Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a221312609f33191

Jump to content

The Chevy Chase Show

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chevy Chase Show
Written byFred Wolf
Presented byChevy Chase
AnnouncerRon Russ
Music byTom Scott and the Hollywood Express
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes29
Production
Production locationsThe Chevy Chase Theater,
Hollywood, California
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time45–48 minutes
Production companiesCornelius Productions
20th Television
Original release
NetworkFox
ReleaseSeptember 7 (1993-09-07) –
October 15, 1993 (1993-10-15)

The Chevy Chase Show is an American late-night talk show hosted by Chevy Chase that aired on Fox from September 7 to October 15, 1993. The program marked Fox's return to weeknight late-night talk programming nearly five years after the cancellation of The Late Show.

Developed during a period of increased competition in late-night television following Johnny Carson's retirement from The Tonight Show, the series premiered shortly after CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. It received strongly negative reviews and rapidly declining ratings, falling below two million viewers during its final weeks. Fox canceled the program after less than six weeks on the air.[1]

Development

[edit]

Fox announced in April 1992 that Chevy Chase would host a new late-night comedy and talk show as part of a broader agreement with 20th Century Fox under which he would star in, produce and develop television and film projects. The network initially planned the program for six nights a week beginning in the fall of 1993.[2]

Fox initially considered Dolly Parton as host of its planned late-night program. Parton declined, and her manager, Sandy Gallin, suggested Chevy Chase to Fox executive Lucie Salhany.[3]

The series was developed as Fox's return to weeknight late-night programming following the cancellation of The Late Show. Chase and the producers said they wanted to avoid a conventional talk-show format. Executive producer Steve Binder described the program as primarily a comedy show built around unpredictability, with Chase surrounded by other performers and making use of locations outside the studio.[4] Chase similarly said shortly before the premiere that he preferred to describe it as a "late-night comedy show" rather than a talk show and planned to incorporate sketches and other elements associated with his work on Saturday Night Live.[5]

Fox leased the former Aquarius Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, gutted and renovated the building, and renamed it the Chevy Chase Theatre for the program.[6] The network had announced by May that the show would premiere there on September 7, 1993.[7]

Format and production

[edit]

The Chevy Chase Show followed the basic late-night format of an opening monologue, comedy segments, celebrity interviews and musical performances, but Chase and the producers initially sought to distinguish it from competing talk shows through sketches and less structured comedy. Chase produced the series through his company, Cornelius Productions.

The program originated from the former Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, which Fox renovated and renamed the Chevy Chase Theatre. The set, designed by Bruce Ryan, was intended to resemble a large living room and included a 20-foot aquarium containing tropical fish, bookshelves, toys and basketball hoops. Chase's desk incorporated a functioning piano.[8]

Saxophonist Tom Scott served as musical director and led the house band, the Hollywood Express. Ron Russ was the program's announcer. Chase frequently interacted with the band and incorporated physical comedy into the program, including shooting basketballs at an onstage hoop during the closing credits.

The opening sequence used clay animation depicting Chase taking letters from Los Angeles landmarks to assemble the show's title. The sequence was created by animator Will Vinton and his studio.[9]

Episodes

[edit]

According to newspaper listings, Chase's guests during the 29-episode run included:

Reception

[edit]

The Chevy Chase Show received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Tom Shales of The Washington Post described the premiere as "a calamity of historic proportions", criticizing Chase's nervous delivery, interviewing and dependence on prepared material.[10] Time similarly described Chase as "nervous and totally at sea", saying that he "tried everything, succeeded at nothing" and criticizing his recycling of older material and reliance on physical comedy.[11]

Later in the run, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave the program an F. He criticized Chase's interviewing and the increasingly unruly studio audience, writing that the crowd had become "the worst-behaved crowd in late-night television".[12]

Chase acknowledged that the premiere had gone badly, attributing some of the problems to nervousness and saying that the program needed time to develop.[13]

Ratings and cancellation

[edit]

Fox had promised advertisers that The Chevy Chase Show would attract between five and six million viewers a night, substantially more than the audience guaranteed for CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.[14] Instead, the program averaged fewer than three million viewers, and by its final weeks its audience had fallen below two million.[15]

