The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Jan 16, 1970
TV Flash files “Jan 16, 1970” as the first listed hour of season 1970 — The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992) on NBC, season 1970, episode 12, aired 1970-01-16, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S1970E12: listed hour 261 of 1660 in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide, first listed hour of season 1970. It aired 1970-01-16 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Dec 31, 1969” (S1969E258). Next is “Jan 23, 1970” (S1970E17). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Jan 16, 1970 sit in the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson guide?
S1970E12 is listed hour 261 of 1660 — first listed hour of season 1970, season 1970 episode 12.
When did The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson S1970E12 air?
Jan 16, 1970 aired 1970-01-16 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Any surviving Burbank-era hour with a full monologue, desk chat, and a comic on the couch shows the furniture he locked in. The late-career years are the easiest on-ramp: the ritual is fully formed.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Johnny Carson owned NBC's 11:30 for nearly thirty years: monologue, desk, couch, and a golf swing as host craft. Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen made the furniture feel like a national after-party. Watch it to see why every later late-night host still inherits or rebels against Burbank — the template for who gets the couch.
October 1, 1962, is the drop date that still explains the furniture. Johnny Carson leased NBC's 11:30 for **thirty years** — through May 22, 1992 — 31 seasons and 1,660 hours of monologue, desk, couch, and the occasional animal segment that went feral. Rex will call it a national bedtime story. It was a window. Politicians, movie stars, and comics all needed the wave-on because the clock did not move.
Open the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson package · Season 1970 hub
Filed against
- Johnny Carson as Host
Johnny Carson owned NBC’s 11:30 for nearly thirty years — monologue, desk, couch, and a golf swing as host craft. Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen made the furniture feel like a national after-party. Every later late-night host still…
- Ed McMahon as Announcer / Sidekick
Ed McMahon made The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson furniture feel like a national after-party — announcer, sidekick, and the laugh that told America the monologue had landed. Carson owned NBC's 11:30; McMahon owned the welcome. TV…
- Doc Severinsen as Bandleader
Doc Severinsen led The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as bandleader flash — monologue, desk, couch, golf swing as host craft, Ed McMahon as furniture, NBC’s 11:30 for nearly thirty years. A national after-party in a sequined jacket.…