Monday, September 17, 2012

Late Night Shows

Late at night some popular shows exist. I haven't seen all of them outside of network television, but I know enough about most of them. Almost all of them are talk shows, unless you are watching a syndicated show or not network television. Women are virtually non-existent at Late Night talk shows. I'll tell you about most of them.


 

Nightline is a half hour news show that airs on ABC right after the local news (if your region has local news on ABC). It covers news of current interest that is mostly national. It can be interesting sometimes, but it isn't always that good. I honestly don't know what a fair description of it is. But I normally watch this as an alternate to what I normally watch. Otherwise, I never would have seen it. In fact, the only reason that I've ever watched this show is because I was waiting to see what was on after it. But it can be good sometimes. Grade: B.


 

The Tonight Show is currently hosted by Jay Leno. A lot of people like him, but I don't find him very funny that much. Whenever there is a change of hosts, there is some great controversy which puts one of the hosts on another network. You'll find it on NBC after the news and was a great success when it started and was virtually unopposed for a while. I don't know if there have ever been guest hosts since Jay took over. But it isn't funny with him and he is too normal to be a talk show host. Grade: D.


 

The Late Show is currently hosted by David Letterman. It is on CBS after the news competing with The Tonight Show. From what I understand, the ratings are almost tied. It helps that they have different political views to catch different viewers which is why some people don't like this show. Also, some of the jokes tend to be repeated and you can get the impression that the live studio audience doesn't normally watch the show. It is, however, funny and can poke fun at stupid people and events (read, celebrities and politicians). The only person who has hosted a talk show longer than him (during the late night schedule, at least) was Johnny Carson, and by now that record will probably be outlived anyways. Grade: A.


 

Jimmy Kimmel Live is hosted by its namesake. It might be live or it could be almost live so the host doesn't do anything objectionable that can't be edited out. You can tell by the newness of everything on the show that he's talking about stuff that just happened. It is ABC's late night talk show which starts around 11 Central, although the time slot might be changing soon. It makes a nice alternative for me when other talk shows aren't on. The sketches are nice sometimes. I haven't seen it enough, but I think that it's good. The only problem is how it is on half an hour later than the others which suckers you in to Nightline which might interest you so it might not matter. Grade: B.


 

Late Night is currently hosted by Jimmy Fallon, the third host, although a different show aired before this one with other hosts. It is on NBC after the Tonight Show. It is interesting, but I haven't seen enough of it to know how good it might be. I think that it makes a good alternative, but I haven't seen a full episode to date. Grade: C.


 

The Late Late Show is currently hosted by Craig Ferguson, also the third host of the show. It is a CBS creation of David Letterman to compete against Late Night and might be winning. Craig is very good and might even be better than David Letterman (I said might). He mostly does improv, but some writers do help with something. Sometimes he has puppets do some jokes and his sidekick is a robot skeleton that says random stuff. He doesn't have a band and likes it that way. He also includes an email segment from everyday viewers. This show has to exist late at night or he wouldn't be allowed to be on basic television. I think that you should watch if you are still up that late. Grade: A.


 

Saturday Night Live is probably the last remaining variety show and sketch show. It has been on since sometime in the 70s when Gerald Ford was president. A lot of it is hit and miss. It continues the fact that every late night show is weird and couldn't exist nowadays on network television during the day. Some is good and some isn't. If you like it, then watch it. The cast is always famous even if you don't know who they were before the show which you normally don't. It will never die as any competition will not take more viewers away. But I do fear for the future of the show when Lorne Michaels dies. With NBC's luck, they will keep it going, but will finally launch a successful competition on another network as when Johnny Carson left The Tonight Show. The cast is also always changing and most of the humor is sex related. But it has its moments. Grade: B-.