...of late night.

It's always been a fascinating dynamic to me. I'm old enough to know why Carson was THE King. I also have strong opinions about why Letterman is The King and why Conan is A King.

But this surprised me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080410/ap_en_tv/tv_ferguson_s_first

I am very much a night owl and have grown to appreciate the culture that is built around and for people like me. Conan makes me laugh and he is the only host who can " interview " a guest and make them funnier. He can riff extremely ( or as Trixter would say " EXTREMELY " ) well.

Carson had impeccable timing and while that may sound like a little thing - it's not to me.

Letterman is a New Yorker that rules his roost.

Ferguson can wrote extremely well. Those monologues that seem off the cuff? Yeah. We wrotes those. They are LONG and complete.

Kimmel has got an edge to him that I like. He gets good bands and is a good mirror for Hollywood.

Charlie Rose needs to SHUT UP when he has guests. I know it's an old thing with him - but QUIT INTERRUPTING. He does ask great questions though.

Carson Daly is, to me, horrific.

Pastor Melissa Scott is hypnotic because she talks in a way that promises that she's getting to her point - but she never really does. I used to watch Dr. Gene Scott and would laugh my ass off. She's not evil - just not as good of a teacher as she thinks she is. That etch-a-sketch of Arabic and Greek behind her is quite telling about how her mind is so jumbled.

Thoughts?

I can honestly say I have not sat through an entire late-night show, whether it's Leno (whom I cannot stand), Letterman, Conan, whoever ... since Johnny Carson's last show.

Nothing else compares to the one and only.

Conan is by far the best, and most natural, of the bunch. It's on too late for me though ... I would LOVE it if he replaced Leno. Letterman just isn't the Letterman of old, he seems like he's trying too hard and it isn't natural anymore. I think that was part of the allure of Carson - he was really an "aw-shucks" kind of guy, very private, but he had this dry wit that just was instant, and so funny. His banter with Ed McMahon and Doc Severnson was also natural, and very funny. None of the others have that.

Have not watched late night shows in years.

LENO!

I forgot about Leno.

'Nuff said.

Well since Johnny Carson has been brought up lets take a look at a classic Carson moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_kodMFFXXY&feature=related

The other thing that Johnny Carson had was class.

I'm a night owl too and I usually watch Letterman. Sometimes I'll watch Leno, but given the choice I choose Letterman.

I don't really care for Craig Ferguson. Sometimes he's OK, but generally I'll change the channel when he comes on unless he's got someone I really want to see on the program that night.

Lots of times I'll change to the Discovery Health channel and watch Code Blue or Impact: Stories of Survival.

When all else fails, I turn the TV off and go to bed!

I call Les Sarnoff and ask if I can come over for some Ambien™.

Conan's the one. Period.

I can barely watch Letterman these days. I'm not sure why. I saw his very first show, but somehow something got lost on the trip over to CBS.

Leno needs to go. Now. Forgettable TV. Unwatchable.

Carson was classic TV, but I think he left at the right time.

Strange...last I heard Leno was winning the ratings war. Leno is hard for me to watch because he tries to come across as being edgy without actually being edgy...a very PG rated show. Letterman has also mellowed himself, definitely not the LateNight Letterman of old (will those episodes ever see the light of day again?) Conan's goofiness salvages a lot of subpar material, but his writers generally do a good job.

David Letterman was one of my favorites back in the 1980s, and over time he has developed into an increasingly irrelevant ham. The fun banter with Paul and the band had a freshness decades ago, but now it is just a rote exercise. After the surgery, Dave mellowed, but with that came a flat delivery, obvious fatigue, and impatience with his crew. His bitter cynicism has been tempered by his recent fatherhood, but he still has thinly disguised contempt for many of his guests.

