Mark Evanier's Blog, page 18

Today's Video Link

In 1983, Johnny Carson did a two-hour special on NBC to celebrate his 21st year as host of The Tonight Show.  To promote the special, he sat for an interview with Bryan Gumbel that was serialized across several days of The Today Show…

More 2 Do at CCI

Those of you who were shocked that I was appearing on and/or hosting seventeen panels at Comic-Con can be further shocked. I'm now appearing on and/or hosting nineteen. I have joined this one…

Saturday, July 26 – 10 AM to 11 AM in Room 4
THE MANY HANDS OF BILL FINGER
Before Gotham had shadows, writer Bill Finger cast them. Comics scholar Dr. Alex Grand (Understanding Superhero Comic Books) moderates a lively conversation with Athena Finger (Bill's granddaughter and advocate), historian Bill Field (Field of Comics), playwright/filmmaker Lenny Schwartz (Bill Finger: Rise of the Bat) and Mark Evanier (administrator of the Bill Finger Award). Together they trace Finger's unseen influence across comics, television, and film and show why crediting Batman's co-creator still matters to today's storytellers and fans.

And I've also agreed to appear on another one but I'm going to wait and let its panel moderator announce my participation. Yes, I am well aware of how stupid this is of me.

This Weekend

[image error]

That's Dr. Z — "Z" as in "Zaius" — the talk show host no one dares cancel. If you're going to be in San Diego this Saturday night, as I expect some of you will be, you can catch Dr. Zaius doing his brilliant, improvised, different-every-time show at The American Comedy Company over on Sixth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. There are two shows — one at 7:30 PM and one at 9:30 PM — and you can get tickets at this link.

While you're over on that site, you might notice that on Thursday and Friday evenings, the American Comedy Company is featuring three of the best stand-up comedians working today — Natasha Leggero, Moshe Kasher and Dana Gould. There are rumors that Dana Gould has something to do with Dr. Z and I may ask him about this connection when he appears on my Cartoon Voices I panel at Comic-Con, which takes place Saturday afternoon at 1 PM in Room 6BCF. And then again, I may not. Wouldn't want to get on the bad side of Dr. Z.

More Colbert Discussion

My pal Paul Harris, with whom I have spent many an hour discussing late night television, has some thoughts about what Stephen Colbert will do upon completing the next ten months of The Late Show.  Mr. Colbert may be asking himself that very question at this very minute.

One thing of which I'm fairly certain is that the answer is, within reason, "Whatever he wants to do."  He may not be able to do it at a broadcast network like CBS but he will not want for opportunities.  He's widely respected, he has a huge following and he won't have his options limited because people will say his last show failed.  I could certainly imagine him migrating to HBO (or some network that wants to be HBO) and doing some show that might not fit the template of what he's done the last decade.

A few online folks have floated the idea that he may want to get into politics, perhaps running next year to take Lindsey Graham's seat in the U.S. Senate representing South Carolina. What an amazing battle that could be…but I'm not going to even imagine it's possible until such time as Colbert indicates any interest whatsoever in that line of work.

My guess would be he's in no hurry to decide on his next line o' work and may be waiting to see what happens with The Daily Show and Jon Stewart. There seems to be some concern that whatever factors led CBS to get out of late night programming could force some changes there…and elsewhere. Colbert's decision about where to go and what to do will probably have a lot to do with recognizing that the next niche he'll carve out for himself could be in a very different television industry…and maybe not a niche.

Donald Trump and the political turmoil in this country only have so much to do with those changes. The way The Internet has become such a part of our lives and how we're entertained and/or informed and/or make our purchasing decisions has smashed to pieces all the old business models of television. It's now a world of podcasts and YouTubers and Tik-Tok and streaming-on-demand and even if tomorrow you got an hour show on CBS, NBC or ABC each week, that might still be only part of the deal. Your success would rely a lot on clicks and online exposure and how your show appealed to those whose lives are irrevocably intertwined with their cell phones and home computers.

Colbert understands this. His whole time on The Late Show, he's had one foot in that world, almost like treating that audience as his primary market and the people who have TV sets that are only TV sets to them as secondary. He also has good management, that audience that will follow him just about anywhere and plenty of time to decide where he wants to go and what he wants to be. I'm quite fascinated to see what he decides. Quite fascinated.

Recommended Reading

Here's a pretty good article about the Stephen Colbert matter by Jason Zinoman. One aspect of all this that intrigues me is the suggestion, hinted at in this article and stated outright in others I've read, that the decline in audience for late night shows is because they've gotten too political.

I'm curious — and there may never be a real answer to this — how many viewers flock to Colbert's show and others because of the politics and how many are driven away. We can all understand how someone who thinks Donald Trump is Jesus Christ with too much bronzer might not want to watch monologues that bash him and studio audiences cheering the bashing. Okay…but I know some folks who hate Trump but don't want to be reminded of him just before bedtime.

I'll admit there have been times lately when I've watched Colbert and thought, "Is there anything else in the world you guys have a joke about?" There's probably no way to ever know how many viewers come and go because of this but I'd at least like to know what Mr. Colbert's educated guesses are about it.

Today's Bonus Video Link

Earlier today, I posted this video by longtime Las Vegas video blogger Steven Campbell about why prices are up there, business is down and you can have a very expensive, terrible time in what used to be a wonderful place to be a tourist. If you want to know more about the deterioration of the city, here's a video by another longtime video blogger, Jason Orth. He covers a lot of things that Steven didn't bring up…

I Queue

And if you're going to Comic-Con and will have to line up for the kind of things that require lining-up, here's a handy guide as to where you should line up for for the kind of things that require lining-up.

In Case You Missed It…

FACT CHECK: Falsehoods Galore

Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post has been one of the most reliable reporters out there. So when he says there's no evidence of Trump wrongdoing in the Epstein matter, that's not like some partisan stooge saying it. Of course, it also doesn't explain why Trump and so many of those around him are acting like there's a bombshell waiting to emerge.

And, speaking about acting guilty, Politifact bestows its coveted "Pants On Fire" award to Mr. Trump for his irrational insistence that the Epstein Files were written by Comey, Obama, Biden and other folks who weren't in office at the time and never did anything with those files they supposedly authored to destroy Trump.

FactCheck.org notes that Border Czar Tom Homan keeps insisting there are over 600,000 illegal aliens with criminal records walking the streets of this nation. But that number includes a lot of people who entered the U.S. legally and a lot who have never been convicted of anything.

Meanwhile, an analysis from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University is estimating that the "Big, Beautiful Bill" will lead to at least 42,500 preventable deaths each year and to a whole lot of suffering. Trump and his minions say otherwise…

…But then Trump is also throwing around some numbers about a surplus here and there which do not seem to the whole truth. And he also says his approval/disapprove numbers have never been more favorable to him while lots of other sources — Ed Kilgore cites some of them — are saying just the opposite. Who do you believe?

Today's Video Link

I've been telling you for some time here why I, once a frequent Vegas visitor, have no interest in going back to that city now. Would you like to hear someone corroborate everything I said and give even more reasons? Steven Campbell is a longtime resident of the town who posts videos about where to go and what to spend your money on and — more important — where not to go and what not to spend your money on.

Here's fifteen minutes of him ranting about what Sin City has become. When the man's right, he's right…