Almost Live!
| Almost Live! | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Starring | Ross Shafer, John Keister, Pat Cashman, Tracey Conway, Nancy Guppy, Joel McHale, Bob Nelson, Bill Nye, Bill Stainton, Steve Wilson, and Ed Wyatt |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 389 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (1984-1989), 30 minutes (1989-1999) |
| Release | |
| Original network | KING-TV |
| Original release | September 23, 1984 – May 22, 1999 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows |
The (206) The John Report with Bob Up Late NW Bill Nye the Science Guy |
Almost Live! is a local sketch comedy television show in Seattle, Washington, USA, produced and broadcast by NBC affiliate KING-TV from 1984 to 1999. A re-packaged version of the show also aired on Comedy Central from 1992 to 1993, and episodes aired on WGRZ-TV in the late 1990s. The show was broadcast on Saturday nights at 11:30, pushing Saturday Night Live back to midnight.
Almost Live! began as a weekly half-hour talk and comedy sketch show created by then VP of Programming Bob Jones, and hosted by Ross Shafer and closely patterned after Late Night with David Letterman, airing at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. From the beginning, it featured many spoofs and satires of local television, series such as Star Trek, and unique locales in and around the city such as Ballard, Green Lake, Lynnwood, and Kent. The show became so popular that it was expanded from a half hour to one hour and shown twice a week. After four years and nearly 40 local Emmy Awards and several national awards, Shafer left to host the Fox Network's The Late Show.
John Keister became the permanent replacement after Shafer left the program. Keister hosted for one season (1988) in the one hour, 6 p.m. Sunday slot, but, following the lead of a "Greatest Hits" special that aired at 11:30 Saturday, the show moved into that slot. Until he became host, Keister was a regular supporting performer. Many of the initial award winning elements of Almost Live were his efforts, so the program quickly changed formats to feature more of his abilities, as well as other cast members, in video sketches. The guest interviews and live band segments were dropped. The focus changed to sketch comedy and the show was shaved back to a half-hour format.
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