HBO movie about the behind-the-scenes network politics responsible for the changes in late-night talk-show hosts, after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show on NBC. Jay Leno and David Letterman were both vying for the position, but Leno's tough manager Helen Kushnick got him the spot. In the wake of her 'stepping on the toes' of powerful network executives and 'playing hardball' tactics with guest bookings, she found herself being pushed out of her job as Ton... (Full plot summary below)
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HBO movie about the behind-the-scenes network politics responsible for the changes in late-night talk-show hosts, after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show on NBC. Jay Leno and David Letterman were both vying for the position, but Leno's tough manager Helen Kushnick got him the spot. In the wake of her 'stepping on the toes' of powerful network executives and 'playing hardball' tactics with guest bookings, she found herself being pushed out of her job as Tonight Show Executive Producer and Jay's manager. Letterman, devastated by his being passed over, brought in superagent Mike Ovitz to negotiate on his behalf, resulting in his move to CBS.
Leave your thoughts about The Late Shift.
| Reel Film ReviewsDavid NusairFilmmaker Betty Thomas takes a decidedly inside-baseball approach to the subject matter... |
| User ReviewPrivate UThis is one of the best HBO movies ever made, and is a great telling of the events that transpired around Johnny Carson's departure from television. It captures a great deal of fact and does so in an entertaining fashion. John Michael Higgins and Treat Williams were amazing as David Letterman and Michael Ovitz, respectively. This is a must-see for Carson, Letterman or Leno fans! |
| User ReviewJason REntertaining story about the controversy sorrounding who was to be the next king of late night. I thought it was told well and it was fun to watch. The acting was great and the story flowed. Its crazy what went on behind the scenes. I liked it a lot and thought it was interesting how it turned out at the end. Funny I saw this on David Letterman's 62nd birthday also the guy who played Jay Leno Was born in Bethlehem PA. |
| User ReviewPete MOK, I am adding this movie to my Hollywood Confidential list, even though it's not about a crime. It's about how David Letterman cam to leave NBC for CBS, and it's really interesting and well done. Now someone needs to make a movie about how NBC tricked Conan into breaking his contract, so they could replace him with Jimmy Fallon. Oh you think all of that happened the way NBC says it did? Now who's being naive? |
| User ReviewKyle KWe have now seen that NBC did not learn from the past. This great HBO docu-drama outlines the first war for The Tonight Show that set Leno against Letterman. Hopefully they will make a sequel to this to cover the recent CoCo vs. Leno madness! |
| User ReviewCorey GI've watched this movie at least ten times. It's really cheaply executed and there's a really ill-advised cameo from some real life producer who delivers one of the worst performances every captured on screen, but the story and the lead performances are really fascinating (especially Kathy Bates as Leno's agent). It's also like that it's about top-shelf comedians and yet no one in the movie is funny at all. |
| User ReviewShane DMany years later, after the wash up of the Conan/Leno battle has subsided, watching the behind-the-scenes shenanigans from the Letterman/Leno/Carson round-table seems positively prophetic. I really enjoyed this, mostly because I thought that John Michael Higgins performance as Letterman was spot on. It does err on Letterman's side of the story, whilst painting Leno as more of a victim of circumstance than the bad guy (which he certainly is synonymous with now), it's Letterman that gets the heroic finale. In the end it's NBC that is the ultimate evil, history would again repeat. A great little film for fans of the late nite antics. |
| User ReviewPatrick FWhile the portrayals of Leno and Letterman both border on SNL caricature, the story here is absolutely fascinating. I love behind-the-scenes show business stuff, and this movie delivered what I was looking for. |
| User ReviewFrank GThis explains a lot to why NBC truly means "Never Believe your Contract". This was very enjoyable and I thought it was well cast. I still believe that Leno was always better than Letterman and has clearly proved to be just that from the ratings. |
| User ReviewJeff BBecause of this whole NBC travesty that's taking place, I decided to give this HBO film a look. Nicely done, Kathy Bates is hilarious and evil in this as Leno's agent. Daniel Roebuck as Leno was pretty annoying because his voice was over exaggerated and just got in the way. John Michael Higgins however was perfect as Letterman, a great casting choie. After watching this it just makes me hate NBC even more. It was fun seeing a few of the Christopher Guest cast together in this film. |
