The Chevy Chase Show
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 Fox's disasterous attempt at a late-night talk show that tanked Chevy Chase's career in five fabulous weeks.
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The Chevy Chase Show is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor, comedian, and former Saturday Night Live cast member Chevy Chase, on FOX. The program premiered on September 13th, 1993, and only lasted five weeks before being cancelled.
It was the second late-night talk show to air on FOX, the first one being The Late Show that aired from 1986 to 1988, which was hosted by people like Joan Rivers and Arsenio Hall.
Why It Deserves to be Chased Out
- The show was very derivative of Chevy Chase's old comedy styles seen on SNL and movies like Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
- It tries to be hip and cool with the young audience of the 90s and be a nod to variety shows of previous years at the same time, but fails miserably in both cases due to FOX and Chevy's creative differences.
- Many of the comedy sketches range from weird and unfunny, like the "Rubber Band Race" sketch, to nauseating, like the cold opening sketch where Dan Aykroyd causes Chevy to bleed while shaving his face.
- The interviews with guests, like Goldie Hawn and Whoopi Goldberg, are either boring, uncomfortable, or both, with very weak attempts at comedy, like Goldberg giving Chevy a good-luck gift of high-heeled shoes that she wore on her own failed talk show.
- The show and its failure only helped to deteriorate Chevy Chase's already declining career even further.
Redeeming Qualities
- The stop-motion animated intro is creative, showing Chevy Chase stealing letters from various landmarks in Los Angeles to form the logo for his show.
- Some of the sketches were okay.
- The News Update segments were pretty good, and a nice nod to Chevy Chase's tenior as anchor for the Weekend Update segments on SNL.
Reception
Despite its heavy marketing campaign leading up to the premiere, the Chevy Chase Show was a commercial failure for FOX, and was critically panned by fans of Chevy Chase's work and critics alike, being derided for the weird writing, poor attempts at comedy that are nothing like Chevy Chase's previous works, awkward interviews, and is considered one of the worst talks shows ever. It didn't help that it competed with other late-night talk shows, like the Late Show with David Letterman, which premiered on CBS a week prior to the Chevy Chase Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which premiered on NBC nearly a week after Chevy's show, and both of those shows dominated in ratings.
It ranked at #70 in the book What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History, and was ranked at #16 on TV Guide's list of worst television shows and the same position on its list of biggest television blunders.
Lucie Salhany, former chairwoman of FOX, described the Chevy Chase Show as being "uncomfortable and embarassing".
Trivia
- Originally, the show was going to be hosted by Dolly Parton, but her manager declined, suggesting someone else to host the show instead, and Chevy Chase was hired.
- The Earl Carroll Theatre in Los Angeles, the main venue for the show, was renamed to the Chevy Chase Theatre to promote the show. After the show's cancellation, the theatre reverted to its previous name.
- The show was referenced in The Simpsons' 138th Episode Spectacular, as one of the projects Troy McClure supposedly worked on.