It's too early to tell if Craig Kilborn's new daily show, 'The Kilborn File,' will be a success or not. Right now, three episodes in, the ratings aren't good, but the quality isn't bad. While it is certainly experiencing some new show pains -- glitches, segments that just don't work, so-so guests -- it has a lot of potential to be as good as Kilborn's "Late, Late Show' was before the other Craig took over.

Some of you reading the words "to be as good as Kilborn's 'Late, Late Show' are probably scratching your heads because you thought that show was terrible. Simply put, if you don't like Kilborn, you won't like 'The Kilborn File.'

Even if you don't like Letterman or Leno or Kimmel, at least there are bands and musical guests and stand-up comics to entertain you. But 'The Kilborn File' (which airs anywhere from 6-10PM ET in major markets) is completely centered around Kilborn, and if you can't stand him, you're watching 'Friends' reruns or 'Entertainment Tonight' instead.

But you know what? While Kilborn is an acquired taste, I think he might be one of the more underrated talk show hosts in television history.

Kilborn is smug, sarcastic, probably likes the sounds of his voice too much and isn't always fully engaged with the people he is interviewing. I have to point out here that I think these are positive traits, not shortcomings. He's doing his own thing, and I appreciate that.

Kilborn is not another cookie-cutter host, one who is going to come out and do a monologue, then go to a commercial, then come back and do a sketch, then interview two celebrities and then have a band play a song. Kilborn's talk shows are talk shows as sort of performance art. Kilborn controls everything and the camera is almost always on him. This would be disastrous with most hosts (and most hosts wouldn't even welcome it), but Kilborn is in complete control. Maybe it was all those years as an anchor on 'SportsCenter' and 'The Daily Show.'

Kilborn hosted the Comedy Central show before Jon Stewart took over, and it was a completely different animal when he hosted it -- something pretty close to what 'The Kilborn File' is. And it suddenly occurred to me while watching the show tonight that we need something like this on TV every single day. Something that riffs on the headlines of the day, "Weekend Update" style, and give a lighter take on celebrities, politics, and media than you'll find on 'The Daily Show' or 'The Colbert Report.' Something that has celebrities and celebrity news but won't kill your brain cells like the tabloid shows. Something that has politics but is hosted by someone who probably doesn't give a crap about politics.



I've heard a lot of people say to me over the years that they can't watch Kilborn because of the traits listed above, but I've never really understood the criticism. While Kilborn certainly has a rather confident air about him, he has always struck me as a normal person who just doesn't play the Hollywood game (unless he wants to). From the guests he has the references he makes, he's actually old school, and has been since long before 'Old School.' He's a throwback to the Hollywood of yesteryear, more Merv Griffin and Steve Allen than Carson Daly. He's someone who actually has Hollywood parties and invites friends over for martinis and parlor games and cigars (Griffin used to play the piano at these parties). Someone who sees life as something fun and not a chore, one of the reasons he actually left his talk show when things were going really well, a decision no one understood.





Isn't that the type of talk show host you'd like to watch?

'The Kilborn File' is getting a six week tryout this summer. If it gets good enough ratings, it will be back in the fall. The early episodes haven't lured in viewers yet, but I really hope that changes, or Fox says the heck with it and sees the potential for a different kind of talk show on TV every day and gives it a chance anyway. While you could say that Kilborn is an acquired taste, that's actually something we need on TV, more acquired tastes. Nobody does the Kilborn thing better than Kilborn, and the people who like him understand.

So tonight while you're watching 'Access Hollywood' or 'Extra' or 'Two and a Half Men' reruns, I'll be watching Craiggers. Who knows, maybe it will only last for this six week run, but for those six weeks I'm going to dance, Dance, DANCE.