Relevance Overtakes TV Talkfest

For some of us, it’s TV’s new prime time.

It’s a different world from the saran-wrapped sitcoms and sensational dramas of the normal prime viewing hours.

Welcome to late-night, where an astonishing array of new and old talk-show hosts have suddenly combined to form TV’s most provocative arena.

And we don’t mean just the usual suspects--Jay and Dave and Arsenio.

From the middle of the evening until the wee hours, viewers now can also find Larry King, Charlie Rose, Ted Koppel, Rush Limbaugh, John McLaughlin, Tom Snyder, Bob Costas, Dick Cavett, Phil Donahue, Vladimir Pozner, sports interviewer Roy Firestone, Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Lamb and his C-SPAN cohorts, CNN’s “Crossfire” gang and, on many local cable outlets, Bill Rosendahl’s political discussions. And several others, including Chevy Chase on Fox, will add to the mix in the fall.

Not all of the above gabbers are on every night. And not all of their broadcasts are scintillating. But for viewers seeking some substance to go with their entertainment, the collection of programs is bound to expand the number of talk-show junkies.

What is most appealing about this gabfest arena is that it is, in general, light-years distant from the freak-show atmosphere of the daytime talk shows of Geraldo, Sally Jessy et al.

Well, yes, Jane Whitney’s late-night blabber on KCAL-TV Channel 9 is right down there with the daytime group. And it’s pretty hard to escape the irresistibly sleazy snake-oil tone of those middle-of-the-night, program-length infomercials.

But none of this takes away from the mushrooming number of legitimate conversation programs that have helped make TV talking-heads respectable again.

This is, by the way, not an insomniac’s prime-time vision. Larry King, for instance, recently was moved to 10 p.m., West Coast time, on CNN. And viewers with VCRs can record what they want from the later entries of the talk-show lineup.

Although talk series were already an expanding market, there’s no question that the presidential campaign helped heighten viewer interest in the format. With Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ross Perot and others popping up alongside TV’s professional talkers on the networks and cable, audience response not only changed the political process but gave impetus to home-screen chatter of a more mature nature.

In his final broadcast as host of “The Tonight Show” last May, Johnny Carson, noting that the Earth’s population had increased by 2.4 billion people during his nearly three-decade reign, cracked: “A more amazing statistic is that half of those 2.4 billion will soon have their own late-night TV show.”

For TV, the growth in the talk-show industry is invaluable because it comes at a time when viewer interest in the standard 8-11 p.m. prime time seems to be slackening, with hardly any new series this season catching on in a big way. TV needed a new attraction to focus attention on the medium, and the late-night fireworks provided it.

While most of the attention dealt with the Leno-Letterman fight for “The Tonight Show,” viewers simply interested in straight-up talk series suddenly were presented with a feast.

The movement of King’s show to 10 p.m. made him much more accessible in Los Angeles. And there seems little doubt that CNN’s decision to change the time resulted from his huge impact during the election campaign with his interviews with Perot and others.

Another newly scheduled program, Rose’s late-night series on PBS--carried by KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15--is a major addition to the talk-show lineup. Rose’s interviews have ranged from former Fox chairman Barry Diller to Roseanne and Tom Arnold, plus lesser-known erudite types. Those who have wanted Rose back in a format similar to his splendid former series, CBS’ “Nightwatch,” have their wish.

Yet another new talk series, Limbaugh’s, is also enlivening TV. Shown twice daily on KCOP-TV Channel 13, at 1 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., it is a solid and growing national hit, with the host’s usual blend of conservative political commentary and comic barbs.

One of the very best TV talk shows of any kind, ESPN’s “Up Close,” offers Firestone’s sports interviews at midnight, with conversation that ranges well beyond jock-type hype as it probes the human condition in the business of athletics.

With NBC’s hold on late-night breaking up--Letterman leaves for CBS in June and Costas is undecided about his own series after September--the audience may be up for grabs. Meanwhile, however, “Later With Bob Costas” remains a solid NBC interview entry at 1:35 a.m. daily.

In all the talk about Leno, Letterman and Hall, yet another serious late-night show--Koppel’s “Nightline” on ABC--has finally moved to the top of the ratings heap now that longtime leader Carson has retired.

And with Letterman, Leno, Chase and Hall further splitting the 11:30 p.m. entertainment audience come fall--and perhaps winding up with smaller shares of it--Koppel could well continue strong, even increasing his lead, as a major talk-and-analysis program alternative.

Over at CNBC cable, which is heavily talk-oriented, viewers can find, depending on the night, the alternating series of Snyder, Cavett, McLaughlin and the team of Pozner and Donahue, whose series with the well-known Russian journalist is quite different from his daytime show.

CNN’s “Crossfire,” meanwhile, is getting Pat Buchanan back following his unsuccessful bid for the presidency.

And Lamb and his C-SPAN team continue to present the most consistently high-level talk-show programming on TV, with politicians, journalists and others involved with government. We recently watched two riveting one-hour interviews Lamb conducted on his “Booknotes” series with former President Richard M. Nixon, and it made no difference that we had already seen both programs earlier last year.

Prime time is where you find it.