I'm a huge fan of late night, and late-night talk shows were hit by the lockdown caused by the pandemic in a way no other genre on television has to go through. Their raison d'etre (I know I spelled that wrong, but I don't know all the French diacritical marks I need to put in that word) is being the last word, so to speak, for the events that happened the day of, so they have to do live shows, like, 250 days of the year. Also, they do it in front of a live audience because it's been that way since Steve Allen pioneered the genre at The Dawn Of The Age Of Television. Large crowds have essentially been banned until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus, and yet the virus itself is newsworthy enough that shutting down talk shows until there is a vaccine kind of feels like shutting down a television station. So for late night, the show must go on.
In a different format, of course. I think there was, like, one day -- and I think you know That Day, even though for the life of me I cannot remember the exact date of That Day -- where all the talk shows went on, business as usual, except for the hastily-decreed ban on audiences, so they were doing their shows in cavernous studios because there was no one there to cheer the next guest and laugh at the host's jokes. After That Day, governments got scared shitless over the virus and shut down all television productions not deemed essential (so, essentially, TV stations and that's it). So if I recall correctly (and again I'm kind of shocked I don't remember what happened five months ago), there were a couple weeks where there were no new episodes of late night. And that suuuuuucked.
But again, those shows can't just shut down for however long it takes until there's a vaccine. (Well, maybe Lilly Singh; she's been in reruns for months, and since the show just started, I swear they've re-aired every single episode they've made at least three times during this pandemic.) So they found a way to come back and do new shows: They were doing them at home.
And that is weird. Well, was. Seeing Fallon, Colbert, Kimmel, Corden and Myers set up ad hoc studios from a room in their houses (even though I know someone from the production potentially broke emergency orders and helped them set up lighting, camera and audio because, let's face it, hosts don't know how to do that shit) felt like a huge invasion of privacy. But I had to shove aside my principles because it's a damn pandemic, and who cares if they're doing shows from home? And by golly, I grew to like having a behind-the-scenes peek at these hosts' private lives. In particular I love the way Jimmy Fallon showcased his two rambunctious daughters whenever he enlisted their help for Thank You Notes, and I loved the Tuesday feature where he and his wife walked around the neighborhood and answered viewer questions. It was a nice and fun way to show the hosts are still trying to entertain America.
Then, as of a month ago, things changed again. Under pressure from a public in the conniption fits of caution fatigue, governments decided it was OK for larger work environments to reopen with stricter protocols in place to fight transmission of the virus. Fallon was the first to drive back to work and do shows from his studio, even though there still is no audience and they reconfigured the set (whether it was done to accommodate a setting with no crowds or if it was already planned, I don't know). A couple weeks ago Colbert and Corden did the same. Myers is still doing his shows from home. Kimmel just decided to take a vacation for the rest of the summer; guests hosts have been filling in, doing shows from a set that apparently is an abandoned mansion with, I'm guessing, a skeleton crew.
And I say this as someone who regularly criticizes things for being different until I get used to it, but I find the current setup with shows back in studios to be jarring. There should be people in the audience, but there are none. So why are you back in the studio? The audience is a very important part of a live-to-tape show, and especially talk shows. You don't have instant feedback, you might as well be taping a drama in a closed set. Also, remember that all this time the late-night hosts have been doing interviews with guests via videoconference calls. The hosts are at the studio, but the guests can't be. So, once again, why are you back in the studio? If the guests are doing interviews from home, the hosts might as well do the same. I understand getting stir crazy and putting a firm boundary between work and home, but it seems like such a waste of time and fossil fuels to drive to a studio to do a talk show when it doesn't feel at all like a talk show. Hell, I kind of feel sorry for the behind-the-scenes people who have had to schlep back to work when talk shows decided to go back to their venues.
Anyway, I'm glad there are new shows to watch, period. And maybe, someday soon, there will be a vaccine so everybody can go pack the studios and late night shows can be late night shows again. And all this awkwardness will be a faded memory.
No comments:
Post a Comment