Thicke of the Night is an American late night talk show produced by MGM Television, distributed in syndication by Metromedia and broadcast in first-run syndication during the 1983-1984 TV season.
Among the regulars on Thicke of the Night were Richard Belzer, Arsenio Hall, Rick Ducommun, Charles Fleischer, and Fred Willard. Tom Canning led the house band, and Fred Silverman was the show's producer.
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Intended as a rival to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the series was hosted by Canadian actor and songwriter Alan Thicke, who was well known in his home country for hosting The Alan Thicke Show, a popular daytime talk show that ended when Thicke was signed to do the American show.
The debut of the series on September 5, 1983 was preceded by a huge publicity campaign. When the series finally did air, it was unable to compete against the Tonight Show in the ratings, and critics were not kind to the show's blend of comedy and talk show. Even the commercials that aired between segments seemed, coincidentally, to have an axe to grind with the show and its host. In a later interview on another talk show, Alan Thicke described a maxi pad ad with the unfortunate slogan, "Once you try our brand, you'll never go back to thick again!"
As the season progressed, and with several stations having dropped the show in mid-season, it was retooled to more closely resemble Thicke's popular Canadian talk show. Original house band the Tom Canning Band was replaced by the John Tobin Band, the regulars were dropped, and Thicke's then-wife Gloria Loring joined the cast, as did controversial Los Angeles-area talk show host Wally George, on a semi-regular basis. However, none of these changes helped boost the show's ratings, and at the end of the 1983-84 season, it was cancelled. A year later, Thicke attained American TV stardom with the series Growing Pains.
The show was later satirized in an SCTV skit as Maudlin O'The Night starring Sammy Maudlin (Joe Flaherty) in a new show that is put together for him by Fred Silverman without William B. Williams (John Candy) as co-host, and with 'Maudlin's Zany's' as his new back-up. The show is a disaster, with a drunken Henry Kissinger (Eugene Levy) destroying the set in a fit of pique, kicking Howie Soozloff (based on Howie Mandel, played by Martin Short) in the groin, and with Maudlin, the Zanys, and Kissinger chasing Silverman around the studio in anger.
List of late night network TV programs