"About a week ago I asked ABC for a little time off," Joey Bishop wisecracked to his studio audience one night last week, "but this is ridiculous." Joey will get the last 13 months of his contract off, ending a hopeless 2½-year challenge to NBC's Johnny Carson. The coup de gráce was the entry of CBS's Merv Griffin into the late-night competition in August. At last count, Johnny was attracting 33% of the audience to Merv's 18% and Joey's 14%.
Joey's permanent replacement will be Dick Cavett, a triumph with the reviewers (TIME, June 20), if not with the ratings in two...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
