Television: The Fernwood and the Gall

For a minute or so it might almost be Merv Griffin or the Tonight show. The host is professionally affable, the guests are the usuals: a loathsome child star and a piano player, a pompous research scientist, a frizzy-haired health-food nut. Then comes the perception that something is terribly awry—the piano player is in an iron lung; Fernwood 2 Night, the talk show to end all talk shows, is on and running muck. Something like a televised cross between radio's Bob and Ray and print's Mad Magazine, it is Norman Lear's newest and, so...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!