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

[Principessa21]

BrewCrewIn2004[/b]]I think the fact Kimmel dragged out his Leno made it that much better, really played on how annoying Leno is.

Did anyone else see Leno interview Kimmel tonight? It was both awkward and amazing at the same time. I have no idea why Jay thought this would turn out well, if there is one thing I like about Jimmy Kimmel, it is that he is never afraid to speak his mind.

 

Kimmel to Jay : "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children-all you have to take care of is cars. I mean, we have lives to lead here. You've got $800 million, for God's sakes-leave our shows alone."

 

Leno also asked Kimmy what his favorite prank he pulled was Jimmy replied: "The best prank I ever pulled was I told a guy that-five years from now-I'm gonna give you my show. And then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly."

 

If anyone is interested, it's the second video: http://tv.gawker.com/5448...en-with-biting-monologue ETA: If anyone watched Conan tonight, you heard him mention his craigslist ad. Here it is: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/clt/1551463643.html

[pretendastronaut]

I just don't understand Leno's play in this at this point. He's just getting assailed in all corners, why would you want to continue to put yourself through this? It won't be forgotten.

[AJAY]

TMZ is reporting that Leno and NBC signed a deal that gives Leno the Tonight Show.

 

http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/14/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-the-tonight-show

 

Next Friday will be Conan's last show.

 

Thank god Leno is coming back and Conan is being dumped.

 

I love it.

[TooLiveBrew]

You love... what? I hope you enjoy his Tonight Show re-run... since I'm all but sure it will get lousy ratings & be up for replacement soon enough.

 

EDIT: NBC & Leno, imo, have alienated all the viewers that had no opinion on Jay/just didn't *dis*like him, and will now realistically only draw the same people who were willing to watch his other failed show. I just can't see this working out well.

[Diskono]

I just don't understand Leno's play in this at this point. He's just getting assailed in all corners, why would you want to continue to put yourself through this? It won't be forgotten.

Yeah. Those who thought this was all a ratings ploy probably have no doubt about it now. Leno was definitely egging him on with some of those questions, and didn't seem upset by the answers at all.

 

And if it is a ploy (which I'm thinking it is), its probably not a bad idea on NBC's part - should help Conan's ratings, and all of the people who can't stand Leno might find some respect for his humor...everybody wins!

[dadofandrew]

Jay was easily the highest rated at 10:35 before, and will be again. I still think the 9 idea is a good one, as Jerry Seinfeld put it, at the wrong time. NBC gave up a few months in, but I'm not sure why anyone would feel Jay will not return to the top at 10:35...he is going back against the same competition he has beaten for almost a decade.

 

I admire Conan for throwing away $28M or whatever, but unless he has an offer from Fox that is avoiding the press, he has nowhere to go.

[thebruce44]

I can't see Leno doing well. As others have said, he completely alienated the people who were indifferent and would sometimes watch. I used to be one of those people. If he had a good guest or if I was randomly watching tv and nothing else was on I would watch.

 

Now, I will never watch his show again. I am going to assume there are a large amount of viewers like me, as the ratings show not many "die-hard" Leno fans were willing to follow him to his new time slot.

[Outlander]

Logic would lead me to the conclusion that Leno will be just fine and bring in good ratings against the same old competition. However, I think this is one of the cases where you can't go home again. I fear this might be the end of the tonight show.

[RyDogg66]

It had to end sometime...

[GAME05]

no way the Tonight Show dies. it's like SNL. maybe it'll get mediocre ratings for a while, but it'll always be there. and you'd only ever be replacing it with something similar.

 

maybe Conan is turning down $28 million by leaving, but no doubt he has a clause in his contract that pays him a ton if he gets pushed out like this. i've heard ABC isn't interested in Conan, but if he could possibly get CBS and Fox fighting to get him, he'll make plenty of money.

[RyDogg66]

I cant see CBS being that interested with Dave and Ferguson entrenched like they are.

