Late Night Sets

Wonder how talk shows seem to have all ended up with the same sets?  Read Jacqui Palumbo’s article in CNN style, “How the Late Night Talk Show Set Became an American Icon” (at https://www.cnn.com/style/article/late-night-set-design-history/index.html).  It’s even the same with many British TV shows, like Graham Norton or Jonathan Ross.

Palumbo reports, for example, that “’It’s less democratic, less egalitarian, if someone is sitting behind a desk in an elevated position, and his guests are not equal in stature in terms of how they’re being seated,’ Raywood [Keith Raywood, a production designer who has built sets for O’Brien and Fallon] said. Thompson [Robert Thompson, a media scholar and professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University] points out the setup ‘leaves the guests to be fully exposed.’ Cavett, whose talk show slots included late night, preferred to sit more casually on comfortable chairs with his guests, putting them on equal ground.”