I can't tell whether this movie would be interesting to people who are wheelers and dealers, but it interested me precisely because I'm not. If I'd paid half the attention to ploying the system, squeezing the cow, as these characters do, who knows what dazzling heights I might have reached? The story is probably familiar to most viewers by now. When Johnny Carson announces his retirement from The Tonight Show, NBC has to choose between two replacements -- Jay Leno and David Letterman, who can both claim to be qualified. They choose Jay Leno, which annoys Letterman. Not that Leno and Letterman aren't friends, but their socioeconomic interests are in conflict. All sorts of wheelings and dealings go on, which end with Leno keeping The Tonight Show and Letterman moving to an opposite spot at CBS.
Godzillions of dollars are involved of course, so it behooves everyone to act rationally. The problem faced by these characters -- not just the two stars but everyone else -- is defining "rational." Reason ought to lead you to achieving a goal. But suppose you have several goals, equally important, and contradictory? Is "success" measured in dollars? In self-satisfaction? In security at the expense of self expression? How much is friendship and loyalty worth? These are hard decisions to make but, fortunately, for millionaires it's not lonely at the top. There's plenty of advice.
The most reasonable person -- in the sense that he is least influenced by fear or sentiment -- is Michael Ovitz, played by Treat Williams. As someone says jokingly about him, talking to him is like talking to the Godfather. "You have a problem? We can solve it." Ovitz went on, as I understand it, to head Walt Disney but has recently been involved in some sort of contretemps. I think they're kicking him out of Walt Disney and giving him two million godzillion dollars to ease the pain of his passage.
The most interesting character, I thought, was Helen Kushnik, Kathy Bates. She was Jay Leno's totem person. And -- the book is more explicit about this -- she was evidently one of those people who, once in power, go completely berserk and believe that limits don't apply to them. It goes beyond pushiness. They become tyrants. I don't want to sound sexist but Kushnik's behavior takes a distinctly feminine form. The monster sacre hiding behind the stage props. Judy Garland's "stage mother." They protect and advance their clients as if the clients were some rare marketable commodity. Kushnik self destructs, as everyone predicts, but I'd have liked to know more about her.
But it's also fun watching the sparring that goes on between the players. Here is Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show, sneaking around through a garage and eavesdropping through a crack in the doorway while a discussion takes place that will decide if Leno is kept on or fired.
"The Late Shift" isn't about a subject that occupied much of my life space at the time this was going on, but it held my interest because it's one of those minor inexpensive kinds of projects that cable, especially HBO, does so well from time to time. If it's not quite up to the standard set by "Barbarians at the Gates" it's because it wasn't written by Larry Gelbart and it doesn't have James Garner's outrageous lead performance. "The Late Shift" sees some irony in the story but not much in the way of laughs, but that's okay too.
It's a intensely thought-provoking movie too. Here is the thought it provoked. "Where in the hell was Michael Ovitz when I needed him?"
Godzillions of dollars are involved of course, so it behooves everyone to act rationally. The problem faced by these characters -- not just the two stars but everyone else -- is defining "rational." Reason ought to lead you to achieving a goal. But suppose you have several goals, equally important, and contradictory? Is "success" measured in dollars? In self-satisfaction? In security at the expense of self expression? How much is friendship and loyalty worth? These are hard decisions to make but, fortunately, for millionaires it's not lonely at the top. There's plenty of advice.
The most reasonable person -- in the sense that he is least influenced by fear or sentiment -- is Michael Ovitz, played by Treat Williams. As someone says jokingly about him, talking to him is like talking to the Godfather. "You have a problem? We can solve it." Ovitz went on, as I understand it, to head Walt Disney but has recently been involved in some sort of contretemps. I think they're kicking him out of Walt Disney and giving him two million godzillion dollars to ease the pain of his passage.
The most interesting character, I thought, was Helen Kushnik, Kathy Bates. She was Jay Leno's totem person. And -- the book is more explicit about this -- she was evidently one of those people who, once in power, go completely berserk and believe that limits don't apply to them. It goes beyond pushiness. They become tyrants. I don't want to sound sexist but Kushnik's behavior takes a distinctly feminine form. The monster sacre hiding behind the stage props. Judy Garland's "stage mother." They protect and advance their clients as if the clients were some rare marketable commodity. Kushnik self destructs, as everyone predicts, but I'd have liked to know more about her.
But it's also fun watching the sparring that goes on between the players. Here is Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show, sneaking around through a garage and eavesdropping through a crack in the doorway while a discussion takes place that will decide if Leno is kept on or fired.
"The Late Shift" isn't about a subject that occupied much of my life space at the time this was going on, but it held my interest because it's one of those minor inexpensive kinds of projects that cable, especially HBO, does so well from time to time. If it's not quite up to the standard set by "Barbarians at the Gates" it's because it wasn't written by Larry Gelbart and it doesn't have James Garner's outrageous lead performance. "The Late Shift" sees some irony in the story but not much in the way of laughs, but that's okay too.
It's a intensely thought-provoking movie too. Here is the thought it provoked. "Where in the hell was Michael Ovitz when I needed him?"