Johnny Carson (1925–2005) was chosen as Paar's successor. Carson was host at the time of the weekday afternoon quiz show "Who Do You Trust?" on the newest and then lowest-rated radio and television network, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC, as the Blue Network, had been separated from NBC in 1943 owing to government pressure). Because Carson was under contract through September to ABC and producer Don Fedderson (who held him to his contract until the day it expired), he could not take over as host until October 1, 1962. The months between Paar and Carson were filled by a series of guest hosts including Art Linkletter (4 weeks), Joey Bishop (2 weeks), Bob Cummings, Merv Griffin (4 weeks), Jack Carter, Jan Murray, Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, Soupy Sales, Mort Sahl, Steve Lawrence, Jerry Lewis (2 weeks), Jimmy Dean, Arlene Francis, Jack E. Leonard, Hugh Downs, Groucho Marx, Hal March and Donald O'Connor, many of whom later noted they were being led to believe they were auditioning for the job; Francis was among the first women to ever host a late-night talk show. Griffin was so well received as a guest host that NBC gave him his own daytime talk show, the first of three he would host in his broadcasting career, which debuted the same day Carson took over the late-night show, and Lewis's two-week stint was so successful that NBC seriously considered retracting their offer to Carson. Lewis subsequently wound up hosting a lavish 2-hour prime time talk show for ABC entitled "The Jerry Lewis Show" while also making movies, which was famously unsuccessful.