“Heeere’s Johnny!”…Again…and Again…: Pluto TV and the Continued Presence of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show
(Image source: https://www.facebook.com/PlutoTV/videos/johnny-carson-tv/1012800892491661/) In August 2020, Pluto TV, a free streaming service from ViacomCBS, launched a new channel called “Johnny Carson TV.” Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the channel streams hour-long edited episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC, 1962-1992).[i] This article will explore how Pluto TV’s programming strategy of continuously streaming content removes The Tonight Show’s hallmarks of timeliness and late-night positionality, yet still works to incorporate the program into the modern media landscape. When Pluto created the Johnny Carson TV channel, it joined the ranks of the platform’s other “Classic TV” offerings, which includes channels dedicated to The Rifleman, The Addams Family, Mission: Impossible, Happy Days, The Love Boat, and other American television programs from the 1950s-1980s.[ii] What separates Johnny Carson TV from the other channels in the Classic TV category, however, is timeliness and topicality. While these narrativized programs in Pluto’s […]