Word: carsons
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...phoned to book a room for Dec. 31, 1999. A Marriott official divined the potential publicity bonanza in the request and promptly offered Woodyard a complimentary four-room suite. Woodyard was soon immortalized on the Tonight show with perhaps the first millennial joke: Come that day in 1999, Johnny Carson predicted, Woodyard will be kept waiting in the Marriott lobby for 45 minutes because his room isn't ready...
...comic she discovered two decades ago and guided to glory. Weathering a Sophoclean series of tragedies (her son's death from AIDS in 1983, her husband's death from cancer in 1989), Kushnick became the executive producer of the legendary Tonight show when her protege, Jay Leno, succeeded Johnny Carson in May. Then with an almost willful recklessness, Kushnick reportedly began demanding that stars who wanted to appear with Leno on the Tonight show had to boycott his competitors -- especially Arsenio Hall. The blatant violation of Hollywood's get along-go along culture led to the inevitable: Kushnick was ousted...
...most desirable stars. Dennis Miller, whose talk show was canceled after six months of low ratings and C-list guests, blames The Tonight Show for strong-arm booking tactics. David Letterman, NBC's later- night wit who couldn't conceal his chagrin at being snubbed for Johnny Carson's job, now has other networks and syndicators strewing his restless passage with blank checks. NBC has already retained Saturday Night Live's Dana Carvey as Letterman's potential replacement...
...infotainment press is busy stoking the one-way feud. In April, just before Leno replaced Carson, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story with Hall proclaiming, "I'm gonna kick Leno's ass"; this week the cover copy blares LENO GETS EVEN, and the Gibraltar-jawed comic stares out in a Raging Bull pose. The Washington Post's Tom Shales rags Leno for going "all ponderous and ! stony" and, bizarrely, for overloading his opening monologue with political humor. (Memo to Jay: Better do more 7-Eleven jokes. Memo to Tom: Pssst, it's an election year...
This was not the way it was supposed to be. As Carson's heir, Leno would bring both familiarity and freshness to the slot. He would book hipper musical guests and reclaim part of Arsenio's audience. And with his camp-counselor personality, he would retain Carson's senior fans. All this has indeed come to pass. If Hall gets the headlines with shows featuring Ice-T on the hot seat or Bill Clinton torturing a saxophone, Leno still wins where it counts: equaling or surpassing Carson's ratings and ad revenue. The difference is that all this...