Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

runamokprods While I grew up enjoying Johnny Carson, he wasn't somebody I felt driven to know more about. But this almost 2 hour documentary does a terrific job of dovetailing both the public and private sides of the man to give a portrait of a tremendous talent who could handle anything on his show with amazing spontaneous grace and humor, but had a much harder time dealing with people, love and family out in the real world. A complete extrovert on-stage, he was a true introvert away from the lights, struggling with drinking, anger and extra-martial affairs. Yet while the film doesn't flinch in looking at his sad and dark sides, it does so with compassion and never feels like a hit job. It balances these darker, sometimes very moving sections with great clips from "The Tonight Show" that remind one just how damn funny the guy could be, in spite of his troubled personal life. For a film I wasn't sure I even wanted to see, it did an excellent job of hooking me in and riveting me in telling the story of a great entertainer who was far more complicated than I imagined.

DarthVoorhees Johnny Carson has always been an interesting figure in the pop culture lexicon. It seems that he is someone who is totally immune to any criticism whatsoever because what he represented was so powerful. This episode of 'American Masters' for the most part is interested in more of the myth than the man. The allegory of Citizen Kane and Rosebud is brought up frequently during the documentary as if finding Johnny's Rosebud will define him. I felt that the documentary was too flattering to Carson and too much in awe of his legend that it really ultimately failed to present a real dissection of Johnny and his faults and successes. One problem with this documentary is that it just reiterates everyone's love for Johnny. There isn't an interviewee on the show who doesn't love Carson. All of his faults are portrayed as gleams of polish that make up the legend. I for one would have loved to have seen more time spent on some of the darker instances of Carson's career. I have always thought he was in the wrong in his feud with Joan Rivers. Rivers is given some time to articulate her side of the story but I for one would have been far more satisfied if some other people who had dealings similar to this were represented. I guess what is conveyed here is the legend of Johnny Carson and the legend has weight. Dozens of interviewees are questioned about Johnny's need to entertain and there is a weight put around all their answers which become half answers. Surprisingly Carson himself answers the question in a 'Tonight Show' clip and the answer is simple, he liked the attention. It's a beautifully honest answer but it kind of defeats the mythic propositions of the documentary. In some ways I liked seeing these comedians being very conscious of this giant shadow they live in. If you like sentimentalism in your documentaries than you will love this. In Carson's case the legend is more interesting than the man, who by all accounts could be a pretty nasty bastard.

DKosty123 This show nails the essential complex host/man/loner Johnny Carson was.It has all the major talkers Carson competed with, plus a lot of his classic clips and stories about a major television figure who tried to keep his private life private.What is interesting to me is that the special mentions the love affairs that Carson had that broke up his marriages. Other than scandal sheet articles, I have seen very little tell all books from women Carson had affairs with. I guess not all women kiss and tell.The special does bring up Angie Dickinson's claim that she wanted romance with Carson but things never worked out. There was always a lot of sexual innuendo used on Carson's Tonight show. This Carson special is available through a link on You Tube for anyone interested.It covers the Joan Rivers Feud, and many other topics. Most interesting thing - very little reference to Mclean Stevenson who was the guy who guest hosted Tonight the most while Carson was there.The Carson family issues which were never seen when Carson was on and alive are brought to the surface here in a very direct way. This show is "spot on."http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes

Michael_Elliott American Masters: Johnny Carson: King of Late Night (2012) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Very good entry in the long-running series takes a look at the life and career of Johnny Carson. The two-hour documentary covers a wide range of topics including Caron's early work in magic, his Omaha, NE days, his moves to Los Angeles, a couple failed television shows, his game show and finally his thirty-year run as host of The Tonight Show. Through interviews and archival footage we're told the ups and downs of Carson's career. It's said that Carson was one of the most loved figures in television history and that certainly appears to be the case simply by how many people turned up to be interviewed for this. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Arsenio Hall, Conan O'Brien, Drew Carey, Jerry Seinfield, Angie Dickinson, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Steve Martin and Dick Cavett are just a few of the familiar faces who show up to talk about what Carson meant to them. It's really amazing that it took so long for American Masters to do a documentary on the legend but they really haven't let you down as the film is certainly well produced and director Peter Jones did a fantastic job at putting it together. What I really enjoyed is how we'd get the biography of Carson's life and then while we're told the stories we'd get a cut to a Tonight Show clip where he's joking about it. As someone who didn't grow up with Carson I found the clips to be incredibly funny and I think the film really got across what made him so special with so many people.