After watching The Oprah Winfrey Show today and hearing her teary announcement about her decision to end her syndicated talk show, I had one thought in my head. Oprah Winfrey is doing a Johnny Carson. She's writing her own script (no pun intended). Oprah is leaving while she's still wanted, while she's still strong, and by setting the date 18 months down the road, she's giving herself a victory tour.
This is very much like Johnny Carson's decision to leave The Tonight Show. The difference, of course, is that Oprah's show is not an established landmark entity like The Tonight Show, which had Steve Allen and Jack Paar as hosts before Carson. No, Oprah was/is The Oprah Winfrey Show. She will not leave it behind for someone else to inherit the throne. She's taking the throne with her.
Not only is The Lola Falana Show on DVD now, I didn't even know there was a Lola Falana Show. I knew that there was a Lola Falana (that's a fun name to say: Lola Falana Lola Falana Lola Falana). She was a dancer and actress who was pretty well known back in the 70s, but her TV show escaped my radar. This set includes guest stars Dick Van Dyke, Bill Cosby, Sonny and Cher, and Muhammad Ali.
There's also a Heeere's Johnny: The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson "Holiday Set." It looks like the same set that I've owned for a couple of years (several DVDs split up into different categories: Timeless Moments, Standup Comedians, Carson Country, and the original Ultimate Collection disc), but with a special Christmas disc thrown in, with three classic episodes.
Recently, when I shared my view about a certain Dell computer commercial, some of you thought I was a moron. Okay, we'll call it a difference of opinion. However, just to show you that I'm not a grumpster, allow me to extol the virtues of the Macy's commercial that celebrates this iconic American department story that's been around for over 150 years.
What makes The Magic of Macy's so much fun is that it doesn't tell you why the place is legendary, it shows you why. All those film clips from movies and television, years before anyone was using mentions like these for commercial purposes, underscore how much a part of pop culture Macy's was.
(It still is, to some extent, but the days of one brick and mortar store dominating the business landscape are long gone.)
Anyone who's interested in the Leno/Letterman relationship, the feeding frenzy in the late 70s and early 80s when networks were sweeping up stand-up comedians and changing their lives overnight, and the importance and mechanics of getting a spot on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show needs to read William Knoedelseder's new book, I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era.
The centerpiece of the book is the labor discontent between comedians and the Comedy Store that kicked up in 1979, when comedians saw the money coming into the venue and started to wonder why some of the working comics there had to borrow money for breakfast. It's a compelling and unexpected story, and it collects names big and small from television history along the way.
It's always great to see Don Rickles on TV. He's rarely out of form, and he has a knack for sailing some great zingers past the censors. Which means his appearance on last night's My Life on the D-Listwas a perfect opportunity, a place where he could be a bit more loose.
We got a taste of that from him, walking around Kathy Griffin's house, but we also got a glimpse of the guy I have heard about from comedians who've met Rickles - the old softie who is ever willing to talk shop with other comics. It was a great moment when Griffin and Rickles talked about how both of their mothers would try to tell them not to pick on people so much, with Griffin's mom providing a bit of the dialogue. Meeting Rickles was on Griffin's mother's "bucket list."
I thought I'd use the occasion to take a look around YouTube to find some of Rickles' best TV appearances. He seems to have been everywhere, from The View to cable.
Jeez, Ed McMahon just can't catch a break. First his death last week is overshadowed by the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, and now someone put some sort of black goo and ripped newspapers on his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.
But this particular story has a happy ending, as you'll see after the jump.
You knew that Conan O'Brien would pay tribute to Ed McMahon (who died yesterday), the only question was how. Last night Conan showed clips of some great Tonight Show moments with Ed and Johnny (though not enough in my opinion), and he also showed a great clip of Ed and Andy Richter playing quarters on Late Night.
During some of the television obits I've been hearing about the late, great Ed McMahon, one of the most common misunderstandings about the Tonight Show sidekick's career has been perpetuated: that he worked for Publishers Clearing House, handing out big checks to unsuspecting sweepstakes winners.
Well, Ed did work for one of those sweepstakes-and-subscriptions houses, but it was PCH's main rival, American Family Publishers. He often appeared in the AFP's ads and mailings with his Bloopers and Practical Jokes buddy Dick Clark.
Not once did McMahon work for PCH, but as Bob pointed out in his obituary, jokes about his sweepstakes work often kept the mistake alive.
This probably isn't a surprise to most people, since McMahon has been in poor health for a number of years and also injured his neck severely in a fall in his home in 2007.
McMahon is best known, of course, for being the announcer and couch mate for Carson on The Tonight Show for 30 years. McMahon also hosted the original version of Star Search for many years, co-hosted Bloopers and Practical Jokes with Dick Clark, and was a staple of the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon every September. Besides appearing in a number of TV shows and movies, he was also a spokesman for American Family Publishers (though, oddly, every single joke about these commercials with the giant checks and McMahon mentions Publisher's Clearing House for some reason).
