November 16, 1986 FOX Promo (The Late Show with Joan Rivers)

#1980s #WFLD #TheLateShow #FOX #promo #JoanRivers #RandyTravis #SusanLucci (c)1986 21st Century FOX This might be my longest description ever. November 16, 1986 promo for The Late Show with Joan Rivers, the very first network program for the fledgling FOX network. The following night's guests included All My Children star Susan Lucci and country singer Randy Travis. The series premiered alongside the network on October 9, 1986; but the backstory involving the show's tumultuous history dated back to that spring. At the time, NBC executives figured that Johnny Carson's upcoming silver anniversary as host of the Tonight Show on October 1, 1987 would be when Carson would decide to retire. However, during the spring of 1986 a confidential memo related to 10 potential successors to Carson was leaked to the media; which led to Joan Rivers - who had been the show's permanent guest host since 1983 - discovering she was not on the list; the latest and last in a series of snubs such as receiving a one-year contract offer in 1985 while Carson got a two-year extension and being forced to take the fall for a controversial joke that had been approved by management; and when FOX offered her a deal that payed more than NBC, Rivers accepted. She then - following the initial press conference - tried to contact a stunned Carson; Johnny refused the call (Carson would allege that Rivers had been dishonest about her intentions; Rivers countered by stating she viewed Carson as a father figure and her dispute was with NBC, not him, and that FOX might have cancelled the deal had she called Carson before accepting. Complicating matters was the fact that Carson's people had ordered Rivers not to discuss her problems with him due to how profitable he was for NBC, thus leaving Carson completely in the dark about how things had deteriorated); resulting in a virtual blacklist on the Tonight Show that continued not just through the remainder of Carson's tenure but through that of Jay Leno's two stints and Conan O'Brien (it would not be until the February 17, 2014 debut of current host Jimmy Fallon that Joan would make an appearance on the Tonight Show; nearly 9 full years after Carson's death and shortly before Rivers' own death that September) Things started relatively well before the ratings sagged - a major problem with FOX planning to launch primetime programming by April 1987. Further complicating matters were some markets refusing to carry the show (original Milwaukee affiliate WGCV wanted to sign on only if it didn't have to air the show; Omaha FOX affiliate KPTM refused due to Johnny Carson's roots in the area {having started his career in Omaha and being a native of nearby Corning, IA; Boston having to settle for an audio-only feed on a poorly-rated AM station due to FOX not closing on the purchase of WXNE {now WFXT} from the Christian Broadcasting Network and Rivers' comedy being viewed as too risque to air on a station that - until the sale was finalized - was still owned by Pat Robertson) and Rivers feuding with FOX executives; resulting in her being fired by May 1987 (her final show, on May 15, saw the set trashed with slime, shaving cream and toilet paper). Sadly, three months later Rivers' estranged husband Edgar Rosenberg (who produced the show and who by then had separated from Rivers) committed suicide on August 14, 1987. FOX then used rotating hosts for a time such as Suzanne Somers, Robert Townsend and (after dropping Frank Zappa prior to taping) Arsenio Hall; shot a week's worth of pilots for a replacement show featuring shock jock Howard Stern that ultimately was not picked up; then brought Arsenio back for a 13-week run (Hall would not be available beyond that due to his commitments to shooting the 1988 Eddie Murphy film "Coming to America" as well as FOX having already committed to "The Wilton North Report"; a newsmagazine-comedy hybrid not too dissimilar in format from shows such as Comedy Central's "The Daily Show". Wilton North (named after the building it was taped in) premiered in December 1987 and only made it to 21 shows before its cancellation in early 1988; with the Late Show being brought back (again using rotating hosts) before Ross Shafer, where despite notable episodes such as the last reunion of the entire cast of Gilligan's Island; a Game Show Hosts special featuring Tom Kennedy, Gene Rayburn, Gary Owens, Jim Lange and Dennis James and the episode where Bill Cosby accepted his Razzies for Leonard: Part 6; the show's fate did not improve and the Late Show was officially cancelled in October 1988. FOX would not attempt a late night show again until the Chevy Chase Show in 1993; which fared even worse, lasting just 5 weeks, after which FOX (with the exception of again trying to give Howard Stern a show and then attempting to woo Conan away from NBC) threw in the towel on late night TV.