I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast · Bob Zerull

1996 - The Late Shift

·1 hr 4 min·5 clips

Sean Patrick opens by framing the 1996 movie as a story about power, ego, and people who are not exactly easy to like. Amy pushes back on the opening and wants a little more sparkle, which sets the tone right away. They talk about John O'Gole as the guy everybody hates, and Randy Santoni's performance gets praised and mocked in the same breath. The hosts keep circling the idea that the movie works because the suits are so stiff. They also keep reminding each other that the film is not meant to be taken as perfect historical record. Even so, they think it lands close enough to the real thing to make the whole mess feel familiar. Bill Carter's book, which the movie is based on, gets credit for strong sources and for getting key details right. Jay's habit of listening in on NBC's Florida meeting becomes one of the episode's favorite bits, and that turns into a deadpan argument about whether he really had the goods on everyone. From there the show does what it does best and jumps tracks. They start joking about Murder, She Wrote and Jessica Fletcher. Amy's theory is that Jessica basically killed her way across Cabot Cove. Sean Patrick runs with the joke and makes it worse. The discussion turns into a mock-serious case for Fletcher as a master manipulator. Grady gets singled out as the worst nephew in TV history. The hosts then swing back to the movie's emotional logic and decide that the overly controlled people in it are barely holding themselves together. They joke that the whole thing feels like Gen X cope in real time. The tone stays dry, quick, and a little feral. In the end, they land on a simple verdict: it is worth seeing. The episode closes with a next-week tease that is part programming note and part bait. That last stretch keeps the show's rhythm intact, because even the housekeeping lands like a punchline.

As heard by us

A sharp, wandering hangout about late-night egos and TV-movie drama.

This episode follows The Late Shift and the 1996 TV movie version of the late-night feud around Jay Leno, David Letterman, and the network people trying to keep the whole thing contained.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a blunt, messy conversation about The Late Shift and the people inside it, this is your kind of detour.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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