Michael Lawson wrote:
"Cmd Buzz Corey" wrote in message
...

wrote:


Johnny Carson was a Hell of a lot better than jay leno (and david
letterman too) can ever hope to be! Ed McMahon screwed up the old

tv

show with his stupid ass incessant, Ohhh Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho,,,, it

made

my toenails crinkle up and curdle!!!
cuhulin



The current late night hosts can't even stand in Johnny's shadow.


Were it not for Johnny, most of them wouldn't have
been employed in the first place.

Were it not for Johnny, most of them wouldn't be
able to do their routines on the broadcast airwaves;
he, Jack Parr, Carol Burnett and Steve Allen helped
to define the on-air comedy variety show from the
vaudevillian antics of Jack Benny and Milton Berle
and hone it specifically for that medium. There were
others who influenced todays humor, like The Paul
Dixon Show influencing David Letterman as a youth,
but those four were the big national shows.

--Mike L.






My TV viewing goes back to 1954, and just a couple of my own (not
intended to be inflamatory) views.

Carson was the best there ever was at what he did. But Steve Allen
was a bang-up second. Still, Carson was the best.

Jack Benny's stuff translated well to TV, IMO, and is in it's own
way, timeless. Dated as it is, it still plays well, like "Honeymooners"
and "I Love Lucy" reruns. Berle was a buffoon, but at that time in the
history of TV, he was the right guy in the right place. It's not for
nothing that Bob Hope once said: "When vaudeville died, television was
the box they buried it in." Today's viewers (under 40) would rank Berle
lower than Sponge Bob as entertainment, and rightly so, obviously.

Letterman has far too large and loyal a following for me to say he
isn't a wizard at what he does. But personally, (to me) the man defines
"horse's ass". He also seems to take delight in being outright mean to
people on occasion.

Leno is good, but not as good as Carson was. He took late-night TV
in his own direction, and he's doing something right - "Tonight"
consistently edges out "Late Night With David Letterman". But Carson's
core audience, to a large degree, retired when Carson did.

Parr's gift was originality. There was only one Jack Parr, good or
bad. I regret that some other true geniuses of early TV are not better
rememebered or anthologized today - most notably Ernie Kovacs, a TRUE
genius, but 'way 'way ahead of his time.

End of strictly personal views :)

Tony