NBC has had an on-again, off-again relationship with late-late-night TV. For nearly two decades, there was only “The Tonight Show.” 1973 brought Tom Snyder’s “Tomorrow” show, which ran through 1982 and was replaced by “Late Night With David Letterman.” In that same year, “NBC News Overnight” broke new ground–airing Monday through Thursday at 1:30am and Fridays at 2:00am (Friday nights at 12:30am were at that time the home of 90-minute series, first “SCTV” then “Friday Night Videos.”)
In 1983 I was 12 years old, and when you’re 12 years old staying up really late is about as exciting as life gets. So I remember watching this series and noticing, even at that young age, the sardonic tone and standard-defying style of the show. The top story of this April 1983 episode deals with President Reagan appointing a special envoy to El Salvador. Linda Ellerbee’s intro:
“On Wednesday the president said what he wanted to say about Central America, and there were few surprises. On Thursday others spoke, and surprises were even fewer–except for a disturbing bit of candor on the part of the president who, when asked why he waited until Thursday to nominate RIchard Stone as his special Central American envoy, replied it was his feeling he ought to save some news for today. Here, then, our scheduled ration.”
QUIZ TIME! Who is this legendary NBC News correspondent? Hint: In this story he is talking about a company that made space lasers and saw their stock soar when President Reagan began discussing the subject. Answer at the end…
Commercial Break!
These people proudly show their pin revealing the brand of mattress upon which they sleep. Being a professional advertising copywriter, I can tell you that this approach would not work in a television commercial for, oh, say, Pepto Bismol. Or Depends.
Emergency Fuel! It looks like something that would be on the right end of the table on “Hot Ones.” But it’s actually…well…emergency fuel. Delivered by a saint bernard apparently. Who’s a good emergency fuel deliverer? You are! Yes you are!
Among the unique stories presented on this evening’s broadcast, a look at children addressing members of congress with their thoughts on the difficult relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In introducing this story, Linda Ellerbee has a doubtful feeling about what if any benefit comes from politicians interacting with the youths. Ellerbee would later have a long run making the most painful and difficult news stories relatable to a young audience on her series of “Nick News” programs.
Commercial Break!
So many questions. None of them appropriate. Moving on.
NBC promotes its blockbuster mini-series “V”. My brother was super into this…and then I think it was a weekly series for a time too. All I remember is Howard K. Smith cashing in his journalistic integrity to do fake news updates at the beginning of each chapter.
Bill Schechner, seen here, was not the original co-host of “NBC News Overnight.” Lloyd Dobyns was the original male anchor, replaced about four months into the run.
Here’s as good a place as any to note that “NBC News Overnight” was a beloved cult series. Cult series tend to go away fairly quickly. “Overnight” ran for about a year-and-a-half, cancelled due to high production costs and lack of ad revenue. The 1:30am time slot on NBC lay dormant until 1988 and the premiere of “Later With Bob Costas”. The “Later” franchise was awarded to Greg Kinnear at about the same time his movie career was starting to pop, leading to a cavalcade of guest hosts. Eventually NBC threw in the towel and aired “SCTV” reruns in the slot for well over a year. I was thrilled, “SCTV” superfan that I am. In 2002 the evil Carson Daly empire took over 1:30 with whatever the hell he did. In 2019 “A Little Late With Lily Singh” gave a YouTube influencer a chance at late night stardom. The timing was catastrophic as the COVID pandemic basically shut down production. At this point 1:30am is back in the hands of NBC afilliates.
Linda Ellerbee wrote a fantastic book titled after her show-ending signature, “And So It Goes.” It’s a no-holds-barred look at broadcast news, including substantial discussion of “NBC News Overnight”. She notes her producer’s cryptic manner of describing the show’s nightly rundown: “A roll, a reel, more more news”, etc. Sure enough; in watching the video, there is a roll, and a reel. More more news is assumed. I can’t recommend the book highly enough for anyone in broadcasting, or simply interested in how it works behind the scenes.
Commercial Break!
“Monitor” was one of about two dozen newsmagazine shows NBC tried to launch in the 70’s and 80’s. This one, at least, had some history behind it: “Monitor” was the name of a genre-shaking NBC Radio series that began in the 1950s.
The final story from this 1983 time capsule involves the tiny town of Pacifica, CA and the then-recent broadcast of the M*A*S*H finale on CBS. Unfortunately a power outage left Pacificans (?) with no M*A*S*H on their screens…and the operators of the tiny cable access channel there were trying to get CBS to furnish them with a tape of the show to air on the access channel.
And so it goes.
QUIZ ANSWER: The reporter seen in the pic earlier in the article was NBC News correspondent Irving R. Levine. Which for my money is just about the best reporter name you could have, really.