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Ed McMahon and what television used to be
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Ed McMahon (1923-2009)
Ed McMahon has died.
For thirty years he was the iconic sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. He was also a game show host and scored a big hit of his own in the eighties and nineties with Star Search.
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson was what The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien will never be. That is an American touchstone watched by nearly everyone.
O'Brien may do well enough in today's fractured television universe and he may even score particularly well with TV's favorite 18-34 demographic but O'Brien (and his sidekick Andy Richter) will never be what Carson and McMahon were because television itself is not what it was then.
Before the million-channel (or so it seems) TV universe kicked in and before demographics reached the point of industry obsession, television shows appealed to everyone. There were inclusive. Families watched The Tonight Show (especially on Friday's when the kids could stay up late).
Sometimes the material might have been a little risqué but it was nothing parents couldn't handle. There were, for example, no Masturbating Bears (one of Conan's more dubious contributions to our culture).
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson lived in a time when television shows served as a common experience that people from diverse backgrounds could all recall with a sense of shared fun. Whether is was Get Smart, All in the Family or Sanford and Son, people of all races, incomes and generations enjoyed them -- and could talk about them. They made great ice breakers.
Today, everyone has their own TV set in their own room watching shows geared to exactly their perspectives. Or, maybe, people will watch via computer, I-Pod (you know, on the subway, with those nice "don't even think about talking to me" headsets) or on their eyelid screens (they're, no doubt, coming).
In news, everyone watched Walter Cronkite or, at least, one of the other two network newscasts. While it's actually good that there are more divergent perspectives offered now, the downside is that most of us tend to drift toward news channels that support our already-held views. Conservatives watch Fox. Liberals watch MSNBC.
But, back to Ed McMahon.
His solo hit Star Search preceded American Idol by a generation but covered the same ground without the snarky comments of a Simon Cowell. But, then again, the seventies gave us The Gong Show, so mayby things aren't all that different.
Ed McMahon also acted -- including a dramatic role in a good 1967 called The Incident . If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend renting it.
So, to sum up, we'll miss you, Ed.
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