Late night mess at NBC... Latest: Conan's new show (reply #250)

[GAME05]

when Conan was interviewing Norm and Courtney Thorne-Smith was the funniest moment in late-night history.

[BrewCrewForever]

Any word on if Andy Richter will be coming with him?

Just guessing that he will. They seem to be a package deal. I know Andy will be along for the tour Conan is doing.

 

 

[Bankjob]

when Conan was interviewing Norm and Courtney Thorne-Smith was the funniest moment in late-night history.

 

Chairman of the B-O-R-E-D.

 

An absolute classic.

[dadofandrew]

Perhaps I could have been more clear, but yes, the affiliates prefer a syndicated program to Conan. I would think this could be made up by giving them a 90 second news break and extra local ad time during the show (perhaps go from 10-11:05).

 

CBS did this for years when they had repeats of crime dramas on at 10:30, pre-Dave. At 11, they'd do a quick newscast, and in the TV Guide, it was listed as a 70 minute program.

[GAME05]

Chairman of the B-O-R-E-D.

 

An absolute classic.

this was one of those rare times when i was watching a full episode, and Norm was just as funny before Courtney Thorne-Smith came on. Conan seems to be the only guy on late-night that Norm is funny on. Conan seems to be the only host who gets his humour, and Conan is the only host who doesn't take himself so seriously.

 

maybe it's a blessing that Conan didn't end up on Fox and we won't have to be inundated with who-beat-who, or have Conan altering his humour again to get ratings and beat NBC.

[1992casey]

CBS did this for years

 

Would this have been the whole network, or was one affiliate doing this?

[GAME05]

money aside, Fox loses that bit of legitimacy without having a solid late-night talk show, not to mention having no network national news show. Conan was established and respected, and a Conan/Fox show wouldn't have gone the way of Chevy Chase. despite leading in the teenybopper demographic, they're still an also-ran behind CBS and NBC.

 

if the the network ever had any dreams of having a late-night show, they will never do better than Conan, who is both a legitimate host and fits Fox's targeted demographic.

[dadofandrew]

CBS did this for years

 

Would this have been the whole network, or was one affiliate doing this?

I'm dating myself here, but it was listed that way in TV Guide for all channels that carried it. The Madison station I got never carried them, but the ones that did were all listed that way. I always thought it was strange it was longer, and read about the news break and extra ad time, as they said that increased the number of affiliates that carried it by a huge amount. Still, many pushed it back to 11, 11:30, or even later.

[MJLiverock]

Just ran across this article today - - apparently Leno's ratings since NBC moved him back to 10:30 and gave Conan the boot are worse than Conan's were.

 

http://www.businessinside...tings-below-conan-2010-6

[Invader3K]

Good. I haven't watched Leno since he moved back to his own slot and never will. I'm looking forward to Conan debuting on TBS.

[GAME05]

wow, that's awesome. i have shunned Leno, too. i wonder how many fans of Conan have done the same thing if that's causing the ratings drop, or even just people who disliked what NBC did. although i kinda think it's a temporary thing, that if Leno was #1 once, he will be again once people start forgetting.

[Flood Pants]

I'd bet a lot of Leno's previous viewers watched the Tonight Show just because they always did. When all the change happened, they simply got out of the habit of watching it and probably won't go back.

[TooLiveBrew]

Good. I haven't watched Leno since he moved back to his own slot and never will. I'm looking forward to Conan debuting on TBS.

Me too. I think GAME is onto something -- the Conan fans would never really watch Jay to begin with, and then the way NBC botched the whole thing must've turned plenty of others off, too. Flood Pants could well be right, too.

[PeaveyFury]

I haven't watched Leno since he moved back to his own slot and never will.

 

Agreed. I would tune into Leno/Conan's Tonight Show occasionally before this unfolded, now I won't watch at all. Craig Ferguson or no one for me.

[Oldcity]

This really made my day. I haven't watched a second of Leno, and I'm glad to hear many others haven't either.

[BrewCrewForever]

Very happy to hear this. I can't stand Leno. I am very excited for November when Conan comes back. I have not watched a minute of late night TV since Conan's last show. I do really enjoy Jimmy Kimmel but I can never stay up late enough to watch him.

