If you are a person of a certain age, you remember when late-night TV used to be a really big deal. For me, the sweet spot was in the 1970s and 1980s when Johnny Carson was the king of late night.

Then there’s what came after that.

There were few TV stories ever more fascinating than the behind-the-scenes battle to replace Carson as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show.” The clash between Jay Leno and David Letterman to take over Carson’s chair was so intriguing and intense that it eventually became a book and HBO film called “The Late Shift.”

These days, late night is still a thing. Well, sort of. There are still big-name stars — such as Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers — at the major networks hosting late-night shows.

So now there’s a new website dedicated to covering late-night television called, appropriately enough, LateNighter.com. It’s being run by veteran media and TV reporters A.J. Katz, Bill Carter, and Jed Rosenzweig. It should be noted that Carter is the former New York Times media reporter who wrote “The Late Shift.”

But is this idea of a site dedicated to covering late night a few years too late? One could ask if the heyday of late-night television has passed, and if today’s late night is not nearly as relevant as the days of Letterman and Leno, and before that, Carson and Arsenio Hall.

In an introductory piece called “Why Late-Night TV Still Matters,” Carter admitted that late-night TV isn’t what it used to be. But that doesn’t mean its relevance has disappeared.

Carter writes that late-night TV is worth covering for several reasons:

• “Because they remain a daily source of new, professional entertainment, seven days a week (counting ‘Saturday Night Live’ on Saturdays and John Oliver’s Emmy cornucopia ‘Last Week Tonight’ on Sundays.)”
• “Because they are an American institution.”
• “Because they are still popular.”
• “Because they are a vital part of the national cultural dialogue.”
• “Because late-night hosts are now likely more valuable than ever.”

Carter added, “You can now get all sorts of amusement and engagement from all sorts of screens and services (usually for a fee); but late night remains among the most dependable forms of entertainment ever invented.”

Some of the stories posted on the site include ratings breakdowns, what the hosts said during the most recent monologues, and other breaking news items.

Maybe late-night TV isn’t the appointment viewing it used to be. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t viewed. Instead of sitting down with a midnight snack and remote in hand like we used to, we now use our phones to watch clips from the night before — Fallon playing games with celebrities, Meyers riffing on the news and, of course, the interviews and musical guests.

So, yeah, maybe late-night TV isn’t what it once was, but it’s still worth paying attention to, and this new website appears to have the right people in place to do it.

Looking back at a NYT controversy

Earlier this week, Adam Rubenstein, a former staffer for The New York Times opinion department, wrote a piece for The Atlantic: “I was a heretic at The New York Times.”

Rubenstein writes about this time being a conservative inside Times Opinion. He also goes into detail about the infamous Sen. Tom Cotton op-ed in 2020 when Cotton said then-President Donald Trump should send troops to police protests in the aftermath of law enforcement murdering George Floyd.

Rubenstein was the one assigned to fact-check and edit the Cotton op-ed, which came under a storm of criticism from inside and outside the Times. The op-ed ultimately was amended to include a rather lengthy editor’s note that says, in part, “we have concluded that the essay fell short of our standards and should not have been published.” It then goes into detail about some of the issues with the piece.

Rubenstein’s story for The Atlantic details what he said happened in the aftermath of the Cotton op-ed.

Meanwhile, another controversy has arisen. Rubenstein started his piece for The Atlantic by recounting a story he claimed happened during orientation with other new staffers. As an ice-breaker, the new hires were asked to name their favorite sandwich. Rubenstein said his favorite was the spicy chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A.

Rubenstein said an HR representative scolded him, saying, “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.”

Several with the Times questioned the veracity of the Chick-fil-A story. Times Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones tweeted, “Never happened.”

A spokesperson for The Atlantic gave a statement to several news outlets, saying, “The entire piece was fact-checked, as is our standard policy. In reference to the opening paragraphs, the details were confirmed by New York Times employees who had contemporaneous knowledge of the incident in question.”

Rubenstein retweeted that response and wrote, “Of course the story is true.”

Still, not everyone is convinced.

Mattingly’s new job

CNN’s Phil Mattingly. (Courtesy: CNN)

Phil Mattingly has been named chief domestic correspondent at CNN. His focus for now will be on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Mattingly had been co-hosting CNN’s morning show before it was scrapped by network boss Mark Thompson earlier this month. But Thompson had high praise for Mattingly in the announcement of his new job, saying, “Phil Mattingly is one of the strongest political journalists and anchors we have at CNN.”

Mattingly has been with CNN since 2015.

Hasan’s new venture

Earlier this year, Mehdi Hasan announced he was leaving MSNBC after the network surprisingly, and to the dismay of many viewers, canceled his Sunday night show.

Just last week, it was announced that he will write a column for US Guardian. But now he’s putting something bigger on his plate. He is starting his own new subscription digital media company called Zeteo, which means “seek out.” The site is billed as having a “strong bias for the truth and an unwavering belief in the media’s responsibility to the public.”

Other media types have tried this idea, including conservative media figures such as Tucker Carlson, Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly.

But Hasan told The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr, “No one really on the progressive left has been able to pull off anything similar.”

The site started to roll out Wednesday, and will have a full launch on Substack in April. It will include a weekly streaming show hosted by Hasan called “Mehdi Unfiltered,” a weekly podcast and written pieces by various contributors. Barr reported the cost for annual subscriptions will come out to $6 a month. Hasan told Barr that he has raised $4 million from friends, family and fans.

He told Barr, “I’m not someone who can just sit back and just not have an outlet where I can say what I need to say. I’m restless, always.”

