The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, & the Network Battle for the Night is a 1994 non-fiction book written by The New York Times media reporter Bill Carter. It chronicles the early 1990s conflict surrounding the American late-night talk show The Tonight Show. The book was later made into a film of the same name by HBO.

Contents[link]

The book chronicles the behind-the-scenes corporate battle surrounding American late-night talk shows, leading up to, and after, Johnny Carson's 1992 retirement as host of NBC's The Tonight Show. The book primarily details the power struggle between David Letterman and Jay Leno to succeed Carson as the "King of Late Night", NBC choosing Leno over Letterman as the next Tonight Show host, and Letterman later moving to rival network CBS.

Cast of characters[link]

The following is a partial list of people featured in the book:

Major principals

• Johnny Carson: Host of The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992.
• Jay Leno: Permanent guest host of The Tonight Show since 1986. Chosen by NBC to succeed Carson as host.
• David Letterman: Host of NBC's 12:30am show Late Night with David Letterman since 1982. After being bypassed as Carson's successor in favor of Leno, moves to rival network CBS in 1993.

Others

• Helen Kushnick: Leno's tough manager who helps him secure his spot as Carson's successor. Becomes executive producer of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but her fierce tactics eventually force both NBC and Leno to fire her.
• Peter Lassally: Executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and later Late Night with David Letterman. Becomes an unofficial counselor to Letterman after Leno is selected to succeed Carson.
• Michael Ovitz: Head of the Creative Artists Agency from 1975 to 1995. Hired by Letterman to negotiate his move from NBC to another network, studio, or syndicator (eventually CBS).
• Howard Stringer: President of CBS from 1988 to 1995. After several unsuccessful attempts to break NBC's ratings stranglehold on the late night hours, negotiates to bring Letterman to his network.
• Brandon Tartikoff: President of NBC's entertainment division from 1981 to 1991. Instrumental in helping to build NBC's 1980s late night lineup of Carson and Letterman, as well as signing Leno to be Carson's permanent guest host in 1986.
• Bob Wright: President of NBC from 1986 to 2007. Tries to negotiate to keep Letterman on NBC.

Reception[link]

In a review of The Late Shift for The New York Times Book Review, Jon Katz wrote, "[This] is a reporter's book, unfailingly balanced, thoroughly researched, filled with scoops and fresh details. Even though CBS's wooing and winning of Mr. Letterman was the subject of enormous publicity, Mr. Carter's book makes clear that we knew less than we thought about what was really going on."^[1] Katz criticized the book for not going into more depth about Letterman's switch to CBS, writing, "As readable as it is, 'The Late Shift' needed to take a more critical, detached look at the long-term significance of Mr. Letterman's move. A number of questions are not addressed."^[1] He concluded, "'The Late Shift' is nonetheless a powerful story, and ultimately a sad one, filled with casualties as well as winners. Mr. Leno, who has been made to seem a second choice by the very people who elevated him, has been betrayed by his employers in the most basic of ways, and he has not yet recovered."^[1]

Kim Campbell reviewed the book for The Christian Science Monitor, and commented that the book was "well-written" and "eye-opening".^[2]

Talk-show host Howard Stern frequently cites the book as one of his favorites.

Lawsuit[link]

Helen Kushnick, Jay Leno's manager at the time of Carson's retirement who was pushed out following her heavy-handed tactics, filed a $30 million lawsuit against Bill Carter, claiming libel. Specifically, her case related to a claim that she planted a story about Carson's retirement in a New York City tabloid.^[3] The then-pending lawsuit was noted in the closing credits of the film, as the Broadway tune "There's No Business Like Show Business" plays. The lawsuit settled out of court for an undisclosed sum; Kushnick died of cancer in August 1996.^[4]

Film adaptation[link]

A film adaption of the book was produced in 1996 by HBO, directed by Betty Thomas, and starring John Michael Higgins as Letterman and Daniel Roebuck as Leno. The film received seven Emmy Award nominations in categories including "Outstanding Made for Television Movie",^[5] makeup,^[6] casting,^[6] writing,^[7] and directing,^[5] acting.^[5] For her role in the film as Helen Kushnick, actress Kathy Bates won awards from the American Comedy Awards,^[8] the Golden Globe Awards,^[9] the Satellite Awards,^[10] and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.^[11] The film was also recognized with an award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials" from the Directors Guild of America Awards.^[12]

Sequel[link]

A sequel to The Late Shift called The War for Late Night, based on the controversy involving Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show and NBC was released on November 4, 2010.^[13]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Carter, Bill (January 30, 1994). "Behind the Headlines in the Leno-Letterman War". New York Times: p. 628. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/30/magazine/behind-the-headlines-in-the-leno-letterman-war.html?pagewanted=1. 
• Carter, Bill (2007). Desperate Networks. Broadway. pp. 333–340. ISBN 0-7679-1974-2. 

