The Late Night Maelstrom

 The mass exodus of late night television hosts  was akin to the mysterious disappearance of MTV, VH1, and BET.  Music television, which was a core of American pop culture, vanished without a trace in lieu of Reality TV.  Was it true these integral, desired, and enjoyed media programs didn't make money?  How could MTV, a unifying, uplifting, and entertaining television program being consumed by millions of Americans not be lucrative?  Bah humbug.  If one looks at an Eminem music video produced by Dr. Dre, the first black music billionaire, you will see the pinnacle of the art form of music video.  It was so clever, provocative, forward thinking, sexual, and rebellious and done at such a high degree of technical proficiency, how could this not make money in the American market?  It was because it made money for the wrong people, that someone decided it was the end of the road for mainstream music television.   Someone has decided it is the end of the road for traditional late night American television.  It all ready happened.  It is inevitable with the greatest talent eventually the idiom collapses.  There is no one left to hold the candle or burn the torch.  The Baby Boomers are guilty of this sin.  We failed to be interested in passing the torch to our children.  As such we are living in our own self-created vacuum.  Who could compete with Johnny Carson?  The biggest blow to late night television was the retiring of Craig Ferguson and David Letterman at the same time.  I never understood this other than them running for cover.  They saw the future, and they bailed.  Perhaps adult humor and late night television left the building with these two men.  Trump's assertion that there is no talent on late night is sketchy.  It doesn't make sense.  If talent and ratings were the reasons why Jimmy Kimmel is being preempted, then his network, within the boundaries of his written contract, could choose to let him go.  Instead they politicized a brutal and violent political assassination and used him as a scapegoat stealing headlines for days.  Inciting political rhetoric is a key tool of the Trump machine evoking knee jerk, emotional, and heated responses without consideration of the context.  Was what Mr. Kimmel said grounds for firing?  As Stephen Colbert pointed out, "It just sounded like Jimmy Kimmel. Was this all?"  Two weeks prior the words all ready had been spoken.  "Jimmy Kimmel is next."  Donald Trump vicariously is living the life of a want-to-be television executive, something familiar to him.  Would this perhaps not be a better job for him than President?  He is confused.  It has taken me a long time to recuperate from the void in late night television.  It has been a staple part of my life for decades, because of it its mature adult content.  It is not prime time television, which I stopped watching in college.  Late night television is a synthesis of entertainment, a combination of talk, music, celebrity, and comedy.  Can we remember Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show Band, and how the soul of jazz swing music augmented the show?  Branford Marsalis carried this torch of bandleader.  The biggest void in late night music was created with the absence of the David Letterman Band.  Paul Shaeffer's ensemble epitomized the pulse of American popular music, and they infused late night airwaves with a  hip integrity.  A decision was made not unlike the decision to can music television.  This decision was to lay down.  The band is Uncle Tom, and projecting musical creativity, individuality, and positivity was not their task.  Their job is to say, "Yes sah."  The plantation owner has moved into the largest house of them all, the White House.  Should we let Leadbelly sing?  Will the governor be amused?  Should the slaves be unshackled long enough to do their circle dance?  With this overstepping of the FCC Chairman and the Trump Administration's attempted censoring of Constitutionally protected free speech, a second coup is in motion.  Startlingly they are near the end of their playbook of the acquisition of media.  The oligarchs have lined up to receive communion, and that communion is the approval of their unwieldy proposed corporate conglomerates almost ensuring a lack of transparency of political truth.  It is Big Brother, and it is here.  What have been the remnants of late night television?  I will be candid.  Jimmy Fallon is one of the most talented people in show business, and his strengths are in music and impressions.  His approach as a commentator on late night television is far different than the tradition.  Instead of the humble pie, awe shucks, Midwestern self deprecation, Jimmy Fallon is the host of the Hollywood glamour parade.  Stephen Colbert is much closer to the tradition of David Letterman.  Why is he being cancelled?  The answer is the same.  Why was James Corden cancelled?  The answer is alternative.  Underground.  Avant Garde.  College radio.  Apparently America will be smelling the dirty underwear of our father in the near future instead of glimpsing a ray of the outside world.  I was not a fan of James Corden, until I saw carpool karaoke.  Most times his vivacious and infectious renditions of songs upstaged his passenger musical artists.  At best they bonded with him as a back up singer, and a reinforcement of American popular music was had.  He glorified American musical talent, a needed and appreciated homage to working musicians.  Further his performance in Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" evolved growing him into a better and more confident performer.  Music is at the core of this talent encompassing comedic timing, groove, and soul.  It would be easy to argue Jimmy Kimmel lacks these things, but not every broadcast company wants them.  He is the guy who M.C.s his rich friends wedding.  Colbert is not that guy.  There is no rhyme or reason for these cancellations except censorship.