David Lebovitz revisits long-forgotten, ill-fated talk shows.
You might now know Dennis Miller as “that insufferable, smart-ass conservative who keeps showing up despite the fact that nobody finds him funny anymore.” But once upon a time he was “that sufferable, smart-ass cultural critic who many people find funny.” Miller’s always been too Read More …
Last night, May 21th, 2015, David Letterman is retired from The Late Show. A 33-year legacy has come to a close. Almost everybody is publishing stories and retrospectives and tributes about what Letterman meant to them and the medium. Of all the ones I’ve read, perhaps the best – and certainly the Read More …
It was bad. I can’t even begin to stress how obscenely painful this edition of Talk Show Graveyard was to write. I tried to put it off. I tried to find ways around it. But there will probably never be a good time to talk about Read More …
Twenty-one years ago this week, on October 25th, 1993, MTV launched a little something called The Jon Stewart Show. Yes, that very same Jon Stewart. He’s been the host of The Daily Show so long it’s hard to picture the mediascape without it at this point, but Read More …
Between 1989 and 1990, Pat Sajak might have been the busiest man on televison. In addition to hosting Wheel of Fortune (the most successful game show in the history of television) he hosted his own talk show, aptly named The Pat Sajak Show. These days, Sajak Read More …
It’s been thirty years since June 30th, 1984, the day Alan Thicke called his “personal D-Day,” the day his talk show was cancelled, and the day his wife, singer Gloria Loring, filed for divorce. These days Alan Thicke has been doing pretty well for himself. Read More …
Earlier this year, on the first episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Joan Rivers made her first appearance on any incarnation of The Tonight Show in 26 years–lifting a ban from The Tonight Show that had been in place since the mid 1980s. Read More …