The Wilton North Report
| The Wilton North Report | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Fox |
| Release | December 11, 1987 – January 8, 1988 |
| Related | |
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The Wilton North Report is a
Format
As first conceived, The Wilton North Report's opening segment, which was planned to be its signature segment, would review the day's news using actual footage, then have the hosts comment on it in a funny, hard-hitting fashion.
Later in the show's brief run, The Wilton North Report was to completely change its format, reducing its reliance on comedy and moving toward having Cowan and Robins serve as "veejays" in presenting "mini-documentaries" on various real people and events; Paul Krassner would also present and comment on "underground videos" alongside Cowan and Robins.[1]
Behind the scenes
In the spring and summer of 1987,
During Hall's 13-week commitment with The Late Show, Fox would proceed with grooming its replacement, with the network originally approaching
With a writing team in place, Sand would map out a plan for The Wilton North Report that included two hosts and segments based on real, as opposed to fictitious, people and situations. The show's centerpiece segment would be its leadoff feature, a daily review of the day's news events (using actual news footage) in a comical and light-hearted yet still hard-hitting tone. Sand called Wilton North "
Almost from the outset, creative differences occurred between The Wilton North Report's writing team, Sand, and Cowan and Robins. The hosts thought the writers' material was too sophisticated for mass audiences and frequently not very funny; the writers thought Cowan and Robins were less than erudite and felt uncomfortable writing for them. Sand tried to make peace between the hosts and writers, seeking material that Cowan and Robins would feel comfortable with yet encouraging the hosts to town down their shrill delivery. Pre-debut rehearsals did not impress Sand nor Fox executives, who decided on November 29 to push back Wilton North's premiere, which had been scheduled for the next night, to allow the crew extra time to gel (the hosts and writers had been together for not even a week). The delay also meant a retooling of the show, beginning with Sand's scrapping of the opening news review segment; Sand believed it did not mesh with Cowan and Robin's friendly approach,[4] while Fox objected to its crude humor.[7]
By the time Wilton North did finally reach the air on December 11,
Later episodes of Wilton North would see a greater reliance on long-form videos and feature reporting, with such examples including a report presented by Aron Ranen on a dominatrix that specialized in corporal punishment, as well as a feature on a high school basketball team in South Carolina that hadn't won a game in five years (though they pulled off a win when a Wilton North crew filmed them in action). The idea was to have Cowan and Robins generally serve as presenters and offer comments on what was being shown. Staff writer and commentator Paul Krassner would also be on hand to introduce and discuss "underground videos" with the hosts. Krassner, in what he would later term a "practice" segment, discussed the highlights of 1987 with Cowan and Robins on the January 1 broadcast, with the possibility that such analyses would become permanent the following week (a possibility Krassner was thrilled about doing, as he would recall in a February 1988 Los Angeles Times piece about his time at Wilton North).[4] By this time, however, Fox's affiliates grew restless and demanded that the show be cancelled immediately; Fox would announce Wilton North's cancellation on January 5, 1988, with network president Jamie Kellner calling the show "a bit too ambitious."[4] The show's 21st and final episode would air on January 8.
Aftermath
After The Wilton North Report left the air, reruns of
After cancellation, The Wilton North Report staff would move on to other projects, among them:
- Executive producer Barry Sand would produce another short-lived daily series, a 1990
- Hosts Phil Cowan and Paul Robins went on to appear as "The Answer Guys" alongside host Cable Aceaward.
- Writer and commentator Paul Krassner would continue work as an author, commentator, and stand-up comic, with noted works including the 1994 book Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counter-Culture.
- Two other Wilton North writers, The Office and Parks and Recreation, while O'Brien would later head back to late-night TV as host of Late Night, The Tonight Show, and Conan. O'Brien, in a 2006 interview with The A.V. Club, recalled his time at Wilton North (where he not only wrote but appeared in on-air skits and served as an audience warm-up) as "being a part of a horrible shipwreck that makes you a better sailor, provided you stay in the business."[13]
- Writer Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and co-author the book Lean In: Women, Work, And The Will To Lead with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
- Writer Emmy Award.[14] He also was renowned in 2013 for his ongoing Twitter feud with businessman and future U.S. president Donald Trump.[15]
References
- ^ a b "An Insider's Report on the Death of 'Wilton North'" Archived 2012-12-23 at the Wayback Machine, from Los Angeles Times, 2/14/1988 (via LaneSarasohn.com)
- ^ "The Late Show with Arsenio Hall: Final Show" on YouTube
- ^ "The News Arrives in 2 New Packages," from Los Angeles Times, 11/30/1987
- ^ a b c d e f KRASSNER, PAUL (February 14, 1988). "An Insider's Report on the Death of 'Wilton North'" – via LA Times.
- ^ a b Hofstede, David: "What Were They Thinking?: The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History", pp. 78–80. VNU, Inc., 2004
- ^ Scovell, Nell (Dec 11, 2012). "Inside the Greatest Writers Room You've Never Heard Of". Archived from the original on January 30, 2014. Retrieved Aug 9, 2013.
- ^ a b "Fox Broadcasting Postpones Debut of 'Wilton North,'" from Los Angeles Times, 12/1/1987
- ^ "'Wilton North' makes first report tonight," from Houston Chronicle, 12/11/1987
- ^ "The Case Of The Good Tv Show-it's A `Mystery`" from Chicago Tribune, 12/17/1987
- ^ "Fox Tries Late-night Wit Again With 'Wilton North'," from Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/18/1987
- ^ "Fox Planning New Late-Night Show to Replace Canceled 'Wilton North Report'," from Los Angeles Times, 1/8/1988
- ^ "The Wrong Man in the Right Place at the Right Time," from Spy magazine, 9/1990 (via SCTVGuide.ca)
- ^ "Interview: Conan O'Brien," from The A.V. Club, 8/30/2006
- ^ "Danny Zuker". IMDb.
- ^ Parker, Brinton. "Donald Trump Got Into a Twitter Fight and Got Burned So Bad".
