Late Night Meltdown: The Battle for "The Tonight Show"

[MADfan2004]

[Planned Disaster]

Exactly, I'm still trying to figure out why Jeff Zucker still has his job..

[cartman2002]

...so does Bill O'Reilly

[tvmanismadformad]

Oh because he's made the cable channels good, but he shouldn't get to stay because of that. The guys at Fox, ABC, and CBS have done that but also managed to find the time to make the major network work, so why does Zucker get the break?

[tvmanismadformad]

God I am really going to miss this when it's gone. Another great night all around of the Late Night Wars. This is the most fun I have had watching television ever. As Dave said "I'm really enjoying it. It's just fun". I really want to see if there is a way to hold one of these I'm with Coco rallies during the Olympics.

[RedMal]

Originally Posted by tvmanismadformad

This is the most fun I have had watching television ever.

You are kind of repeating yourself

[tvmanismadformad]

I'm surprised you used the word kind of. I know, but I can't stop talking about this. I mean, after almost 2 weeks, this should be getting old, but with the constent new jokes being flown around by everyone it's still great.

But about last night stuff. Jay made a joke about Jeff Zucker burning down NBC for the insurance money, but when he said it I thought it sounded kind of familiar. Then I realized that Steven Colbert told the same joke the night before. It's jokes like that that give him branding of a hack.

Conan was great last night. From his parody of Jay's "final" Tonight Show where he brought out all the hamsters born during his Tonight Show run, to the Bugatti Veyron Mouse, which since it was screwing NBC was funny. That last show is going to be one of the best shows in television history.

Also, with all the flack we've been giving Jeff Zucker, we should also give it to Dick Ebersol, because he's proving that he is as much of an asshole as Zucker.

[tvmanismadformad]

God it was so hard to believe Conan said tonight that tomorrow was going to be his last Tonight Show. One because he used both tomorrow and tonight in the same sentence, and two because who could have ever seen this coming true as an actuality up until 2 weeks ago? I mean who would have thought that this early into it we would have heard Conan say the final Tonight Show? I know people like Will Ferrell and others joked that he wasn't going to go far on the show, and I think we all knew that Jay breathing down Conan's neck at 10:00 was bad, but I never thought that NBC would go to the steps of getting rid of Conan, to bring Jay back to the Tonight Show.

In a release by NBC's The Office twitter account it says that Steve Carell is going to be a guest on the final show tomorrow, and since he was not mentioned as a guest, that means that he must be tomorrow nights special guest among what could be many.

[tvmanismadformad]

Here is a brilliant segment done by Jimmy Kimmel Live! that tells the story of the Late Night War in the way of a Ken Burns documentary.

Jimmy has kind of been a small player in this, but what he has done in the way of comedy for this whole Late Night stuff has been brilliant. I think Jimmy is now my favourite Late Night guy. I might even consider finding room for his when and if Conan returns.

[tvmanismadformad]

Dear Internet

Last night as many of you know was Conan's swan song on NBC, and it was truly a moment to remember. Even with the clip moments, Steve Carell exit interviewing and shredding Conan's pass to the lot, and Will Ferrell's tribute to Conan with the song Free Bird, the best moment had to be his closing speech. He went out classy. When he could have ignored NBC or slammed them like he deserved to, he chose to thank them for everything they had done for him. The best part of it had to be when he choked up thinking about the creativity and support his fans had given him. It just showed how he truly appreciates the love that his fans showed to him. It was so interesting to see him express his hatred towards cynisism on such a personal level. I know I will try not to be so cynical of any of the goals I wish to achieve in the future.

With all the fan support he has gained, and the whole world now knowing how great of a person he is, I have no doubt that he will be back on television as soon as possible. Before the end of the year, The Conan O'Brien Show will be a reality.

[King of Kings]

Ironic how it was Conan's lack of cynicism that cost him his job. If he had been more cynical, he would have gotten a better contract with NBC, like the one Leno had. One of the reasons why NBC decided to move Leno back rather than cancel him was because it would have cost them $150 million to get rid of him. I guess Conan forgot about NBC's lack of faith in him when they gave him Late Night when they only gave him 13 week contracts so they could get rid of him fast if he didn't meet their expectations.

[NemesisDesign]

Perhaps we come from different circumstances, but if someone paid me $40 million to leave my job, I'd be fine with it.

[tvmanismadformad]

Leno has like 800 million, but yet he still comes back, and does 160 stand up shows a year. Show business is complicated.