European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse In trivial Pursuit of All these to talk show hosts by John o Connor the new York times i a vitalizing ourselves to death that Prospect has to haunt anyone who has followed this year s most contrived television event the War of the late night talk shows to a blizzard of press releases and publicity coups the professional Fate of Dave Jay Conan Arsenio and poof Chevy somehow have become barometers of the very future of television. With the smoke Clearing it seer that lbs Flaky David Letterman is a rating Point or so. About a million households give or take ahead of abcs Earnest Jay Leno. Fox s clueless Chevy Chase has been mercifully cancelled. Abc s jittery Conan. O Brien is still desperately learning on the Job. The determinedly smiling Arsenio Hall seems with Good reason More paranoid than Ever. Whew what a business and just what s in All this for viewers at least those relative few who Don t go to bed after the 11 o clock news Well first off the. More astute will realize that what they Are watching is anything but a talk show. A talk show is what Charlie Rose presides Over on pcs a place where guests like the novelist Mary Gordon or Nelson Mandela can reasonably assume that their ideas will seep through the fog of a Stan Dard format. It was not always thus. Back in the late 1950s, Jack Paar turned the tonight show into a mixture of an offbeat family with regulars including Dody Good Man Hans conried and Hermione Gingold and an intensely emotional psychodrama fuelled by guests like the pianist Oscar Levant a notorious eccentric and by Paar himself known to weep on camera and even walk off the show. The Paar roster also included the Homespun philosopher Alexander King whose books inevitably became Best Sellers. Just 20 or so years ago the late night talk lineup boasted Dick Cavitt whose guest list could Range from Ralph Nader to for a full mesmerizing hour a thoroughly outspoken Katharine Hepburn. Then there was David Frost partial to heated exchanges involving the studio audience and guests on breaking stories like watergate. The indelible image lingers of a sweating Patrick Buchanan de fending Richard Nixon. Arid let s not forget Tom Snyder on Abc s to Morrow bringing controversial guests and newsman ers to the same late night period that would eventually become the stomping ground of Letterman. These Days what Dave Jay and the gang offer is the equivalent of a variety show descending in a direct line from the Early Days of Morey Amsterdam and Steve Allen through the longtime King of the night Johnny Carson. And remember the earlier Carson would Wel come and Lake seriously writers like Carl Sagan and Gore Vidal who on a recent Conan o Brien Chow wistfully reminisced about the Days when he and a television Host could spend an hour discussing that Day s top news stories. Today s hosts Tell jokes and perform in the guests arc expected to entertain. When vice president Al Gore appeared on Letterman s show he brought along his own top 10 list and made a Joey Buttafuoco by Chance has Leiterman ended up at Broad Way a Giuily refurbished de Sullivan theater the once and apparently future Home of television variety. Coherent talk is the least of it. The formats Are merchandising machines. Plug your movie or what Ever and get outta Here. For most guests Warhol s Abc David let Turman has risen to King of the late talk shows since switching from Abc to lbs last summer. 15 minutes of Fame have now been halved. Hosts get visibly annoyed when a guest gives the slightest hint of being thoughtful. Kathie Lee if Ford knows the rules of the game. Much of an appearance that she made on Letterman was devoted to describing How after recently giving birth she treated her engorged nipples with chilled cabbage leaves. Listen it s a living. The most puzzling spectacle the standing ovations found most frequently these Days on the Letterman show evidently because americans generally adore winners. In any event most in the Audi ence leap out of their seats applauding and cheering at the Entrance of the strikingly Natty Letterman. Hank the sidekick on Hob s fictional but almost scarily on target series the Larry Sanders show jerks the leashes of audience members before each broadcast with the Assurance that you Are All part of the show the better you Are the better Larry Hank s equivalent on Letterman must be shameless. We Are All it seems entertainers. As a Philip Roth character once wondered uneasily suppose entertainment is the purpose of Chevy has been chased off his Fox show. Letterman even while Riding a career Crest these Days faces a ticklish question. How Long can a Multi millionaire edging toward 50 play the role of a Wacky id after one taped skit in which he poked dead pan fun at a korean grocer in Manhattan letter Man said that s exactly the kind of thing i was doing in High school except now i get paid for but there Are prices. Some Are silly like saddling Paul Shaffer s band with the archly mocking Bill Board Label of the lbs some Are genuinely troubling like the network s deletion of a comedy routine by Bill Hicks just before broadcast because of what was deemed offensive material. This on a show that once bragged about being outrageous. Letterman is not your average wild and crazy maintains a distance from both guests and audiences which he often refers to As kids or boy Sand he s at his Best not in one on one interviews wit celebrities but in Ordinary people setups reminiscent of candid camera or truth of consequences. The current roof am segments scouring the neighbourhood with a camera on the theater s roof Are great fun As Letterman concocts skits involving everything from a pizza parlor and an a rated dance Hall to a final shot across the Hudson River of new Jersey in All its but there is a curious fussiness about Letterman manner suggesting that Here beats the heart of a control Freak. There Are the precise hand gesture used to Cut off the band or to Cue sound effects. What is Shaffer really thinking behind those dark glasses and then there is the new wardrobe presumably a Bow to his earlier More mainstream time Slot of 11 30 . Ceaseless neat As a pin Dou ble breasted suits set off with spiffy shirts and ties. Letterman disapproves of what he perceives to be sloppiness. Regular targets of his midwestern propriety include what he Calls Yasir Arafat s grunge look and new York City cabdriver with unpronounceable names. Never mind. In the late night Arena the letter Page 6 sunday november 21.1993