Lawsuit

• Helen Gorman Kushnick v. Disney Book Publishing, Inc., et al. (1994) Los Angeles Superior Court

Book reviews

• "The Late Shift". Barron's (Chicopee, Massachusetts): 66. March 7, 1994. ISSN 1077-8039. 
• Rosen, Jay (February 22, 1994). "The Late Shift". The New York Times (Late New York Edition) (The New York Times Company): C20. ISSN 0362-4331. 
• Waters, Harry F. (February 21, 1994). "The Late Shift". Newsweek 123: 62. ISSN 0028-9604. 

External links[link]

• "Look Who's Talking: A Media Critic Dishes the Dirt on Leno and Letterman". Entertainment Weekly. February 11, 1994. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,301115,00.html. Retrieved 2010-01-22. 

The Late Shift may refer to:

• The Late Shift (book), a book about 1990s conflict regarding The Tonight Show.
  • The Late Shift (film), an HBO film based on the book.
• 2010 Tonight Show conflict, also nicknamed as The Late Shift 2, a similar conflict regarding The Tonight Show.
• Comedy Inc: The Late Shift, an Australian sketch show on Comedy Inc.

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

Po Bronson
Bronson at 2009 Texas Book Festival
Born	1964 (age 47–48) Seattle, Washington
Residence	San Francisco, California
Occupation	journalist and author

Po Bronson (born 1964) is an American journalist and author who lives in San Francisco, California.^[1]

Personal history[link]

Bronson was born in Seattle, Washington. After attending Lakeside School in Seattle, he graduated from Stanford University in 1986^[2] and briefly worked as an assistant bond salesman in San Francisco. He abandoned finance to pursue writing, publishing short stories and eventually a comedic novel based upon his bond trading experiences. This first novel, Bombardiers (1995), was an international best seller.

Writing[link]

Bronson went on to write articles for the New York Times Magazine and others, but perhaps became best known for his work in Wired magazine and other technology-related publications.

Then, during the rise of the internet/high tech in the late 1990s, Bronson became a leading chronicler of Silicon Valley in its heyday, writing two more best sellers. The first, The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, was a novel sending up technology start-ups. The second, The Nudist on the Late Shift, was a nonfiction portrayal of those who had followed the modern day gold rush to Silicon Valley.

With the collapse of the internet bubble in 2000, and after creating The $treet, a short-lived television drama for Fox again drawing upon his bond trading days, Bronson began searching for a new direction for his career. Realizing he was not alone in this quest, he began to focus on others in similar quandaries.

Bronson spent the next two years working on a new nonfiction book, What Should I Do With My Life? which profiles about 50 people, exploring how each had confronted the question. The hardcover release of the book was a New York Times #1 bestseller. It remained on the bestseller list for 22 weeks, and a dozen more in paperback.

Bronson's follow-up to What Should I Do With My Life? is Why Do I Love These People? For that book, Bronson spent three years researching and interviewing over 700 families. The book tells the stories of about 20 people who have had extraordinary experiences with their families.

Partly as a result of the research Bronson did for these two books, he became a columnist for TIME online. His columns frequently draw on his research data to challenge arguments that American society is on a moral decline. For example, he argues against the idea that the institution of marriage has disintegrated from an ideal past filled with stable nuclear families. He also argues that most young adults who live with their parents are not slackers, but are working, attending school, and volunteering full time.

With co-author Ashley Merryman, he released a book in September 2009 entitled NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children. The book discusses theories and scientific aspects of parenting.

