Rant #1,546: Classic Talk/Variety Is Back

Has anyone but me noticed the re-emergence of classic late night talk/variety shows on the digital TV networks?

GetTV is now showing classic "Merv Griffin Show" and "Judy Garland Show" episodes, and in January, Antenna TV will begin showing classic "Tonight Show" episodes featuring the past and forever king of late night TV, Johnny Carson.

I find this phenomena pretty enchanting, because it is a genre I thought I would never see in reruns on TV ever again.

Sure, you can run "Leave It To Beaver" every day into the next millennium, but to have Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon doing "Karnak" again, and you don't have to watch them doing it on a grainy bootleg?

No, I cannot believe these shows are returning.

But they are, and we are all the better for it.

First off, it will introduce a new generation to the guys who set the tone for this genre, from the 1960s through the early 1990s.

I mean, Carson had to hand the baton to David Letterman before he was able to run with it.

Second, these shows are really time capsules of a different time and place that need to be seen to really be cherished.

The other day, I was watching Merv Griffin, and he had Sammy Davis Jr. as one of his guests.

First, to see and hear Davis at the apex of his career--1970 or so--was refreshing. This guy is a talent that must be seen to be believed.

Second, again, it was 1970 when the show was recorded.

Davis sung "The Candy Man"--it was the No. 1 hit on the charts at the time--all the while puffing on a cigarette. You would never, ever see this on TV today, but back then, just about anything went, and often did.

Davis later sang a medley of the hits of--are you ready?--Blood, Sweat and Tears, who were the hot band at the time--and Davis schmaltzed it up, Las Vegas-style, doing their hits, from "Lucretia MacEvil" to "Spinning Wheel."

And before performing this 10 minute medley, he warned the audience that he was going to be loud--and he was!

The other guests on the show were the pretty much forgotten about Totie Fields and Abbe Lane.

Lane was a stunner, marketed as a Latina spitfire, but she was actually a Jewish girl from Brooklyn who could pass as Hispanic with her swarthy complexion, but all beautifully put together.

Totie Fields was another story altogether. Almost completely forgotten about today, she lived a somewhat short and tragic life, dying at an early age from cancer and several other maladies, but when this lady was on, she was on! And she was on on this show, and even back then, some of what she said had to be bleeped.

Think of her as a potty-mouthed precursor to what Joan Rivers later became, add on about 200 pounds, and that is what Totie Fields was!

I found myself laughing and laughing at all of what was going on, and it really was funny.

Griffin tried to keep things even, but he was losing it too, knocking Fields for her weight and she knocking him for being a Gentile.

But it was all schtick, and everyone knew it.

This is what I miss today, the spontaneity of these types of shows that their current versions cannot possibly duplicate in the PC world we live in.

That is why I look forward to these shows. They show our world in another place and time, but they are still magical. Davis doing just about anything was unreal, he was such an entertainer, but when he brought out his wife--who just happened to be wearing as skimpy a costume as you were going to see on 1970s TV--you just knew more sparks would fly, but this time Sammy was sitting down with the other show guest stars, and they both gave it to him good, but also told some touching stories about Davis, and Sammy head some tears in his eyes.

And I did believe that they were real. He was touched by what they had to say.

You just don't get these moments today, and that is a shame.

So I do look forward to seeing what else there is in store for us as these shows roll out.

And as for the Carson show, if you have Antenna TV, this show is a definite must watch event.

Johnny did it better than anyone before or since, and while a lot of the show was, in fact, scripted, there is still lots of spontaneity involved.

I cannot wait to see these shows, and Merv Griffin's show is also one that you must see.

Garland's show is more variety than talk, but it is another time capsule of a different time, and her legendary guest stars--everyone from Mickey Rooney to Barbra Streisand to Ethel Merman to her own family, including Liza Minnelli--are worth seeing again and again and again.

Can "The Joey Bishop Show" and "The Steve Allen Show" be far behind? How about "The Mike Douglas Show," which used to have the oddest assortment of guests of all the talk/variety shows?

Who knows, but they will be welcome on my TV set too, if and when they are brought back.

I am there, I can tell you that.