The Chevy Chase Show
The Chevy Chase Show | |
---|---|
20th Century Fox Television | |
Original release | |
Network | Fox |
Release | September 7 October 15, 1993 | –
The Chevy Chase Show was an American late night
History
Creation and pre-production
In 1993, Fox asked
Fox spent $1 million to renovate the Aquarius Theater, the Los Angeles venue where the show would be recorded. Days before the show's premiere, the theater's name was changed to the Chevy Chase Theater.[3]
Formula and trademarks
The Chevy Chase Show was one of several late-night talk shows developed by various networks in the year following the retirement of
The program's lead-in featured a clay-animated Chase stealing letters from notable Los Angeles landmarks to spell the name of his show. As the credits rolled at the end of each episode, Chase was seen shooting basketballs at an onstage backstop.
Episodes
According to newspaper listings, Chase's guests during the 29-episode run included:
- Week of September 6, 1993: Goldie Hawn, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Priestley, Harry Anderson, Martin Short, Kathleen Turner, Robert Townsend
- Week of September 13, 1993: Tom Selleck, Dennis Hopper, Anita Morris, Jennie Garth, Garrett Morris, Al Franken
- Week of September 20, 1993: Deborah Allen, Rita Rudner, Engelbert Humperdinck, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Sinbad, Janis Ian, Robert De Niro, Kenny Loggins, Dean Cain
- Week of September 27, 1993: Ron Silver, Jonathan Frakes, Sam Elliott, Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Henry Rollins
- Week of October 4, 1993: Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Tom, Dave Thomas, Queen Latifah, Doug E. Doug, Bill Nye, Joe Queenan, Michael Damian, Valerie Bertinelli, Taylor Dayne
- Week of October 11, 1993: Canadian Brass, Burt Reynolds, Dan Fogelberg, Maria McKee, A Martinez, Martin Sheen, Alexandra Paul, Jim Varney
- Guests slated for October 18, 1993: Elizabeth Ashley, Don Rickles
Reviews
Television critic Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the show an F late in its run in 1993.[6] Tucker noted that "the audience that fills Hollywood's new Chevy Chase Theatre has steadily turned into the worst-behaved crowd in late-night television; they hoot and yell and cheer over whatever pitiful chatter Chase is attempting to wring out of a luckless guest."[6] In another review, Time panned the show: "Nervous and totally at sea, Chase tried everything, succeeded at nothing."[7] The magazine criticized Chase for having "recycled old material shamelessly," taking pratfalls, and even pleading with the audience to stand up and dance in their seats.[7]
Cancellation
Advertisers had been promised that the show would bring between five and six million viewers nightly.[8][9] By contrast, Late Show with David Letterman guaranteed fewer than four million viewers to their advertisers.[9] The Chevy Chase Show's actual ratings were much lower, averaging fewer than three million viewers.[8] Fewer than two million people tuned in during the show's final weeks.[8]
Lucie Salhany, the then-chairwoman of Fox Broadcasting, announced on October 17, 1993, that the network had decided to cancel the show "in the best interests of both its affiliated stations and its star".
Within 48 hours of the final show, workmen had already dismantled and painted over the Chevy Chase Theater's sign.
In a 2007 interview with Time, Chase spoke of the show, saying that it was "an entirely different concept than what was pushed on me. I would never do it again. What I wanted had a whole different feel to it, much darker and more improv. But we never got there."[13] In an A&E Biography on Chase in 2009, Chase explained that because he had signed a contract with Fox, he was obligated to do the show the way the network wanted. During an interview on Norm Macdonald Has a Show, Chase reiterated his dislike of the experience, noting that the only thing he liked about the program was interviewing Robert De Niro.[14]
In 2002,
Chase later parodied the show's failure in a Doritos commercial that aired during Super Bowl XXVIII, in which the spot is literally cancelled midway through its production and Chase is banned from the studio lot. (“Tough year,” he remarks. “Good chip.”)
References
- ^ a b The New York Times article: "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox".
- ^ Entertainment Weekly article: "Err Time: Denise Richards is in good company -- look back at 10 major movie stars who flopped on TV".
- ^ a b c Entertainment Weekly article: "One Down".
- ^ "10 Questions with Mark DeCarlo". Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ The New York Times article: "The Set Makes The Host"
- ^ a b Entertainment Weekly article: "TV Review - Lord of the Ring (1993)".
- ^ a b Time article: "Late-Night Mugging".
- ^ a b c d e f The New York Times article: "Chevy Chase's Show Canceled After 6 Weeks".
- ^ a b The New York Times article: "Chevy Chase's Many Rivals: Jay, Dave and the Local News".
- ^ Read, Max (April 5, 2012). He's not Chevy, he's an (expletive): A history of Chevy Chase's horrific behavior Archived 2015-05-26 at the Wayback Machine. Gawker. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ^ "Fox network courting Stern to replace Chase, insider says". Los Angeles Daily News. November 25, 1993. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
- ^ Carter, Bill (April 12, 2010). "Conan O'Brien Will Do a Late-Night Show on TBS". The New York Times. p. 28. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ Time article: "10 Questions for Chevy Chase"
- ^ "Norm Macdonald Has a Show | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
- ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.
- ^ "Breaking News - TV Guide Network's "25 Biggest TV Blunders" Special Delivers 3.3 Million Viewers". The Futon Critic. 2010-03-02. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
External links
- The Chevy Chase Show at IMDb