MovieChat Forums > The Late Late Show with James Corden (2015) Discussion > Guest Hosts

Guest Hosts

posted 9 years ago by saltysweetener
13 replies | jump to latest

I really like the idea of returning to an era featuring guest hosts. There is one thing that tv does not need more of, and that would be any reruns of talk shows. I realise that this pratise began after the original Tonight Show fiasco, but since the stabisation of talk shows over the past several years, I enjoy this return to formality. I doubt it would have entised Ferguson to stay longer, but I think the quality of his show would not have declined as rapidly had he utilised guest hosts from time to time.

I hope Colbert decides to go in this direction as well. There is nothing more redundant or absurd on television these days than to rerun a talk show, but the only way to effectively avoid that is to bring in a guest host to fill in during off weeks.

[–] I_Guard_Tanelorn 9 years ago

Never gonna happen. The Leno/Carson debacle closed that door forever.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"

[–] saltysweetener 9 years ago

It is happening. There have been several guest hosts in the past months. That concept is being reintroduced with some intention. I do not believe that they would stage such an extensive comeback all willy-nilly. The whole dynamic of the talk show is much different these days, and this kind of initiative can easily set CBS apart.

Leno, Carson, and even Letterman are all gone. The relevance placed on one person night after night is great but unsustainable. Broadcast news programs go on every day and night without necessarily having the namesake reporting. They certainly do not present a rerun. It would be insane to expect Brian Williams, Shepard Smith or Scott Pelley to present every night without a vacation, and no one expects them to be there every single night. Why should talk show host be held to a different standard? Reruns are a bane to talk shows. Forcing new video content every night allows for diversity that has been missing for much too long. Broadcast programming needs to get ahead of cable, and fresh programming gives them a bit of leverage over other networks that rely on content staler than AA pastries.

[–] topher208 9 years ago

The reason for the four-day workweek has changed since Leno filled in for Johnny. It used to be that the host dictated the extra day off, now it's done to cut costs. Paying the writers and the rest of the staff for a guest host defeats the purpose. Same for bringing in a guest host for weeks off. Sadly, the time of the guest host has passed.

[–] damienoujia 9 years ago

Letterman had guest hosts when he had heart surgery. He also allowed Ferguson to have guest hosts. I think the key in those two shows having guest hosts is they both are owned by Letterman and produced under his "Worldwide Pants" banner. That means he has final say if those hosts were to vie for a late night slot if one came open on his shows.

NBC owns the Tonight Show. They would be too afraid to allow Fallon to have guest hosts. They are too afraid of another late night war.

I sincerely hope that CBS starts to bring back guest hosts. But I don't know who is going to produce/own The Late Show and Late Late Show after Letterman bows down. It doesn't seem Late Late is produced by Worldwide Pants anymore.

Let's face it: It was a debacle when the whole Joan Rivers thing happened. But that was nearly 25-30 years ago. It's time to let it go and give the idea a chance again.

[–] AndrewHNPX12 9 years ago

NBC owns the Tonight Show. They would be too afraid to allow Fallon to have guest hosts. They are too afraid of another late night war.

Why would having someone occasionally fill in for Fallon necessarily start another late night war?

[–] damienoujia 9 years ago

Well, that's the reason people use when saying why late night shows don't use guest hosts. If that's not the reason, why don't they?

[–] AndrewHNPX12 9 years ago

I don't really understand what the correlation is. Except I guess that Leno had been a guest host for Carson when he was fighting with Letterman for the Tonight Show job, but I don't see why him guest hosting had anything to do with the conflict. Also guest hosts had nothing to do with the 2010 conflict.

[–] damienoujia 9 years ago

Maybe there isn't. I honestly don't know. Whenever I bring up the question in message board groups, the usual answer is because NBC was burned by the guest hosts under Carson's watch. Letterman only used them when he had surgery, but not since, and not like Carson did, which was on Friday nights. I know Letterman was only interested in Jon Stewart as host for the Late Late Show "back in the day" because he thought Stewart was a threat to his show and wanted to employ him to keep him in place. When Stewart didn't work out, he honestly hired Craig Kilborn because he wasn't as talented. That is some information from Bill Carter's book The War For Late Night.

But if that's not the reason, I really would like to know the answer. Maybe Leno was too insecure to allow other hosts? He's known to be a work a holic. He actually pushed to do shows every day of the year and to have a guest roster of writers when the regular writers went on vacation. NBC shot down the idea. Maybe that's the reason...Leno didn't want to give up the seat at all unless he absolutely had to?

[–] AndrewHNPX12 9 years ago

I remember when Leno returned to The Tonight Show after Conan's departure, he stated that this time, he would bring in guest hosts, obviously it turned out not to be true.

[–] Obnoxiously-Adorable 9 years ago

I don't agree with recent reruns. I've seen reruns aired literally the very next week, and that's beyond stupid.

I will say I would have LOVED to have seen reruns of Craig's show from say, the first and second seasons. He had more than enough material under his belt to be able to go back way old school.

Does anyone know why they don't do that???

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[–] damienoujia 9 years ago

I loved it when we had the writer's strike and NBC aired old 90s episodes of the Tonight Show.

I think that instead of recent reruns more late night shows should show vintage episodes of their shows. If Letterman takes off Friday, it should be a vintage episode of Late Night, not a recent one. It would be awesome.

[–] Wood-20 9 years ago

I'm guessing it has to do with ad revenue. Repeating episodes and guests that are still current enough to squeeze as much ad revenue out of repeats as they can. Networks no longer care about much else.

[–] saltysweetener 9 years ago

Repeating episodes and guests that are still current enough to squeeze as much ad revenue out of repeats as they can.

The problem with this is that most guest that are "current" have been around for close to a decade, if not longer. Most vip guest do not happen overnight, and in those rare cases, these have very little to no prior stories that would make their segment necessarily worth rehashing. You could make the case for a guest from CBS properties, but even that has little weight. The actors from CBS shows would have a certain number of promos just to do the show. Most series have at least 3 actors that can effectively represent their position.

The issue here is that Letterman is the only remaining host to have any sort of stockpile of guests worthy enough to repeat.