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
- It heavily borrows from Chevy Chase's classic comedic style, reminiscent of his work on SNL and films such as Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
- The show attempts to appeal to the young audience of the '90s with a hip and cool style while also paying homage to variety shows of the past. However, it falls short in both aspects due to the creative differences between FOX and Chevy Chase.
- The comedy sketches vary widely, from the bizarre and humorless "Rubber Band Race" to the disturbing cold open where Dan Aykroyd makes Chevy Chase bleed during a face-shaving scene.
- Interviews with guests such as Goldie Hawn and Whoopi Goldberg tend to be dull, awkward, or both, featuring feeble attempts at humor, such as Goldberg presenting Chevy with high-heeled shoes as a good-luck charm, which she wore on her own unsuccessful talk show.
- The show's failure further contributed to the decline of Chevy Chase's career.
Redeeming Qualities
- The stop-motion animated introduction is inventive, depicting Chevy Chase as he pilfers letters from different landmarks across Los Angeles to assemble the logo for his show.
- A few of the sketches are satisfactory.
- The News Update segments are quite impressive, serving as a fitting homage to Chevy Chase's tenure as the 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.