LATE SHOW NEWS #211
July 21, 1998
posted 9:30 p.m. (Los Angeles time)
by Aaron Barnhart

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	Quite a week for yours truly.  First, Apple
	repair replaced the keyboard in the PowerBook --
	for the second time in as many years -- and then
	we played that game many rural Americans have
	been enjoying for years, When It Absolutely,
	Positively Can't Get There Overnight.  You see,
	Mrs. LATE SHOW NEWS and I were visiting the in-laws
	in Fillmore County, Minn., and I'd directed the
	Apple people to ship the fixed computer there,
	since I'd be getting on a plane to Pasadena from
	the Twin Cities while the missus stayed back in
	Minnesota.  It was only after three days had passed
	with no computer that Apple and I learned Airborne
	Express doesn't ship overnight to Fillmore County,
	Minn. As a result, the PowerBook was scheduled
	to arrive in town just about the time my flight
	took off from MSP.  Thanks to some frantic telephone
	three-ways, we got the shipment redirected, though
	the dust still hasn't settled, apparently; the
	subcontractor who delivers Airborne packages showed
	up at my in-laws' door this morning looking for
	a fax from me.  Hello? Anybody home?
	        
	Last Monday, while waiting for my shipment to
	come in, I sat in the den at my in-laws, dialing
	up Letterman, eager to see him knock heads with
	Internet schmo Matt Drudge. I'm tuned to Channel
	3, the CBS affiliate in Mason City, Iowa, that
	also serves southeastern Minnesota. But instead
	of giving me Dave that night, it gives me this:

	"'The Late Show with David Letterman' will not
	be seen this week.  It will return next Monday,
	July 20th."

	And then, a "Cheers" repeat.  Quickly I scramble
	to pull in a snowy version of the broadcast on
	the Minneapolis affiliate, WCCO.  The staticky
	snow job isn't too distracting; in fact, it seems
	about right for watching Drudge.

	Later, I heard from Trent Guyer, who wasn't so
	lucky.  That Monday, Trent was in New York City,
	having made the pilgrimage from central Kansas
	to the Ed Sullivan Theater to see the big show.
	Back at home, friends and family awaited the big
	broadcast on CBS affiliate KWCH in Wichita. Anyone
	who's ever attended a "Late Show" taping will
	tell you it's great fun having a copy of the
	telecast for all time.  Even if you sat in the
	balcony and couldn't possibly have shown up even
	on a high-definition TV screen, you can say you
	were there.  And that's why, back in Wichita,
	the VCRs were running and everyone was watching.

	What they saw, instead of "Late Show," was a special
	on the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and its
	fight against methamphetamine in Kansas. I haven't
	seen this compelling report, but I'll bet it looked
	a lot like a special our local NBC affiliate did
	on the rise of meth in Kansas City, which in
	turn looked a lot like the special done on the
	rise of meth in my home town of Billings, Mont.
	Methamphetamine -- god's gift to TV news in middle
	to small markets.

	By now you're probably aware that these two incidents
	were related.  CBS affiliates in Wichita;
	Spartanburg and Florence, S.C.; Mobile, Ala.;
	Columbus and Toccoa, Ga. took Letterman off the
	air for anywhere from one to five nights last
	week as part of a petty feud one Nick Evans has
	decided to carry on with the CBS network.

	Evans owns Spartan Communications, a chain of nine TV
	and two radio stations with headquarters in
	Spartanburg.  Even though it doesn't own a station
	in a Nielsen metered market, TV ownership is an
	incredibly profitable business wherever you go.
	One senses Evans isn't driving around Spartanburg in
	a 10-year-old Honda.

	According to news reports, one of Evans' managers
	accompanied a group of advertisers to New York
	to see the "Late Show," thinking that they were
	holding valid VIP tickets.  Every night, 25
	seats out of the 461 in the Ed Sullivan Theater
	are made available to CBS to use for themselves
	and their affiliates.  Those affiliates in turn
	often hold contests, the lucky winners of which
	are flown to New York and use the VIP seats to
	attend the big show.  In this case, the lucky
	winners were a group representing an advertiser
	or advertisers that obviously have a very, very
	$pecial relation$hip with the Spartan stations.
		
