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The Dick Cavett Show

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TV Series

The Resume

    (March 4, 1968-December 30, 1986)
    Late-night talk and variety show
    Hosted by Dick Cavett
    First aired on ABC
    First guest was Buckminster Fuller
    Taped in New York
    Later aired on CBS (1975), PBS (1977–82), USA Network (1985-86), ABC (1986–87), and CNBC (1989–96)
    Originally titled 'This Morning' for its first season
    Won 3 Primetime Emmys

Why The Dick Cavett Show might be annoying:

    It was the side effect of Dick Cavett's failed stand-up career.
    It hopped networks more times than Mystery Science Theater 3000.
    Its time slot also jumped from daytime to primetime to late night sporadically.
    Lester Maddox walked off the show in the middle of a heated conversation about segregation with Jim Brown (December 18, 1970).
    Lily Tomlin walked off the show after Chad Everett joked about 'owning' his wife and refused to return (March 31, 1972).
    Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer spent their entire segment trading insults over Vidal's less-than-stellar review of Prisoner of Sex (December 15, 1971).
    The segment went so far off-the-rails that when Mailer said 'Why don't you look at your question sheet and ask your question?,' Cavett responded 'Why don't you fold it five ways and put it where the moon don't shine?'
    By the end of 1974, it was airing only twice per month due to ratings.
    It later pulled a Johnny Unitas and went to PBS but was ill-suited to the half hour format.

Why The Dick Cavett Show might not be annoying:

    It featured some of the greatest interviews of all time.
    It was the only show to hold its own against the juggernaut that was The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in a competing time slot.
    Shows got higher ratings without big-name celebrities, the very opposite of what network execs thought would happen.
    The show's coverage of the Watergate scandal was so effective it made an enemy of the Nixon administration.
    Janis Joplin taped her final TV appearance and performed 'Move Over' on the show (Aug. 3, 1970)
    Katharine Hepburn, who rarely gave interviews, granted a two-hour interview on-the-spot with no audience during a visit to the set (October 2, 1973).
    It had so many great once-in-a-lifetime TV moments (The Woodstock Show, the Vidal-Mailer showdown, the Jimi Hendrix interview).
    It has a lit YouTube channel.
    Muhammad Ali, was a regular guest and became good friends with Cavett.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 7 Votes: 14.29% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 27 Votes: 40.74% Annoying