McMahon died at Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center in L.A.
If you recognize Steven Wright's material tonight on his Late Show with David Letterman spot, you either have a good memory, or you bought the re-release of Wright's I Have A Pony that hit shelves Tuesday. Wright will be performing material from the CD, which was originally released 24 years ago.
Warner Brothers released this "Deluxe Anniversary Edition," which also includes his first HBO special, A Steven Wright Special (coincidentally, produced by Peter Lassally from Johnny Carson's Tonight Show), as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration.
Wright's material was always off the wall, unlike anything anyone had heard when he first did Carson's Tonight Show in 1982. Some have worked in the same field of quick-fire absurdism that Wright cleared (like Mitch Hedberg and Demetri Martin), but Wright's comedy was never rooted in a particular time, place, or even galaxy, really. Which is why I Have A Pony still sounds fresh today.
The world's armchair TV executives proudly proclaimed that the only way Conan O'Brien's cavalcade of foul-mouthed puppets and surreal pop culture mechanes could work every night at 11:30 p.m. is with a potent injection of Ritalin (present executive included).
O'Brien noted, however, that television has broken the time barrier.
"I think especially now, people don't watch an episode of Lost when they are supposed to watch it," he said during a recent conference call. "DVRs changed everything. The Internet has changed everything. People are getting it off Hulu and watching shows on their iPhone. What's most important to me with The Tonight Show is it needs to be funny so people can experience it at 11:30 or watch it the next morning while they're eating their oatmeal."
Hey, isn't Kevin Spacey supposed to impersonate Johnny Carson only on David Letterman's show? Sure, the Tonight Show is a natural place for Spacey to do it, but I think he's more known for doing it on Dave's show. But he did it last night (and used the desk as a prop). He also got in a rather raunchy joke about Paula Abdul. (Video also here.)
There are a lot of great traditions in the world of late night. Every host has to endure the wrath of Mother Nature's cruel comedy by letting an animal crap in their lap. Every host has to invite a nutball celebrity who is guaranteed to shoot up or snort something in the green room five seconds before their interview.
But one lesser known, some would say downright boring, tradition has gone by the wayside. Maybe that's because the choices are usually something boring. There was Johnny Carson's face mug, Conan O'Brien's Eisenhower mug and some boring old mug that's so dull, they couldn't even sell it in the gift shop to tourists who would buy a bag of puke if it had the Last Call with Carson Daly logo on it.
All of that changed when CBS' Craig Ferguson revived this grand tradition by jamming a cardiac needle of adrenaline into its heart with his mug.
Yup, it looks like Dave and Jay still aren't on speaking terms.
Who knows who is less interested in burying the hatchet? Publicly, it has always seemed that Jay would like to be friends with Dave again more than Dave wants to, though that might just be how Jay wants to frame it (it helps Jay's cause that Dave hardly ever gives interviews and is quiet on this subject in particular).
Now Jay tells GQ that he sent Dave a letter when Dave had his heart surgery several years ago, but was bummed when Dave didn't respond.
A few years ago, Entertainment Weekly named the 50 best sidekicks of all-time, and Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon came in at number one. But Slate's Troy Patterson has other ideas.
He chooses Andy Richter as the best late-night sidekick of all-time for his stint on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Patterson doesn't really count Paul Shaffer or Kevin Eubanks as "sidekicks" because they're more bandleaders than sidekicks, but I bet an argument could be made that either of them do fit the definition.
After watching The Oprah Winfrey Show today and hearing her teary announcement about her decision to end her syndicated talk show, I had one thought in my head. Oprah Winfrey is doing a Johnny Carson. She's writing her own script (no pun intended). Oprah is leaving while she's still wanted, while she's still strong, and by setting the date 18 months down the road, she's giving herself a victory tour. 
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
Recently, when I shared my view about a certain 
Anyone who's interested in the Leno/Letterman relationship, the feeding frenzy in the late 70s and early 80s when networks were sweeping up stand-up comedians and changing their lives overnight, and the importance and mechanics of getting a spot on Johnny Carson's 
It's always great to see Don Rickles on TV. He's rarely out of form, and he has a knack for sailing some great zingers past the censors. Which means his appearance on last night's 
During some of the television obits I've been hearing about the 
Longtime Johnny Carson announcer and sidekick 
If you recognize 
There are a lot of great traditions in the world of late night. Every host has to endure the wrath of 
Yup, it looks like Dave and Jay still aren't on speaking terms.
A few years ago, Entertainment Weekly named the 50 best sidekicks of all-time, and Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon came in at number one. But 
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
