By the time I started covering television in the mid-’80s, one of the titans of the industry was already switching sides — Fred Silverman. The native New Yorker, who passed away Thursday at 82, did what nobody before or since has ever accomplished — he was the top programming exec at each one of the
Kudos to Jimmy Fallon for allowing this savaging to be posted up on line but, Holy Cow, not since Martin Short deconstructed Canadian celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan on SCTV has such a showbiz career thumping been so transparent on television. Nearly ten minutes of confrontational mayhem, straight from the couch. Steve-Martin-Short told many of the
For years I told newcomers attending Television Critics Association press tour sessions in Los Angeles that they aren’t really on this beat until they’ve been in a scrum with Leslie Moonves. Well, things have changed. What’s left of the TV beat writers could pretty well all pull up to the TCA hotel in the same
PASADENA, Ca. — I’ve been in the main TCA banquet room a mere four minutes and already witnessed the first F-U of the winter press tour. Today is FX Day, and this morning TV critics and reporters gathered from across Canada and the United States to hear from the Mayor of TCA, FX present and
Peter Lassally worked as a producer on three important shows in late night: The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. A soft-spoken gentleman, he was in his office on Ferguson’s show six or seven years ago when I asked him what the three
Back when he was on NBC, Conan O’Brien would invite Abe Vigoda on Late Night just to prove that the former Barney Miller star was still alive. On Tuesday night’s Conan, the host paid tribute to the actor, who finally passed away–after all those premature rumours–at the age of 94. The above clip shows several
NEW YORK–Did you see Colbert Monday night? I had a studio seat–front row, middle, balcony–thanks to CBS. That privilege comes with a “do not report” rider. CBS’s PR department and The Late Show insist press guests put away their notepads for a night and just enjoy the show. What a wonderful condition, I wish it
According to the overnights, 13.76 million Americans watched David Letterman say goodbye to The Late Show Wednesday night, his biggest CBS audience since 1994. If you watched in Toronto or Brampton on Rogers Cable, you lost the signal around the 12:37 mark. The Late Show ran 17 minutes later, a situation anyone with a Twitter