''The Johnny Carson Show'' is a 1955–56 half-hour

primetime Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

starring

Johnny Carson John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson is a cultural phenomenon and w ...

. While working as a staff writer on ''

The Red Skelton Show ''The Red Skelton Show'' is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. Although his tele ...

'', local

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

television comedian Carson filled in as host when Skelton was injured during a show rehearsal. As a result of Carson’s performance,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

created the primetime variety program ''The Johnny Carson Show'', a traditional potpourri of comedy, music, dance, skits, and monologues. Jack Prince was the male vocalist on the series. It aired on Thursday nights at 10pm ET. The short-lived 1955–56 series served as a precursor of what came later for Carson, planting the seeds for sketches he performed on the later ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

'', such as "Mighty Carson Art Players". However, the show flopped in the ratings and was quickly cancelled. This show was produced in Los Angeles at the Vine Street Theater. The show was alternately sponsored by

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, perfume, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it remains. Revlon was founded by brothers Charle ...

and

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

(

Jell-O Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...

, instant

Sanka Sanka is a brand of instant decaffeinated coffee, sold around the world, and was one of the earliest decaffeinated varieties. Sanka is distributed in the United States by Kraft Heinz. History Decaffeinated coffee was developed in 1903 (see Dec ...

, and

Minute Rice Minute Rice is a brand of instant rice that cooks quickly, as the rice is parboiled and then dried prior to packaging. It was the first quick-cooking convenience white rice product on the US market. History Afghan inventor Ataullah K. Ozai‐Dur ...

).The Best of Johnny Carson and Friends. Perfs. Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Mel Brooks, Ronald Reagan. DVD. Mill Creek Entertainment, 2009. Johnny Carson William Bendix Johnny Carson Show 1955

Johnny Carson William Bendix Johnny Carson Show 1955

In a 1978 profile of Carson in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'',

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Initially making his mark as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised John Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) and encouraged the emerging wave ...

described the ''Johnny Carson Show'' as "a half-hour program that goes through seven directors, eight writers, and 39 weeks of worsening health before expiring, in the spring of 1956." Carson wound up hosting a daytime game show called ''

Who Do You Trust? ''Who Do You Trust?'' (originally titled ''Do You Trust Your Wife?'' until July 1958) is an American television game show. Under the title ''Do You Trust Your Wife?'', the show premiered in prime time on CBS in January 1956 and was hosted by E ...

'' (1957–62) until he was tapped by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

to replace the departing

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, writer, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine's ob ...

as host of ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'' in 1962, a position Carson held for 30 years. Kinescopes of 10 episodes from the series were discovered in a closet by Carson's second wife Joanne and released by

Shout Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

on DVD in 2007. Joanne Carson says the kinescopes were hand-picked by Carson as a courtship gift to her and featured his favorite episodes from the series. Additional episodes survive at the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

. Following the cancellation of the series, CBS assigned Carson to host another series, this time airing in a daytime time slot. This series also was titled ''The Johnny Carson Show'' and began in May 1956, but ran only through the summer. A single episode of this version is included on Shout Factory's DVD release of the 1955–56 series.

References

External links

* *
''The Johnny Carson Show'' USA Today article

''The Johnny Carson Show'' DVD set at DVDVerdict

''The Johnny Carson Show'' Shout Factory 2007 DVD Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnny Carson Show 1955 American television series debuts 1956 American television series endings 1950s American variety television series 1950s American television talk shows Black-and-white American television shows Television series by CBS Studios CBS talk shows American English-language television shows