RIP Tom Snyder

I don't have much time for updates this week, but I did want to take a moment to note the passing of Tom Snyder, former TV news anchor and host of the late-night talk shows Tomorrow (on NBC in the 1970s and '80s) and The Late Late Show (on CBS in the '90s, when I first became aware of him). I wouldn't call myself a big Tom Snyder fan, but I often watched his post-Letterman Late Late Show in the '90s, and was always struck with how thoughtful and down-to-earth he seemed, and how engaged he was in all of his interviews. The show was a nice contrast to the loud, fast-paced comedy on most late-night TV, and was one of those programs that I would flip past late at night and somehow find myself watching for half an hour without even intending to.

My dad actually worked on Snyder's mid-'80s local Los Angeles talk show, and didn't have many nice things to say about the man, but however difficult he may have been to work with, he was always easy and inviting to watch. Gawker has a nice post with a compilation of notable moments from Tomorrow, and an uncharacteristically reverent comments section. Maybe I just have a soft spot for avuncular, intellectual talk show hosts, but I'm definitely mourning Snyder more than either Ingmar Bergman or Michelangelo Antonioni, who died the same day and who have been dominating discussion on film blogs for the last few days (and justifiably so).