Talent Needed for "Good Night, Oscar" Show

The reigning president of NBC during television’s Golden Age, he upholds the “conventional mores” of the 1950s. A philosophy major at Harvard, he takes his role as a television executive seriously. Knows that the shows he produces play to hard-working American families who expect wholesome values. Bob is Jewish, and keenly aware that he lives in a “Christian nation” that makes up most of his audience. He enjoys giving his nephew Max a shot at the business.

The king of the late-night television talk-show, the first of its kind in 1958. Jack has a puckish wit and a taste for mischief. His low-key demeanor and midwestern charm conceal hard-core ambition. His fondness for edgy comedians and provocative conversation often make him the bane of network executives.

Oscar’s wife. Gracious under pressure, seemingly put-upon, she has a core of steel. A former 20th Century Fox contract player, she gave up her own career in motion pictures to tend to her very high maintenance husband, whom she loves deeply but whose reckless antics often rattle her down to her last nerve.

A young medical orderly working in the mental ward at Mt. Sinai, with a droll sense of humor and serious ambition. He keeps a tight grip on Oscar’s whereabouts, his meds, and his misbehavior. The two of them have formed an irascible friendship. He has significant ambitions that extend far beyond caring for his highly unstable patient. He plans to attend an HBCU, become a psychiatrist, and make his beloved, hard-working parents proud.

Jack Paar’s new production assistant. Max is a sweet kid who’s eager to please. In fact, he sometimes stumbles over his own enthusiasm. Thanks to his Uncle Bob (who just happens to be the president of NBC) Max has finagled his way into a job as Jack Paar’s assistant on The Tonight Show.

A child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, he is charming and rakish with a winning grin. At the time he had one of the most celebrated careers in American popular music. He's self-absorbed and ambitious and not without a darkness and edge. Those qualities are mediated only by his monumental talent. A hero to Oscar.