One Holiday Tradition Trashed (Dec 26, 2007)

The only pop style Christmas song that late night talk show host David Letterman actually likes is sung by the singer he invited to his Late Show series on NBC from 1986-1992, and his Late Show series on CBS from 1993-2006. The singer usually sings her famous holiday song on the last Letterman show before the Christmas break.

Darlene Love appears on his show to sing her classic Spector produced song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) each late December to a roof-raising performance. Letterman has called it his favorite part of the holiday season. Letterman eschews all of the other pop style Christmas songs that you have heard on the radio stations and says that this is the only one of its kind that he enjoys hearing each year.

The December 24th edition of "Late Show" would have aired on CBS if the show was still in production and Darlene would have sung at the end of the show. It would have been the 22nd consecutive year Darlene would have performed her song, but thanks to the greedy WGA writers, that tradition has been silenced and a record has been stifled, and that makes me furious.

To continue on with related matters, it was reported that Later host Carson Daly on NBC was told by the big heads at NBC to either bring back the show or have the remaining staff fired. Daly chose to put his show back into production on December 3rd rather than to have his show cancelled.

On January 2nd, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are going back to work with or without the striking writers, who don't seem to care about the non-union laborers who depend on the kingpin hosts of the late night talk shows to provide revenue for a living.

Since Daly's return, other network late-night hosts, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel and Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, have all announced plans to return next month. Kimmel returns January 2, while the latter two return January 7.

No word when David Letterman would return to his CBS show, or his follow-up host after his show ends, Craig Fergusion. Letterman's team of Worldwide Pants tried to make a deal with the striking writers to have them return to the airwaves, but the deal fell through. Letterman and Ferguson are both members of the WGA.

What's still going on in prime-time has getting a bit grim. There's more and more reality series than ever. ABC just concluded a week of "Duel" broadcasts Sunday. Yet another two-hour "Deal or No Deal" aired on NBC on Christmas Day. More reality show ideas are cropping up on the Titan TV schedule here and there and everywhere.

I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmetallica (Dec 26, 2007)

The Wires (Dec 26, 2007)

Star Tribune: From Dan K. Thomasson -- Should the FCC, having done its damage, fade away? Like many of the alphabet agencies of the Franklin Roosevelt administration, the FCC probably is an anachronism -- an oversight institution that is operating out of the nearsightedness of 70 years ago when radio was king and the age of television was just about to dawn and the Internet not imagined

The Wires (Dec 25, 2007)

From Nick Clooney: (editor's question: what game show did he host?) Answer below. Late last week, while addressing Christmas cards, a specific December 24th came to mind, unbidden. The year was 1974 and our family's small world was in flux, again. We had a daily talk-variety TV show on Channel 12 but, for reasons that would require a separate column, it produced no money for the family. I hosted a morning radio show on what was then WCKY and it provided a living wage. There had never been enough, however, for us to buy a home (read more - Cincy Post)

Happy Hare: Last Tuesday, I previewed for you a Regis Philbin script that I was going to do live on the show with Regis. The next day, he called in, and we performed it. On the air leading up to his call, I set up the bit by claiming that I could solve any listeners’ personal problems and invited listeners to call me. I gave the studio number and Regis was on the line. You can hear the bit with Regis as it happened “live” on the air (read more and hear more - www.HappyHareOnline.com)

Answer to Nick Clooney Question (Dec 25, 2007)