LateNighter Details How John Ritter Recommended Canadian Host Alan Thicke to Challenge Johnny Carson
LateNighter's Matt Solomon reported on November 12, 2026 in a Late Night Time Machine feature that former CBS, ABC, and NBC programming chief Fred Silverman originally tried to recruit Three's Company star John Ritter in 1983 to host a syndicated late-night comedy show opposite Johnny Carson before Ritter steered him to Canadian host Alan Thicke.
Silverman first spotted Ritter's live hosting instincts after convincing the actor to work phones on a local United Cerebral Palsy fundraiser, which led Ritter to host the first nationally televised 20-hour UCP Telethon in 1978 like he was 'hosting a party.' When Silverman became an independent producer in 1983, he pitched ABC on a late-night show built around Ritter, but ABC refused to risk its No. 6-rated primetime sitcom Three's Company.
Out of the running, Ritter recommended Thicke—then hosting The Alan Thicke Show in Canada after producing Fernwood 2-Night. Cleared on 125 stations covering 85% of the U.S., Thicke of the Night lasted eight months in 1983-84 despite a comedy staff and ensemble featuring Gilbert Gottfried, Richard Belzer, Arsenio Hall, Charles Fleischer, and Fred Willard.
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