<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1141" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>So long to one of TV's few urbane characters:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><<A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/28/arts/television/28PAAR.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/28/arts/television/28PAAR.html</A>></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The obit's not bad, and pretty much captures the flavor of Paar's show. His "Tonight" show also saw the first scrap between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, though the two never appeared together -- they sniped at each other in solo appearances. It would take David Susskind, and later ABC and Howard K. Smith to give us the mano y mano action that became semi-legend.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>DP</DIV></BODY></HTML>