It was kind of depressing and pathetic to watch Jay Leno do his tribute to Johnny Carson last night since it was Leno and his manager who were responsible for Carson’s forced retirement when Carson still had a number of good years ahead. Worse, the shoddy treatment of Carson by NBC after 30 years of service resulted in Carson’s never returning to public life thus robbing us all of some great humor and who knows what else. Now we see this tribute. The true story of Carson’s ouster is clearly documented in the book, The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night, by Bill Carter. This was made into a made-for-TV movie that featured Cathy Bates as Leno’s creepy scheming manager. Rent the DVD if you can find it.
What I found appalling is the fact that with all these tributes the injustice and underhandedness of NBC is only mentioned by one lone Canadian news outlet. What is the point of glossing it over? Fear? Incompetence? A desire to get on MSNBC? One other outlet – Slate – mentions NBC’s willful and callous destruction of the old Tonight Show tapes and kinoscopes from the early New York era of the show.
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http://www.dvorak.org/blog/index.php?p=1208
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