ABC Buying Back Rights to ‘Dees’ Show

ABC is buying back the rights to “Into the Night With Rick Dees,” network executives confirmed Thursday. Staffers on the late-night talk show had been notified Wednesday of the network’s plans to sever its ties with Dees.

Dees had said last month that he planned to step down as host of the low-rated series in July, but would be staying on as a producer while a succession of celebrities took the helm as guest host. ABC now will produce the show itself, renaming it “Into the Night” as of next week.

The first hosts will be Suzanne Somers and Patrick Duffy, who will star in a new ABC sitcom this fall.

Dees, a popular morning deejay at KIIS-AM/FM in Los Angeles, could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The Dees show had been hampered by low station clearances, with many ABC affiliates not airing it at all or delaying its broadcast later than its intended midnight slot, following “Nightline.” From April to June, “Into the Night” had been reaching an average of about 1.5 million households a night, compared to 4.75 million homes for NBC’s top-rated “Tonight Show.”

In an unusual TV version of an Off Broadway tryout, ABC is experimenting with a number of possible late-night formats at WTNH-TV, the network’s affiliate in New Haven, Conn. Among those trying out as possible late-night replacements are Curtis and Lisa Sliwa, founders of the Guardian Angels, the New York-based “street-protection” group; the editors of Spy magazine, and radio personality/comedienne Joy Behar.