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Once upon a time, it was mutual for people to ask one another, “What’s on TV tonight?” Of course, the question doesn’t even make much sense anymore. In fact, today the question would be, “What isn’t on TV?”
Cable television took hold in the 1970s and 1980s and has become almost universal since then. Even a basic cable programming package has 80 or 100 channels of news, entertainment, sports, movies, buying goods and even music. The broadcast networks have had to push the envelope on new programming just to counter the appeal of cable programming that is not subject to the same community standards. This has led to a great deal of shows that are inventive and well-done, as well as others that track the tastes of a fickle viewership and never seem to get it rather right.
Yet, there is still something for everyone on TV, and a large total of ways to get enjoyment from the show with today’s home theater instrumentation and large-format screens. And the TV schedule is no longer an impediment to seeing a show that comes on, say, while you are getting ready to work the late shift. With digital video recorders (DVRs) as low as $59 or so, folks may afford to break loose from the TV schedule by recording the programs they would ordinarily miss.
“Watching TV” doesn’t even have rather the same meaning as it did for the duration of the heyday of broadcasting in the 1950s and 1960s. It does not so much refer to choosing and looking at a program that is on at a sure time and a sure channel, as it refers to choosing what film, DVD, video, cable news feed or (yes) even broadcast channel you care to display on your monitor.
Once again, it is out of the question to ignore the influence and the affect of the Internet on TV programming, It is now not only possible, but cheap and easy to send movies, TV shows, Web internet sites or live broadcast channels from one’s computer to the TV screen, or even multiple screens around the house. The buzzword in media these days, “convergence,” refers to the interactivity of computers, the Internet, display screens, live TV, recorded programs, DVDs, media files, music and all the rest of what we call “entertainment.” Everything’s on TV now!
From Publishers WeeklyLest any person think that late-night TV’s zany characters and stunts begun with Johnny, Jay or Dave, this love letter to basi Tonight host Steve Allen will set them straight. Alba’s portrait depicts Allen as a ground-breaking strength in television whose brief stint (1954-57) on NBC’s late-night show had a lasting influence on late night TV. Allen comes throughout as both a regular Joe and a multitalented Renaissance man whose knack for ad-libbing with audiences, loosely scripted gags and improvisational piano-playing in the days of live TV were as nimble as his commitment to progressive social causes. (Imagine Leno or Letterman devoting segments to discussions of drug abuse or organized crime.) Although only a few sequences of the Allen-era Tonight have survived, this book commendably captures the show’s flavor in front of the camera and behind the scenes. That’s for the most part thanks to consultations with Allen prior to his 2000 death and his a good deal of cohorts and admirers: Tonight producer Bill Harbach; regulars Steve Lawrence and Andy Williams; Don Knotts, Tim Conway and Tom Poston from Allen’s prime-time assortment series; and longtime friends Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner. Highlights include a blow-by-blow comparison amid galore of Allen’s gags and those later adapted by Johnny Carson and others. The book would gain from better structuring, and more than a few quotes are repetitious, continually praising Allen’s wit and innovation without adding any fresh examples. Like Allen, whose sharp wit and genial demeanor appealed to a wide audience, Alba’s elaborate homage ought to resonate with a wide array of readers. 32 pages of b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From BooklistSteve Allen–not Johnny Carson, not Jack Paar–was the progenitor of the late-night TV yapfest, and Alba’s tribute to his pioneering includes current midnight-oil-burning rivals Leno and Letterman acknowledging their indebtedness. Less known than his trailblazing is the fact that Allen was instrumental in bringing African American stars to network TV. On the other hand, and seemingly incongruous with championing black entertainers, hisTonight Show writers included Bill Dana, whose Jose Jimenez performing persona was a long-lived example of another kind of racial stereotyping in TV comedy. Also a devoted jazz fan, Allen introduced a soupcon of hipness to TV, too, that for some was mitigated, however, by such tiresome routines as his dramatic readings of the lyrics of “Be-Bop-A-Lula” and other rock songs. Yet he perceptively interviewed an eclectic roster of guests. A elaborated guy. Including the history of the Tonight Show band from Skitch Henderson to Doc Severinsen, this is great stuff for broadcasting and pop-culture collections, even though sufficiently conversational and nostalgia-soaked for nonspecialist readers. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review”…an enormous influence on television. His early work is in truth the foundation for what late night shows have become.” — David Letterman – a public statement release, November 1, 2000
“…this is outstanding stuff for broadcasting and pop-culture collections, though sufficiently conversational and nostalgia-soaked for non-specialist readers.” — Booklist, October 1, 2005
“Everybody who ever has done a talk show ought to compensate a royalty to Steve Allen.” — Bill Maher – From consultation with author Ben Alba, August 5, 1998
“I was one of those guys who watched each night of the Steve Allen Show…Allen invented all of this.” — Ed McMahon – From CNN consultation October 31, 2000
“Steve Allen had a immense influence on me. He was the inspiration for everything we do here.” — Jay Leno – On Air Tonight Show Tribute, October 31, 2000
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Most helpful client reviews
10 of 10 humans found the following review helpful.
 Inventing Late Night
By Randall E. Jeffery
I ordinarily read a book in with regards to one week. It took me a day and a half to read “Inventing Late Night” – I could not put it down! Ben Alba’s book is hilarious, insightful, impeccably researched, sensible and portrays an exact accounting of the genesis of late night TV. He gives full credit to the talent of Steve Allen and is loaded with transcripts from a great deal of of Allen’s side-splitting comedy bits. As a fan of Allen for over fifty years, I’ve read each accounting possible concerning his a great deal of contributions to TV. None is more poignant, dead on precise, humorous and intellectual than Alba’s “Inventing Late Night”.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A Great, Refreshing Read
By Daniel E. Ursini
“Inventing Late Night: Steve Allen and the Original Tonight Show,” by Ben Alba evokes an specially rich chapter in the history of usual culture even as it restores acknowledgement to the attainments of host Steve Allen and his galore gifted collaborators. “Inventing,” is without doubt the operative term. At that time, there were a great deal of blank areas in the tv program schedule, including late night; and the “national” network, in an early stage of growth, had yet to extend beyond the Eastern Seaboard. Under Steve Allen’s direction, the Tonight Show was the basi network program to give rise to a late night viewership; the revenues it brought in encouraged the disseminate of the network throughout the nation. That same success afforded host Allen much originative freedom in both the format and content of his show. The former has pop culture iconic status: opening monologue; celebrity consultations at the desk; roaming cameras; insane stunts. However, the content of the show, seldom imitated, has arguably never been matched by any tv program in the range of it is appeal to the mind.
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