I was surprised to accidentally discover that Dick Cavett regularly blogs for the New York Times.
Now Dick Cavett and I go way back.
Not that we ever met or encountered each other, you understand. (Yeah, I know. You saw the title and thought, "Here's some neat little gossip." Well, sorry to disappoint you.)
I was a regular viewer of Cavett's late-night show on ABC. So I guess you could say we did meet, in a way. Late-night host Cavett was witty, charming and hip, all in one neat little box.
The great thing about "The Dick Cavett Show" was the guests. In a day when Johnny Carson was still the King of Late Night," Cavett had some incredibile guests.
On one show, he had John Lennon and Yoko Ono by themselves. On another, he hosted a bunch of rock musicians who'd just come from the Woodstock Music Festival. On another, he interviewed Bette Davis in an empty studio.
It was this repartee and knack for intimacy with his guests that made him beat Carson in substance where he couldn't beat him in ratings.
(Many of the great moments of "The Dick Cavett Show" have been released on a series of wondeful DVDs from Shout Factory. We recommend them highly.)
Cavett's writing today is much like his show was then. He's still low-key and very modest, though he loves to make remarks at his expense.
In his current column, he wanders into the subject of coming back to TV.
"A goodly number of you out there have written varied versions of “Why don’t you come back on TV?” I’m not sure. It does help if you’re asked."
It does, Dick. Hell, if we had the power and the resources, we'd ask. We hope there's someone smart enough who will.
So thanks for your great show.
And we highly recommend his column. We're glad the New York Times was smart enough to give him the blog.
Maybe some bright network guy will look away from the reality show blitz that is flooding TV these days and give Dick another shot.
He deserves it. As do we.
