after-hours TV chatfest. Instead, CBS appears to think the format should be retired with Snyder. They're wrong. According to a New York Daily News report, executives at Comedy Central may make Kilborn stew at "The Daily Show" until his contract expires in August 1999. That won't be a problem with CBS, which could ask Snyder to stay on until then. If he balks, the network could show repeats all summer or heck, try new guest hosts every week. I mean, as long as they're aping NBC ... *** In the ratings game, "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is claiming more viewers than those watching in the final season of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson": 6.33 million to Johnny's 6.27 million. Meanwhile, Dave's ratings continue to head south. Its average Nielsen household rating is 3.3 percent, and since Jan. 1 it's even lower, 3.2 percent. Koppel continues to average in the mid-4's and Jay the mid-5's ... Best tidbit I heard from April 24's "Late Show" broadcast featuring an entire studio audience flown in from Chicago: "They actually paid every Illinois-imported audience member $25 as a fee for talent rendered so they wouldn't have to pay taxes as contest winners. Pretty cool," says our source, who had nothing but praise for Worldwide Pants' handling of the broadcast, which is saying something when you consider that my source, I think, once killed a guy ... Left off the names of famous late-night alumni working on "The Man Show": former Letterman head writer Donick Cary ... More details on Bill Maher's karaoke sitcom "You": cast regulars include Laraine Newman, Fred Willard and a parade of bizarre amateur performers. Now all Maher has to do is find himself a big floppy hat and pry Jaye P. Morgan from underneath whatever rock she's been hiding the past 18 years. "You" is expected to be picked up by Fox as a summer series ... "Politically Incorrect" aired show No. 300 in its ABC incarnation Monday ... Perhaps shamed into action by Web Guide magazine, which wrote of LATE SHOW NEWS subscriber Sean Bradley's "Saturday Night Live" Web page, "A 14-year-old's site trounces the official one," NBC has given the "SNL" Web site a bigger sandbox to play in. The show becomes the first to adopt the new WebTV for Windows technology, which means you can watch it on your PC or WebTV box (latest version only). The WebTV 'cast will also include certain "enhancements," as you'll discover when you dial it up Saturday night, when the technology debuts at . For those of you with PC's, you'll be able to get up to speed when Windows 98, Bill Gates' pride and inopportunely-crashing joy, ships in June ... Linzi Gallacher is mad as all tarnation at National Geographic, which has hijacked NBC Europe and is planning to dump the "Tonight Show" and "Late Night" from its lineup. "I want to encourage everyone who watches these programs to write to NBC and protest the decision to dump the shows on NBC Europe and Asia," writes Linzi. "I've been devastated since I heard about it last Monday night." The executives to write are Stuart Goldfarb and Tim Kelly . (Best to format the e-mail like a business letter, mentioning their name and affiliation and printing your name at the end.) Linzi can be reached at LACOB@AOL.COM ... Longtime reader Melissa Pollak notes that in addition to the TV Tickets service, Audiences Unlimited also has a Web page listing upcoming tapings. However, you currently can't get a laser-printed invite to the taping (though it does give an 800 number to call). That address is ... And I notice that "Late Show" has opened up a phone line for ticket requests: 212-975-5853. There's no voice mail, so call during business hours. *** Oops. A line or two was clipped from my Snyder essay in LSN #201. The sentence that was left dangling should have read: "And after 40 years in broadcasting, financially and reputationally secure, he didn't have to