Re: Leno will retire in \'09
Leno is too safe and generic. Extremely hokey. Carson was, too, but he did it with a bit of cleverness and charm.
Nah, Carson was neither safe (beyond what was required to not get yanked off the air in the era in which he was working) nor generic (although his accent was enough of a generic Midwestern to make him a difficult subject for impressionists to do recognizably).
He was very sweet and gentle, even a little protective, whenever his guest was a "civilian" (non-entertainers who had gotten on the show because they grew a potato that looked like Richard Nixon or who had won a state fair bird call contest) or a child (like the 6 or 8 year old Drew Barrymore).
However, with the pros (who were theoretically practiced in being in front of audiances and being interviewed) he had a very quick and cutting wit, which he wouldn't hesitate to use on the air. Of course, some of his best lines, being more than a little risque, were edited out of the broadcasts and were only seen years later on "Best of Carson" anniversary shows. Letterman has yet to use a facial expression to the camera, as a non-verbal reaction to something a guest has said, that Carson didn't use before him (plus Carson had a few more that I've never seen Letterman use).
No, Carson was no more a Leno-like safe and generic entertainer than the members of the Rat Pack were. Carson was truly a classic. Unfortuantely, people who aren't old enough to really remember watching him a fair amount will probably never truly "get" Carson; working in the 4 or 5 night per week format forced too much of his material to be tied to his time and the quick highlight clips can't really capture the whole tone and feel.
Of coarse, the same thing is true of Letterman. In 20 or 30 years the younger people won't understand what it was that made him such a big deal once upon a time.
Funny, I had always heard that dichotomy as Beatles / Stones, not Beatles / Elvis. Oh, well; not really important.
