AIM between Conan and Jay...

[Darren Dirt]

...presuming you heard the news.

http://entertainment.comedy.com/2010/01/11/conan-leno-aim-chat/

[Mr. Analog]

It's funny, just about a week before this all started I watched "The Late Shift" (1996) which is all about the insanity surrounding The Tonight Show and how Leno was "picked" to take over from Johnny.

Worth watching!

[Lazybones]

I don't watch any of those shows, but Conan and Fallon I find way more entertaining than Leno.

[Darren Dirt]

I don't watch any of those shows, but Conan and Fallon I find way more entertaining than Leno.

+1000!

Also Craig Ferguson is funnier than either of them when improvising or interviewing... although at times Jimmy Kimmel completely surprises you with a journey of hilarity with the right guest.

And btw ty for there reminder re. The Late Shift -- I have it on VHS (!) and still haven't gotten around to watching it, but I have heard it's quite good. And it will make me pine for the golden era of late-80s/early-90s Letterman, I am sure...

[Tom]

I don't like Conan. Never did. I don't find him very funny most of the time. I did however like the Insult Comic dog and some of the bits of his "In the Year 2000" stuff (probably the last time I've laughed seriously at something on Conan, was before 2000 )

[Mr. Analog]

I still miss Johnny...

[Darren Dirt]

lol best headline ever:
Conan Fights Back; Leno Still Lame
http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=2712&Itemid=482

PS: anyone else hear the "open letter" Conan wrote, a lot of radio stations had their "drive time" DJ read it...

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/letters/100113-obrien-openletter.html

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky.

That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. 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. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,
Conan

What a Pale Force NBC has now stirred up...

[Darren Dirt]

"NBC, as expected, has reinstalled Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show"
http://www.getthebigpicture.net/blog/2010/1/14/leno-signs-deal-to-host-the-tonight-show-again.html

What most people care about, though, isn't Leno. It's Conan. There will be some sort of settlement, and who knows exactly what will be in that document. O'Brien will be paid handsomely, but he's not going anywhere for a while. I'm not even sure he can do the talk show circuit right now, and there may be language NBC big cheese Jeff Zucker insists upon being included detailing that Conan can't wind up on Letterman's show in a week. This is, after all, the same company that told Letterman he couldn't take Viewer Mail and the name "The World's Most Dangerous Band" with him because it held "intellectual property" rights over them.

all hail the mighty power of the suits and curmudgeons! screw you, senses both common and humour!

...you gotta wonder what kind of embarrassing photos of Zucker that Jay's people have hidden away...

[Darren Dirt]

...even if Leno had come out and said, "Y'know, this sucks, but it's business, and I hope Conan lands on his feet" WEEKS ago, everyone would still just think he was a douchebag.
And I think a big part of that stems from the fact that there's this creeping fear that Leno is not going to have to pay, that he failed at 10 p.m. (though there was no way he could possibly succeed) and somehow got promoted, pushing a better, funnier man out of the timeslot. Regardless of the ratings conundrum (and I'd argue that a healthier NBC could have given Conan the room and primetime support he needed to grow, so this is really ALL Jeff Zucker's fault), there's a sense that Conan, just by being funnier, was somehow more righteous ALREADY, that all of these travails are the icing on the @%&# cake. He is, I guess, the Job of late night (who gets a sweet $40 million payout!). And there's the sense that when Leno returns to The Tonight Show, he's going to, well, go right back up to the top of the heap. And that's nauseating. Because the people who like Leno just don't give a @%&#. They don't give a @%&# about anything you and I care about. They just want to see weirdly mean-spirited borscht belt humor.

- http://www.avclub.com/articles/late-night-roundup,37272

I am one of the more elderly of the RW folks, I enjoy many of the "cringe comics" out there today as well as from the past 3 decades of the changing industry of comedy, and yet even *I* don't find Jay Leno in the least bit funny. Just how much $$$ does he need to maintain all of his cars and bikes? Why oh why didn't he just let his public career end, or at least wane, and let the next generation take over? For him to replace the "better, funnier man" -- what an accurate choice of words, btw -- "that's nauseating", indeed.

I've watched way more of The Jay Leno Show than anybody ever needs to, but I'm surprised at just how similar the damn thing is in every episode, how little it stretches to do anything. I say this as someone who was genuinely excited to see what Jay could come up with by trying to ditch most of the trappings of the late night talk show, even though I didn't like him much as a host or interviewer. But it's like every episode he does involves the same four or five jokes endlessly recycled.

I spend all of my time trying to figure out ways to like Jay Leno and understand why he's doing what he's doing, but I spend almost all of that time failing as well. The guy's a hack, and hacks shouldn't be on TV. But, oh, sadly, they are.

That reminds me, is Carson Daly still doing a show? omg, HOW, ... just... how...





PS: re. the Leno-hating, Letterman nails it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AK3T987jk8 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdmjzRta2nY

[Tom]

I thought this was amusing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwO6BkCtIo  (jimmy kimmel on 10 at 10 with Leno)

[Darren Dirt]

is 45 million worth waiting 8 months before you can mock your former employer?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575017450198490036.html

The only downside is, a lot of humour comes from anger.

How angry can you be if you just got paid out a settlement of 1/22nd of a billion dollars?



PS:

I thought this was amusing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axwO6BkCtIo  (jimmy kimmel on 10 at 10 with Leno)

Thanks for that, I watched almost the entire playlist here:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F64000B4214DFCCC

[Mr. Analog]

... I really miss Johnny now...

[raeofsunshine]

... I really miss Johnny now...

i thought the same thing when all this started...

[Tom]

Its too bad the same network execs would do the same thing to him if he DARED get low ratings today

[Darren Dirt]

Montage! Man those were some genius bits...
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/conan-looks-back-012210/1196123/


here's one of the better-written of the "Hitler learns about" mashups (on this subject, of course)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOQvsuJ5wIA



Don't feel anough hate for Zucker? Here's more ammo for you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp7RKB7sjbo
the comments for this video are great, too.



PS: Conan is a big fat stinking liar, the Guidonicknamerator came up with Max "Natural Light" Weinberg O_O (and Mr. Analog, I would strongly suggest against seeing what it says for your name -- with your first name just the first 3 letters) and methinks Jeff Zucker should be nicknamed "The Obvious" or something, after watching the video at the top of this point... "obviously" the guy has a long future ahead of him in the television industry...