Published works[link]

• Bombardiers (1995)
• The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (1997)
• The Nudist on the Late Shift (1999)
• What Should I Do With My Life? (2002)
• Why Do I Love These People? (2005)
• NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children (2009) (with Ashley Merryman) ISBN 978-0-446-50412-6 ^[3]

Film adaptation[link]

A film loosely based on his second novel, entitled The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, was released in 2002. It cost almost $20 million to make, but was released only in two theaters, then sent to DVD. The script was written by Jon Favreau.

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.babble.com/natureshock-science-thinking-po-bronson/
2. ^ http://news.stanford.edu/pr/2006/pr-bronson-071206.html
3. ^ Parenting Tips: Praise Can Be Bad; Lying Is Normal. Author Interviews, All Things Considered, August 27, 2009, NPR. includes book excerpt.

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Official Website
• The Grotto

Richard Treat Williams (born December 1, 1951) is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television.^[1] From 2002 to 2006, he was the star of the television series Everwood.

Early life[link]

Williams was born in Rowayton, Connecticut, the son of Marian (née Andrew), an antiques dealer, and Richard Norman Williams, a corporate executive.^[2] His maternal great-great-grandfather was Senator William Henry Barnum of Connecticut,^[3] and a distant relative was Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.^[4] Williams graduated from the Kent School in Connecticut and Franklin and Marshall College. During his adolescence, Treat was often affectionately referred to by nicknames such as "Sweet Treat" and "Big Meat Treat." These later resurfaced when Williams was featured in the Feb 1980 edition of Playgirl.^[4]

Career[link]

Williams made his film debut in the 1976 thriller film Deadly Hero.^[5] He came to world attention when he starred in the Miloš Forman film Hair (1979) which was based on the Broadway musical Hair. He has gone on to appear in over 75 films and several television series, including, most notably, 1941 (1979), Once Upon A Time In America (1984), Dead Heat (1988), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) and Deep Rising (1998).

Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his part in Hair as George Berger. He got a second Golden Globe nomination for starring in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City (1981) and a third for his performance as Stanley Kowalski in the television presentation of A Streetcar Named Desire. In 1996, Williams was nominated for a Best Actor Emmy Award by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for his work in The Late Shift, a HBO movie, in which he portrayed agent Michael Ovitz.

Williams has also worked as a director, winning two festival awards for directing Texan in Showtime's Chanticleer series.

In 1996, he played villain Xander Drax in Paramount's big budget comic book adaptation, The Phantom, in which Williams' character did his best to take over the world and kill Billy Zane's mysterious superhero.

Williams' career includes numerous stage roles. He won a Drama League Award for his work in the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies, and another for starring in the off-Broadway production of Captains Courageous. Other notable Broadway shows include Grease, the Sherman Brothers' Over Here!, Once in a Lifetime, Pirates of Penzance and Love Letters, and off-Broadway, he has appeared in David Mamet's Oleanna and Oh, Hell (at Lincoln Center), Some Men Need Help and Randy Newman's Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong. He premiered the Los Angeles production of Love Letters and appeared in War Letters at the Canon Theatre in Los Angeles.

Williams may be best known for his leading role as Dr. Andrew Brown in the WB television series Everwood, about a New York neurosurgeon who moves his family to Colorado. Although the show's ratings were never spectacular, it won critical acclaim and had a devoted following. Williams received two SAG Award nominations (2003 and 2004) for his role on the show.

Williams has recently made several guest appearances on the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters playing David Morton, a friend and potential suitor of the Sally Field character. Williams starred in the short lived series Heartland on TNT as Nathaniel Grant, the head of a Pittsburgh organ transplant center, before it was canceled due to low ratings. He also starred in a Lifetime movie called the Staircase Murders, which aired April 15, 2007.

Speculations have Williams playing Killer Croc in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, directed by Christopher Nolan. According to sources close to the film, Williams' role will be minor. Williams will be starring in an upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, titled Beyond the Blackboard, with his former Everwood co-star, Emily VanCamp, which will air on CBS, April 24, 2011.^[6]

In early 2010, videos were posted on YouTube as well as edits made to Williams' Wikipedia page and a Facebook page made faking his death. These included a graphic and detailed explanation as to his illness and place of death. In August 2011, Williams responded to these rumours in an interview with Contact Music when speaking of more recent rumours linking him to the new Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained. Regarding the death hoax, Williams stated, "I did see that and I think those things are dangerous for your family and friends."

Williams has been cast in the CBS television pilot Peachtree Lines as mayor Lincoln Rylan. The serial is an examination of political, social, and cultural issues in Atlanta also starring Victoria Rowell (Naomi Grace), Ving Rhames (Ving Wesley), James Van Der Beek (Garrett Cindell), Jason Dohring (Travis Diring), and Jena Malone (Sierra Jayden).

Adding to his long list of accomplishments, Williams has now published a children's book titled Air Show! (Illustrated by Robert Neubecker, and published in 2010 by Disney/Hyperion Books). The target audience being children ages three to seven, the book playfully documents the airshow experience with simple text and bold illustrations of such aircraft as a Boeing B-17, a Pitts Special biplane, and the U.S. Navy's Blue Angel F/A-18.

Personal life[link]

In 1969, Williams' high-school football coach, who was also a flight instructor, offered to train him in a Piper Super Cub. Williams became an FAA instrument rated commercial pilot with privileges in both single engine and multi-engine airplanes, rotorcraft. He also is certified as a flight instructor.^[7] Williams holds a type-rating for Cessna Citation jets.^[8] He has owned a Clipped-wing Cub, Cherokee 180, Seneca II, and a Navajo Chieftain which is used for family travel between homes.^[9]

Williams lives with his wife, Pam Van Sant, and two children, Gill and Ellie, in Utah, where Everwood was shot. The family also has homes in New York City and Manchester, Vermont.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Treat Williams cast bio on The WB
• Treat Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Treat Williams at the Internet Broadway Database
• Treat Williams at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Remarkably Good - TFL.org approved fanlisting for Treat Williams

Bomani Armah (Darel Hancock), also known as D'mite, G-Mike or Not a Rapper, is a self-identified "poet with a hip-hop style, not a rapper," best known for the 2007 single "Read a Book."

Biography[link]

Armah grew up in Mitchellville, Maryland. He dropped out of the University of Maryland, College Park to become a musician. He is married and is the father of twins.^[1] He is also a member of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity.

In 2005 Bomani was introduced to the world with the debut of the Mello-D and the Rados music video "Cool Witchu" on B.E.T.. By October 2006, the Washington Post regarded him as "one of the more entertaining voices in a local spoken word scene that's overflowing with talent." They also noted that he was "grabb[ing] hearts and minds" with "Read a Book", a spoof of crunk songs that was "scary because it's a bit difficult to tell that it's satire".^[2]

In January 2007, Armah took part in Martin Luther King Day observances at the Washington National Cathedral, with Sister Helen Prejean and the Urban Nation H.I.P.-H.O.P. Choir.^[3][4]

Armah became famous with the MySpace-released 2007 single "Read A Book." The song admonishes listeners to "read a muh'fuckin book", "raise yo kids", wear deodorant, buy some land, and brush their "God damned teeth", among other things, including advising "your body needs water, so drink that shit", in a satire of crunk-style songs which advocate a more "gangsta" lifestyle, set to a loop of an excerpt from Beethoven's Symphony No.5. A clean version also exists, where the profanity is edited out, as it states: "Per your many request, finally an edited version online. Please play this for the youngins!! Make sure to leave a comment, then go to "www.notarapper.com" (Bomani's website) to download an MP3 of this song and much more phonomenal music from Bomani Armah". Success of the single grew when it was used as the topic of a short animated film which aired on Black Entertainment Television's The 5ive. Animated by Six Point Harness Studios, the video features stylized cartoon stereotypes who are directed (often by force) to carry out the advice presented in the lyrics of "Read a Book" by a crunk rapper.^[5] In June 2007 the song was included on Dan Greenpeace and DJ Yoda's Unthugged Vol. 2 with an introduction from Armah introducing himself as D'Mite.

In the fall of 2007, Armah released a song about the Jena Six case in Louisiana. He also performed at the CMJ Music Marathon, where a Village Voice blogger panned him as a "technically strong rapper with zero stage presence and only slightly more personality."^[6]

Armah returned to the National Cathedral in January 2008, to lead its Martin Luther King Day event.^[7]

In March 2008, the Washington Post published his commentary calling on Barack Obama to show his "white side."^[8][9]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bomani Armah's official website
• Bomani Armah at Myspace
• Park Triangle Productions Armah's multimedia studio
• Six Point Harness Studios
• "Read a Book" on YouTube