# 606: Staying Up For The Late Shift Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661/606-staying-up-for-the-late-shift Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661/606-staying-up-for-the-late-shift.md Podcast: [Extra Hot Great: This Week In TV](https://stenobird.com/podcast/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661) Published: 2026-03-18T05:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8874134 Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8874134.mp3?modified=1773537921&sid=5093960&source=rss Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661/episodes/606-staying-up-for-the-late-shift Duration seconds: 5369 ## Resource This is an un-vaulting of EEHG 376. For this year's special This Week In TV History episode, we're journeying back to 1996 for February sweeps -- specifically, the week of February 21-27 -- and investigating all the starry stunts the networks AND premium cable channels were busting out to capture audiences. Leading (with its chin) is The Late Shift , HBO's TV movie take on Bill Carter's nonfiction book about Jay Leno and David Letterman's battle to replace Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show . Did these stupid human tricks enthrall us? Adam Sternbergh returns to talk about it. Around The Dial takes us to an all-CBS-Monday-sitcoms event featuring Elizabeth Taylor, a string of black pearls, and her new Black Pearls fragrance; the many non- Friends and Seinfeld sitcoms NBC tried to launch on Thursday nights in the 90s; ER 's Season 2 episode "The Healers"; and the sci-fi drama Nowhere Man . Dave pitches "Homer The Smithers" from The Simpsons for induction into The Canon. Then, after naming the week of February 21-27's biggest Winner and Loser, it's on to a VERY questionable game time. Listen in -- you don't have to do it crouched next to a phone playing it in the next room, but you might be surprised by what you get out of it if you do! GUESTS πŸ‘€ Adam Sternbergh TOPICS Lead Topic: πŸŒ™ The Late Shift Around The Dial: πŸ’Ž CBS's Elizabeth Taylor Night Around The Dial: πŸͺ¦ NBC's Must-See TV Graveyard Around The Dial: πŸ₯ ER S02.E16: The Healers Around The Dial: πŸ—ΊοΈ Nowhere Man The Canon: πŸ₯£ The Simpsons S07.E17: Homer The Smithers Winner & Loser: πŸ’― Almost Perfect Winner & Loser: πŸ–– Over-invested Star Trek Fans Game Time: πŸ€” 19 Questions: 1995-96 TV Season Edition SUPPORT THE SHOW πŸ”₯ Join the EHG Club for bonus episodes, no ads, community Discord and more! 🎧 Subscribe to EHG o… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661/episodes/606-staying-up-for-the-late-shift/transcription-requests` β€” Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/extra-hot-great-this-week-in-tv-483661/606-staying-up-for-the-late-shift.md` β€” Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.