Jay Leno is kicking Conan O'Brien out of NBC

[Surely]

NBC is becoming the laughing stock of television.

Unfortunately for NBC, we're laughing at their network instead of laughing with their shows.

Leno is a little hurt by looking like a bad guy, even though NBC are the real villains here. They bascially crafted a situation where they only had two choices:

1. Get rid of Leno and let Conan keep The Tonight Show.

2. Get rid of Conan and move Leno back to The Tonight Show.

There's no way any compromise they craft would satisfy both. And no matter which why they go, they can't win because even if they went with 1 instead of 2, Leno would probably get all the press and sympathy viewers that I predicted Conan would get - basically, it's anti-NBC sentiment that will bring them down even further.

We don't really know what's going on behind the scenes. For all we know, Leno is pressing NBC to get the Tonight Show back. For all we know he IS one of the bad guys in this.

 

[rdowns]

I'm not so sure about that. Most of that syndicated programming run during the 11:30-12:30 block is old reruns. In the case of my local affiliate, it's Seinfeld reruns (and from 10:30-11:30 central time). Sure, Seinfeld has a a large fanbase and all, but are people really staying up until 11/12:30 each night to watch 15 year old episodes of Seinfeld?

Conan has a huge following and people will stay up late to watch. Also, I think part of the reason Conan hasn't done well in the 11:30 slot is because his comedy has to be a little bit cleaner than at 12:30, it's rather bland and dumbed down compared to what people were used to and loved. But Fox lets its shows get away with a lot more, look at Family Guy. It has some very adult humor in a prime-time slot, and if Family Guy was on NBC, I don't think Seth McFarlane could get away with what he does. I think Conan would be able to do his old show that was so popular on Fox in the 11:30 timeslot. It's not like Fox has any standards, just look at their news department

If I were Fox, I'd be trying like hell to sign Conan into a long contract.

If you look at the ratings, Seinfeld (which airs on a **** load of FOX stations still does very well in the ratings, even after all these years. In fact, only Family Guy and The Office our rate it.

I read where it would cost FOX a minimum of $75 million to create and launch an 11:30 show. Will they be willing to do that for a guy who regularly loses to Nightline and Letterman?

Conan is an ass. He has his dream job and he should have taken a new time slot. Leno won't be around forever.

 

[MacNut]

Conan is an ass. He has his dream job and he should have taken a new time slot. Leno won't be around forever.

Conan was promised 11:30 and the Tonight Show, Leno was supposed to be long gone. I say Conan stick it to them and walk. Leno is the ass that should have gone quietly into the sunset. Blame NBC for getting greedy and wanting to keep everyone happy but they promised Conan the show and now they want to pull the rug out from under him.

Hell Leno should not have even gotten the Tonight Show to begin with.

 

[obeygiant]

Conan to FOX late night!

 

[MacNut]

Heh, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYzapxtLQbM

 

[Surely]

Heh, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYzapxtLQbM

Heh....

Kimmel is the funniest of them all.

 

[jaw04005]

All right Leno, you’ve heard from Conan. Do the classy thing and move to ABC or Fox.

Sure, Seinfeld has a a large fanbase and all, but are people really staying up until 11/12:30 each night to watch 15 year old episodes of Seinfeld?

Guilty as charged. I love staying up to watch old Seinfeld and Frasier episodes (and maybe Friends and Roseanne).

I really need to move past the ’90’s.

 

[Dmac77]

Personally, I'm really glad that Conan is going to be gone. I miss Jay, and now I'm not going to have to chose between him and other shows that I watch. Conan is a horrible comedian, and he does not deserve the tonight show IMO. Finally, NBC makes a good decision.

Don

 

[MacNut]

Personally, I'm really glad that Conan is going to be gone. I miss Jay, and now I'm not going to have to chose between him and other shows that I watch. Conan is a horrible comedian, and he does not deserve the tonight show IMO. Finally, NBC makes a good decision.

Don

As a comedy writer Conan is a lot funnier then Jay. Reading pre written cards yes Leno is better.

 

[jaw04005]

The more I think about it, Leno and Conan should both leave NBC.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

"Conan O'Brien rejects moving 'The Tonight Show'"

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=114&sid=1861792

By LYNN ELBER
AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Conan O'Brien says he's rejecting NBC's attempt to move "The Tonight Show" to a post-midnight slot to accommodate Jay Leno's return to late-night. In a statement Tuesday, O'Brien says that NBC has given him a scant seven months to try to establish himself as host of "Tonight."

NBC wants to move "The Jay Leno Show" out of prime-time and to the 11:35 p.m. EST daily slot, bumping "Tonight" to 12:05 p.m. EST.

O'Brien said he hoped he and NBC could resolve the issue quickly so he could do a show of which he and his crew could be proud _ "for a company that values our work" _ raising the possibility he might go to another network. But he said he has no such offer.

Looks like NBC screwed up big time in not talking with the starts (Leno and O'Brien before announcing the schedule change and getting both to sign off before hand!) Can anyone one say hello FOX?