	What the South Carolina contingent didn't know
	was that the passes they were holding were 
	worthless.  Earlier in the year, "Late Show"
	executive producer Rob Burnett had asked CBS to suspend
	its VIP privileges for the summer because of the
	crushing load of ticket requests coming in from
	fans.  Normally there is a six- to 18-month wait
	for tickets (although some of you have written
	LATE SHOW NEWS to report you were able to get seated
	within a couple of months). But when you're getting
	20,000 requests a week via postal and electronic
	mail, you can't have enough available seats.
	Especially in the summer, when school is out and
	people are more inclined to take advantage of
	the warm weather and wait all day in the standby
	line.  So CBS agreed to give back the VIP seats,
	allowing the Letterman staff to fulfill an extra
	1,600 requests over the summer.
	
	But somebody failed to pass along the word to
	the Spartan group. As a result, when they got to
	the theater they were turned away.  They did,
	however, eventually get seated on another broadcast.
	But the damage was done.  In a conference call
	held in May, Evans and the managers of his CBS
	affiliates agreed to a symbolic boycott of the
	"Late Show" during July to protest their inability
	to get seats.

	What exactly were the details of this boycott,
	we'll never know.  Ron Collins, the general manager
	of KWCH and longtime Wichita broadcasting executive,
	told LATE SHOW NEWS that Letterman was returned
	to the airwaves after one night because the station
	didn't have enough programming inventory to fill
	the other four nights.  (I know the feeling; one
	meth special and you're pretty much wasted for
	the week.)  But Collins told the Mobile Register
	that Letterman returned to KWCH on Tuesday "because
	of overwhelming demand from viewers."
	        
	Similarly, Evans told a newspaper in Greenville,
	S.C., that he would look at the ratings from the
	"Cheers" repeats and other filler that were inserted
	in "Late Show's" place and if they tested well,
	replace Letterman in the time slot.  But his
	corporate director of programming, Jimmy Sanders,
	said that wouldn't happen; "It's just for this
	five-day period," he told the newspaper. (None
	of the stations in the Spartan group is in a Nielsen
	metered market, which means that ratings data
	from the Letterman-free week won't be available
	until late August.)
	        
	I've heard both sides of this issue loud and
	clear. One source at CBS headquarters in Black
	Rock told me that the reason Letterman's people
	asked for the tickets back only partially had to
	do with summer demand.  It also had to do with
	the fact that Dave would prefer no VIPs ever be
	in his audience; that they bring the mood of the
	crowd down.  Rob Burnett, who spoke late one
	night last week with me, said he'd be lying if
	he denied that Letterman felt that way about VIP
	seats.  But he repeated to me his assertion that
	not even his parents in Florida have seen the
	show in person, so tightly controlled are the
	tickets, and that what the Spartan group had a
	problem with was having to wait their turn to
	get into the show.
	        
	As Burnett told another reporter last week, "This is
	the type of fellow that is used to getting the
	best table at a restaurant at a moment's notice
	while the rest of us have to wait in line."
		         
	Not everybody in TV land sees it that way. Here's how
	one inside source, who spoke only on the condition
	of anonymity, put it to me in e-mail: "Burnett
	says 'the tickets are going to the fans.' The
	tickets always *were* going to fans. Some of
	those fans happened to work for affiliates or
	the network, some were advertisers and some
	were plain old viewers who (at that time) liked
	the show enough to enter a contest to win a trip
	to it. The refusal to give tickets to these people
	will come back to bite 'Late Show' in the ass; I
	predict more and more group owners will do what
	Evans has done here."
		
	This is the kind of short-sighted thinking for
	which TV is notorious.  Think about it: The source
	of the ticket scarcity is not the Letterman staff.
	It's the seemingly endless demand created by fans
	who have accumulated over the past 18 years of
	Dave's career.  For whatever reason, going to New
	York to see Dave has become a goal for thousands
	of people every year.  People like Trent in Wichita
	or Bill Lehecka on Long Island or the fan who wrote
	me this week from Chicago wanting to know if there
	was a chance in hell he and his two sons could get
	in on standby next month.  (Eh, don't think so.)
	Yes, there are other high-demand tickets in town --
	Rosie, Regis and Kathie Lee, "SNL" -- but nothing
	compares to Dave.  Even though his studio audience
	has nearly tripled in size since he left NBC,
	the demand for seats shows no sign of abating.
	
