Taking on Late-Night’s Big Guns

In a way, Dennis Miller was a point man, scouting and testing the late-night TV terrain for those who would challenge the dominance of “The Tonight Show” and Arsenio Hall.

He was a decided underdog when his syndicated series, “The Dennis Miller Show,” seen locally on KTLA-TV Channel 5, debuted last January. So it was not a huge surprise when low ratings recently caused Tribune Entertainment to cancel his hourlong talk show, which ended its seven-month run Friday night.

Miller, a straight-talking, highly literate comedian, clearly touched a nerve with his show in Los Angeles. A KTLA spokesman said that Miller’s ratings here were more than respectable, ranging from about 2.5 to 3, well above his national average of 1.6 (which translated to about 1.5 million homes coast-to-coast).

Tribune, however, had hoped for a 2-plus national rating, especially after Jay Leno replaced Johnny Carson as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” in late May.

Even after the Leno takeover, however, Miller learned the lesson that future late-night hopefuls will probably face--that it is brutal trying to compete with “Tonight,” not to mention Hall.

“The hardest part is to get guests. I found it very hard to get guests,” Miller said in an interview shortly before taping his series finale.

“This is an industry town. The industry is show business. People in show business are governed in a large degree by their publicists. And publicists want to not alienate any of the big shows. ‘The Tonight Show’ and ‘Arsenio’ are the big shows now.”

Noting several more personalities who will be trying to establish themselves in late-night--Whoopi Goldberg, whose syndicated series arrives this fall, and Chevy Chase, Fox TV’s host for a 1993 entry--Miller said:

“I don’t know that they’ll have these problems because they’re big stars in their own right.”

As he prepared to ring down the curtain on his game attempt at a late-night breakthrough, Miller was asked who is tougher to compete against--Hall or “Tonight,” where Leno has thus far maintained the series’ ratings leadership.

“ ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” Miller said. “By light years. I’m not naive enough to think that Arsenio Hall doesn’t want to kick my ass. This is the adult world. I don’t live in a fairy land. But he did it with a high degree of etiquette. He was classy. He would send you encouraging letters. He gave me nice, encouraging phone calls.

“Whenever he would speak about it in the press, he would mention that he liked the show. Just little things. You know, human things. It wasn’t like you were going up against Death Star from ‘Star Wars.’ It wasn’t that faceless. You knew he was your competitor. He wanted to win. But he handled himself with a reasonable degree of aplomb.”

And what about “The Tonight Show”?

“ ‘The Tonight Show’ was nothing like that. They really want to win, more than anything. And I don’t think they’re in the business of being friendly or displaying that same degree of etiquette that Arsenio did. I’m not the only one saying stuff like that.”

Miller’s admirers will be able to see reruns of his series through Sept. 11. But beginning Monday, KTLA is moving back the starting time from 11:30 p.m. to midnight. The show now will be preceded by repeats of “Taxi,” the station spokesman said.

It’s hard to say whether Miller ever would have broken through significantly with his series. But his rough experience in butting heads with “Tonight” and Hall could benefit future challengers if their distributors realize that patience is needed to make inroads against the two entrenched powerhouses.

“I don’t think it’s impossible,” Miller said, “but the company that I was in business with didn’t have that patience. My argument to them is that (I) was trying to hit Normandy beach when there are two pillboxes established. In the past, there’s always been one--’The Tonight Show.’ And that was hard enough.

“I thought it would take a year before anything would start to show, and that’s just breaking old behavior habits for ‘The Tonight Show.’ There’s been almost no atrophy in ‘The Tonight Show’s’ ratings, and yet I would say: Do you not believe there’s a difference between the way Johnny did it and the way Jay does it? So I think it’s pretty much of a habit time slot, and it would have taken a good year before you would have started budging people.

“I gave it a shot. Crowded field, not enough people watched. At some point, they come up and tap you on the shoulder and you’re gone. I thought they tapped me a little quickly.”

Miller pointed to the two 900 phone-in numbers that drew 80,000 calls supporting his show the first two days they were used this week. Callers paid 75 cents a pop, “and the profits go to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation,” he said.

“Somebody at Sprint liked the show and offered us a couple of lines gratis. For me, (the calls) did prove that there was sort of a grass-roots constituency out there who liked the show.”

Cancellation or not, Miller’s priorities and perspective about TV remain in good order: “I learn deeper things about life in my everyday life. I don’t learn anything from TV. TV’s TV, you know. . . . When Arsenio Hall says ‘I want to kick Jay Leno’s ass’ and that becomes controversial in this country, that amazes me. Everybody should just laugh. This is pro wrestling in nicer suits. You know what I mean?”

His plans?

“I’m going to go to Hawaii for a couple of weeks and golf.”

And beyond that?

“I don’t think like that. I’ll think about it when I get back.”

Would he consider coming back in another late-night format?

“I’d love to. In a second. I really feel there’s unfinished business here.”

What would he do differently?

“Nothing.”