[bjkrautk]

maybe Conan is turning down $28 million by leaving, but no doubt he has a clause in his contract that pays him a ton if he gets pushed out like this. i've heard ABC isn't interested in Conan, but if he could possibly get CBS and Fox fighting to get him, he'll make plenty of money.

That's what makes the whole matter interesting. Conan's contract with NBC specified that he would take over "The Tonight Show" in 2009. What it apparently doesn't do is specify a broadcast time for "The Tonight Show." (Letterman's contract with CBS does include a lock-in for his program.) Whether a time of day is necessary for a program that has run at 11:35 ET for decades....is a question of contract interpretation.

 

A question with a lot riding on it: If a Court were to rule that NBC violated the terms of the contract in moving the Tonight Show to 12:05, then Conan would be entitled to upwards of $40 million in damages (from what I have read). If NBC is not in breach of the contract, and Conan leaves, the contract prevents him from competing (which is to say, moving to another network) for the next 3.5 years, in addition to any monetary damages written in to the deal.

 

While I'd love to see the question put to a Judge, there's just too much money at stake for me to believe that a settlement won't be reached. (Not to mention, Conan's agency has enough clout to make things very difficult for NBC if things get worse.)

[Brewtacular]

Wow...I just watched the Jimmy on Jay Leno clip. That was brutal. I like Jimmy a whole lot more now.

[Invader3K]

You could tell that after Kimmel made his first crack at Leno, Jay was probably thinking: "Why did I have this guy on again?"

[dadofandrew]

Who's alienated by Leno? He got his show moved from 9 to 10:35. His options were to quit or accept it, and he decided to stay. Try as some will, he did nothing wrong except decide to go back to his slot of many years.

 

The irony to me is, some are saying Leno should quit "because he has plenty of money". Heh, Conan made more in 7 months than many of us will ever see. He never has to work again, to say the least. Feeling sorry for Conan is like feeling sorry for the Yankees if they don't win next year, or for Leo because his first model choice of the night got alcohol poisoning and he had to take the "pudgy one" who weighs 87 pounds back to his room.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I like Jimmy a whole lot more now.

Leno: Have you ever ordered anything off of TV?

 

Kimmel: You mean like how NBC ordered your show off the air?

Classic.

 

A few months ago while channel-surfing, I stumbled across Kimmel interviewing Melissa Joan-Hart after being eliminated from Dancing with the Stars. He asked her if she felt tempted to use witchcraft at any time during the competition. She was visibly irked, and said something like "That joke is so, like, 1996." Kimmel quipped back with, "Well so are you, to be completely honest." The guy thinks very quickly on his feet.

 

Also, count me in as a past "casual" viewer of Leno but will avoid him at all costs from now on. I think it's a huge mistake to just assume he'll regain the top spot. Like someone else said, he has this "dad" humor that's just not funny.

[bucks2281]

Why Leno is reviled by fellow comedians.

[BrewCrewForever]

Kimmel just killed it on Jay's show. I cant believe Leno and his people thought it would be a good idea to have Jimmy on. What did he expect? Everything Kimmel said blasted Leno, it was fantastic. Probably the highlight and biggest thing to actually happen on the "Jay Leno Show".

[Godspeed]

Who's alienated by Leno?

Many people are. I am one of them. His lack of integrity in dealing with all this offends me just as much as what he tries to pass off as "humor".

 

The irony to me is, some are saying Leno should quit "because he has plenty of money". Heh, Conan made more in 7 months than many of us will ever see. He never has to work again, to say the least. Feeling sorry for Conan is like feeling sorry for the Yankees if they don't win next year, or for Leo because his first model choice of the night got alcohol poisoning and he had to take the "pudgy one" who weighs 87 pounds back to his room

People feel sorry for Conan because he got his dream job taken away by someone who's proven time and time again to be a complete and utter douche. And clearly he wasn't afforded the same support by the network or his lead-ins that his predecessor got.