	Sure, you can blame the "Late Show" staff for
	being stingy with tickets and fumbling the VIP
	transfer.  You might even scold them for being
	disingenuous about their motives (not to mention
	silly -- how can 25 VIPs sitting in the balcony
	bring down the mood of 436 screaming loonies?).
	But Letterman's people didn't ask for 95 percent
	of this problem, and while it's a problem they
	wouldn't trade for anything, it remains a daily
	challenge for the them to deal with clueless
	entities like Spartan that probably haven't had
	to deal with 20,000 viewers in the past 20
	years.

	Then again, maybe it's fitting that Nick Evans
	would take out his grievance with CBS by denying
	his viewers their "Late Show" broadcasts. After
	all, it was you, the viewer, who screwed his
	advertisers out of their rightful seats in the
	first place.  Take that!

	A postscript: Greenville lawyer James "Skip"
	Goldsmith Jr. filed an informal complaint against
	Spartan with the FCC last week, claiming that
	Evans acted in his private interest in taking
	"Late Show" off the air and "is acting more like
	a spoiled child than a responsible licensee."
	That's an unfair comparison, I think; a spoiled
	child only makes a few people's lives
	miserable.

	***

	And just like that, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"
	will blow through its fifth anniversary in September
	and 1,000th hour of genuine television in October.
	O'Brien arrived in Pasadena this weekend to promote
	the special that, as you read here first, is
	appearing in prime time (see LSN #204). Jay Leno
	hasn't done a prime-time anniversary special,
	not even to mark No. 5, but O'Brien soon will.
	And for good reason: Conan's and his writers
	have created some comedy that sticks to the
	wall, sticks to the videotape, sticks you where
	it hurts.  Leno and his writers are busy producing
	topical TV, their forte, and it's not too surprising
	that they don't want to chance a 44-minute highlight
	reel.

	Besides, you can't exactly say "The Tonight Show" is
	suffering from lack of sampling, while that may be
	exactly the case with "Late Night with Conan
	O'Brien."  Although NBC president Warren Littlefield
	informed us in Pasadena Sunday that "Late Night"
	now averages 2.5 million viewers a night, that's
	still a fraction of the number of viewers who
	stay up for Jay.  Not that watching 44 minutes
	of highlights from "Late Night" can give people
	with jobs and two kids the will to stay up an
	hour later -- but it might get them into the VCR
	habit that so many of us had in the 1980s with
	"Late Night" and Dave.
	
	Now all O'Brien and Co. need is a road show.
	David Letterman was able to take "Late Night"
	to L.A. after just three years; it's been five
	and the only time the Conan version of "Late
	Night" has gotten out of the studio was to
	take a ride in a boat ("and not even in an
	open body of water," O'Brien noted) and to
	shoot a couple of shows elsewhere around 
	Rockefeller Center while NBC cleaned up after
	a sixth-floor fire.  
	
	The problem, though, is this.  When Dave went to
	L.A. in 1985, late-night shows rarely traveled.
	Now Leno has gone to New York and Letterman's
	been to L.A. on multiple occasions, and they've
	both been to Vegas and Chicago. Snyder's gone to
	San Francisco and Maher has done Washington (and
	soon will do Vegas as well). Ideally, O'Brien
	told LATE SHOW NEWS, he'd like to avoid all
	those venues.  In fact, what he'd really like to
	do is go someplace where people don't even watch
	NBC -- which is a hilarious if self-defeating
	notion.  (My personal suggestion for "Late Night's"
	first road show: Cambridge, Mass.  Or four nights
	from four different schools in the Boston area.)

	I'm going to give you excerpts both from my interview
	with Conan and his press conference, the main reason
	being he was a lot funnier at the press conference.
	But with me he shared some details that readers
	here will appreciate. Where you see "Q" the question
	was asked by somebody other than me.

	Me: When Carson and Letterman began to hit their
	grooves, it changed the course of their careers.
	They stopped doing any outside work and
	concentrated entirely on the show.  Has success
	changed your lifestyle at all?

