Steverino and TV: Present at the Creation

TV or not TV. . . .

HISTORY BUFF: Early in his new book, “Hi-Ho, Steverino!,” Steve Allen kids himself with this anecdote:

“A Jesuit priest who interviewed me not long ago on the radio, in commenting on the number of books I’ve written (38 including the one you’re holding), said, ‘Apparently you’ve never had an unpublished thought.’ ”

Ah, but this tome by the first host of “The Tonight Show” is a couch-potato special, as indicated by the subtitle: “My Adventures in the Wonderful Wacky World of TV.”

It’s a breezy, anecdotal account of Allen’s years in broadcasting, with a number of observations that illuminate the changing nature of the business. Example:

“When I first began to work in television, in the season of 1947-48, I was doing my own daily network radio show from Los Angeles, and my ambitions were concentrated fully on a career in radio comedy. The mind-set was not quirky or unusual. In L.A., radio was at the time The Big Deal. Television was important mainly in New York City.”

Many who think his 1956-60 prime-time NBC series, “The Steve Allen Show,” ranks among television’s great comedy achievements--with such regulars as Tom Poston, Don Knotts and Louis Nye--will revel in his memories of the program.

“There was really nothing those gifted gentlemen couldn’t play,” Allen writes. “Fortunately the reader doesn’t have to take my word for this; the evidence became once again available in late 1990 when the all-comedy cable channel--Ha!-TV, now called Comedy Central--began rerunning our show.”

Like the best late-night hosts, Allen often did far better using ingenious comic ideas or interviewing ordinary people rather than the boring stream of celebrities whose only purpose is to plug their latest film or album. In an interview, he said:

“I got much more laughs interviewing shoeshine specialists or the guy who came on and fitted me for a suit.”

Of the current crop of talk shows, he adds: “The only differences I see really are the personalities of the hosts: Do you like Arsenio or Jay?”

Allen says he doesn’t give much attention to the late-night scene these days: “I’m generally asleep by 9 or 10 or 11. I get more writing done in the morning.”

He thinks, however, that new “Tonight” host Jay Leno is a proven comic but that it takes a while to settle in as an interviewer: “It’s not that difficult. I think people will get used to Jay. I like him.”

Footnote: One of our favorite passages in “Hi-Ho, Steverino!” is when Allen recalls playing his sportscaster character “Big Bill” Allen, who gave the day’s results: “Final score on that big game between Harvard and William and Mary: The score--Harvard 14, William 12, Mary 6.”

OPENING NIGHT: What a dignified, class act it was for the Barcelona Summer Olympics to end the opening ceremonies with a grand, elegant and uplifting operatic recital that included Placido Domingo.

So why did NBC think it was necessary to follow up with a video segment featuring pop music that only made the network seem as common as ever?

NOW AND THEN: It certainly is swell that “The Tonight Show” under Leno is proud of the number of film directors who have been guests. But a former “Tonight” executive sends word that quite a few directors have been “Tonight” guests over the years--among them, he says, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Richard Brooks, Mel Brooks, Otto Preminger, Richard Attenborough, Carl Reiner and various others of note.

BULLETIN BOARD: If you missed it last November, you can catch CBS’ splendid 90-minute retrospective “Memories of MASH” on Friday. Alan Alda, of course, starred in the series, but the host for the special is Shelley Long.

MAN ABOUT TOWN: Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is scheduled to do voice-overs Monday for an episode of “The Simpsons.” And on Aug. 27, Hefner hosts a TNT cable presentation of “Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb.” Well, a guy’s got to make a living.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: You know, Jane Pauley can handle David Letterman. They were great together Friday on NBC’s Letterman show.

Bill Clinton was also a Letterman guest last week--one of those long-distance, remote set-ups. And an actress on the show, B. Constance Barry, read Clinton a possible campaign slogan: “We don’t have a clue, but we don’t have a Quayle.”

It’s going to be murder on comedians if Quayle fades from the political scene. For instance, according to Letterman last week, one of the Top 10 reasons President Bush should dump Quayle is: “With advancing age, he’s beginning to lose his keen intellectual edge.”

Almost forgot: Letterman had an on-location segment Friday in which he asked folks about subscribing to NBC’s ill-fated, pay-per-view Olympics TripleCast. He asked one guy: “If I showed you what water polo looks like, would you be interested in signing up?”

CONTENDER: No question that KCAL-TV Channel 9 is hoping that Whoopi Goldberg’s new, fall, syndicated talk show will do for the station in late night what Arsenio Hall did for KCOP-TV Channel 13.

QUIZ: Anybody else here who could live happily ever after without the local 11 p.m. newscasts? Where’s the beef ? Ain’t none.

ANIMAL HOUSE: Comedy Central has assigned sports-junkie comedians Joe Bolster and John Caponera to a New York hotel suite to watch all 1,241 hours of the Summer Olympics on NBC and the network’s pay-TV TripleCast--and report intermittently each day.

WILD THING: Caught a TV rerun of “Villa Rides,” with Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum and Charles Bronson. Not much--but, hey, that’s my kind of cast.

BEING THERE: “This is the captain speaking. We are now at the farthest reaches of our galaxy.” --Capt. James Kirk (William Shatner) in “Star Trek.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .