Brief chapter in Chevy ChaseThe actor's distinguished comedy career includes his ill-fated late-night series The Chevy Chase Show, which aired on Fox for six weeks in 1993 and was canceled due to harsh reviews and low ratings.
In a new CNN documentary, I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not, Chase talks about his experience hosting a talk show and the disappointment that followed. “I never took anyone's advice on how to host a talk show. I can do this“I kept thinking,” he said in the document. “It was terrible. I just didn't quite understand what you were doing on a talk show.”
Chase representatives and staff explained in the documentary that the show, which debuted on September 7, 1993, failed because it had “old-time” TV producers and needed a new vision. Additionally, although Chase was a gifted comedic actor and movie star, he was less experienced in stand-up comedy.
Chase's eldest daughter, Sydney, recalled visiting her father on the set of a talk show. “He was nervous around me,” she said.
Andy Aaron, writer of The Chevy Chase Show, recalled: “The reviews were universally terrible, and Chevy would literally come into the writers' room and say, 'You guys are doing a great job.' It's not your fault, it's my fault.”
“I don’t know how people like Letterman and others do it,” Chase said. “That's beyond me. You might say, 'Well, it's interesting to have different people…' Yes, that's right. We're all the same, in a lot of ways. It's not that interesting.”
The staff learned that the show had been canceled by Fox at the end of Chevy's 50th birthday party. CAA leader Michael Ovitz, Chase's agent at the time, asked him if he wanted to stay a couple more weeks. “'A couple of weeks?– Chase recalls with feigned surprise. – I think we're done.
Chase's daughters spoke out about Chase's mental health struggles following the series' cancellation. “It was a weird environment after his talk show,” Sydney Chase said. “I know my dad was depressed. I knew that at a young age. It was pretty hard for me because I'd come and pull his shirt and he'd say, 'Not now, honey.'
Chase's daughter Kaylee added: “One thing that was interesting about our family was that my parents were pretty open about some of the things that were going on that were deeper, depending on our ages. My parents communicated enough to say, 'There's something called depression and people have a hard time getting out of bed.'
“He would go to bed and wouldn’t come out,” added Chase’s wife, Janie. “I didn't understand why.”
After the talk show ended, Chase starred in several films and eventually had a career resurgence playing Pierce Hawthorne on the sitcom Community, which aired from 2009 to 2014 on NBC.
In 1993, “The Chevy Chase Show” arrived during a moment of madness among late-night television. Johnny Carson's departure from The Tonight Show a year earlier had opened up opportunities, and Arsenio Hall was already hosting the successful late-night program Arsenio, which immediately attracted young, multicultural audiences in big cities. Distributed by Paramount, Arsenio was the first competitor to go up against Carson to stick around and leave a mark on its audience.
The Fox network saw the success of “Arsenio” and decided to create a late-night show. It was Fox's second attempt to gain a late night foothold. In October 1986, Fox Broadcasting Co. was born when it brought in Joan Rivers as host of “The Late Show” in hopes of taking on Carson with one of his longtime guest hosts. But Rivers' show had a rocky road, and by May 1987 it was canceled. It was briefly replaced by a quirky proto-Daily Show-style newsmagazine, The Wilton North Report. This show lasted about three months. After that, Fox stopped working late, shifting its focus to prime time and finding popularity with hits like “Married with Children” and “21 Jump Street.”
Five years later, Carson's retirement began the battle between Leno and Letterman, which ended with Leno taking the throne of The Tonight Show and Letterman moving on to launch a new franchise on CBS. Letterman's Late Show launched on CBS to great fanfare on August 30, 1993, after Letterman famously had to sit out the remainder of his contract as host of NBC's post-The Late Show Late Night with David Letterman. (The open spot on “Late Night” eventually went to Conan O'Brien, which was famously renewed at six-week intervals in its first few months.)
So, Chase came into the mix to take on Leno and Letterman, who were both ecstatic to prove they were the frontrunners in the timeslot. The media and pop culture quickly dubbed the entire scandal the “night wars.”
Although it did not last long, the arrival of Chase's show as an offering to the Fox network marked the end of syndication for Hall's show. That's because a number of the stations that carried Hall's show in major markets were Fox affiliates. When the Fox network decided to pick up “Chevy Chase”, those affiliate stations were forced to drop Hall's show to make room for the network's offering. Most of them did just that. Despite Chase's quick hook, the damage was done. The final episode of “Arsenio” aired on May 27, 1994.
“I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not” premiered on CNN on January 1.
Here's the first episode of The Chevy Chase Show on YouTube.