	A: Ever since I started writing and producing
	comedy since 1985, I've worked constantly. I've
	stayed up late thinking of jokes, thinking of
	sketches, went to improv classes and essentially
	keeping these kind of hours. That's all I ever
	knew. So when I got this show I noticed almost
	no change to my work level. I had stayed up for
	days on end on another floor of 30 Rockefeller
	Center doing "SNL."  Now, instead of being on
	17th floor, staying up all night eating bad Chinese
	food thinking about comedy, I'm on the 9th floor
	eating Thai food.  I try now to cut out earlier
	just to get my head out of the show, but I still
	eat most of my meals during the week at the
	show.

	I'm not a showbiz person.  I don't go to premieres or
	parties or anything like that. I only show up if
	a good friend is doing a movie.  I think
	these jobs select people with that kind of work
	habit: Jay, Letterman, Carson.
	
	Q: Conan, last week Letterman had the debacle
	with the tickets going out to a bunch of affiliates
	and them getting pissed off for a little bit.
	How would you have handled it?

	A: Given them the seats, and had suits made for
	them.

	Q: Talk a little bit about what it was like when
	you were on six-month renewals.

	A: I've often thought that if I save the Earth
	from a comet -- I think about this a lot -- I get on
	a ship, I get to the comet and I explode the
	asteroid and save the Earth from annihilation,
	and then I return to Earth, the headline is going to
	be: "Conan Saves Earth from Asteroid ... After Rocky
	Start."  "Conan O'Brien saved the civilized
	world from total annihilation after a rocky
	start and Tom Shales called him a bumbling boob
	who can't tie his own shoes.  The man many critics
	wished would die received a medal from the
	President," you know.

	That's going to be in my obituary no matter what
	happens. If anything, it's probably a testament.
	If it gives any inspiration to other people out
	there who get in over their heads in life and
	somehow muddle through, then I'm happy.

	That was a difficult time.  But I had amazing people
	working for me.  I always knew that.  I wasn't
	new to show business.  I was new to being a talk
	show, but I wasn't new to show business.  And I
	knew good people.  I had Jeff Ross, who's the
	best producer in the business, and I had Andy
	Richter, who's the funniest person I've ever
	met. And I had Robert Smigel and I had writers
	who I knew were great.

	I think that's one of the things about my story
	that still fascinates people.  Just people on
	the street.  Everybody comes up to me in restaurants
	and they knew I went through something, and they
	know that I'm kind of like them.

	Me: How did you resolve your apartment situation?

	A: I ended up renting again. I thought of buying
	in New York City, but the prices are so insane
	that you're giving people all the money you've
	saved up for your entire life to have an apartment
	that's decent with no view. I'm just the kind of
	person who can't see spending this kind of money
	on an apartment. For this kind of money, I should be
	able to buy Versailles.
	
	***

	I also conducted a "three questions" with Conan
	that appears in print and can be found on the Star's
	Web site (it appeared today, the 21st):
	http://www.kcstar.com/fyi/fyi.htm

	Also, Conan's 2-parter with Howard Stern repeats
	on E! beginning tonight.  Oh, and the anniversary
	special airs Sept. 15 at 10 p.m. Eastern.  It will
	be taped out of "Saturday Night Live's" Studio 8H.

	***
	
	Speaking of late night's gentle giants getting
	some time in prime: ABC will give "ABC News
	Nightline" a five-week summer run on Thursdays
	at 10 Eastern beginning Aug. 6. The reason? Almost
	nothing is keeping viewers from switching to
	cable this summer save for news programs. The
	show will be a repackaging of Ted Koppel's
	occasional reports on the American justice system.
	The reports go back several years; I reviewed
	some of them as part of a think piece I did on
	Koppel in 1994 (see LSN #40) ...
				
	Good news for "The Magic Hour": It added crossover
	comic Tommy Davidson this week as the show's new
	sidekick, replacing Craig Shoemaker. I've been
	asked this week by other critics how long I give
	Magic and Co. to turn their act around.  Until
	about Labor Day, I figure. The Fox-owned stations,
	which are Johnson's bread and butter, trigger
	syndicated repeats of "Friends" and "M*A*S*H" in
	mid-September. These stations already have
	syndicated half-hours in late night besides
	their "Magic Hour" commitment. Something's gonna
	have to give, and right now it looks like that
	something will be Earvin.  But Twentieth Television,
	his syndicator, will cancel him before push comes to
	shove ...

