With David Letterman retiring, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is wasting no time trying to restore the balance of late-night talk to the West Coast.
Within hours of Letterman's announcement Thursday, Garcetti sent an open letter to CBS president Leslie Moonves, encouraging him to relocate Letterman's New York-based "Late Show" to LA.
Garcetti wrote he wants "to encourage you to bring CBS' next late night show to our city — the entertainment capital of the world."
He adds that he's "aggressively seeking to encourage more production here in Los Angeles" by providing incentives to make the city more appealing.
Southern California lost a decades-old local late-night staple two months ago when Jimmy Fallon took over "The Tonight Show" from Jay Leno and moved the production from Burbank to New York.
This image released by Adult Swim shows the animated superhero Space Ghost, voiced by George Lowe, in a scene from the series “Space Ghost Coast to Coast." (Adult Swim via AP)
By JOHN SEEWER Associated Press
George Lowe, the voice behind the irreverent animated superhero on Adult Swim's "Space Ghost Coast to Coast," has died. He was 67.
He died Sunday in Lakeland, Florida, two of his business representatives said. Lowe had been struggling to recover from elective heart surgery in November, his family said in a statement. "Over the past few months, his family and friends have been by his side in support and care for him," the statement said.
Lowe's booming voice and off-the-wall humor turned "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" into a cult classic among young adults and teens.
The show debuted in 1994 and aired for more than a decade on Cartoon Network as part of its Adult Swim nighttime programming block. It was Cartoon Network's first original production and set the foundation for several other original series including "The Powerpuff Girls," "Courage the Cowardly Dog" and "Johnny Bravo."
On "Space Ghost Coast to Coast," Lowe played the role of cartoon superhero Space Ghost, who hosted a talk show and interviewed real celebrities. While the interviews with the likes of William Shatner, Conan O'Brien and Donny Osmond were pre-recorded, Lowe would later add wacky and rambling digressions, such as asking guests if they were getting enough oxygen.
"Insanity became en vogue, thanks to us," Lowe told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2004.
Adult Swim President Michael Ouweleen said the show proved the network could find success with its own productions.
"You all knew him as Space Ghost (and all his other characters), but we knew him as himself, a true character in his own right, one that left an indelible mark on all of us at Adult Swim," he said.