Jay Leno is not funny. I have tried and tried to figure out what his appeal is to folks. I can only surmise that because he is an oaf, the oafs feel some affinity for him. His rise after the departure of Johnny Carson -- instead of the natural promotion of David Letterman -- was dumb. It has proven to be just as shortsighted as CBS giving Dan Rather the anchor job over Roger Mudd when Walter Cronkite retired. In both cases, the networks went for the self-promoting bully, and though it was profitable, it was not good television.

Conan O'Brien was one of the greatest writers the Simpsons ever had on the staff. He had so much great potential that one naturally expects more from him. Unfortunately, his late night talk show was only funny because of the chemistry with Andy Richter, and when Andy was gone, the edge was gone too. Now, it is just an exercise for Conan. Play with your hair, make fun of the staff, pretend to be humble, marginalize the audience and get uncomfortably weird with the female guests. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Craig Ferguson is a bit of a surprise. While not the greatest talk show host ever, he certainly tries to make his guests and audience feel welcome. His monologues are the least forced of any network host. Unlike Conan, his humility is obvious, so when he pretends to be an egomaniac, it is actually funny. Yes, he does go for the buttons that trigger noises and whatnot way too often, but that is the nature of virtually every talk show host these days. Good as Craig is, I still don't tune in regularly.

Jimmy Kimmel is barely funny. He belongs on a dumb cable show where they sing about beer, promote the joys of sexism and end with girls bouncing on trampolines. Oh, waitaminnit, he has done that already with that assclown Adam Carolla. Just another second rate entertainer given a shot in a slot that has seen many hosts, but no love without Ted Koppel.

Charlie Rose is a joke and a shameless servant of Michael Bloomberg. Why does the network think that fifteen minutes of compelling guests surrounded by forty-five minutes of self-important blowhard is good television? PBS could do better if they just wanted an aged milquetoast pseudo-intellectual with little new to share. If he were a real journalist, he would play hardball once in a while, but he seldom does anything resembling a dig for deeper answers. The fact that he promotes, rather than interviews many of his guests is also bottom drawer. By and large, this is just afternoon talk in an evening setting that does no justice to the many great folks who have sat down at his table.

Bill Maher is head and shoulders above the rest. He is the only talk show host in a late night slot that is consistently worth a damn. I would rather watch the same episode of Real Time five nights in a row than any of the other choices in the evening. The folks on the show are always an interesting contrast with one another and the conversations can be very compelling. He challenges his panel, he challenges the audience, and he challenges the viewer. He can be funny as hell and serious as a stroke in the same moment. He gives his guests respect even when he disagrees with them. He is genuine, and that separates him and his show from all of the others. I would be willing to bet that like Johnny Carson, he has made an indelible mark, and Bill will be the one we are talking about for years to come.

Good point on Bill Maher. I really enjoyed him when he was on ABC, it's too bad that his views and style were dubbed too extreme for network TV even in that time slot. He uses humor to push his agenda, which I always appreciate because that is a very hard thing to do. While unabashedly liberal, he gives equal time to the right for their say as well.

I've not watched the late nighters for quite a while now.

Once in a blue moon, I'll catch Maher's show. I really like it. He does offer a podcast via iTunes. I grab this once or twice a month and use it for drive time listening sometimes.

His stuff comes over audio only very well.

The very best thing about Maher is that he is liberal and lives it. His life style is clearly liberal, and he has a lot of tolerance. Other views are welcome and he puts them out there in a way I find interesting.

He's there, with the panel hashing something out. Audience and panel reaction to various views puts pressure on those that express them.

So, if you've got something to say that's maybe bigoted, racist, discriminatory in general, anti-this or that, whatever it is, the pressure is not on simply not saying it. That is perfectly ok, in fact encouraged!

The real pressure is feeling good about it after having had a fairly real and public conversation about it. That's our process embodied in a small way in his show format. Damn cool ---> and way smarter than a lot of people give him credit for.

Maher is going to let that conversation happen. He wants it to happen because that really is the only way to get at the root of things and see them in some kind of context.

