The book "The Late Shift," by New York Times TV writer Bill Carter, is a great read.
The made-for-HBO movie "The Late Shift," based on Carter's book, isn't so great.And perhaps part of the problem is that there aren't many in America who aren't already familiar with the story of Jay Leno and David Letterman. How they each sought the post-Johnny Carson "Tonight Show." How Leno won, only to have Letterman go to CBS and win the ratings war for almost two years.
How Leno, with an assist from Hugh Grant, came back last year to take the lead.
On the assumption that America isn't sick of hearing this stuff ad nauseum, HBO turned this into a rather run-of-the-mill TV movie.
Not that it's Carter's fault. He has turned out quite a good script based on his own book.
But the performances, for the most part, are awful. And Betty Thomas, who did such a crummy job directing "The Brady Bunch Movie," hasn't done any better with "The Late Shift," which premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. on HBO.
This is a movie that could have been the equivalent of HBO's excellent "Barbarians at the Gate" in the hands of a more skillful director. Instead, it's more like an endless "Saturday Night Live" sketch.
Last summer, Letterman told TV critics the TV movie was "the single-largest waste of film since my wedding photos."
But while this could have been a really good movie, and it ends up being mediocre at best.
The fact is that this story does have a lot to offer. It's a fascinating look behind the scenes of a titanic struggle - titanic in TV terms, of course. Familiar figures put in ridiculous situations. And the chance to see some of Hollywood's powerful people look foolish.
(Although ending the movie when Letterman signed with CBS in 1993 may have been a mistake.)
Let's face it. Actors Daniel Roebuck (as Leno) and John Michael Higgins (as Letterman) face impossible tasks in trying to portray people who are so familiar. But, that said, neither of them does a particularly good job.
With a silly prosthetic jaw, Roebuck looks like something out of Madame Toussaud's wax museum. And his Leno is whiny and wimpy.
Higgins looks more like Letterman than Roebuck does like Leno, but Higgins' characterization is little more than a caricature.
Actually, average viewers may enjoy the movie more than critics. Average viewers will recognize the bad imitations of Letterman and Leno - and probably the bad imitation of Letterman producer Robert Morton (John Kapelos) - but they won't recognize the bad imitations NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield (Bob Balaban), NBC Productions chief John Agoglia (Reni Santoni), former CBS Broadcast Group President Howard Stringer (Peter Jurasik), former NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff (John Getz), current NBC chief Bob Wright (Lawrence Pressman), Letterman producer Peter Lassally (Steven Gilborn) and many others not generally known to the viewing public.
Rich Little's Vegas imitation of Johnny Carson epitomizes the tone of "The Late Shift" - style over substance, caricature instead of characterization.
Actually, the movie has only two really good performances. Treat Williams is smooth and subtle as former super agent (and current No. 2 man at Disney) Michael Ovitz, the man who made Letterman extremely rich when he switched to CBS.
And Kathy Bates' over-the-top portrayal of Leno's manager, Helen Kushnick, is the only thing that lights "The Late Shift's" fire.
As portrayed in the movie, Kushnick is a profane bulldozer whose demented drive led Leno to the top. And if the fictional Kushnick seems too awful to believe, many who've had experience with the real Kushnick will tell you she was actually worse than this.
The whole relationship between Kushnick and Leno is the most interesting part of the story. Kushnick coerced a secret contract from NBC assuring Leno would replace Carson. Then she planted news stories that helped push longtime late-night king Carson off his throne.
Her brief stint as the executive producer of "Tonight" was indeed a reign of terror. She was hated by everyone at NBC - seemingly everyone period - except for Leno. When the wimpy Littlefield and Agoglia (the movie's two stooges) finally make a move to break Kushnick's hold over Leno, they term it an intervention.
But, as Kushnick correctly points out to Leno, it it weren't for her, he wouldn't be the host of "The Tonight Show."
When Bates isn't on camera, however, "The Late Shift" bogs down. The script is clever, but the Thomas' tone is wrong.
As a matter of fact, your average hour of the "Late Show" or "The Tonight Show" is far more entertaining than "The Late Shift.