	Variety reported that Norm Macdonald is talking
	with several studios about making a sitcom. Warner
	Bros. is offering a deal headed up by Bruce Helford,
	the executive producer of ABC's "Drew Carey Show."
	Helford and Macdonald have been talking sitcom
	ideas.  I give Helford a lot of credit for making
	the Carey show what it is; he'd be a great match
	for Macdonald.  When Helford and Carey met,
	Carey was playing against type in NBC's "The
	Good Life," which starred John Caponera.  Helford
	then saw a cable special Carey had done earlier,
	"Drew Carey: Human Cartoon" (it occasionally pops up
	on Comedy Central), and there saw the model for
	what would become Drew's character in the 
	sitcom ...
	
	Charles Grodin is back.  He'll do a weekend show
	for MSNBC similar to the recently-cancelled one he 
	did for CNBC ... 
	
	Fox entertainment chief Peter Roth announced to
	critics Tuesday that he's ordered another 25
	episodes of "MAD TV," which means a fourth season
	for the Saturday-night show. Here's the returning
	cast (more players will be added soon): Alex
	Borstein, Pat Kilbane, Phil LaMarr, Will Sasso,
	Aries Spears, Nicole Sullivan and Debra Wilson
	... Our pal Joe Adalian, now at Variety, put the
	question to Roth: What about the weeknights?
	Gonna get your gumption up again to try a late-night
	show if (read: when) "The Magic Hour" dies?  The
	answer: Yes, but prime time is the first priority,
	and "when we do (late night) again, I hope we do it 
	right."


        ***
        
	Reader mail: Richard Lee writes, "Many people,
	myself included, missed Howard Stern's appearance on
	'The Magic Hour' because the San Francisco station,
	KOFY, aired the show an hour earlier than its
	usual midnight time slot without any advance
	promotion. On Friday, the show was back in its
	regular time. A friend of mine forwarded me his
	e-mail response from the station: 'At the request of
	the syndicator we aired "The Magic Hour" featuring
	Howard Stern at 11:00 pm. It wasn't the best of
	moves, but ... we apologize for the confusion
	and inconvenience.' It's too bad that we here in
	Northern California didn't get a chance to see
	it unless we were channel surfing. Thanks for
	writing about it. It was the only way I found
	out about the show's content" ...

	Harrison Wyman writes, "Magic should also have
	studied some Letterman tapes on how not to take
	crap from a guest. The really scary thing is I
	caught 'Drudge,' the news half-hour that Matt Drudge
	is now doing for the Fox News Channel on weekends.
	Drudge isn't trying to be an entertainer (no
	audience), but he projects on-air more effectively
	than Magic.  His interviews are so-so and he
	needs to get a new hat, but Drudge knows what he
	wants to put across and does so just well enough
	to keep you from hitting the remote button" ...
	
	John Jacobs writes, "Are you saying that the show
	might have succeeded if it had simply had not
	allowed Stern to point out to the audience how
	bad the show is?  You even agree with some of
	Howard's points, especially about the core
	audience. I think it took backbone to do the
	show that way it was done. It humanized the people
	on the show and exposed their failings. If the
	producers and the star of the show would listen
	to Howard (and to you) and make changes in the
	show, I might watch again. I'm sure Stern would
	cheer them on. If they don't change, they're
	gone anyway."

	I disagree. If Earvin Johnson does what he's supposed
	to do with the show, Stern and his fans won't
	tune in.  They will, however, stop picking on it, as
	will many of the critics. More of Johnson's core
	audience will find their comfort level with the
	show.  And the show might have a chance.  By the
	way, since my review didn't make it clear: I
	like Howard. Many nights I choose his E! program
	over "The Daily Show" at 10 p.m.  And I was thrilled
	to hear that he had read my account of his
	appearance on "The Magic Hour" on his radio show
	Monday morning.  (Stern had been on two weeks'
	hiatus and so was just now dissecting his
	performance; my piece moved on the wire and was
	picked up by the Boston Globe, from which Stern
	was reading) ...