 

[Dmac77]

As a comedy writer Conan is a lot funnier then Jay. Reading pre written cards yes Leno is better.

I honestly just don't like his style. I've tried to get into his show multiple times, but it's just painful for me. I don't see him as funny at all.

Don

 

[MacNut]

I honestly just don't like his style. I've tried to get into his show multiple times, but it's just painful for me. I don't see him as funny at all.

Don

You could argue that if Jay didn't find stupid people on the street to talk too he would not be funny either.

 

[Dmac77]

You could argue that if Jay didn't find stupid people on the street to talk too he would not be funny either.

I disagree, I actually find Jay's monologue to be funny. That has nothing to do with finding stupid people on the street.

Don

 

[MacNut]

I disagree, I actually find Jay's monologue to be funny. That has nothing to do with finding stupid people on the street.

Don

If his monologue is funny that is more credit to his writers than him.

Jay is not funny unless it is written for him.

 

[Dmac77]

If his monologue is funny that is more credit to his writers than him.

Jay is not funny unless it is written for him.

Okay you don't like Leno, I get it. But I honestly don't care who writes the jokes, as long as they make me laugh. The jokes that Leno tells make me laugh whereas the ones that Conan uses don't.

It may be the opposite for you, but it seems that more people care for Leno's style of humor, then they do for O'Brien's.

Don

 

[Unspeaked]

If his monologue is funny that is more credit to his writers than him.

Jay is not funny unless it is written for him.

Like they don't all rely on a lot of outside writers?

All that matters to me is the finished product when I'm watching these shows. It's not stand up - I don't care which one is wittiest off the cuff. That's why I've always hated Letterman; truly the sorriest of the bunch. Weird for the sake of being weird and simply unfunny.

Leno is tame but I don't think he's bad. Conan can get a little out there, but when he hits it just right he's great. Kimmel is crude but entertaining at times. Ferguson shows a lot of potential but sometimes gets a little too close to Letterman territory for me. I've never watched Fallon. I don't think Carson Daly is trying to be funny so probably shouldn't get lumped into this group. I kind of liked that Spike Feresten guy on FOX - does he even still have a show?

 

[danny_w]

His time never was. He wasn't well liked when he first started hosting late night, and he's still not well liked. Conan can be pretty funny, but I've never liked Leno.

How can you say that his time (Leno's) never was and he was not well liked when he had the top rated show in his time slot with The Tonight Show? I think somebody is ignoring the facts. It was stupid of NBC to replace him when he was and had been #1 for a long time. They completely dropped the ball when they replaced him with that nothing Conan and now they are feeling the pain.

 

[aloofman]

Conan was promised 11:30 and the Tonight Show, Leno was supposed to be long gone. I say Conan stick it to them and walk. Leno is the ass that should have gone quietly into the sunset. Blame NBC for getting greedy and wanting to keep everyone happy but they promised Conan the show and now they want to pull the rug out from under him.

I fail to see how Leno is the bad guy. He was told five years ago that he'd be replaced on "The Tonight Show". Under the circumstances, he's been pretty professional about it all this time. He bowed out last spring to pass it on to the next guy. He looked around to see how he could continue to do his thing somewhere else. Someone at NBC had the bright idea to give him his own show at a different time that still paid him well. He said yes. His show pissed off the affiliates, who demanded a change. Leno said he'd do whatever NBC needed him to do.

Maybe the classier move would have been to just leave NBC altogether for a competitor. Or to retire. But how can anyone really expect him to do that? He still enjoys what he does, whether or not you think he's funny. He still is respected by the entertainment industry suits and they're still willing to pay him well. Would YOU just go away under those conditions? That's pretty unrealistic.

If his monologue is funny that is more credit to his writers than him.

Jay is not funny unless it is written for him.

Like they don't all rely on a lot of outside writers?

Exactly. If you think Conan has been writing most of his jokes for the last 17 years, you're crazy. The fact that he was a comedy writer before that is irrelevant. No single person can write enough jokes to fill a comedy show hundreds of days a year.

As Unspeaked said, NBC completely screwed this up and will end up with exactly the problem they hoped to avoid, only now it will cost them more. I disagree that there are many "sympathy viewers" out there though. Some people might tune in to a Conan show on Fox just to see how he might rip NBC, but that wouldn't last more than a week. Leno, Letterman and Conan have all been on late night long enough to establish who their audiences are. They could all shuffle to different networks and most of their viewers would follow. Sure, some people skip around depending on who a show's guests are on a given night, but most stick with the show they like and ignore the others.

Leno and Conan will both land on their feet somewhere. No need to worry about them. I feel a bit sorry for some of the crew working on Leno and Conan's shows because some of them are going to be out of jobs soon. Not all of them can be brought over to another network, especially if it involves switching coasts.

 

[MattG]

 

[MacHipster]

Don't Blame Leno

The decision five years ago to replace Leno while at his peak with O'Brien was the origin of this fiasco. The man who made that decision was Jeff Zucker. It was a bad move because Leno wasn't ready to leave. If Zucker had just waited until Leno was ready to leave, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in. That said, the decision was made.

