Lessons in failure: The Wilton North Report

Fox’s late night TV comedy show that, surprisingly, I had never heard of. As always, there are more lessons in failure than in success.

The concept was ambitious. Bold. Insane. Think about it: SNL aired once a week for an hour-and-a-half with a writing staff of about twenty. Wilton North would air every night…for an hour…with a writing staff of about ten. It wasn’t until decades later that Jon Stewart and his fifteen or so writers figured out how to execute a similar formula to great success. And even then, The Daily Show is only half-an-hour long, airs four times a week, and takes a hiatus once a month. Also, today every laptop can double as an editing suite. Wilton North was operating with pre-digital technology and our search engine was a guy named Keith.