	A couple of readers noted that Dennis Miller's
	praise of Jay Leno, on which a reader commented
	in a previous issue, was not quite the butt kiss
	the letter-writer made it out to be.  One NBC
	employee whose identity I'm protecting writes,
	"A more careful review of Miller's recent 'Tonight'
	appearance will show that Miller was being sarcastic
	(big shock) when he called Leno the best. During
	the monologue, Leno made a bad joke about the
	McDonald's drive-thru speakers and followed it
	up by referring to recently laid off McD's employees
	as 'McFired.' Later, Miller came out and said
	Leno was the best because no one else could get
	laughs with jokes that lame" ...
		
	A CBS employee whose identity I'm also protecting --
	what am I, Janet Reno? -- points that, contrary
	to what I wrote last week, Dave did not win the
	late-night race for the week of July 5th with a
	set of reruns against Jay's originals. It was
	exactly the opposite, and on top of that "The
	Tonight Show" was delayed 15 minutes for Wimbledon
	highlights ...

	A Dutch reader, Paul E. de Lange, writes, "For
	the past six years I have been watching Jay Leno
	for almost every day now, just because I love
	stand-up comedy and 'The Tonight Show' is the
	only program in the Netherlands that keeps me
	updated. Now I am sure you have already heard
	about it, but they cancelled the entire NBC Europe,
	except for the boring money program in the morning.
	Instead of Conan and Jay, the 'Profiler' and so
	on, they gave us f#^&%ng National Geographic
	Channel. BUT WE ALREADY HAVE DISCOVERY CHANNEL.
	Very annoying" ...
	
	Down and to your right, Mary Newcome Schleier writes,
	"NBC Europe remains for Germany, Austria, Poland
	but instead of fresh material there are old reruns
	of Leno and Conan. (The day programs consist of
	much-delayed 'Today' shows repeated endlessly
	throughout the day.) The only positives are that
	these old reruns from several years ago might be
	interesting for some to see in respect to how things
	have changed since, and that the channel remains
	open."
	
	***
	
	Tom Heald's THIS NIGHT IN HISTORY
	Tomalhe@aol.com

	We 7/22: In 1996, "The Tonight Show: Special Edition"
	debuts on NBC. Jay Leno opts to perform a a special
	6-minute monologue-only version rather than be
	completely pre-empted by the Olympic coverage.
	 
	Th 7/23: In 1987, says TV Guide, "Cinemax 11 p.m./ET:
	'The Original Max Headroom,' not to be confused
	with any other Max Headroom show currently littering
	the dials, is Max's talk show, back this week
	for a third season. This year's shows were taped
	in New York rather than in London as in the past
	[and] they are as irresistibly trashy as they've
	always been. Magicians Penn and Teller and Mick
	Jagger's main squeeze, Jerry Hall, are the opening
	night guests."

	Fr 7/24: In 1949, Michael Richards is born. Whatever
	happened to him after "Fridays"?

	Sa 7/25: GREAT INTERVIEWS IN HISTORY: In 1995
	on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," when O'Brien
	asks guest Cyndi Lauper, "You've done something
	to your hair. What's that color called?", Lauper
	replies, "Yellow."

	Su 7/26: In 1984, "The Tonight Show with Johnny
	Carson" becomes the first network TV show to be
	broadcast in stereo.

	Mo 7/27: In 1953, Steve Allen makes his debut as
	a local talk show host on WNBC-TV in New York.
	This could be the start of something big.

	Tu 7/28: Two of the more talked-about episodes
	of Late Show with David Letterman occurred exactly 5
	years apart. In 1982, Andy Kaufman and pro wrestler
	Jerry Lawlor fight on-air, in a surreal battle
	which quickly disintegrates into obscenities and
	even worse, spilled coffee. And in 1987, at the
	end of an excruciating interview, the uncooperative
	Crispin Glover nearly kicks Letterman in the
	head. The sounds of the Kaufman/Lawlor fight can
	be found at http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/sound.htm
	and a full account of the Glover interview can
	be found in our Daveware section at
	http://www.echonyc.com/~barnhart/daveware/glover-transcript

	[Thanks to David Tanny, Maybeso320, and the
	enigma that is Zeeno. Special thanks to Donz5,
	my only friend, well, not my *only* friend, but
	he's my little glowing friend, but really he's
	not actually my friend.]

	TNIH is now a weekly bookstore at
	http://members.aol.com/thisnite/tstore.html --
	cool, huh?

