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Starting on August 31, CBS will begin broadcasting THE LATE LATE SHOW with CRAIG FERGUSON in high def. They'll also debut a new show opener, featuring Craig in several iconic Los Angeles locations, scored to an updated version of the current show theme song. Seriously, the lack of new ideas in late night is staggering.
Ferguson's Mugging Will Soon Be In HD
By Nikki Finke | Category: Late Night | Monday August 3, 2009 @ 8:36am PST
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Ferguson’s proven to be a clever guy who does engaging interviews. . when he’s not wasting half the show mugging to the camera. Lack of money for writers? A case of the host being overly enamored with himself? It seems as he relaxed into the daily routine of his show, he just got an annoying case of the cutes. It’s gotten really annoying there on Fairfax and Beverly.
Jeeze, unnecessarily mean headline. At least he’s talented and funny.
That’s awesome. Craig’s the best late night show, easy.
What’s your damage Nikki? The first two posts of the day and you’re going off on the smallest things. Wayne Brady and Craig Ferguson? I’ll give you Wayne Brady cuz it’s Monday, but why is the updating of the Ferguson opening even a friggin’ issue?? I can assure you that their switch to HD and a new opening has nothing to do with trying to save the show, solely just moving into the 21st century. Wow. Seriously, take that chill pill.
Wow.
Craig Ferguson’s mug is ugly? Compared to… Letterman’s? Conan’s? Leno’s? Geez, Nikki.
I know Nikki, with your immense experience in producing talk shows, one would think that the producers of the CBC show that you had been previously puffing up during your anti-NBC screeds would have been beating a path to your door for guidance and wisdom.
Seriously, every post on this page is a rant, a snark, or a vendetta. All you are is Aint it Cool News with even LESS integrity.
A) Ferguson isn’t ugly. He’s a decent looking chap. B) LA needs all the good publicity it can get to overcome the unemployment & crime and lure tourism, so showcasing postcard images of the city in a national show on a nightly basis is a great idea — as is moving the LA Marathon route to the picturesque Sunset Blvd. to the Pacific option.
Are you so negative that you root against your own city? That’s like Republicans who want America to lose just so they can win.
Ferguson isn’t that ugly, comparatively speaking.
But I do agree that the late name game could use some fresh ideas. It’s one of the few places in TV that hasn’t evolved over the years, except to update the jokes.
The Tonight Show formula has grown stale, which is probably why you’re seeing more and more of the under 50 crowd moving to John Stewart. True, he’s behind a desk too, but at least what he’s saying is both funny and interesting.
Ferguson is infinitely funnier than blobby, asshole, talentless, douche bag Kimmel and thank the Lawdy Lawd (and the sensible folks at ABC) we don’t have to see that tortoise faced, racist, smug, utterly pointless, repellent hack in high def.
Have I mentioned lately how much I and all of my friends and family fucking DESPISE Jimmy Kimmel? It’s like, a lot.
I actually think Ferguson’s one of the better hosts in late night, I’m surprised it’s taken his this long to go HD. Does that show have ANY budget??
Actually, since Conan’s move, Ferguson has turned into the most watchable of the late night guys.
Ferguson’s show is the best late night offering by a country mile..
This man should be on at 11:30. His opening bits are funny and his interviews are not the typical “celebrity plugging their movie and telling a funny story”.
It’s a little tough to stay up until 12:30, so I DVR the show and watch it at 11:00 the next night.
Seriously, the desperate negative hyperbole in DHD is staggering.
decent looking, you gotta be kidding! craig ferguson is great looking, always has been and is an original comedy voice. he’s nothing like those other guys, i just wish he was on earlier….
“Mugging” isn’t referring to his face or how attractive he is you numbskulls. She means when he mugs for the camera – making silly faces and stuff. Jeez.
The current opening makes the show look like Benny Hill. It’s a smart move.
And the opening theme (which Craig wrote) is the best since Johnny’s (which nothing can compare to.)
I don’t think the point of this announcement was to revolutionize late night television. Not sure what you’re wanting, Nikki. They’re just updating.
I would invite you to outline the ideas that you have that would make late night television a more unique, watchable experience.
hi-def puppets!! now my herbal cigarettes will have even more power!!
I see you removed “ugly” from the headline… Why revise after the fact? So what, you said something that pissed people off. At least stand tall, who’re you afraid of pissing off?
Don’t understand the negativity at all toward Craig. He’s pretty funny and if you don’t think so, don’t watch. It’s not like he works for NBC.
Do people really now know what the word “mugging” means in this context? It doesn’t mean he’s ugly. It means that instead of being funny, or having well-written material, he gets cheap laughs by making funny faces. You know, the way a toddler does at the dinner table to get attention. Or Jon Stewart does every night.
What can you say about people who like Ferguson? Taste is taste and everyone likes what they like. But in the TV comedy world, Ferguson is the joke of late night. Never has there been someone so in love with himself as Craig Ferguson. If he had come first the term would be Ferguscist not Narcissist.
It’s a shame that CBS wastes that prime late night real estate on that hack. Have you seen his sketches? His Sean Connery? His Michael Caine? I mean, my god, he’s doing Michael Caine impressions in 2009?
Sad.
Actually, that IS Michael Caine doing an impression of Craig Ferguson doing an impression of Michael Caine.
WTF, Ferguson is the best late night show host and the best quality in terms of interviewing and content, did you ever see his Tutu interview…blew away anything else on late night…you are usually on target, but this post is pure BS and unworthy of you
NIKKI HAD THE WORD UGLY IN THE HEADLINE ORIGINALLY, SHE THEN CHANGED IT AFTER ALL THIS FEEDBACK.
