The Tonight Show: Season 4
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Sep 27, 1954
  • Season #: 1 , 3 , 4 , 5
The Tonight Show Image
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  • Summary: Tonight began in June 1953 as a local show on WNBT-TV, the NBC flagship station in New York. Steve Allen was the original host, and remained with the show when it moved to the network 15 months later. Under Allen, Tonight was very informal. He would open each evening seated at the piano, chatting and playing some of his
    own compositions. He then went to his desk, where he
    talked about anything that seemed to interest him.
    There were guest stars, in addition to his semi-
    regulars, but the emphasis was on Steve and his
    comedic ad-libbing. The entire one hour and fourty
    five minute show was done live.
    When Allen's prime-time series premiered in the
    summer of 1956, he cut back his Tonight appearances
    to Wednesday through Friday. A series of guest hosts
    filled in on Mondays and Tuesdays until Ernie Kovacs
    took over as Monday-Tuesday host on October 1, 1956.
    When Steve Allen left in January 1957, Tonight was
    replaced by a totally different type of program called
    "Tonight! America After Dark." The show lasted six
    months with hosts Jack Lescoulie and Al Collins.
    The show was not successful with viewers or critics,
    so it was decided to return to a format closer to
    the original, thus The Jack Paar Show began. When
    Paar ended his run on March 30, 1962, The Tonight
    Show aired with a succession of substitute hosts,
    while awaiting the arrival of Johnny Carson on
    October 2, 1962. Carson remained the host for
    three decades until he turned the show over
    to Jay Leno on May 25, 1992.
    … Expand
  • Genre(s): Variety Shows, Talk & Interview

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