THE LINEUPS
with Sue Trowbridge (http://www.interbridge.com/)

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS

Mo 7/20 James Caan, Buck O'Neil, Lenny Kravitz
Tu 7/21 Janet Jackson, radio personality Scott Ferrell, Nanci 
        Griffith
We 7/22 Tony Danza, director Peter Farrelly, Brian Wilson
Th 7/23 Gloria Estefan
Fr 7/24 Pam Grier, Natalie Imbruglia

Mo 7/27 Jenny McCarthy, Adam Arkin, Tori Amos
Tu 7/28 Kid Zoologists, Gary Sinise, Goo Goo Dolls
We 7/29 Yasmine Bleeth, David Brenner, Barenaked Ladies 

  
THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC

Mo 7/20 Natasha Richardson, Jay Mohr, 7-year-old card designer 
        Aaron Yamagata
Tu 7/21 Tom Hanks, Lindsay Lohan, Edwin McCain
We 7/22 Jamie Lee Curtis, Edward Burns, Vince Gill
Th 7/23 Antonio Banderas
Fr 7/24 Heather Locklear, 5-year-old stock whiz Richard 
        Anderson, The Artist

Mo 7/27 Michael J. Fox, PB & J recipe contest winners, L.L. Cool J
Tu 7/28 Dennis Quaid, toe-wrestling champ Ian Davies, Alan Jackson
We 7/29 Joan Embery and San Diego Zoo animals
Th 7/30 Isaac Mizrahi 

  
LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, CBS

Mo 7/20 Rosemary Clooney, Robert Cringely
Tu 7/21 Author Lisa Michaels
We 7/22 Harry Anderson, Rita Rudner
Th 7/23 Lucie Arnaz, Phil Simms
Fr 7/24 Cartoonist Mike Luckovich
Mo 7/27 John DiResta
Tu 7/28 Rob Reiner, Victoria Gotti 

  
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, NBC

Mo 7/20 Denis Leary, Holly Robinson Peete, Mary Lou Lord (R 3/13/98)
Tu 7/21 Joy Behar, Eve 6
We 7/22 Jay Mohr, Brandy, BR-549
Th 7/23 Peter Jennings, Paul Tompkins
Fr 7/24 Edward Burns, Bob McCoy
Mo 7/27 Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Snyder, Fastball (R 4/15/98)
Tu 7/28 John Lithgow, Marc Maron, Pete Seeger and Dar Williams (R 4/28/98)
We 7/29 Marc Wahlberg, Chris Kattan, Jeff Stilson (R 4/30/98)
Th 7/30 David Hasselhoff, Molly Shannon, Morcheeba (R 5/7/98)
Fr 7/31 Patrick Swayze, Daniela Pestova (R 5/1/98) 


LATER, NBC

Mo 7/20 Rebecca Romijn with Tyra Banks
Tu 7/21 Rebecca Romijn with Sean Patrick Flanery
We 7/22 Rebecca Romijn with Bob Saget
Th 7/23 Rebecca Romijn with Dave Coulier

Mo 7/27 Angie Everhart with Jon Cryer
Tu 7/28 Angie Everhart with Joe Pantoliano
We 7/29 Angie Everhart with Wendie Malick 
Th 7/30 Angie Everhart with Patrick Warburton 

  
THE MAGIC HOUR, syndicated

Mo 7/20 Elliott Gould, Countess Vaughn, Mekhi Phifer, AZ Yet
Tu 7/21 Steve Harvey, Leeza Gibbons, Too Hot Tamales, Gerald LeVert
We 7/22 Tyson Beckford, Nia Long, James Marsden
Th 7/23 Kevin Sorbo, Simply Red
Fr 7/24 LeVar Burton 

  
CHARLIE ROSE, PBS
Please note that Charlie Rose listings are very tentative

Mo 7/20 Tom Hanks; Fortune editor John Huey
Tu 7/21 TBA
We 7/22 Gloria Estefan
Th 7/23 John Lewis 

  
POLITICALLY INCORRECT WITH BILL MAHER, ABC

Mo 7/20 Cathy Lee Crosby, Larry Klayman, Tavis Smiley
Tu 7/21 Robert Klein, John Schneider, Adrian Cronauer, Sue Ellicott
We 7/22 Dana Gould, Lionel Richie, Michael Medved, Anne Taylor Fleming
Th 7/23 Robert Wuhl, Paul Kantner
Fr 7/24 Carol Alt, Tom Fitton, Mick Hucknall 
  

