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The Chevy Chase Show

 The Chevy Chase Show
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 TVTItem
 The Chevy Chase Show
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 The Chevy Chase Show
 The Chevy Chase Show
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 TheChevyChaseShow
 The Chevy Chase Show
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 In 1992, NBC infamously gave Jay Leno the hosting gig on The Tonight Show over David Letterman, who would then move to CBS the following year and compete with Leno on The Late Show. Of course, they'd go on to firmly establish their dominance of the late night talk show format in America for many years to come. However, during this time of upheaval, Fox decided they wanted to get in on the action, even despite their own shaky history with late night. They approached the one and only Dolly Parton to host a show, but Dolly and her management turned Fox down. Instead, Dolly suggested Chevy Chase could do the job.Several million dollars later, it turned out that even Dolly Parton makes mistakes.Chevy went into the show with a $3,000,000 contract and boatloads of hype, highlighted by print ads giving a Take That! to Letterman (featuring Chevy with a gap-tooth and the tagline "Ready to Fill the Late Night Gap"). Hollywood's Aquarius Theater was given a $1,000,000 renovation into the Chevy Chase Theater, complete with a big new sign out front, and basketball hoops and a live fish tank on the stage (the latter of which was reportedly a huge chore to maintain). Chevy got a strong house band - the Hollywood Express - fronted by jazz saxophonist and legendary session musician Tom Scott. The show premiered on September 7th, 1993.Unfortunately, right from the premiere, Chevy looked visibly nervous and uncomfortable in this setting, and his monologues made his inexperience doing proper stand-up comedy all too clear. Ensuing attempts at alternative comedy and Surreal Humor - inspired by Chevy's hero, Ernie Kovacs - were more confusing than anything, and News Update, his attempt at recreating Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, only slightly improved the proceedings, mostly because it was the only part of the show that put Chevy in his element. The celebrity interviews showed Chevy - never known as a people person, to put it charitably - the most adrift, struggling to be conversational and inquisitive unless it was an old friend of his, such as Dan Aykroyd.The show was a critical disaster right from the jump, and it reflected in the ratings, which steadily dropped until they were less than half of what Letterman was pulling in with The Late Show at the same time. Fox cut their losses and cancelled the show after five weeks, "in the best interests of both its affiliated stations and its star." The theater was re-renamed the Aquarius Theater mere days after the last episode, with the sign painted over, and any trace of the show was removed post-haste.Thanks to both this and the dismal performance of his film Vegas Vacation a few years later, Chevy Chase's career never fully recovered, though he managed a brief comeback with his stint on Community.Tropes associated with The Chevy Chase Show include:
 The Chevy Chase Show
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 The Chevy Chase Show
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 Animated Credits Opening / int_c68abc72
 The Chevy Chase Show
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 Talk Show / int_c68abc72