The Chevy Chase Show

I remember this show very well and wished very much for it to succeed. Chevy is likable and talented... but NOT as an interviewer. He was terrible. He simply was totally uncomfortable being in the position of having the full responsibility of being the host and improvising in the moment, and he appeared to have no idea how to have fun with guests and ask the simplest of questions: his mind would go blank and he just sat there at a loss, apparently terrified. It was a shame. He had Tom Scott's great band, and when the show folded -- after 5 weeks? -- there goes the band, there goes the opportunity, and there goes the audience. The show was genuinely that bad. Ya have to be able to take your mind off yourself if you're going to be able to interview people effectively, and unfortunately he had no clue how to do this. Perhaps the timing was bad and he just wasn't reading to go on the air as himself rather than as a character. Still, he was likable and I was sorry that he couldn't make a go of it. Even Goldie Hawn as a guest was unable to bring out the best in Chevy Chase as an interviewer. Those 5 weeks must have been pure agony. Toward the end of the show's run, I know it was for the audience, and it was truly merciful that the show was finally pulled.

This notoriously short-lived talk show definitely falls into the "so-bad-it's-good" category. The premiere episode featured a Goldie Hawn interview and musical number that will go down in cringe-inducing television history. Trust me; in ten more years, THE CHEVY CHASE SHOW will be a sought-after cult item for lovers of shlock (the same folks who shell out big bucks to snicker at old Dean Martin roasts). Some enterprising video company should jump on the bandwagon!

It's hard to believe that seven years have passed since I watched the unbelievably awkward "Chevy Chase Show". I think only the sadistic could have really enjoyed viewing it, such was Chevy Chase's discomfort doing something he clearly was ill prepared for. The first show opened with a bit where Chevy was putting his handprints on the walk of fame and wound up falling in. Immediately I knew we were in trouble. Little did I know that that would be the highlight of the show.

The interview with Goldie Hawn, the first guest, has to go down as the most painful, cringe-inducing interview ever seen on national TV. It certainly is the worst I've ever seen. Chevy was so nervous and his questions were so inane that even Goldie seemed to sense the disaster that was occurring. He engaged in the kind of graceless small talk that would be tedious at a cocktail party, let alone a talk show being viewed by millions. He was just trying to survive and that doesn't lead to pleasant viewing. When I think back on it now, I agree with some of the comments made that it is a sort of cult item, particularly that first show. Enough time has passed where it can be enjoyed as a "so bad it's good" form of entertainment. But while watching it the first time, I know I, and probably quite a few others, just felt sorry for Chevy. He was in way over his head. It does make me appreciate other talk show hosts more, though. It takes special skills and abilities, some probably inborn, to make it all look easy.

I watched a few more shows after that first one-though I can't remember any of the guests-and Chevy did improve somewhat. At least he seemed to relax a little-a "little". Still, even as early as the second show, the only reason to tune in was to see how bad it was going to be. And that incentive was only good for a couple of shows. After that, it was just dull.

"The Chevy Chase Show" was doomed within the first five minutes of the first show. It ranks as one of the most humiliating professional moments in any entertainer's career and, to this day, when I think of Chevy Chase, his show is what stands out in my mind. It taints his whole career for me and undoes a lot of the good that Caddyshack and the Vacation movies had done for that career.

Probably the worst,most uncomfortable show I've ever watched but yet I kept coming back because I couldn't believe I was actually watching such an unbelievable disaster. Love the old Chevy but talk show host was not for him. Chevy had absolutely no idea what to do or say at any point. I remember being completely boxed back in my early 20's and coming home and watching this with my jaw down to the floor in absolute amazement. Definitely check out the episode where Goldie Hawn sings Happy Birthday to Chevy. I could feel myself sweating because I was so uncomfortable for him. So bad, so very very bad.

When I was in 8th Grade, Chevy Chase was a hero of mine in 1976. Despite all the hype and support of the fledging FOX Network, "The Chevy Chase Show" revealed Chevy Chase as a petty man who had become what he once mocked.

The Goldie Hawn interview is a legend of bad taste. I remember Dan Aykroyd being a guest on the show. At least Aykroyd provided some dignity to his old co star. Aykroyd sang "Rubber Biscuit." Chase kept saying, "Boy we used to have a good time." And at point, Chevy Chase went from cool to Merv Griffin!

Given his public meltdowns as of late, we have come to see that Chevy Chase's source of comedy was not cleverness, but self loathing. Like his old SNL writer, mean spirited humor does not appeal to individuals beyond the 8th Grade.