VIBE TV, syndicated

Mo 7/20 The Artist, Chaka Khan, Larry Graham
Tu 7/21 Coach Eddie Robinson, James Van Der Beek, Meredith Brooks (R
1/22/98)
We 7/22 Jennifer Aspen, Richard Bey, Gloria Gaynor
Th 7/23 Bokeem Woodbine, Charles Perez, Tierra (R 2/26/98)
Fr 7/24 Tom Joyner, Carol Leifer, Tammy Batson, Prince Be & Kymani (R
2/27/98) 


DENNIS MILLER LIVE, HBO

(lineups very sketchy this week and next)

SPACE GHOST COAST TO COAST, Cartoon Network

Fr 7/24 Palmer Mills, Sandra Bernhard (R)
Fr 7/31 Dr. Maxcy Nolan, Steve Arnold (R)
        Rich Hall, Anka Radakovich, Dr. Joyce Brothers (R)
Fr 8/7  Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky *** SEASON PREMIERE ***

HOWARD STERN, E!

Mo 7/20 Never Been With A Man, Fred & Actress Part 1 (R),
        Implant Pageant Part 1 (R)
Tu 7/21 Croix, Hank, Marty and Spice, Fred & Actress Part 2 (R),
        Implant Pageant Part 2 (R)
We 7/22 David Duchovny X-Files Movie Part 1, Conan O'Brien Part 1
        (R), Implant Pageant Part 3 (R)
Th 7/23 David Duchovny X-Files Movie Part 2, Conan O'Brien Part 2
        (R), Miss Nude Universe (R)
Fr 7/24 Gange & Kendra, Dr. Ruth Condoms (R), Ursula Sleeps With
        Celebrities (R)
Sa 7/25 Heather Locklear Parts 1 and 2 (R)

The RUPAUL SHOW (VH1) 

No episode airing this week

MAD TV (FOX) 

Sa 7/25 No host [4/11/98] (R)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (NBC) 

Sa 7/25 Samuel L. Jackson / Ben Folds Five [1/10/98] (R)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (Comedy Central)
Tu 7/21 Malcolm Jamal Warner, Run DMC, Sam Kinison  11 a.m.; 
        Jeff Goldblum, Aerosmith 3 p.m. & midnight 
We 7/22 Rosanna Arquette, Ric Ocasek  11 a.m.; 
        Helen Hunt, Snoop Doggy Dog 3 p.m. & midnight
Th 7/23 Sam Kinison, Lou Reed 7/23  11 a.m., 3 p.m. & midnight
Fr 7/24 Robin Williams, Paul Simon   11 a.m. & 3 p.m. 
Sa 7/25  Nicholas Cage, Bobby Brown 11 a.m. Ý 
Su 7/26  Tim Robbins, Sinead O'Connor 11 a.m. 
Mo 7/27  Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Randy Newman 11 a.m. & midnight; 
        Joe Pesci, Spin Doctors 3 p.m. 
Tu 7/28  Steve Guttenberg, The Pretenders, Penn & Teller 11 a.m., midnight;
        Christopher Walken, Arrested Development 3 p.m. 
We 7/29  William Shatner, Lone Justice 11 a.m. & midnight; 
        Tom Hanks, Bruce Springsteen 3 p.m. 
Th 7/30  Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Deborah Harry 11 a.m. & midnight; 
        Michael Keaton, Morrisey 3 p.m. 
Fr 7/31  Paul Shaffer, Bruce Hornsby 11 a.m. & 3 p.m. 


DIE HARALD SCHMIDT SHOW, SAT.1

lineups not available

Also on late nights:
NIGHTLINE and WORLD NEWS NOW, ABC
MAD TV, Fox
LOVELINE, MTV
UP TO THE MINUTE, CBS
NIGHTSIDE and LATER, NBC (going away soon)


Entire contents Copyright 1998 by Aaron Barnhart. All
rights reserved.

Each issue is posted by 12:01 a.m. Central Time on
Tuesday (unless I don't) to
latest.html

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