The Johnny Carson Show

Infobox Television
show_name = The Johnny Carson Show


caption =
format = Variety series
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =
executive_producer=
starring = Johnny Carson
country = USA
network = CBS
first_aired = June 30, 1955
last_aired = 1956
num_episodes = 39
num_seasons=1
list_episodes=
followed_by=
related=
location=flagicon|New York New York
imdb_id= 0047746
tv_com_id=
language=English
picture_format=1.33 : 1 monochrome
audio_format=monaural
editor=
composer=
producer=
producer=
theme_music_composer=

"The Johnny Carson Show" was a 1955-56 half hour prime time television variety show starring Johnny Carson.

While working as a staff writer on "The Red Skelton Show" , local Los Angeles television comedian Johnny Carson filled in as host when Skelton was injured during a show rehearsal. As a result of Carson’s performance, CBS created the primetime variety program "The Johnny Carson Show", a traditional potpourri of comedy, music, dance, skits and monologues.

The shows were produced at CBS Studio 52 in New York City. [ [http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/ot_54_4.htm Studio 54 - roundabouttheatre.org - Retrieved January 19, 2008] ]

The short-lived 1955-56 series served as a precursor of what would come later for Carson, planting the seeds for sketches he would perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" with his "Mighty Carson Art Players", but the show flopped in the ratings and was quickly canceled. In a 1978 profile of Carson in "The New Yorker", Kenneth Tynan described the "Johnny Carson Show" as "a half-hour program that goes through seven directors, eight writers, and thirty-nine weeks of worsening health before expiring, in the spring of 1956." Carson wound up hosting a daytime game show called "Who Do You Trust?" (1957-62) until he was tapped by NBC to replace the departing Jack Paar as host of "The Tonight Show" in 1962.

Kinescopes of ten episodes from the series were discovered in a closet by Carson's second wife Joanne and released by Shout Factory on DVD in 2007. Joanne Carson says the kinescopes were hand-picked by Carson as a courtship gift to her and featured his favorite episodes from the series.

The show's theme song was "Pick Yourself Up" by Jerome Kern (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics).

References

External links

* [http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/2007-03-14-1333502975_x.htm "The Johnny Carson Show" USA Today article]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047746/ "The Johnny Carson Show" at Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001992/ Johnny Carson at Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?050124fr_archive03 1978 profile] from "The New Yorker" by Kenneth Tynan
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JBXHYG "The Johnny Carson Show" at amazon.com]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6504289/ Johnny Carson MSNBC Obituary]
* [http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/johnnycarsonshow.php "The Johnny Carson Show" at DVDVerdict]
* [http://www.shoutfactory.com/press/176/the_johnny_carson_show.aspx "The Johnny Carson Show" Shout Factory 2007 DVD Press Release]
* [http://www.tv.com/the-johnny-carson-show/show/1089/summary.html "The Johnny Carson Show" at TV.com]
* [http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-the-johnny-carson-show-2pk-dvd--pi-2633043.html "The Johnny Carson Show" at PBS.org]
* [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809824901/details "The Johnny Carson Show" at Yahoo Movies]
* [http://www.filmreference.com/film/45/Johnny-Carson.html Johnny Carson biography at Film Reference]
* [http://dir.salon.com/people/bc/2001/02/20/carson/index.html Article on Johnny Carson] at Salon