» link: "tv party" documentary
if you missed this when it was on pitchfork.tv’s “one week only” online documentary series, pick it up if you get the chance. as the new york times reported today, the overwhelmingly white male world of late-night television is largely a safe lowest-common denominator brand of “variety” in the states, at least as far as guests and formats are concerned. it’s a populist refuge, a place where, even in the ridicule of celebrities, some sense “basic american values” are upheld. (hence why david letterman’s blasting of john mccain when the markets started to slide during the last election was so particularly damning.)
I’d much rather see a ramshackle attempt to blend the high(er)brow guests of “the daily show” with letterman at his absurdist best in a more renegade format.
I’m not sure why I’m hung up on the concept of “the variety show.” I guess I think it’s a powerful format capable of so much more. even bob dylan, the craggy-faced magpie of american letters, understands full well the concept’s checkered and dark past in this country. the times article seems to indicate there’s a populist reassurance to “the majority” in late-night television, but I’d argue you could actually create a more inclusive whole in a show that didn’t implicitly set up an “us v. them” argument at the outset.
February 28, 2009, 11:59am Comments