[burnzy24]

You can add me to the list of people who have not watched a second of Leno since he came back on. I can't wait to hear NBC's excuses for Leno since ratings were the whole reason why there was a problem to begin with. My guess is that Leno will retire again in a few years and NBC will be kicking themselves for not sticking with Conan.

[adamb100]

You can add me to the list of people who have not watched a second of Leno since he came back on. I can't wait to hear NBC's excuses for Leno since ratings were the whole reason why there was a problem to begin with. My guess is that Leno will retire again in a few years and NBC will be kicking themselves for not sticking with Conan.

NBC will play the card that Conan tried to play, the one where he's only been on for 6 months and needs time to gain an audience.

[dadofandrew]

There's some strange math going on, as they always go by 18-49 ratings, as Jay is popular with older folks. I realize the advertisers crave the 18-49 crowd, but to ignore 50+ crowd is rare. The comparison is also between Conan's Xth week and Jay's...never mind we're talking at the start of the Fall season versus early Summer.

 

The real race is Jay vs. Dave, with Nightline thrown in. When Dave starts beating Jay regularly, as he did with Conan, that's when they'll be worried.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet, but The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has been nominated for 4 Emmys, including Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series. Not bad for 7 months of work. Meanwhile, Leno received none. Very interesting to note that O'Brien apparently wasn't even going to submit the show for nomination until NBC entered Leno's Tonight Show into consideration.

 

Of course, the big giant cherry on top of all of this is that fact that the 62nd Emmy Awards show will be broadcast on NBC. If his staff can somehow come away with at least one win, well, that's an acceptance speech I don't want to miss. I'm hoping it will be reminiscent of Norm MacDonald hosting SNL after being fired from the show less than two years before:

 

[ilovebeer]

It seems so many of you guys are mad at Jay, non of it was his fault, it was all nbc doing.

[jerichoholicninja]

It seems so many of you guys are mad at Jay, non of it was his fault, it was all nbc doing.

If it wasn't for the fact that Jay has a show that lacks both entertainment and comedy and Jay did not want to leave maybe I couldn't blame him. It is not all his fault but he very much is to blame.

[Point Beer Is Best]

It seems so many of you guys are mad at Jay, non of it was his fault, it was all nbc doing.

That's just not true. NBC said to Jay, "Hey, your 9pm show stinks and our affiliates are upset. We have no idea what to do with your incredibly burdensome contract. In order to keep you, we will kick Conan to the curb and hand you back the Tonight Show. What do you say?" Well, Leno said yes. He didn't have to. He could have been a stand-up guy and pass the torch, but greedily took it back instead. NBC is also at fault because they were afraid to lose an established late night host in Leno and have to buy out his contract, so they cooked the idea up. But it was Leno that gave them the green light to oust Conan.

[GAME05]

i don't blame Leno all to much. it's understandably hard to stand on principles when the option is unemployment or to keep doing a job you love for $50 million a year. and in the end, Conan will end up just fine--talented people always do. I'm a Conan fan, but he was fairly constrained and not nearly as funny on the Tonight Show, so his move to TBS will be better for us. Then he can work for 10 years in relative obscurity until Letterman retires and Conan takes his show to CBS.

[bjkrautk]

i don't blame Leno all to much. it's understandably hard to stand on principles when the option is unemployment or to keep doing a job you love for $50 million a year. and in the end, Conan will end up just fine--talented people always do. I'm a Conan fan, but he was fairly constrained and not nearly as funny on the Tonight Show, so his move to TBS will be better for us. Then he can work for 10 years in relative obscurity until Letterman retires and Conan takes his show to CBS.

I was of the understanding that Leno still does stand up in addition to his run on TV. Unemployment (or, put more realistically, retirement) was never really an option for Jay.

 

If nothing else, Leno lost the PR campaign surrounding the move from-and-to the Tonight Show. I'm sure the network made it clear to Jay that Conan getting fired was independent to Leno's taking back the Tonight Show (as in, if it weren't Leno....it would be someone else). That said, Jay's continued (poorly-rated) nightly appearances on TV during the entire affair existed only because he wanted to stay on TV, and the network didn't want him going anywhere else. No shortage of blame to go around, really.