Fox attempted to make changes during the run, including placing greater emphasis on celebrity interviews and reducing some of the comedy material, but the ratings did not improve.[16]

On October 17, 1993, Fox chairwoman Lucie Salhany announced that the network was canceling the series after less than six weeks. She said the decision was made "in the best interests of both its affiliated stations and its star".[15] Salhany later said that Chase had appeared extremely nervous during the early broadcasts and that the results had been uncomfortable to watch.[16]

Chase responded that he had found the conventional talk-show format restrictive and said that it had differed from the type of program he originally wanted to make.[15] The final episode aired on October 15, 1993.

Legacy

[edit]

The failure of The Chevy Chase Show quickly became part of Chase's public image. In 2002, TV Guide ranked it No. 16 on its list of the 50 worst television shows of all time, and in 2010, TV Guide Network again placed it at No. 16 on its list of the "25 Biggest TV Blunders".[17][18]

Chase later said that the program Fox produced differed substantially from the show he had wanted to make. In a 2007 interview with Time, he said he had envisioned a darker, more improvisational program and would not attempt a similar talk show again.[19] He later repeated his dissatisfaction with the experience on Norm Macdonald Has a Show, while identifying his interview with Robert De Niro as one of the few aspects of the series he enjoyed.[20]

The show's failure was also referenced in a Doritos commercial featuring Chase that aired during Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994. The advertisement depicted a production being abruptly canceled and Chase being removed from the studio lot, followed by his remark, "Tough year."[21]

After canceling the series, Fox returned the late-night period to its affiliates. The network subsequently explored other late-night projects, including discussions with Howard Stern, but did not establish another regular weeknight late-night talk show in the slot.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Kleid, Beth (October 18, 1993). "Fox Pulls Plug on 'Chevy'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Television". Los Angeles Times. April 7, 1992. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  3. ↑ "'Uncomfortable': Remembering the Quick Demise of 'The Chevy Chase Show'". Mental Floss. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  4. ↑ Du Brow, Rick (June 19, 1993). "Fox Growing Into a Full-Scale, Seven-Night Network". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  5. ↑ Snow, Shauna (July 13, 1993). "TV/Radio: Chevy's Plans". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Television: Are You Really Ready for the Late-Night Talk-Show Wars?". Los Angeles Times. August 29, 1993. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  7. ↑ Snow, Shauna (May 14, 1993). "TV/Radio". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ Louie, Elaine (September 16, 1993). "The Set Makes the Host". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  9. ↑ King, Susan (September 5, 1993). "Television". Los Angeles Times.[citation needed]
  10. ↑ Shales, Tom (September 9, 1993). "Chevy Chase, Taking a Fall". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  11. ↑ Zoglin, Richard (September 20, 1993). "Late-Night Mugging". Time. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  12. ↑ Tucker, Ken (October 8, 1993). "The Chevy Chase Show". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  13. ↑ Carter, Bill (October 11, 1993). "Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  14. ↑ Carter, Bill (September 6, 1993). "Chevy Chase's Many Rivals: Jay, Dave and the Local News". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 Carter, Bill (October 18, 1993). "Chevy Chase's Show Canceled After 6 Weeks". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Carter, Bill (October 11, 1993). "Chevy Chase's Ratings Deliver Frowns at Fox". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  17. ↑ TV Guide Guide to TV. Barnes & Noble. 2004. p. 228. ISBN 0-7607-5634-1.
  18. ↑ "TV Guide Network's "25 Biggest TV Blunders" Special Delivers 3.3 Million Viewers". The Futon Critic. March 2, 2010. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  19. ↑ Sayre, Carolyn (April 11, 2007). "10 Questions for Chevy Chase". Time. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Chevy Chase". Norm Macdonald Has a Show. September 14, 2018. Netflix.
  21. ↑ Doritos Tortilla Thins – Tough Year (television advertisement). 1994.
  22. ↑ "Fox network courting Stern to replace Chase, insider says". Los Angeles Daily News. November 25, 1993. Retrieved July 25, 2026.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Chevy_Chase_Show&oldid=1366048912"