The Late Shift (1995)

HBO tele-film about the particularly bitter fight over who would replace Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show. With actors made up to look like Leno and Letterman you know it can’t help but be campy, and because the movie is really about business deals you might think it’d be a snooze, but actually I found it a surprisingly interesting character study of the two hosts (though Letterman is reported to hate the film and the book its based on, I don’t think he comes off that badly, though certainly Leno comes off rather saintly). An amusing curio, Kathy Bates gives a heck of a performance as Leno’s agent. Grade: B-