TV & VIDEO - Oct. 5, 1988

Fox Broadcasting Co. is scrapping its on-again, off-again “The Late Show” after two troubled years, and the fledgling network is searching for a replacement. Host Ross Shafer has been told the show is going off the air, Paul Shefrin, a spokesman for Shafer, said Tuesday. Fox spokesman Brad Turell said word on a replacement should come later this week. “There are a lot of variables we’re looking at in late night,” Turell said. Only Arsenio Hall’s summer stint as host in 1987 saw Fox’s late night alternative to Johnny Carson a minimal success. Last April, Shafer, a former Seattle radio and television personality and comedian, became host.