Later (talk show): Difference between revisions

'''''Later''''' is a nightly half-hour-long [[late-night talk show]] that ran on [[NBC]] from 1988 until 2001.

It typically aired for a half an -hour four nights a week at 1:30 a.m. following ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'' from 1988 to 1993, and ''[[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]'' from 1993 to 2001. It was hosted by [[Bob Costas]] from 1988 to 1994, [[Greg Kinnear]] from 1994 to 1996, various guest hosts from 1996 to 2000, and finally Cynthia Garrett (the first African-American woman to host a network late-night show) from 2000 until 2001. ''Later'' was succeeded by ''[[Last Call with Carson Daly]]'' in 2002.

{{quote box|quote=''To be a good guest on Later, you had to have a body of work. And I pat myself on the back here, but it also goes to the producers and researchers: show business people and athletes stay up at odd hours and they watched the show in disproportionate numbers so a lot of people who didn't do TV back then—and there was still a lot of people who didn't do a lot of TV then—did Later. [[Paul McCartney]] did and he hadn't done any US television in 10 years, [[Robert Duvall]] who hates interviews did a three-parter, [[Paul Simon]] did, as did [[Carole King]] who hardly ever does any television and is very shy, [[Elie Wiesel]] did, [[Martin Scorsese]] did Later and then showed it to his [[Tisch School of the Arts|film class]] at [[New York University|NYU]]... <br>Even the athletes we had—[[Hank Aaron]], [[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar|Kareem]], [[Jim Brown]], [[John Wooden]], [[Mickey Mantle]]—were people with significant life stories, we didn't go after the hot athletes of the moment... <br>Of course, there were times when on Monday you'd have a show for the [[time capsule]] and then on Tuesday, just because you had to have a show, you had someone who was in a sitcom or had a movie coming out that week. We did well over 600 shows, and I wouldn't want the bottom 100 of them to be re-released, but I think most of them held up pretty well.''|source=Costas in 2017 on his time hosting ''Later''.<ref name="simmons-costas-on-later-october-2017">{{cite news|last=Simmons|first=Bill|url=https://soundcloud.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/bob-costas-on-learning-from-letterman-the-olympics-future-and-the-best-baseball-storylines-ep-272|title=Bob Costas on Letterman, the Future of the Olympics (Ep. 272) (25:40)|agency=The Bill Simmons Podcast|date=13 October 2017|access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref><ref name="simmons-costas-apple-on-later-october-2017">{{cite news|first=Bill |last=Simmons |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/is/podcast/bob-costas-on-learning-from-letterman-future-olympics/id1043699613?i=1000393452404 |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status=live |title=Bob Costas on Letterman, the Future of the Olympics (Ep. 272) (25:40) |agency=Gracija.baThe Bill Simmons Podcast |date=13 October 2017 |access-date=18 October 2017}}</ref>|width=28%|align=right}}

In the summer of [[1988 in American television|1988]], NBC decided to again start producing original programming in the 1:30&nbsp;a.m. Monday- through Thursday slot following an almost 5five-year period—ever since the late fall 1983 cancellation of ''[[NBC News Overnight]]'' went off the air in late fall 1983—during—during which the time slot had been vacant and local affiliates either [[sign-off|signed off for the night]] or programmed the airtime themselves. NBC sportscaster [[Bob Costas]] was brought in as the host of the new program.<ref>{{cite news |last=Barnhart|first=Aaron|date=June 3, 2021|title=Later, Later: After 33 Years, NBC's 1:30 A.M. Talk Show Franchise Is History|url=https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/later|work=Primetimer|location= |access-date=}}</ref> Created and produced by [[Dick Ebersol]], ''Later'' represented something of a break from the typical American late night TV talk show format of the era; featuring Costas and a single guest having an intense conversation for the entire half hour—without a house band, opening monologue, studio audience or guest musical performances, close to what [[Tom Snyder]] had done on ''[[The Tomorrow Show|Tomorrow]]'' in a similar timeslot during the 1970s and would again do on ''[[The Late Late Show (CBS TV series)|The Late Late Show]]'' in the mid-1990s.

By the time he was hired for NBC's new late-night talk show, 36-year-old Costas had been with [[NBC Sports]] for almost a decade, most prominently as the [[List of NFL on NBC pregame show panelists|studio host]] of the [[NFL on NBC|network's NFL coverage]]—occasionally getting to branch out into longer form interviews with various athletes. Additionally, since 1983, he had been making regular appearances on ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'' as part of the show's comedy pieces—mostly as a [[straight man]] sportscaster providing live commentary of absurd 'events' thought up by Letterman's writing staff, such as [[elevator]] or [[fire extinguisher]] races in the [[RCA Building]] and search for the ''Late Night'' baby. According to Costas, it was in fact Letterman—an admirer of his sports interviews—who had something to do with Costas getting what turned out to be the ''Later'' job by suggesting that the sportscaster could do a late night talk show to senior vice president of NBC Sports Dick Ebersol who had influence beyond NBC Sports owing to a close friendship with the president of NBC's entertainment division [[Brandon Tartikoff]].<ref name="simmons-lettermancostas-on-later-october-2017"/><ref name="simmons-costas-apple-on-later-october-2017"/>

