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Tom Shales speculates on a Letterman / Shaffer "feud"
From time to time, we get commenters telling us that we write like we're jaded and don't like our jobs. Of course, this couldn't be further from the truth; we all feel very grateful that we get paid to watch and report on one of our favorite things to do in the world. And anyway, there are other writers out there who actually do sound bitter about having to write about TV, and that they'd rather be doing anything else but.Take Tom Shales, the sourpuss who the long-time Washington Post TV columnist. His writing always conveys a sense that he'd rather be writing for the travel or food section, but he's been doing the TV beat so long, he's stuck. On his blog on TVWeek.com, he seems to have conjured up some sort of "feud" between David Letterman and his longtime band leader Paul Shaffer, and he uses that speculation to take a couple of cheap shots at Paul's comedic and musical abilities (Bob mentioned the post this morning in his review of TV-related blogs).
According to Shales, Letterman got visibly annoyed at Shaffer when "The Bald One" wouldn't shut up about an old ventriloquist. It was the start of the second "Ventriloquist Week," see, and I guess Shaffer was just relating a story about somebody from that profession who Ed Sullivan used to bring on his show. I'd imagine Paul was mentioning it because The Late Show films in the Ed Sullivan Theater and there was that connection, and blah blah blah.
Anyway, Shales took this cue to speculate that Shaffer was put in his place the rest of the week after Letterman -- or more likely, one of his henchman -- "read the riot act" to the band leader. From there, Shales went on to talk about how Shaffer has become a grating annoyance on the show:
"More and more, however, Shaffer's attempted cracks and quips curdle, and those dreadful shrieking "songs" he devises to introduce various segments are as helpful as sandbags falling from the rafters. He's a show-stopper, but in the wrong way."
Project much, Tom? What this sounds like is a writer blowing a minor argument between Shaffer and Letterman out of proportion because he so badly wants to see the band leader off the show.
He did say the two men "complement each other beautifully" most nights and praised Shaffer for his encyclopedic knowledge of popular music. But what he doesn't mention is that this wasn't first time nor was it going to be the last time that Dave got annoyed at Shaffer; heck, Dave gets annoyed when a joke doesn't land right or when he doesn't have enough coffee. The man's a grouch, pure and simple. And, yes, Shaffer sometimes goes off the deep end, but that banter between Dave and Paul is one of the things that has made the show great for so long, and it seems unlikely that dynamic will ever change, even if Dave gets a little irritated at his bald buddy every so often.
I guess, like all of us bloggers, Mr. Shales just needed something to write about on what I guess he thought was a pretty slow day for TV-related news. But he's making a mountain out of an anthill here.
What do you think? Is this a big deal at all? Let me know in the comments.
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