LATE SHOW NEWS #157 June 17, 1997 by Aaron Barnhart Farrah Fawcett offered about a gazillion reasons why we should NOT think she wasn't loaded to the gazills during a June 7 appearance on "Late Show." In an interview that appeared in the New York Daily News last Tuesday, Farrah insisted she was "trying to be funny," that she was "pretending" to be spaced out, that she was giddy because she was "relieved" her Playboy magazine video project was over, that she was creating a foil that Dave could play off of, that she is "shy" when on talk shows. We're sticking to our tequila story. "The Daily Show" reprinted portions of the Daily News interview under the heading, "IN DENIAL" ... Reader reaction to my favorable review of that broadcast was sharply mixed. Ruben Yui spoke for several who wrote. "The 'Late Show' has again been a pleasure to watch. I've found myself actually paying attention to the show rather than just using it for eye candy. I wholeheartedly agree with your review of last Friday's show as being just wonderful. Dave was certainly at his most tongue-in-cheek congenial/on-edge host form with Farrah." Bob Martin disagreed. "You referred to the Friday, June 6th show as a GREAT show....on a couple of fronts you were right. But FARRAH FAWCETT....Come on now....she was NOT funny and portrayed herself as an idiot. Fine...she had cocktails and we can blame it on that. She was NOT FUNNY. It reinforced the stereotype which she had framed around her in the 70's that she was, indeed, a dumb blonde. The interview was PAINFUL to watch and I bet Dave will not have her back as a guest EVER." Longtime reader and radio icon Alex Bennett was even more blunt, calling my column "regretful at the least. You seem to find someone entertaining when they are in the throes of what was apparently a full-blown drug binge. A simple bit of sleuthing with your contacts would have borne this out. To acknowledge this sort of thing as entertainment in the way that you did, deeming it 'two hilariously spacey acts,' is to encourage the woman in her self-destructive behavior by making her feel that she can get away with it. I am no 12-stepper or goodie-goodie. But to not see the forest for the trees was naive of you and not what I expect." *** "MAD TV" is being repackaged as a half-hour weekly prime time show during the summer. Look for it at 8 p.m. Eastern on Fox ... RuPaul's VH1 interview show kicks off another season this Saturday, where it began airing as a weekly program last October. But this time, the show will go on all week long. As part of a new three-year deal, the drag queen becomes the latest addition to the late-night mix, Mondays through Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern ... Stephanie Miller is now on KABC Radio in L.A. ... Maybe Magic Johnson will have a late-night show after all; he's added comedian-actor Barry Sobel as sidekick and Prince's very own Sheila E. as bandleader ... The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that among advertising analysts, "Over the Top," the Robert Morton-co-produced ABC sitcom starring Tim Curry, won top honors as the "most despised" pilot episode of the new fall season. On the other hand, "Jenny" didn't even bother submitting a pilot to ad reps. *** One more reader mail: A royally peeved Joel Brown writes, "Please permit me to slag 'Late Show' for their U2 bait and switch. Like a bazillion other people, we've got tix for their big Soldier Field stand in Chicago and so we were motivated to stay up and see Bono and 'the other guy' on 'Late Show.' They were listed third, even after the standup, so it seemed clear they were going to play. The fact that it was only a couple of the lads suggested either somehting interesting and acoustic or a jam with the band, either way worth catching. But instead it was a lame interview segment. When was the last time Dave had a rock star on to TALK only? And when it happened, were they last on the bill?? Hose job!" Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY Tu 6/17: In 1963, Greg Kinnear is born. Our factchecking department notes that Kinnear served his five-year contract to host NBC's "Later" from February 1994-December 1996. (Raise eyebrow now.) We 6/18: In 1942, movie critic/talk show host Roger Joseph Ebert is born, with a silver thumb in his mouth. Yes, I *did* say "talk show host." Ebert and partner Gene Siskel hosted "The Pat Sajak Show," on February 14, 1990. Note: when I asked Ebert about this he replied, "Did we??" Th 6/19: In 1992, Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick makes yet another enemy in the booking wars, this time in "Late Night" executive producer Robert Morton when Who singer Roger Daltrey appears on "Late Night with David Letterman," a week before "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Fr 6/20: In 1994, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media," Howard Stern, gives TV another try with "Howard Stern," 30 minutes of his morning radio show a day airing on the E! cable network. Sa 6/21: In 1940, Joe Flaherty is born. Some of Flaherty's "SCTV" characters include Guy Caballero, Sammy Maudlin, and Count Floyd (who rose from cancellation "death" to appear in live action segments on fellow "SCTV"-er Martin Short's cartoon "The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley.") Su 6/22: In 1984, a year after the premiere of NBC's "Friday Night Videos," the alphabet network launches its own Friday night forum, "ABC Rocks." Mo 6/23: In 1995, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" produces its first theme show "The Boat Show," shot aboard the deck of a Manhattan Circle Line cruise ship, with guests Janeane Garafolo, Buster Poindexter, and Isaac the Bartender. At one point, the show declares war against New Jersey. [Thanks to Damone, Chris Clark, Dave Tanny, Tim Brooks & Earl Marsh. Special thanks to Donz5, who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile] Yes, Robert Blake *is* always like that. Dead goats may be sent to Tom Heald at THE LINEUPS (with Sue Trowbridge) LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS Mo 6/16 George Carlin, Nick Chinlund, James Taylor Tu 6/17 Kathy Ireland, 6-year-old hero Michael Story, Jeremy Hotz We 6/18 Matt Lauer, Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones Th 6/19 Julia Roberts, Jon Bon Jovi Fr 6/20 Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert, Dermot Mulroney Mo 6/23 Marilu Henner, Daisy Fuentes, Jonny Lang Tu 6/24 Faye Dunaway, Nick Turturro, Motley Crue We 6/25 Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Peter Fonda, Ricki Lee Jones THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC Tu 6/17 God's Property with Kirk Franklin We 6/18 Faye Dunaway, wiener dog races Th 6/19 k.d. lang Fr 6/20 Cameron Diaz, Evander Holyfield, Toad the Wet Sprocket Mo 6/23 Naomi Campbell, Tate Donovan, Patti LaBelle Tu 6/24 Gina Gershon, Lisa Leslie We 6/25 Drew Carey, En Vogue Th 6/26 Will Smith, Tom Jones LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS Tu 6/17 TBA We 6/18 Bernadette Peters, Bob Berkowitz LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC Tu 6/17 George Carlin, Paulina Poritzkova, Jimmy Tingle We 6/18 TBA Th 6/19 Fabio, Jonathan Katz, Widespread Panic Fr 6/20 Charlie Hunter, Rich Hall Mo 6/23 Pauly Shore, Bruno Kirby, Steve Earle with the V-roys (R 4/3/97) LATER, NBC Tu 6/17 Tommy Davidson with Ice Cube (R 2/13/97) We 6/18 Tommy Davidson with Heavy D. (R 2/6/97) Th 6/19 Tommy Davidson with Pam Grier (R 2/3/97) CHARLIE ROSE, PBS Tu 6/17 Richard Jenrette, Andrew Cuomo We 6/18 Jan de Bont, Dr. David Ho Th 6/19 "Cats" Roundtable POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC Tu 6/17 Charles Fleischer, Charlton Heston, Sally Pipes, John Waters We 6/18 Debbie Allen, John Gray, Naomi Wolf, John Larroquette Th 6/19 Joe Galli, Eugene McCarthy Fr 6/20 Chris Hardwick, Jonathan Katein THE DAILY SHOW, Comedy Central Tu 6/17 David Arquette ("Scream") We 6/18 Kathy Griffin ("Suddenly Susan") Th 6/19 Eric Schaeffer DENNIS MILLER LIVE, HBO Fr 6/20 Jay Leno on "Are Movies Getting Worse?" Fr 6/27 Jerry Seinfeld on "Bad Drivers" SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network Fr 6/20 Wylie Gustafson and Marshall "Duh" Staxx (R) DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1 Di 17/6 Lilly zu Schaumburg-Lippe Mi 18/6 Max Schautzer, Nkechi Madubuko Do 19/6 Verona Feldbusch, Guenter Verheugen Fr 20/6 Jasmin Tabatabai, Katja Riemann, Nicolette Krebitz, Reinhold Beckmann HOWARD STERN, E! (lineups not available) Also on late nights: NIGHTLINE, ABC CHARLES GRODIN, CNBC CARSON'S COMEDY CLASSICS, Family Channel MAD TV, Fox SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, NBC (first-run) and Comedy Central (re-run) THE RUPAUL SHOW, VH1 LOVELINE, MTV WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS 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