LATE LATE SHOW WITH TOM SNYDER, THE {TOM SELLECK; NATALIE ANGIER} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of late-night talk shows hosted by Tom Snyder. This episode's guests include actor Tom Selleck and journalist/author Natalie Angier.
Snyder opens the program by explaining why this morning's "super-saver" episode was recorded ahead of time and will therefore not feature live phone calls from viewers, and detailing the somewhat odd process of tracking down the closing-credits song, Debbie Reynolds' "Aba Daba Honeymoon."
Selleck then joins Snyder and discusses a recent plumbing issue in his office; why he largely "stepped away" from acting for three years after "Magnum, P.I." concluded in 1988; working with Marlon Brando in the critically reviled "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" (1992) (for which he "won" a Golden Raspberry Award); finding "the courage to get off the roller coaster" and take a break from the demanding world of Hollywood; relaxing on his California ranch and spending time with his wife and young daughter; attending the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship despite his personal preference for baseball; working out with – and being pranked by – the Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Phillies and many other teams for his lead role in 1992's "Mr. Baseball"; his sense that he "just missed" the social and political activism in many California universities in the 1960s; rumors of his conservative political views, fueled by his support of William F. Buckley's National Review magazine and introduction of personal friend Nancy Reagan at the 1984 Republican National Convention; his explanation of an "attack" on famously liberal friend Barbra Streisand in a recent TV Guide interview; the danger of misunderstood printed quotes, which omit a person's tone or attitude; his many small roles and commercial appearances prior to "Magnum," including his part in the controversy-fraught "The Seven Minutes" (1971); why he participated in "Bob Hope's Wicky-Wacky Special in Waikiki" (1984) and other such specials; his recent role in "Broken Trust" (1995) as a court judge struggling with "a moral and ethical dilemma"; and why being "judgmental" about certain moral standards can be a good thing.
Next, Snyder welcomes Angier, author of "The Beauty of the Beastly," who chats about her research into the "romantic" and sexual lives of animals; some species' biological reasons for "infidelity"; how animals' "unscrupulous" sexual behavior can actually bring harmony to their social groups; mammals, specifically primates, as the most promiscuous, contrasted with the surprisingly "faithful" behavior of gray seals; human-like courtship rituals, such as the bringing of food to woo a mate; her fondness for scorpions as "underrated" creatures with good parenting skills; why the praying mantis and several kinds of spider devour their mates after copulation; an alarming fact about cockroaches' survival abilities; and whether the New York Times, for which she works, chose to censor any of the "salacious" material in her writing. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: August 4, 1995 12:35 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:40:41
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:72567
- GENRE: Talk/Interview
- SUBJECT HEADING: Talk/Interview; Actors and actresses; Animals
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1995-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Lassally … Executive Producer
- Robert Morton … Executive Producer
- Tamara M. Haddad … Senior Producer
- Michael Horowicz … Producer
- Catherine Hoeven … Associate Producer
- Constance Patsalos … Segment Producer
- Bernard Grinberg … Segment Producer
- Brian McAloon … Director
- David Sanborn … Theme Music by
- Tom Snyder … Host
- Natalie Angier … Guest
- Tom Selleck … Guest
- Marlon Brando
- William F. Buckley Jr.
- Bob Hope
- Nancy Reagan
- Barbra Streisand