''Later'' was taped in [[New York City]] at [[GE Building]]'s famousfamed [[Studio 8H]], and occasionally in [[Los Angeles]]. Costas interviewed a single guest for 45 minutes to an hour in real time before turning the material over to editors, who condensed it down to 22 minutes plus commercials.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmyB934SsDI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007162848/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmyB934SsDI |archive-date=2013-10-07 |url-status=dead|title=YouTube |publisher=YouTube |access-date=2013-09-16}}</ref> On several occasions, an interview with a particularly noteworthy guest (examples include [[Paul McCartney]], [[David Crosby]], [[Bob Seger]], [[Don Rickles]], [[Jerry Lewis]], [[David Letterman]], [[Garry Shandling]], [[Gene Siskel|Siskel]] & [[Roger Ebert|Ebert]], [[Mel Brooks]], [[Roger Corman]], [[Robert Duvall]] and [[Martin Scorsese]]) was shown over multiple nights. These in-depth discussions won Costas much praise for his interviewing skills. Costas resided in [[St. Louis]] all through his run on ''Later'', flying to New York City once per week to shoot a week worth of shows, recording all four in a single day.

''Later'' occasionally had guest hosts substituting for Costas, including [[Pat Sajak]], [[Katie Couric]], [[Chris Connelly (journalist)|Chris Connelly]], [[Matt Lauer]], [[Tom Snyder]], [[Jonathon Brandmeier]], [[Paul Provenza]] and [[Jeff Cesario]]. Guest host Snyder's March 22, [[1991 in American television|1991]] interview with thethen thirty-seven37-year-old New York City -based [[shock jock]] [[Howard Stern]]—whose raunchy morning drive-time radio show, in addition to New York, had been syndicated to two more [[East Coast of the United States|U.S. East Coast]] markets and who came on ''Later'' to plug his ''[[Crucified by the FCC]]'' CD boxset—was particularly notable since the host and guest, while mostly remaining cordial and civil, aggressively and sarcastically expressed dislike for each other throughout the interview, often engaging in heated, testy, and uncomfortable exchanges.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGtPVW7qNFM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/fGtPVW7qNFM |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Howard Stern @ Later with guest host Tom Snyder, 22 March 1991 |publisher=YouTube |date=2008-11-15 |access-date=2013-09-16}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Though the two met face to face for the first (and last) time on this occasion, former NBC late night host Snyder now doing a nightly radio show for [[Cumulus Media Networks|ABC Radio]] and syndicated morning shock jock Stern [[The Howard Stern Show|heard]] in the [[WINS-FM|New York City]], [[WYSP-FM|Philadelphia]], and [[WJFK-FM|D.C.]] radio markets had had a prior record of mutual attack on their respective media outlets that continued after the show.

After making a much-publicized switch to [[CBS]], [[David Letterman]] (who had until June 1993 hosted ''Later''<nowiki/>'s NBC lead-in ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]'') and his [[Worldwide Pants|production company]] offered Costas a hosting job on the newly- launched ''[[The Late Late Show (American talk show)#Tom Snyder (1995–1999)|The Late Late Show]]'', based on his performance and exposure on ''Later''. CBS also offered Costas a correspondent role on ''[[60 Minutes]]'' if he accepted Letterman's offer. Costas declined, however, citing his relationship with Ebersol and his desire to remain with NBC Sports. Instead, Tom Snyder would become the inaugural host of ''The Late Late Show'', which began its run in January 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-03|title=Bob Costas: David Letterman/CBS made him 'tempting' offer to leave NBC|url=https://awfulannouncing.com/cbs/bob-costas-tempted-nbc-cbs-letterman-late-show-60-minutes.html|access-date=2021-11-04|website=Awful Announcing|language=en-US}}</ref>

Following Costas's departure in February 1994, ''Later'' reverted toadopted a conventional late night talk show format, with [[Greg Kinnear]] becoming the new host. His first episode aired February 28, 1994.

''[[Friday Night Videos|Friday Night]]'' host [[Rita Sever]] was the most consistent guest host during this period of time. Other guest hosts came from just about any facet of public life in the United States, including the supermodel [[Cindy Crawford]] and, actress/comedienne [[Lynne Koplitz]], actor/comedian/radio personality [[Jay Thomas]], stand-up comic/talk show host [[Jon Stewart]], actress [[Tasha Smith]], stand-up comic [[George Wallace (American comedian)|George Wallace]], comedian [[Tommy Davidson]], actor [[Judd Nelson]], actor/comedian [[Harland Williams]], actor/comedian [[David Alan Grier]], comedian [[Jim Breuer]], sports personality [[Ahmad Rashad]], actor [[Jerry O'Connell]], actress Lisa Amsterdam and actor/comedian [[Michael Rapaport]].