In
this polarized era of Samantha Bees playing to one end of the political divide
by demonizing the other, it is hard to remember a time when late night
television was an equal opportunity offender that refused to take sides. Of
course, late night television of the 1970s was a fiefdom where Johnny Carson
was king. If you weren’t nostalgic for the real Tonight Show already, you will be after watching Seeso’s new
scripted series, There’s . . . Johnny,
created and written by Paul Reiser and David Steven Simon, which premiered at
this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Whether
you were on the right or left, everybody loved Johnny in 1972. This is
particularly true of Andy Klavin and his parents, who happen to live in Carson’s
native Nebraska. Knowing they are concerned about his older brother serving in
Vietnam, Klavin writes the show asking for an autographed picture. On impulse,
the nineteen-year-old also inquires about job opportunities. Misunderstanding the
form letter response, Klavin takes the bus all the way to California thinking
he had been hired. He hadn’t, but hot mess producer Joy Greenfield likes him
better than her slacker runner, so she basically decides to keep him.
Obviously, the kid is in for a real education, about show business and life.
Judging
from the first two episodes, There’s
Johnny will build the scripted drama around a vintage episode. It seems
Carson and Ed McMahon only appear in the archival footage or as disembodied
voices coming from “of-stage.” However, Tony Danza plays executive producer
Freddie de Cordova—and he is shockingly terrific. Frankly, this could be his
career defining television role rather than Taxi
or that other show that he played the domestic servant on. Danza just oozes confident
attitude and casual sarcasm. He reminds us Rip Torn’s character in The Larry Sanders Show was inspired by
de Cordova, not vice versa.
Jane
Levy is also a wonderfully neurotic force to be reckoned with as Klavin’s boss,
Greenfield. Obviously, there will be some sexual tension there, which she makes
completely believable, but she also delivers some deliciously tart barbs. David
Paymer plays off her nicely as the analyst she really needs to see more often
in the second episode. Frankly, Ian Nelson’s Klavin is somewhat dull compared
to the colorful characters orbiting around him, but you could argue his job is
to facilitate their chaos.
In
the first two episodes, feature directors David Gordon Green and Andrew
Bujalski cleverly integrate the vintage show footage with the new backstage
drama, while Reiser and Simon
have good ears for era-appropriate comedy. However, the second episode’s downer ending highlights the challenges film
festivals will face as they increase their television programming.
