Word: paar
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Wide World is a rotating sequence of four formats-a week each of Jack Paar, Dick Cavett, comedy and mystery, with two nights of rock music thrown in as a fillip. The package includes just about everything, it seems, but trained seals beating out The Star-Spangled Banner on the xylophone. Its first six weeks have ABC executives glowing-and crowing. Says Michael Eisner, vice president in charge of program development: "Philosophically, I am wildly enthusiastic. And it is working." Translation: Eisner likes the format and so do a lot of viewers...
...comedy was watched by 5.9 million people and CBS's late movie by 6.6 million. NBC's Tonight Show was down to only 6.7 million viewers. The other three parts of Wide World have not fared so well. Their audience has ranged from 4.5 million for Paar to 5 million for the week of mystery shows to 4.1 million for Cavett. But all-including Cavett-have done better than the old Cavett show alone. It remains to be seen whether viewers, normally creatures of almost daily habit, will opt for a less varied format on some other network...
Even Wide World's disasters and near disasters have had some merit. Jack Paar's feeble comeback was a little like raising the Titanic only to have it sink again, but he is still an alternative for those weary of Johnny Carson. Although some nights of the comedy week were mind-numbing in their amateurishness, others, like those given over to a humorous look at the news, with such performers as Mort Sahl and Marian Mercer, were as funny as the early Laugh...
...Paar, at least, seems certain of his success. "God," he said with customary familiarity, "is kind to pregnant women, drunks and Jack Paar...
Like Cavett, however, Paar's real problem may be the ratings, which ABC used to cut back Cavett despite considerable protest from his fans. So far, even allowing for curiosity and nostalgia, the reaction to Paar has been less than stunning in New York and Los Angeles, the only two cities that have overnight reports. Preliminary reports, however, are inconclusive, and Carson, who seems to spend as little time as possible on his own show, does not have a permanent lease on the Nielsens...