Lucie Salhany: Last News

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeIt’s hard to believe now, but it took until 1996 for the broadcast networks to finally hire their first-ever female entertainment president, when ABC recruited Jamie Tarses away from NBC to take the job. There had been a handful of other women in powerful slots, including Lucie Salhany, who was briefly chair of the Fox Broadcasting Co.

The Chevy Chase Show” premiered Sept. 7, 1993, on Fox — a week after “The Late Show With David Letterman” dropped on CBS — and was canned six weeks (and 29 episodes) into its run.Chase, whose movie career was on the skids after a string of flops (“Nothing But Trouble,” “Memoirs of Invisible Man”) was not Fox’s first choice to host its first foray into late-night following “The Joan Rivers Show” — which lasted seven months from October 1986 to May 1997 — and “The Wilton-North Report,” a hybrid sketch-comedy/talk show that aired for four weeks.Fox wanted Dolly Parton as its late-night star but her manager, who also represented Chase, recommended him. Chase, who was 18 years past his initial “Saturday Night Live” fame, was reportedly paid $3 million, and Fox spent another $1 million renovating the Aquarius Theater in LA — renaming it The Chevy Chase Theater.