The Chevy Chase Show

''The Chevy Chase Show'' was an American late night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Chevy Chase that aired in 1993 on Fox. The series was canceled after five weeks on the air.

History

Creation and pre-production

Fox originally asked country musician Dolly Parton to host a new late night program—the network's first since '' The Late Show'', originally hosted by Joan Rivers, and later hosted by both Arsenio Hall and Ross Shafer, was cancelled in October 1988. Parton turned the network down, and suggested Chase for the job.''Entertainment Weekly'' article:
Err Time: Denise Richards is in good company -- look back at 10 major movie stars who flopped on TV
. Chase reportedly signed a $3 million deal with Fox. To clear room for Chase, Fox cancelled the program that had been in Fox's late-night slot at the time, the game show '' Studs''.

Days before the show's premiere, the name of the venue where the show was recorded was changed from the Aquarius Theater to the Chevy Chase Theater, and Fox spent $1 million in renovations.''Entertainment Weekly'' article:
One Down
.

Formula and trademarks

''The Chevy Chase Show'' was one of several late night talk shows that various networks put on the air after Johnny Carson retired from hosting NBC's highly successful ''The Tonight Show''. The show premiered a week after the first ''Late Show with David Letterman'' and a week before the first ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. In keeping with the formula Carson and David Letterman had established, the show featured a house band that Chase called the best band in the world: the Tom Scott-led MBC Orchestra (which would later be called The Hollywood Express). Like several other late-night shows (the most notable exception being the Jay Leno-hosted ''Tonight Show''), the host secured ownership rights to his show; Chase produced it through his company, Cornelius Productions. The show's set featured a tank with live fish (visible during interviews), basketball hoops, and shelves of toys,''The New York Times'' article:
The Set Makes The Host
as well as a desk with a built-in piano.

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.''Entertainment Weekly'' article:
TV Review - Lord of the Ring (1993)
. 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." In another review, ''Time'' panned the show: "Nervous and totally at sea, Chase tried everything, succeeded at nothing." 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.''Time'' article:
Late-Night Mugging
.

Cancellation

Advertisers had been promised that the show would bring between five and six million viewers nightly. By contrast, ''Late Show with David Letterman'' guaranteed fewer than four million viewers to their advertisers.''The New York Times'' article:
Chevy Chase's Many Rivals: Jay, Dave and the Local News
. ''The Chevy Chase Shows actual ratings were much lower, averaging fewer than three million viewers. Fewer than two million people tuned in during the show's final weeks.''The New York Times'' article:
Chevy Chase's Show Canceled After 6 Weeks
.

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." Salhany spoke about Chase's first episodes: "He was very nervous. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing to watch it."''The New York Times'' article:
THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox
. Chase issued a statement regarding the cancellation, in which he called the talk-show format "very constraining" and promoted his upcoming film, ''Cops and Robbersons''. Chase had never intended the show to be a long-term series, even if it had been successful, and admitted in an interview that he would "never be tied down for five years interviewing TV personalities."

Although Fox dropped the show after four weeks, it ran for a week after the cancellation announcement. The entire last week was dedicated to making light of the show's "success". Within 48 hours of the final show, workmen had already dismantled and painted over the Chevy Chase Theater's sign. The theater was later renamed the Nickelodeon on Sunset, which remained its name until the theatre closed in 2017. Fox ran reruns of ''In Living Color'' in the former time slot of ''The Chevy Chase Show'' after the cancellation. In November 1993, Fox was in talks with Howard Stern to replace Chase's show, but the talks went nowhere. With the exceptions of talking with Stern and attempting to sign Conan O'Brien in the early 2000s, Fox has not attempted to air late-night network programming on weeknights since ''The Chevy Chase Show'' left the air, opting to give the 11:00p.m.midnight time slot back to its affiliates, some of whom use at least part of that time to air extensions of their 10:00p.m. local newscasts.

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." 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.

In 2002, TV Guide ranked the show number 16 on its ''TV Guide's 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time'' list, and in 2010, TV Guide Network listed the show at No. 16 on their list of ''25 Biggest TV Blunders'' alongside ''The Megan Mullally Show''.

See also

* '' The Magic Hour''
* ''The New Tom Green Show''

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevy Chase Show
1993 American television series debuts
1993 American television series endings
1990s American late-night television series
1990s American television talk shows
English-language television shows
Fox late-night programming
Television series by 20th Century Fox Television