Death, Taxes and ‘The Tonight Show’ : Television: Pat Sajak is the latest in a long line of challengers to lose the late-night battle against a phenomenon that seems to have a life of its own.

One by one, they fire, fall back and eventually are blown away. Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, Joey Bishop, Joan Rivers, Alan Thicke and now, this week, Pat Sajak. All have tried to unseat Johnny Carson, but no one has yet found the formula.

Perhaps there is none. And that is why it was no surprise when CBS canceled “The Pat Sajak Show” only 15 months after it debuted with great fanfare. Sajak tried to challenge Carson on the late-night king’s own terrain--emulating the format that he has perfected in an incredible 27 1/2 years of hosting NBC’s “Tonight” show.

But the Sajak series ran into another impregnable force--”The Tonight Show” itself. And “Tonight” is a practically perfect television structure, a star in its own right, which has been an accommodating home to its three principal hosts over the years: Steve Allen from 1954-57, Jack Paar from 1957-62 and Carson from 1962 until now.

Elegantly simple, with comfortable and familiar rituals--Carson’s monologue, his chat with Ed McMahon--”Tonight” is an ideal creature of habit for its viewers, who clearly still enjoy having the comedian turn out the lights after all these years.

It’s no surprise that the only major talk show competitor who has made a real run at Carson--Arsenio Hall--has been smart enough to play on his own field and not fall into the trap of unwinnable comparisons. While their formats bear some similarities, their tones are distinctly different in keeping with the styles of the two personalities: Carson the smooth and Hall the smoothie.

Hall’s strategy is smarter than even he or his staff may realize, for the competition is also “The Tonight Show” itself, and not only Carson. Stylish to a fault in its show business know-how, “Tonight” is a television arena that somehow makes everyone who appears on it look a little better, a little classier than they appear almost anywhere else. Performers know it. They know they’re playing the Palace.

Consider the case of Rivers, whose often-raunchy humor somehow played beautifully when muted slightly by the aura of “The Tonight Show.” When she took her act to Fox TV for her own late-night series, the atmosphere was simply more common, and raunchy was just raunchy. Bishop was also better with Carson than on his own show. And so, for that matter, was Sajak--in no small degree because Carson is a masterful straight man as well as gagster, which contributes to the overall tone of civility.

This tone--this blend of show and performer--is what has given Carson a setting of credibility for the social and political comments of his monologue. There may be off days, Carson may have his blue jokes, but “Tonight” is almost never, ever, tacky. For that reason, it gets respect and attention from the political establishment.

During election campaigns and at times of national crisis, Carson’s jokes are among the most influential political commentary in the land. When, during Chrysler’s bad days, Carson cracked that Sen. Robert Dole was “a Chrysler on the parking lot of life,” it did the politician no good. Carson’s unrelenting jibes at Ronald and Nancy Reagan when they were in the White House were representative of the level of commentary that no other comedian could pull off with equal stature.

Carson sub Jay Leno, for instance, is superb at instant political and social commentary, and he has been growing wonderfully against the backdrop of “Tonight.” But probably the only TV comedian to come close to Carson in terms of national impact--though in a wholly different manner--is David Letterman, because his attitude came to speak for an entire generation during the 1980s.

Knowing Carson’s special status as a sort of barometer of public opinion, Sajak indicated before his debut in January of 1989 that he did not intend, at least for a while, to attempt to match the comedian as a national voice. But in hardly any time at all, he seemed to be doing just that--not that he didn’t have the right, but he certainly didn’t have the credibility, coming as he did from the game show “Wheel of Fortune,” in which he starred, and continues to star, with Vanna White.

CBS put a lot of money on Sajak, and he seemed a pretty good bet at the time. Like Carson, who had also been a TV game show host--on “Who Do You Trust?”--Sajak had shown promise on “Wheel of Fortune.” And because of that enormously successful syndicated series, he had perhaps more national popularity than any other contender who had ever challenged Carson for the late-night crown. He was certainly better-known than Hall, who debuted with his syndicated show only a week before Sajak launched his CBS entry.

But after a quick ratings start, and the pleasant surprise to see that Sajak could deliver a monologue with confidence and aplomb, the tune-in for the show began to slip and slip. Cutting the program from its original 90-minute length to an hour last October didn’t help, nor did the elimination of a sidekick and the desk-and-couch format, which gave way to a round-table setting.

The problem was more than changing the furniture around. “The Pat Sajak Show” simply didn’t offer anything unique. It was just more of the same, and not as stylishly done as “Tonight.” The question was why anyone would tune out Carson for the clone-like Sajak show if there was a choice between the two. Viewers clearly felt that way. Carson creamed Sajak in the ratings. And so, for that matter, did Hall.

CBS erred from the start. Its notion was that if Sajak could just hang in there until Carson retired, he would be the heir as the logical and established late-night leader. In short, the next Carson. The flaw in this thinking was monumental. Carson is Carson. Who says the world is waiting for a twin? Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Carson have been totally different and totally successful hosts of “Tonight.” Letterman and Leno and Hall are all different from each other--and from Carson.

“You have to do something different and CBS didn’t,” says a late-night executive. (CBS, while deciding on the future, will turn principally to “Wiseguy” reruns starting Monday to fill the slot of the Sajak series, which ended Friday night). In Nashville this week, Sajak’s TV sidekick, Dan Miller, who eventually was removed from the job and turned into an announcer, was quoted as saying “We tried to play it safe” and that the show “never found its own identity.” And that’s certainly the way it looked on screen.

Thus, Carson’s identity as the reigning power of late-night TV survived another threat, and rather more easily than might have been expected.

Barring a sudden urge to call it a day--or a night--Carson has indicated often that he will continue on the NBC series, but only as long as he is No. 1. And you can bet on that. He works hard to stay in shape, looks good and seems to be enjoying “Tonight” as much as ever. If his upcoming annual decision on whether to return another year is anything but positive, it would stun many of those involved with him.

But however long Carson continues on “Tonight,” the series itself will still be there to daunt the competition--a triumph of taste and eternal showmanship in an increasingly sleazy, juvenile entertainment arena. It is one of TV’s rare and regal series, with a genuine lineage--and all the hosts are still with us: Carson, the cool, controlled humorist and incomparable sketch performer; Allen, the brilliant ringmaster and wit; and Paar, the emotional comic whose unpredictability gave his “Tonight” shows the thrillingly dangerous sense of a runaway train with an uncertain end.

Carson is arguably the most successful star in TV history. Good times and bad, “Tonight” always delivered the goods--and the profits--for NBC. With Letterman and Leno as heirs apparent, the show’s future is assured. And past and present are remarkably linked: Letterman, whose show is produced by Carson, also grew up an admirer of Allen--which is obvious from his program--and his director, Hal Gurnee, was also Paar’s director.

Call it breeding. “Tonight” is a history of TV.