But now that Michael Caine impression will be in HD!
The “new” opening sounds exactly like Conan’s opening on his first night on The Tonight Show. I’ll reserve judgment until I see it, but it does sound a bit rote… and certainly not worthy of a press release.
Also, it’s no wonder there aren’t any new ideas… the current crop of late night TV writers are the same guys who were there 10, 15 years ago. No matter how talented you are, no one can fight being burned out.
“Defending Nikki” speaks the truth. Ferguson rambles incessantly, his references are dated and his time slot is wasted. He should be paired up with Bonnie Hunt in the daytime “tv for grandmas” block.
People do understand what mugging means.
The original title posted was “Ferguson’s Ugly Mug Will Soon Be In HD” but Nikki I guess felt bad about it?
Wow. HD? Welcome to 2005, Craig!
This is off-base – Ferguson is the only guy worth watching in late night, I just wish he was on earlier so I could watch regularly. His long, rambling, mostly improvised monologues are the best part of the show, and he doesn’t give a boring celebrity long before he takes over and continues entertaining the audience. I don’t know how he does it every night, but he generates more real laughs in a week than any of the others do in a year.
I honestly had no idea Ferguson had fans until I began clicking on DHD’s comment threads.
I like Ferguson as well. His openings can sometimes be bizarre for a major net talk show (and I mean that in a very good way).
I’ve wondered when they were going to make the HD jump.
Kimmel ain’t that bad, and by the way, he’s been in HD for a while.
But, I’m a Ferguson fan if it comes down to it.
@Defending Nikki:
The headline originally read “ugly mug” but was changed to only “mugging.”
It originally said “ugly mug”, which I figured was a reference to his snake mug, not his face.
Don’t get the change though…
Maybe Nikki’s just being a b*tch??
Ferguson is flat out the funniest guy in late night. I started watching out of boredom, now I’m a full-fledged fan. His mugging is hilarious.
There is not much innovation you can do in Late Night. It’s talk. That means a grind-it-out approach that will burn out even the most talented. Heck Leno at one point in the mid to early Nineties was far more professional and polished than he was in his late run with Tonight.
Guests come on, they mostly don’t want to be there, they are plugging some project via contractural obligations. Most of them are as dull as dishwater outside their acting or singing. A target broad audience means a lot of jokes cannot be done for fear of alienating sponsors. Ratings are anemic.
Hosts will either chew up time with prepared gag film (Conan) or mug about (Letterman, Ferguson is not really that bad compared to Dave), or used “Stupid Pet Tricks” and other gags pioneered in the early fifties by Ernie Kovacs, or improv-jokes from a stand-up background (Jay Leno, Ferguson). It depends what their strength is.
Conan’s a writer, so he goes with the prepared bits. Watching him do traditional standup is painful (which he can sometimes milk for laughs but not always). Ferguson and Leno are stand up guys so that’s their strength. Dave worships at the altar of Kovacs so he basically riffs off what Kovacs did (less so now that he’s older and stunts like the velcro suit are too physically demanding). Kimmel’s also a writer, so he’ll do taped bits (some of which are hysterically funny).
It’s harder over time (5 shows a week, nearly 50 weeks a years) to be good with the taped bits which are demanding in prep time so over time, the stand-up guys tend to have an advantage. Dave’s been coasting on his prior effort (he’s not been funny since about 1995) and general audience good-will (his fans followed him since his amazing but flop-tacular daytime show in the early 1980’s). Over time (remember, all these shows are resource constrained) a guy like Ferguson or Leno will win over more times than not over a tape guy like Kimmel or Conan.
Craig Ferguson ROCKS. And, he’s hot. And tall and smarter than you!!! And has a nicer house, a prettier wife and he’s really, really funny.
Some of you are catching Nikki’s efforts to make good by changing ugly mug to mugging. She took a shot at him this morning and has done some editing. So we all understand what mugging means – only it was a personal attack this morning. Nikki sometimes feels bad and cleans up her messes.
Now we know where the HD equipment from THE GUIDING LIGHT is ending up
Oh Whiskey, don’t you know it all? Spare me, loser.
In fairness to Nikki, let’s assume she was referring to Craig’s snake mug. Craig’s face? Craggy, appropriate given his name, but very appealing. He’s the only late night host with sex appeal and he’s got it in spades.
Craig has become fond of comparing his show to PeeWee’s playhouse but I wish he’d grow up a bit. He’s very, very smart and my favorite guests are the authors and political commentators.
Ferguson is the funniest of the late nighters … by far.
He also comes across as a decent sort.
Whiskey – Kimmel sucks. He had ONE count ‘em, ONE taped bit that caused any buzz and that was the Matt Damon thing, 3 years ago. Did you know that he had nothing to do with that bit? Sarah Silverman created it all and shot it as a big surprise for that hump’s birthday.
He’s precisely what’s wrong with everything in this town. He represents mediocrity and sends the message that having little or no talent is ok. He’s George effing Bush. He’s been on long enough with nothing to show for it, for my taste.
It is no longer required of Dave Letterman that he be his 1990s funny. Life experience counts. It comes through. Whatever is truly funny sort of rides on its shoulders. That is why Dave Letterman and Craig Ferguson are in a class by themselves and why they will endure, be they outdated or not. Johnny Carson, for goodness sakes, wasn’t always funny. But he surely wore well. And he was not there five nights a week. Nor is Stewart, nor is Colbert. Ferguson tapes both the Thursday and Friday shows on Thursday. As good as he is, he needs to drop Fridays and guest-host Betty White, Steven Wright…