The Story of Late Night

It's a fun little walk down the decades of late night TV shows. Most of it is non-controversial. There is a bit of lesser known side shows from the earlier years but it's mostly about the main stream. It's a CNN doc. The main spin happens in episode 4 & 5 where they take down Jay Leno. Obviously, Conan from sister company TBS is their man. This is a solid six hour long episodes. It's informative and a bit entertaining. There's also a healthy dose of nostalgia which leaves the last episode a bit less compelling.

I love late night TV. I watch more of late night shows than films or TV series, so this was something I knew I would love. It is very informantive, has many brilliant clips and good interviews but I was so disapointed by the fact that thy had nothing about Craig Ferguson, other than two 1 sec moments where they say that he was on air and that his show ended. If anyone deconstructed late night it was Craig Ferguson. And no one has been better at interviews than he was.

Also if you're going to talk about social conciousness how can you ignore Last Week Tonight with John Oliver? Or Real Time with Bill Maher?

Terrific interviews, clips, and insights into how and why late night has evolved. Unfortunately CNN in this, and in all its most recent documentaries that I've seen, thinks it's an asset to have nonstop loud, intrusive percussive music (if you can call it music) played on top of ANYONE who is being interviewed - and I mean everyone. The first time I heard it I thought I was watching an SNL parody of Investigative Reports. It is so predictable, so obnoxious, and such an assault on the ears that as soon as there was a scene that wasn't a historical clip, I turned off the sound and just read the subtitles. The music is actually ON TOP of the interviews, not under them. It is HUGELY distracting and unbalanced, with the effect of undermining the impact of the interviews rather than enhancing them - it's like a 5th grade kid's idea of how to make something dramatic that he got from playing video games.

For basically as long as there has been television, there has existed the concept of "late night" programming hitting the airwaves after the local nightly news. A host, some jokes, a desk, a guest--the setup is now iconic. "The Story of Late Night" lives up to its moniker and does a wonderful job of telling that entire story.

When it comes to late night TV topics, there are three that will always garner the most attention (at least thus far): The institution in and of itself that Johnny Carson became, the David Letterman vs. Jay Leno feud to replace him, and the bungled plan--by network executives--to hand Leno's reigns over to Conan O'Brien. Each of those topics basically commands its own episode here, and are excellently approached in terms of historical context and new interviews with the key players.

Where "Story" really stands out, however, is its ability to "fill in the gaps", so to speak, outside of those main talking points. For example, the first episode was very informative on how the whole genre started and how certain lesser-known pioneers created tenets of the genre that still stand/work to this very day. Also, throughout each episode, context is given on how the late night genre treated people of color, women, and ultimately evolved into newer formats (current events-based, YouTube-driven, pandemic-surviving, etc.).

Overall, "The Story of Late Night" was a joy to watch each week. It made me reminisce, sure, but it also taught me many interesting nuggets about the hosts, producers, and network executives who were key players in the business for decades. Just an all-around, well-done examination of the topic as a whole.

I've been very interested in the history of late night tv since Bill Carter's The Late Shift. This documentary does a good job of showing the origins of late night through the Carson years and the Leno/Letterman war for Late Night. Naturally Conan's Tonight Show tenure was a fascinating parallel. The documentary does provide much needed insight on the shift of late night from nonpartisan to political with the rise of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, but the last episode felt like more time needed to pass before a real in-depth analysis could be had of the current Late Night lineup.

One thing that I found distracting as a viewer was not what they showed, but what they didn't show. Bill Maher is mentioned briefly in a negative light following the cancellation of Politically Incorrect for his post 9/11 commentary. I'm not a big fan, but he's been hosting Real Time on HBO for nearly 20 years now, but received no mention whatsoever following that event. There was also no mention, not one, about Dennis Miller who hosted two late night talk shows. John Oliver surprisingly was mentioned only once.

Likewise, Craig Kilborn of all people received more airtime on this documentary than Craig Ferguson who hosted the Late Late Show for almost 10 years. I would have loved to see some commentary on his deconstruction of the Late Night format, which includes puppets, a remote controlled robot skeleton sidekick and a two man horse costume that became regular segments on a show that felt very stripped down, yet effortlessly funny.

While a bit off the beaten path, Fox News' Red Eye (which aired at 3am Eastern) and successor show, Gutfeld! Did not receive a mention at all, despite Greg Gutfeld's recent ratings success, sometimes beating all network Late Night shows. I suspect it didn't fit the political narrative that series was painting, and Fox News is direct competition to CNN.

Saturday Night Live, which deserves its own stand alone documentary series, was also the lone sketch show profiled. MadTV and In Living Color received no mention at all. This was very clearly a NBC focused documentary series with The Tonight Show at the center.

Even though I'm a fan of late night tv, the series does feel a little too nostalgic towards the end. The format does feel a little outdated in today's 24/7 streaming world. I think highlighting Conan's departure from TBS would have been a great bookend to this series leaving the door open to what's next for this genre and format.