But I noticed something that caught my eye. It was on Carson comedy classics, and one of his numerous Carnac skits. For some reason, even though this is 33 years old, it got my attention for a couple seconds. Then I just took a break and finished the rest of the program.
Something occurred to me as I kept watching. The unpredictability in entertainment is truly gone.
Johnny was the king of the unpredictable. They might have animals on, and the animal would want to rip his head off. Don Rickles might mess up a skit on purpose and get thrown in the water. Johnny might completely mess up his lines and decide to wing it. Didn't matter, he was the best, and it made the show as fresh as when it started in 1962.
Now, everything is so sanitized. You turn on The Tonight Show and Leno's getting it back, but not really for the better. He's very milquetoast, boring, and status quo. Conan O'Brien tried changing the dynamic, and was canned seven months later, citing low ratings(never mind Leno was getting KILLED by Letterman before Hugh Grant decided a cut rate hooker took precedent over a blazing hot actress, showing that men probably will never be satisfied). NBC is taking the safe route, probably thinking that Johnny Carson did it safe for thirty years.
Thing was, Johnny really WASN'T safe. You never ever knew what would happen on the shows, skits went out of control at times, and some of his humor was very politically incorrect(like the time he said "Miami, where old jews go to have baby cubans"). Regardless of the age demographic it was aimed for, Johnny lasted thirty years because he was never ever stale. A fine wine that only got better with age.
Leno, on the other hand, has lived 17 years off of one single quarter hour......the monologue. His skits are hideous, his kiss ass interview style is grating, and he takes no chances at all. NBC likes him because he gets ratings. NBC also needs to think that Leno's core demographic could also die anyday now too. At least Johnny could get young people to watch in his day.
The Carson/Leno case is an example of why you have to sometimes take the bull by the horns, and take some chances. Conan would've eventually brought the college age groups back into play, and brought NBC out of the fourth place hole they are in as we speak. But the aformentioned Tonight Show war shows that NBC is afraid of their own shadow. Kind of like a company I know that made a killing last year, and is so afraid to make technology advancements because it costs money.
There was another network(CBS), oh a decade ago, that was in the same doldrums. Their star attraction was predictable, boring, and appealed to Grannies also. Difference was that Chuck Norris and Walker, Texas Ranger only appeared one night a week, Norris knew when to get out, and CBS dumped any ideas for anymore reunions. They completely appeal to a younger generation now.
Remember FOX? Upstart network that came on the airways in 1987? Had two shows.....Married, With Children and the Tracey Ullman show that ran in a loop. The great thing about those days were that FOX knew it had nothing to lose. Brand new company facing powerhouses, and no one really knew about them yet. So their answer to Cliff Huxtable was Al Bundy, a past his prime shoe salesman and former high school football star who longs for the good old days when he was the talk of the town, and everyone loved him. Mind you, The Cosby Show was an institution, but everyone can relate to Al Bundy. Irritating neighbors, crummy job kids hate you, wife bugs you, nothing goes right in the world, only have a couple things you truly look forward to doing, and you wish you could do it all over again. Cliff Huxtable was a fun Dad, but he was a rich doctor with a rich lawyer wife who made it successful, and never regretted decisions he made. Very hard to relate to that. Now, Al Bundy is an institution, and Ed O'Neill, even as he continues to work(Phenomenal actor by the way), will be typecast the rest of his life.
Do your research. FOX didn't play it safe, CBS quit playing it safe, ABC quit playing it safe. The only one playing it safe is in fourth place now. If NBC truly wants to make it back, they take a reset button and start over, make the decisions that get them out of their rut.
Or they could just watch a few Carson episodes and see what truly worked.
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