 

The amount of money either of them is making is irrelevant, but since Leno is reportedly earning upwards of $30M a year (about double what Conan's deal allegedly calls for), I guess no one should feel bad if the Brewers were to lose the World Series to the Yankees. After all it's about the same ratio of salary, and who cares, both teams brought in more last year than many of us will ever see...

 

Leno shouldn't quit "because he has plenty of money". Leno should quit to prove that he has a modicum of personal integrity and/or reverence for the show he claims to care for. Going along with the 30-minute show idea that would have bumped the Tonight Show into "tomorrow" on the east coast proved he has neither. Or he should quit because he's just plain horrible. Either one works for me.

[JoeHova]

Jay was easily the highest rated at 10:35 before, and will be again. ... I'm not sure why anyone would feel Jay will not return to the top at 10:35...he is going back against the same competition he has beaten for almost a decade.

I agree. Things never change. I fully expect the new Hootie & the Blowfish record to take the Billboard charts by storm.

[PeaveyFury]

Many people are. I am one of them.

 

Me too. I used to strongly prefer watching Leno to Letterman, now I strongly doubt I'll watch the Tonight Show at all because of this.

[dadofandrew]

Conan was getting about half the viewers that Leno did, long before all the press of late. NBC's choice was obvious, once they gave into the affiliates and ended the Leno at 9 experiment.

 

Again, I do not understand any discussion of Leno's wrongdoing...his choices were to leave or go back to 10:35. He decided to go back to his old time slot.

[owbc]

I think most of that Kimmel/Leno dialogue was scripted. Why would Jay ask "Have you ever ordered anything off TV?" Did they expect Kimmel to answer that he sleeps in his snuggie every night? Jay makes his living from making fun of stupid people/newspapers/criminals/celebrities/etc. I think Jay knows exactly what the situation looks like and he's making fun of himself.

 

Jay Leno knows that his career is based off of simple, often dim-witted jokes. It isn't innovative, it isn't that difficult, and it made him #1 for 10 years. Why would he change anything now?

[Vgmastr]

Conan was getting about half the viewers that Leno did, long before all the press of late. NBC's choice was obvious, once they gave into the affiliates and ended the Leno at 9 experiment.

Leno also had shows like Law & Order and ER as lead-ins, shows that got big ratings, Conan had Leno, which didn't. Not to mention if people get to see a talk show at 9, they're less likely to stay up and watch one at 10:35. NBC's choice was not obvious, they could have given Conan a couple of years to find an audience at 10:35. NBC set Conan up to fail by sticking Leno at 9, and never gave him a chance to gain an audience. Let's not forget in Leno's first few years, he was beaten soundly by Letterman in the ratings. It wasn't until the Hugh Grant interview that Leno pulled ahead.

Again, I do not understand any discussion of Leno's wrongdoing...his choices were to leave or go back to 10:35. He decided to go back to his old time slot.

Because it's a douche move. He pulled a Favre.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Conan was getting about half the viewers that Leno did, long before all the press of late. NBC's choice was obvious, once they gave into the affiliates and ended the Leno at 9 experiment.

 

And Leno was thoroughly trounced by Letterman for more than a year when he got his start. Conan got half a year. And we can't pretend that Leno's new crappy show haven't affected Conan's ratings either. If the affiliates are up in arms that the ratings are falling for their news programs, that obviously directly impacts Conan's ratings due to lesser viewed lead-ins. I firmly believe that the complete failure of "The Jay Leno Show" must shoulder a substantial part of the blame for lower ratings for the new Tonight Show because of that chain reaction. Trust me, if Leno is given the keys back to The Tonight Show, the big winner in all of this will be Letterman because Leno has alienated a substantial portion of his audience.

 

Again, I do not understand any discussion of Leno's wrongdoing...his choices were to leave or go back to 10:35. He decided to go back to his old time slot.

 

I wouldn't say that Leno is doing anything "wrong," but he certainly isn't doing what is right. And that would be honoring what he agreed to 5 years ago - retire and pass the torch to the new guy.