The decision to give Leno the 10 PM timeslot was Jeff Zucker's. The gamble failed and NBC affiliates began to suffer as well as the network. The decision to renege on his promise and cancel The Jay Leno Show was Jeff Zucker. The decision to move Leno back to 11:35PM, to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 AM, Late Night to 1:05 AM, and to cancel Later was Jeff Zucker's.

Granted, Jay could have denied what he loves to do and leave NBC, Conan could have accepted to move The Tonight Show to the following day; but in the end, this mess is Jeff Zucker's. He should have been sacked years ago.

 

[SchneiderMan]

YES!. YES!. YEESS!. *climbs over table* YES!. ERRHH!.

 

[bradl]

Conan looks to also be sticking up for Jimmy Fallon as well, and supplies his reasons for rejecting the offer:

Story

Conan O'Brien Rejects NBC's 12:05 Plan: So What Happens Now?

by Linda Holmes

Conan O'Brien has just issued a statement in which he says, among other things, that he is not willing to go along with NBC's scheme to push "The Tonight Show" back to 12:05 AM. The network had hoped O'Brien would sign off on that plan, which would make way for Jay Leno's move back to late-night, in a half-hour show that would air at 11:35, after the local news.

So what now?

Well, now, it's really up to NBC. O'Brien's statement lays out in some detail his reasons for not agreeing to the plan, which include:

1. his frustration that he wasn't supported at 11:35 with either adequate time to build his audience or adequate support from the prime-time schedule (in this, he is placing blame for the situation at least in part on Leno's show at 10)
   
2. the fact that he doesn't think you move a franchise as old as The Tonight Show a half-hour later just because you have a short-term scheduling problem
   
3. he's not crazy about bumping Jimmy Fallon from 12:35 to 1:05, either.

One of the most telling lines is this one: "It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule."

In other words, "I haven't been treated fairly."

He goes on to say that he has "no other offer" from other networks at this point, and says he still hopes to be able to work it out with NBC. (Not that it seems very likely.)

But still: The ball is in NBC's court now. Without having seen Conan's contract, it's very hard to know precisely what all the considerations are going to be. But if he's not going to go along by mutual agreement so that NBC can keep everybody, then the suits are going to have to explicitly choose between him and Leno -- with most of us assuming, based on the fact that they've even come up with this plan in the first place, that they will choose Leno.

By announcing that he's rejecting this deal, O'Brien obviously makes himself available for other discussions. Fox executives here at the TCA press tour were careful to say yesterday that they weren't having serious talks with O'Brien until he'd decided what to do about NBC's proposal.

But as noted, O'Brien is also putting NBC squarely in the hot seat: They're going to have to make this call, and then be responsible for it. If they're going to boot him and give the show back to Leno, then they're going to have to do it straightforwardly. Right now, he has a job, and he's taking the position that he's still showing up for work. If that's going to change, it's going to be against his will, not with his consent; he's not going to step aside to make it smoother for the network.

Much of Conan's statement is an appeal to fairness. As he sees it, NBC is basically asking him to fall on his sword in order to fix a problem that he didn't create. And he's declining.

One guy this is bad news for? Jay Leno. If Leno had hoped that he could return to 11:35 in peace, that's not going to happen. If he goes back to his old spot, it's going to be because Conan was forced out, and Conan isn't going to go along with the story being told any other way.

Not exactly the way a talk-show host wants to be welcomed back to America's living rooms.

Either way, this will not look good for Leno at all, and could be the death knell for the Tonight Show as a staple in late night TV.

BL.

 

[MacNut]

A lot of people would say that the Tonight Show ended with Johnny Carson. Everything after that has just been filler. Nobody can ever live up to what Carson did no matter how many people they give the seat too.

The question becomes, if Conan leaves and Leno takes over again, does he get the Tonight Show or the Jay Leno Show at 11:30. Maybe they should just bump Fallon up to 12 and give him the Tongiht Show.

 

[bradl]

A lot of people would say that the Tonight Show ended with Johnny Carson. Everything after that has just been filler. Nobody can ever live up to what Carson did no matter how many people they give the seat too.

I would agree here. Even when Leno guest-hosted for Carson, It was still "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". So cound me in as one of those many people.

The question becomes, if Conan leaves and Leno takes over again, does he get the Tonight Show or the Jay Leno Show at 11:30. Maybe they should just bump Fallon up to 12 and give him the Tongiht Show.

That's the problem. How stupid and low would NBC go to put The Tonight Show on the following morning?!? (You don't have to answer that.)

If anything, kudos to Conan for having the testicular fortitude to say no. If it came to live/die by their merits, Leno (thanks to Zucker) wasn't pulling in the audience that they needed. Conan is (to an extent), but for the purist, Conan has stuck to the original (read: post Jack Parr) setup of the Tonight Show: Host, Co-Host, Band Leader, Band, Guests. That's how it has been since Johnny and Ed took over, and I'm glad that Conan stuck to that.

BL.