Rant #1,491: It's "Tonight" Every Night

 
Now that we have completed our entries about food, how about talking about some food for the mind?

Variety, the show business trade publication, announced that Antenna TV had come to an agreement with Carson Enterprises to bring "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" to the airwaves once again.

As part of the agreement, Antenna TV will show hour-long shows from the long-running series during the week and 90-minute shows on the weekend.

And the shows, for all intents and purposes will be intact.

That's right, these will be full shows, not snippets as had been shown before, so you will get the hot actors of the time--like Burt Reynolds and Ann-Margret--mixed in with Joan Embery of the San Diego Zoo and the Mighty Carson Art Players too.

The shows will be from the last 20 years of the program's history, from 1972 to 1992. The reason that it is just from this era, and missing the first 10 years of shows, is that the first 10 years of shows, starting in 1962, generally don't exist anymore or don't exist intact, which means the entire New York run of the late-night show is gone.

How did this happen?

Back in the 1960s, TV networks--and for that matter, local outlets--did not preserve their programs, because videotape was way to expensive to maintain. The good thing about videotape is that you could tape over it, and these outlets did this, time and time again.

And the Tonight Show was taped over by NBC time and time again.

The story goes that when Carson heard that the first 10 years of his show were gone, he took it upon himself to preserve his shows from then on in. So from the move to Hollywood in 1972, his shows have been preserved in some underground storeroom in Montana or some other boondocks, and they are supposedly as pristine as a recording made today.

The shows will debut on Antenna TV on January 1, and personally, I just can't wait.

Antenna TV will not be able to use "The Tonight Show" name, because NBC owns it, so the shows will simply go under the name "Johnny Carson."

Need anyone say more?

Johnny Carson, to me, was the greatest late-night talk show TV host of all time. Nobody comes close to him. He was a comic, but he let his guests basically run the show, which was, believe it or not, scripted.

Carson basically had a road map to use to navigate from guest to guest, but the roadmap allowed for a lot of air, and a lot to air, in between.

Sure, Zsa Zsa Gabor was on to promote something--mainly herself--but she also talked about her latest run ins with the police, and they were "dahlings" some of time.

Yes, Jack Benny would be on, promoting his latest TV special appearance, but he could also talk about the old days in Hollywood.

And Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise could come on, seemingly out of the blue, and squirt shaving cream into their pants and into Carson's pants too.

The fascinating thing about the Carson show is that he promoted the Hollywood heavyweights on his show--the Charlton Hestons, the Jimmy Stewarts--but he also gave younger folk their big breaks, including Steve Martin and Jay Leno.

These shows are fascinating time capsules on a different time and place, where the Hollywood elite were just that, and not covered the same way they are today, what with the Internet about.

These were real stars, not YouTube creations, and I cannot wait to see these shows again.

I was 15 in 1972, and only watched Carson perhaps on Friday night, since there was no school the next day.

But watching the Carson show, at 11:30 p.m., made me feel like I was more of an adult than I really was.

And remember, many of these shows that are going to be shown are pre-VHS, so they haven't been seen in decades by the general public.

And there was nothing in the release about shows where Carson had guest hosts, so I wonder if those will be part of this package.

Whatever the case, this was the best pick-me-upper that I have heard about all summer, and January 1 can't come too soon.

Here's Johnny ... and Ed McMahon ... and Doc Severinsen ... and Tommy Newsom ... and Karnak ... and Carol Wayne!

I can't wait!