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Night Watch 50 Years of Late Night Television
Bill Brioux
ISBN: 0-275-99756-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99756-4
204 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 2/28/2010
List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £31.95)
Availability: Not yet published. (Estimated publication date, 2/28/2010)
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Description: Today, well into the era of Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, Ferguson, and Stewart, and 50 years after Steve Allen wrote the blueprint for Late Night TV on NBC's The Tonight Show, late night talk TV remains as Johnny Carson once described it: the last arena of television as it was originally intended. Through first-hand accounts with the stars and principle players of late night, Brioux recounts all of late night's milestones and highlights. This is primarily the story of the five men who have dominated the late night scene since its inception: Allen, Paar, Carson, Letterman, and Leno, but is also includes a forecast of how the next Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien will do when he takes over from Jay Leno in 2008.

Night Watch: 50 Years of Late Night Television tells the story of how late night talk shows began and how they have maintained their longstanding traditions. Through first-hand accounts with the stars and principle players of late night, Brioux recounts all of late night's milestones and highlights, from Jack Paar's famous water closet battle with the NBC censors, to Tiny Tim's bizarre 1969 wedding on The Tonight Show, to Drew Barrymore's spontaneous birthday flash on Letterman's desk.

Beyond the Big Five, there are also stories from and about other popular hosts as well as late night's biggest flops. More than just a chronological history of these shows, Night Watch argues that the nightly talk shows helped shape and alter public opinion, made and unmade presidents and other leaders, and had a far greater impact on the political and social landscape in America than any other form of network television programming. From Carson's nightly jabs at Nixon during the Watergate era to Bill Clinton's shades and sax on Arsenio Hall, late night viewers have had a box seat on the political landscape.
About the Author: BILL BRIOUX has been a featured voice in a wide range of national media - both as a key pundit in a variety of radio, television and on-line forums, and as a contributor to several leading publications. He has served on the board of directors of the Television Critics Association, and his weekly television commentary Brioux On The Box is distributed nationally by The Canadian Press. From 1999 to 2007, as daily television columnist for The Toronto Sun, his humorous - and always outspoken - take on television and pop culture garnered numerous accolades, including two Edward A. Dunlop Awards for critical writing. His Praeger book, Truth and Rumors: The Reality behind TV's Most Famous Myths, published in 2008.
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