continue one day longer than he wanted to." *** Reader mail: The Snyder post mortems start to roll in. Jay Mark writes, "When the original 'Tomorrow' show came on it was great and a true groundbreaker. But after a while it became impossible for me to watch because of Tom's incessant habit of interrupting his guests with anecdotes of his own and then never getting back to the point at which the interview left off. I found this so annoying that I stopped watching. Nowadays I'm not a true late-nighter ... but because I do like talk, I sometimes flip over to Snyder and damn if he still isn't doing that same old thing. Interrupting, anecdoting and chortling. And I just wonder if it might be that aspect of his persona that's responsible for his stagnant ratings -- whether others besides me have found this behavior off-putting. The irony, to me at least, is that Tom has always come off as a genuine Good Guy, a la Bob Costas. You can tell that he has a heart, that he's genuine and that he cares. I always respected him for that. But I reached a point where I couldn't get past that constant interrupting of people whom you _really_ wanted to hear!" ... Ty Lightner agrees. "Tom Snyder had his appeal, but by far the best interviewer I've ever seen on TV is Bob Costas. A huge difference between Costas and Snyder is that Bob will sit quietly and listen when his guest is saying something interesting, whereas Tom can't help but interupt with his own comments. This is very well illustrated if you compare the clips that each host brought out on their respective anniversary shows. Costas showed Anthony Quinn speaking very poignantly about dealing with the death of his son. Snyder showed Tony Curtis also speaking poignantly about dealing with the death of his son, but with Snyder interrupting Curtis in the middle of his remarks with an unnecessary and distracting observation of his own. Why can't Snyder let Curtis and his other guests have their moment and express themselves unhindered?" ... File this one under the heading of "coulda-beens": Harrison Wyman wrote prior to CBS's announcement of Craig Kilborn to suggest Star Jones, one of the panelists being wasted on that Barbara Walters suckup show, "The View," as successor to Tom Snyder. "Jones is not afraid to have a strong point of view and stick to it. An example would be her guest spot on 'Politically Incorrect' April 27. When the subject of the evening was Mary Kay LeTorneau and her 14 year old lover, Jones was in favor of holding the teacher accountable, which meant her doing time for statutory rape after breaking the conditions of her release. Jones made strong points without losing her sense of humor. Obviously Jones would not be as combative as a solo host but in terms of being qualified for the job, I think she is. As Dave Letterman said when Jones was a guest on his show, she's 'guilty -- of being entertaining.'" THE LINEUPS with Sue Trowbridge (http://www.interbridge.com/) LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Tu 5/5 Donald Trump, Jayson Williams, Trisha Yearwood We 5/6 Sally Field, Teacher of the Year Philip Bigler, Lyle Lovett Th 5/7 Jada Pinkett, Green Day Fr 5/8 Warren Beatty, Jim Lovell, daredevil rollerskater Shrutika Chandwani Mo 5/11 Fran Drescher, Faith Hill Tu 5/12 Christopher Reeve, soup man Al Yeganeh, Hanson We 5/13 Wayne Knight, Bonnie Raitt THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC Tu 5/5 Dennis Rodman, Chicago's best singing dogs, Aretha Franklin We 5/6 Arsenio Hall, Blue Man Group, Siskel and Ebert judge Leno lookalikes Th 5/7 Jerry Springer, Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang, animal expert Sid Yost Fr 5/8 Cindy Crawford, Chicago kids show-and-tell, Cheap Trick Mo 5/11 Don Rickles, Tori Amos Tu 5/12 Paul Reiser, 7-year-old Curto quadruplets, Olivia Newton-John We 5/13 Candice Bergen, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wayne