He added, “This is one of the biggest news years of our lives, and that’s why I wanted to do something like this. I’m not a businessman. I’m not an entrepreneur. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s a huge gamble. But if I wasn’t confident, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Sherman’s TV future in question

Former NFL star Richard Sherman, who is now a regular guest on FS1’s “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless and an analyst on Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” pregame and postgame shows, was arrested last weekend in Washington state on suspicion of driving under the influence.

In 2022, Sherman pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges stemming from a drunken driving and domestic disturbance the year before.

FSI’s “Undisputed” was on break last week and Sherman’s incident and future with the show was not discussed when it returned this week.

The Seattle Times’ Lauren Girgis reported that King County prosecutors said they’ll wait for blood test results before deciding whether to charge Sherman, who spent most of his career in Seattle. Girgis wrote, “It’s standard for prosecutors to wait for test results in such cases, according to a Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson. The timeline for receiving test results depends on the workload of the state crime lab, which takes almost a full year, on average, to turn around blood tests in suspected Washington DUI cases, delaying the prosecutorial process.”

If it might take a year, it’s unknown if Fox Sports and Amazon Prime would keep Sherman off the air or allow him to keep working.

Sherman is one of several guests who have taken over on “Undisputed”  for Shannon Sharpe, who left the show after his working relationship with Bayless turned sour (although Sharpe did thank Bayless when he left). On a recent episode of his “Nightcap” podcast, Sharpe talked about Sherman, saying the latest news was “really tough” to hear.

Sharpe added, “For Sherm to put himself back in harm’s way and to potentially bring others, that’s what I’m most disappointed in. Because he knows better. You brought every other car that’s on the road into the equation. We always say what didn’t happen, but then when it does happen, ‘Thoughts and prayers.’ Thoughts and prayers ain’t help nobody. I know Sherm. And I just hate that he put himself back in this situation. Take time, get this problem solved, bro. Because you’re better than this. You have a lot to give, and I would hate to see you really, really, not only hurt yourself, but harm someone else. Right now, your television career should be the last thing on your mind. The first thing that should be on your mind is getting the help that you need so you can be there for your family.”

Celebrating the careers of two sportswriters

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate the careers of two excellent sportswriters who wrote farewell columns this week.

First up, NFL writer Peter King, whose epic-length “Monday Morning Quarterback” columns became a must-read for football fans and, arguably, the single most important weekly column in recent sports memory. It certainly was the most important NFL column. King spent 44 years covering the NFL, most of them for Sports Illustrated. He spent the past several years working at NBC Sports.

Fittingly, King, 66, wrote a 12,000-word-plus farewell column, saying, “It’s time.”

Appearing on Richard Deitsch’s sports media podcast, King said he no longer enjoyed all the grind work that comes with the 24/7 NFL news cycle, such as figuring out who teams might take in the draft, or which coaches are going to be fired, and the latest free agent news.

King said he isn’t necessarily done working, although he wants to do nothing for the next few months. He told Deitsch that he might be interested in teaching.

But King had some interesting comments when Deitsch asked him what he might tell students who have dreams of entering a journalism industry that is so unstable.

“It’s easily the saddest time since I got my first job in the business with the Associated Press in early 1980,” King said. “And it continues to be. You just think, ‘Well, we’ve hit the floor.’ And then there’s a lower floor to be hit. That’s one of the things that worries me about standing in front of a group of 25 young students who are incredibly excited about getting into either the journalism business or something in the media business. The business is bad right now.”

King said some young people might find the career they want in journalism, but many might need to use the skills they learn to work in industries such as public relations. Some, he added, might find that the only way to make a living working in sports is to work for team or league-run websites.

“But,” King said, holding out hope for the future of journalism, “it’s different, but not impossible.”

Then the other sportswriter who is moving on: Helene Elliott wrote a superb farewell column for the Los Angeles Times. I sat alongside Elliott at many Stanley Cup playoff games over the years, and she was always a gem to be around with her dry sense of humor. Most of all, she has been a heck of a sportswriter over her 47-year career, the past 34 at the Los Angeles Times.

Remembering Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis, shown here in 2012. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, File)

The brilliant comedian Richard Lewis has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 76.

Lewis was best known recently for appearing alongside his friend Larry David on David’s HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” In a statement, David said, “Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he’s been like a brother to me. He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I’ll never forgive him.”

Here are remembrances from CNN’s Dan Heching, Brian Lowry and Alli Rosenbloom and The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Koseluk.

Media tidbits

• My Poynter colleague, Angela Fu, with “LGBTQ+ media broke details about Nex Benedict’s gender identity. Mainstream media reacted slowly.”
• NPR’s Dara Kerr with “A tech billionaire is quietly buying up land in Hawaii. No one knows why.”
• The Hollywood Reporter’s Lachlan Cartwright with “Shane Smith and the Final Collapse of Vice News.”
• CNN’s Oliver Darcy interviews tech reporter and podcaster Kara Swisher: “Kara Swisher warns news organizations need to ‘reinvent’ themselves amid existential crisis.”
• Washington Post sports media reporter Ben Strauss with “As Sports Illustrated sputters, its owners throw a party for ‘the brand.’”
• Mediaite’s Alex Griffing with “Steve Bannon Threatens Fox News, Says In Next Trump Admin ‘We Could Show’ Murdoch Purchased Network Illegally.”
• For The New York Times, David Streitfeld with “How the Media Industry Keeps Losing the Future.”

Hot type

• Impressive reporting shown here by Katie Strang and Corey Pronman in The Athletic about a hockey prospect with a questionable past. Superb digging and context in “Who will draft Trevor Connelly? Inside the NHL’s evolving scrutiny of top prospects.”

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