Snyder Will Just Be Tom On Cbs ‘Late Late Show’

The comb-over is pure silver these days and covers more territory, but Tom Snyder is tanned, fit, rested and ready for his return tonight to late-night television.

Snyder, interviewed during his latest Manhattan visit, was contemplating the startup of CBS’ “The Late, Late Show with Tom Snyder” with the relaxed, deeply contented air of someone who’s not just back, but back on top.

“This is no great, big comeback,” Snyder protested amiably. “As Norma Desmond put it, ‘I prefer the word “return.”’ This is a continuation of what I’ve done for 40 years.”

This is, after all, the Snyder whose 1 a.m. “Tomorrow” show debuted on NBC in 1973 and virtually invented overnight TV. “I’ve had a presence on coast-to-coast radio and television since then - with a couple of years off for good behavior,” he said.

Snyder left NBC in early ‘82, replaced by a geeky, vaguely hostile young comedian named David Letterman, and migrated to ABC Radio in 1987. For the previous 19 months, he’s had his own television show on cable’s CNBC.

Letterman’s production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., approached him about filling the hour behind late-night’s No. 1 show, CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman.”

“They just said, ‘Tom, be Tom. We know who you are. We know what you do. … Just do you. Don’t try to do anything else BUT you,”’ Snyder said. “And if I did anything else, I would surely fail.”

(KREM-Channel 2 out of Spokane will air the new “Late Late Show With Tom Snyder” at 1:35 a.m. because the station has commitments for the time following David Letterman.)

His CBS show will be simulcast on CBS Radio. Like its predecessors, it will have Snyder one-on-one with a guest and a call-in audience. “What I’m going to try and do is a radio show for television,” Snyder said.

Snyder said his guests will be “people that are talked about at water coolers,” whether they’re Newt Gingrich or Jimmy Carter, Bob Newhart or Ted Koppel.

“The audience at 12:35 will have a choice. There will be a definite choice,” he said. “I think there are sufficient numbers of people so that both programs can be successful.”

The other program Snyder was alluding to is NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” where Snyder was a frequent guest during his CNBC stint.

“We’re big fans of Tom Snyder,” said producer Jeff Ross, who’s still savoring a 15 percent “Late Night” ratings surge during the November sweeps. “It’s a different kind of show. I think it’s great that they’re doing a show like that on network television.”

That difference, he noted, also means Snyder’s show probably won’t affect “Late Night” ratings.

Snyder acknowledges the changes in the latenight landscape he helped create. He believes, however, that demographic research and analysis is based on assumptions that date from the 1940s and ‘50s, when the TV medium was new.

“I don’t think they apply any more,” he said. “I think there’s been a big shift between 1950 and 1995 in terms of how audiences perceive television.

“If you just look at the audience of the David Letterman show in the Ed Sullivan Theater, you see people ranging from teeny-bopper to grandmother - and they get it,” Snyder said.

The same applies to “The Late, Late Show,” he said. “I don’t care what the demographics are. If it’s good, I think they’re going to get it,” Snyder said. “I think if it’s no good, they’re going to get that, too.

“They’ll figure that out real fast.”

MEMO: This is a sidebar which appeared with story: First guests Wonder what Tom Snyder will be asking Newt Gingrich’s mom about when he interviews her on his premiere show? Robert and Kathleen Gingrich will be interviewed by satellite from their home.