Teachout: Carson? A Fast Fade To Black

AJBlogger Terry Teachout is impressed by the nostalgia accompanying news of the death of Johnny Carson. Not impressed by Carson himself, though. Oh, there’ll be the predictable flood of warm tributes. “And after that? A fast fade to black, I expect. American popular culture is cruel and brutal when it comes to the immediate past: it respects only extreme youth, and has no time for the day before yesterday. All of which somehow makes me feel sorry for Johnny Carson. I wonder what he thought of his life’s work? Or how he felt about having lived long enough to disappear into the memory hole?”