I know what you mean, as that was my experience in a period a bit before yours, getting to stay up late and watch "The Tonight Show" in the 1960s and early '70s, either in the summer or during a school vacation period, or maybe when I was sick and my parents would wheel in the extra black & white TV set to my bedroom. I even recall occasionally seeing Jack Paar (the host of "The Tonight Show" previous to Johnny Carson, from 1957-62) hosting NBC's landmark late night program, when I was a very young boy.
But I certainly watched some other excellent TV talk show hosts without restriction in the 1960s through '80s, including Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, and Tom Snyder.
You probably also recall Tom Snyder, when he hosted "The Late Late Show" following David Letterman on CBS in the '90s. Snyder was a TV natural, with a news journalism background to match his talk hosting duties. And on his last series he was more relaxed and even wittier than when he hosted "Tomorrow" in the '70s and early '80s on NBC. I have read Letterman always felt bad it was his "Late Night" series (produced by Carson Productions) on NBC that replaced Snyder's "Tomorrow" show, so Letterman made it up to Snyder by selecting Snyder for the show to follow his on CBS, after Letterman jumped networks in 1992.
I loved how Snyder would open his show by telling personal anecdotes about his home life, visiting his senior citizen mom, and of his long broadcasting career, all the while joking with his crew. Tom Snyder's monologue, and his program generally, was like spending an hour with one's favorite hip uncle, listening to him tell tales out of school and joking with his guests, but capable of asking earnestly probing and insightful questions when the need arose.
Dick Cavett matched Snyder's urbane and witty style with a true intellect (although sometimes he liked the sound of his own voice a bit too much), yet with his Nebraska heritage similar to Carson's could also appeal to the Midwest as well as the Coasts. Cavett had also written for both Paar and Carson, so earned his right to a late nigh slot, even though the ratings were never really competitive with Carson's or Merv's. But Cavett was certainly a step-up from the amusing, but out-of-his element Joey Bishop, who preceded Cavett as an ABC late night host. Cavett also booked some of the most iconic guests ever to appear on a late night talk show, from Alfred Hitchcock to Bette Davis and Katherine Hepburn, to Gore Vidal and Norman Mailer, and Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones; with topics not typical of the late night tall genre, such as a debate between anti- and pro-Vietnam War spokesmen.
As entertaining as Carson, Merv, Mike Douglas, and Dinah Shore even, were, I think Snyder and Cavett were actually the most intelligent TV talk show hosts.
The only TV talk host that even comes close to Cavett and Snyder today is PBS' Charlie Rose. But Rose may also be drearily boring, his program's topics not particularly suited to a more general TV network talk show, even in the late and overnight hours. It's a fine line between being intelligently entertaining, informative, and not boring viewers to death.
Unfortunately, so much of the TV audience today is not as well-read, nor do we share a culture of commonality as in the eras of these previous TV talk shows. So we get what we deserve, less intelligent talk show hosts (from Jimmy Fallon to Conan to Oprah to Rosie to Ellen DeGenerate, or those hussies on the henfests of daytime TV) who pander to the lowest common denominator (today's daytime viewers are several notches below even the housewives who viewed daytime TV in the 1960s and '70s), having to resort to merchandise giveaways to bribe their studio audiences into participation. Beneath that level, even, are the trailer-trash talk shows, hosted by smart guys (such as Maury Povich and Jerry Springer) who prostitute their talents in arenas totally beneath their levels (and beneath contempt, format-wise).
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