Cotter Th 5/14 Jerry Seinfeld, Brandy Fr 5/15 Brooke Shields, Trey Parker and Matt Stone Mo 5/18 Joan Embery and San Diego Zoo animals Tu 5/19 Cher, Bob Costas, Dave Matthews Band LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Tu 5/5 Shelley Long, Pat Schroeder We 5/6 Miguel Ferrer Th 5/7 Jeanette Tracy, who was awake during recent surgery Fr 5/8 Kathy Griffin Mo 5/11 Bill Maher Tu 5/12 Russian talk show host Yelena Khanga LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Tu 5/5 Michael J. Fox, Dave Foley, Bug Lady Betty Faber We 5/6 Teri Hatcher, Oliver Platt, Lisa Loeb Th 5/7 David Hasselhoff, Morcheeba Fr 5/8 Nicholas Turturro Mo 5/11 Rob Schneider, Tim Russert, Alan Covert (R 2/19/98) Tu 5/12 Fran Drescher, Joe Rogan, Ray Davies We 5/13 Halle Berry, Robert Urich, Todd Snider LATER, NBC Tu 5/5 Amy Pietz with Tony Shalhoub We 5/6 Amy Pietz with Jasmine Guy Th 5/7 Amy Pietz with Ed O'Neill CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Please note that Charlie Rose listings are very tentative Tu 5/5 Peter Duchin, Spike Lee We 5/6 Norman Mailer, Romano Prodi Th 5/7 Michael Stipe Fr 5/8 TBA Mo 5/11 John Irving, George Will Tu 5/12 Robert Pinsky, Robert Thurman, Shimon Peres We 5/13 Bill Bryson Th 5/14 Bill Baker POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Tu 5/5 Halle Berry, Cal Thomas, Ben Jones, Sheryl Lee Ralph We 5/6 Shelley Long, Patricia Schroeder, Bill T. Jones, Paul Sorvino Th 5/7 Dom DeLuise, Chuck D., Alan Keyes, Susannah Breslin Fr 5/8 Gilbert Gottfried, Tony Robbins, Montell Jordan, Holly McClure Mo 5/11 Joe Queenan, Jasmine Guy, Robin Leach, Bianca Jagger Tu 5/12 Jason Alexander, Laura Innes, Cokie Roberts, Judy Sheindlin VIBE TV, syndicated Tu 5/5 Traci Bingham, Gill Bellows, Hill Harper, Tito Nieves We 5/6 Tommy Davidson, Paula Devico Th 5/7 Blair Underwood, Andrea Thompson, John O' Hurley, Jay-Z and Rell Fr 5/8 Jada Pinkett Smith, Mya with Sisqo, David Alan Grier, Karen Duffy Mo 5/11 Xscape THE DAILY SHOW, Comedy Central (lineups not available) DENNIS MILLER LIVE, HBO Fr 5/8 David Spade and Norm McDonald-- 100th Episode Special Fr 5/15 Arianna Huffington on Republicans Fr 5/22 No show Fr 5/29 Matthew Broderick SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network Fr 5/8 Jon Stewart (R); Bob Denver, Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson from "Gilligan's Island" (R) Fr 5/15 Peter Fonda and Buzz Aldrin (R) Judy Tenuta, Timothy Leary and Ashley Judd HOWARD STERN, E! Here are lineups for all three "Howard Stern" airings at 11 and 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. Eastern time. Saturday the show only airs during the 11 o'clock hour. Tu 5/5 William Shatner, Randy & Croix Food Fight (R), Pamela Anderson Part 2 (R) We 5/6 Lou Diamond Phillips, Jan Michael Vincent/William Katt Part 1 (R), Pamela Anderson Part 3 (R) Th 5/7 Iraqi/Wheelchair Girl/Script Guy, Jan Michael Vincent/William Katt Part 2 (R), Puerto Rican Vanessa (R) Fr 5/8 Baywatch Angelica/Michael Buffer, Wise Intelligent Ebonics (R) Nude Sunbather (R) Sa 5/9 Dawn Radenbaugh Parts 1 and 2 (R) DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1 Mi 6/5 Comic Olli Dittrich, singer Sandra Nasic Do 7/5 Frauke Ludowig Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE and WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC CHARLES GRODIN, CNBC MAD TV, Fox SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC (this season) and Comedy Central (classics) THE RUPAUL SHOW, VH1 LOVELINE, MTV UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS NIGHTSIDE, NBC (going away soon) DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1 Entire contents Copyright 1998 by Aaron Barnhart. All rights reserved. LATE SHOW NEWS is made possible with the generous assistance of ECHO, New York City's premiere online service. http://www.echonyc.com Send news for and comments about this newsletter to aaron@tvbarn.com