letterman, mccartney, great television
There are those, sometimes myself included, who wonder if any event on television can ever capture the imagination anymore.
Sporting events? Maybe for a day like the Super Bowl – but when you think about it, it is just another football game with some extra sweet frosting surrounding it.
Inaugurations? Funerals, maybe.
But visually the sight of Paul McCartney playing live during a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman ON THE MARQUEE of the Ed Sullivan Theatre (the theatre where he first played in America as a Beatle on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964) was stunning.
It was impactful.
Watch the thousands of people lining Broadway and the side streets…as far as the eye could see. Office workers and people hanging out windows to listen. The TODAY show may try but it’s not the same.
To consider the history that happened there in 1964 and everything that transpired for McCartney, the Beatles and the world since then was amazing.
That’s what television CAN do when it’s not doling out crap about some pseudo celebrity or chasing “real-life” stories.
If you’re a true broadcaster at heart, if you get the history that surrounds our medium, this was great television.
This is why David Letterman is the king of late night and, since Carson retired, always has been. They both can be called comedians and entertainers but they are broadcasters first.
True broadcasters can make great television.
P.S. 7.17.09- Sometimes when you do make great television, EVERYBODY notices. Congrats, Dave!