IMHO, this comes from Maher himself. He feels good about his politics and is absolutely not threatened by others, and that is what makes the show for me. It's just a standing challenge he puts out there. It's almost a dare, as in "go ahead, make me feel bad about it".

On occasion he actually does! And he deals with that, and it's rare to see. His show is a mirror for him and his guests to look into, while we are watching to see their reaction. That's good TV.

He really wants to know if he can feel good about his politics, and if others can do the same. I think that's part of his overall judgment as to who takes and who gives points at hand. It's different from most.

I used to really like Letterman. Lately, he's settled into a more tired rut. Still funny, but nothing like what he used to be.

Where is my National Anthem set to the dropping of watermelons, for example? That was just stupid kind of funny, and I miss it.

The rest? Don't really care at this time.

We pay for HBO specifically for Bill Maher. Probably the best show on TV. I like to sip on a Maker's Mark on the rocks while watching. It's a nice way to end my week.

I am right with you there Missing. Late Night was a really classic show. The canned ham in an industrial press squirting meat twenty feet across the room, the shattering glass when he threw a cue card and the dancing waters were all part of his strengths. He also brought the best out of his guests, dug to find some unsung geniuses like Harvey Pekar and Chris Elliott, and treated his audience with gracious respect. With all of the imagination on the show, he was like a less angry, much more funny Captain Kangaroo. I've always thought the "Box O' Laffs" dumping all over his desk was a tribute to the ping-pong ball rain from that legendary kids show.

Vitalogy, you have fine taste -- both in television and whiskey. :0) I think that Missing nailed a solid list of reasons we all love Bill Maher. Brianl, I was also pissed when Politically Incorrect was yanked during the dumbing down and shutting down of our networks at the peak of corporate neo-con censorship. It is damn refreshing to see some folks who are true talents get a voice on cable. After all, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert would never have had a chance on a broadcast network during the depths of enforced media ignorance. It is disheartening to see how weak big media is in the face of absolute power. New Rule: We will have to keep a sharp eye on them and hold the feet of the fourth estate to the flame regardless of who wins in November.

When I was in high school in the mid to late 80’s, I would always stay up late to watch both the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. It was great television. But I literally stopped watching the Tonight Show when Jay Leno became host. And I tried watching David Letterman on CBS, but I felt his CBS program lacked the edginess of his days at NBC. I should note that I really enjoyed Later with Bob Costas, on after the Letterman program on NBC. I thought he did a terrific job too.

Talpdx, I liked the Costas show too. I was also disappointed when they pulled Tom Snyder.

It's funny, everybody remembers Ed Sullivan because of his guests, but he was about as interesting as wet cardboard. Steve Allen tried way too hard to be hip, and his shows have not aged well at all. Jack Paar was a great host, with interesting quirks, but nobody will ever be as good as Johnny Carson. He was the best ever. Heck, anyone that has enough starpower to tow the dead wood of Ed McMahon along for decades is truly a genius. Who could forget Oregon native Doc Severinsen leading the band?

CJ, I thought I was the only person who watched Dr. Gene Scott on KECH 22 (?) back in the day. He was a one of a kind character.

When the letterman show followed Carson's, it was produced by Johnny carson's company. When Letterman moved to another network, his company started producing the show. Losing Carson hurt both shows.

I do indeed remember Dr. Gene Scott. I can’t remember much about his program, but I know pyramids were a big theme. LOL.

As a little kid, I can remember my parents staying up to watch Fernwood Tonight and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, both on Channel 12.

Too, when we got cable in the early 80's I can remember my dad laughing loudly as he watched late night reruns of Jim and Tammy Bakker begging for cash on PTL. That was classic TV.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080425/tv_nm/fallon_dc

I managed to catch Craig Ferguson recently a few times. He's growing on me. He says he's an American now. But he says he's keeping the Scottish accent because its good for catching English girls.