LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, THE {TOM SELLECK; GREG SARRIS} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of late-night talk shows hosted by Tom Snyder. This episode's guests include actor Tom Selleck and writer Greg Sarris. Before the interviews, Snyder briefly discusses the following: his annoyance with the extremely repetitive clips and sound bites from the ongoing Bill Clinton impeachment debate; a frustrating experience at the pharmacy and grocery store with some oblivious fellow patrons; and the previous night's highly rated interview with professional wrestler turned Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura.
Selleck joins Snyder and takes call-in questions from listeners as he discusses the following topics: his involvement with the National Fatherhood Initiative and statistics on the causes of absent and/or deadbeat fathers; trends in custody arrangements and welfare programs; his own loving and sensible parents, including the story of his father's insightful reaction to his having broken a neighbor's window with a baseball as a kid; how he's doing with his own children in setting good examples of ethical behavior; why his social views haven't changed much since his lower-middle-class upbringing and days on the unemployment line prior to becoming famous; his appeal to women and heterosexual men alike; why he prefers baseball to basketball despite his considerable height of 6 feet 4 inches; his pride in his role as unscrupulous gay reporter Peter Malloy in "In & Out" (1997); his memorable in-person interview with Mae West, who cast him as a "stud" in "Myra Breckenridge" (1970), and his discovery of her fight with "My Little Chickadee" (1940) co-star W.C. Fields over billing order; his early days as an advertisement model, including his 1970s billboard for Camel cigarettes, on which his eyes were colored blue and for which he received $250; why he's chosen not to endorse any commercial products since landing "Magnum, P.I."; his disappointment at the swift cancellation of his legal drama series "The Closer," particularly for the crew and supporting cast members who were counting on several years of work; and the story of how he came to own Spike, his horse from the Western film "Quigley Down Under" (1990). Selleck's National Fatherhood Initiative PSA is also shown.
Next, Sarris discusses his latest book "Watermelon Nights" and the inspiration for the unusual title; his research into his biological roots, including the discovery that his father was half Filipino and half Native American; his teenage Jewish mother's accidental death from a medical error shortly after his birth; his friendship with Native American medicine woman Mabel McKay, who advised him to turn his feelings of anger into ways of helping others; witnessing her unusual healing abilities; how reading and writing helped him to overcome his lifelong sense of illegitimacy and displacement as a mixed-race adoptee; and the importance of social integration of all people and ideas. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 18, 1998 12:35 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:41:11
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:71506
- GENRE: Talk/Interview
- SUBJECT HEADING: Talk/Interview; Actors and actresses; Native Americans; Adoption; Indigenous Peoples Collection
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1995-1999
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - SmartBeep pagers
CREDITS
- Tom Snyder … Host
- Tom Selleck … Guest
- Greg Sarris … Guest
- Bill Clinton
- W.C. Fields
- Mabel McKay
- Jesse Ventura
- Mae West