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

[MADfan2004]

This is just a rumor, but it's been floating around that NBC will shorten The Jay Leno Show to half an hour and move it to 11:35 in February when the Winter Olympics start, while Conan, Fallon, and Carson will all move back an extra half an hour. It might end up staying there after the Olympics are over because even though the ratings are fine (it's actually doing exactly as well as [if not slightly better than] NBC predicted and expected it to, and still gets higher ratings than some of there other primetime fare [see: Community]), as many people thought, it's a really shitty lead-in to the news, which is what local affiliates wanted.

And, oh, yeah, Frank Caeti and Mary Scheer were on tonight's episode (which I'm assuming is new).

[NemesisDesign]

As long as they don't actually touch Community or Parks & Recreation I'm fine. However, if they have to axe either of those two quality shows to keep Jay and his unfunny show afloat, I will never forgive NBC.

[tvmanismadformad]

I've heard that they may cancel it all together. In fact even Jay has appearently saying in recent shows that he thinks he's going to be out of a job soon, but then again I really doin't know as they are keeping it underraps, but I will say this. If they do what you said MADfan, NBC shouldn't even be deserving of a network. They can't screw over Conan like that. He worked for 16 fucking years to get that spot, and he deserves it. The show is an embarrisment, and if that moving it to 11:35 is true, NBC should end for it, because to move The Tonight Show, which is basically a central part of television history in that time just to keep that hack Jay Leno on TV than they don't deserve to be.

[MADfan2004]

They're not gonna cancel the show. They have it under contract for at least two years, and it's been meeting expectations in the ratings.

And Conan's Tonight Show ratings have been crap from the start. So by all means, they SHOULD put Leno, which is attracting viewers, as a lead in to Conan, which isn't.

[tvmanismadformad]

Yeah, but the problem is with the affiliates. He is bringing down their ratings, and that is the problem.

Basically, this time swtich to 11:35 may be a good thing, because if Jay fails here, then he's done. NBC won't be afraid of him doing better on another network because they have ruined him on their network. Jay has to go into the light already.

[MADfan2004]

I don't see any reason why he'd fail at 11:35.

If anything, this will work in Conan's favor. He doesn't have to go up against the first half hour of Letterman, so when the viewers stop watching at midnight, they can tune in to his show. And Jimmy Kimmel is probably easier for Conan to beat than Letterman.

[MADfan2004]

So it looks like there's a 50/50 chance Conan will stay at NBC. I love how all four NBC late night hosts are getting screwed by this new deal.

I'm not really worried or concerned about Leno, Conan, and Fallon, but Carson I can't help but feel sorry for. It just seems like he always gets screwed by NBC, and it's sad because, even though he's not a comedian, I thought he would have done well as host of Late Night.

[King of Kings]

NBC is dead, they might as well give up now and start selling snuggies and juicers.

[tvmanismadformad]

Conan O'Brien Says No to 12:05 Show.

I honestly cannot believe that this is actually happening. Conan O'Brien is going to leave the Tonight Show. Unless something unpresidented happens, Conan's days on NBC are numbered. After all this, I predict that he will be doing his own show on Fox by Sepember at the latest. NBC has done a lot of stupid things in the last 5 years, but this may very well be not only the worst decision of those 5 years, but possibly one of the worst in television history. They shouldn't have given Jay Leno any chance on the network after he ended his time on the Tonight Show, and should have given Conan WAY more support than they did.

[NemesisDesign]

I don't care about any of the politics but I'm happy to see Conan sticking up for himself. He waited for that gig for a LONG time, and for NBC to go back on it is bullshit. Bold move on his part.

[MADfan2004]

I don't believe they're gonna let Conan go like this after they tried so hard to keep him around in the first place. They're gonna find some way to keep him around.

[tvmanismadformad]

Keep him around for what? The only thing he is willing to except on the network is the Tonight Show spot at 11:35. The only option NBC has is to try and give him back Late Night which he won't want because he doesn't want to screw over Fallon like NBC's screwing over himself, or have him and Jay do the Tonight Show together which if they do that they might as well rename the show "The Look How Stupid NBC is Everybody Show!" 10:00 a dud, so the only other 2 options I see that they can give him. A 5 night talkshow at somewhere between 7:00-9:00, which after the Jay disaster, I'm sure they won't be willing to accept, or some super talkshow that takes some of SNL's time. NBC has no way out.

Conan is leaving, he will go to Fox, and Fox will have it's first successful late night show since MADtv, (which of course they will be bringing back soon). Even if the shows rating are terrible, Fox will keep the show for at least 5 years, because the only way Fox was going to compete in any way with the late night giants was if they got one just like CBS did with Letterman, with Conan, one of the big late night players is on the free agent market, and Fox is going to pay him the big bucks to come over.

[MADfan2004]

Originally Posted by tvmanismadformad

MADtv, (which of course they will be bringing back soon).

...

You make it REALLY hard to take you seriously sometimes.

[tvmanismadformad]

I'm not joking about that.

[NemesisDesign]

[MADfan2004]

Originally Posted by tvmanismadformad

I'm not joking about that.

I know.

[tvmanismadformad]

Originally Posted by NemesisDesign

I'm with conebone64 as well.

Originally Posted by MADfan2004

I know.

Good.

[MADfan2004]

Jay Leno may follow Conan O'Brien out of NBC.

Regardless of what you think of him or his show, I'm glad he's not putting up with NBC's bullshit either, especially since, if he stays, he's gonna look like the bad guy.

[tvmanismadformad]

After seeing Conan's show tonight, and his relentless bashing of NBC, I think there is a possible chance that he could be done by Friday. He is really hitting them in the balls. So much so that I think NBC might do the worst thing they could, and have him end his run without an official "finale" episode. He also told a really nasty joke about Leno, possibly indicating that the friendship he and Leno once had is now over.

Apparently before last nights episode where he made his announcement that he was not going to accept the 12:05 spot. He was crying before he came out. He's telling all these jokes about NBC and stuff, but even though he's hiding it well, the revelations like that prove that he's probably broken inside.

Oddly enough though, the best jokes seem to be coming from outside the NBC line up. Like Jimmy Kimmel doing all of yesterdays show as Jay Leno (which he will apparently be appearing on The Jay Leno Show to explain himself), but the best has to be Letterman. For those who don't know, Letterman use to hold the Late Night show on NBC for 12 years. When Johnny Carson left, Letterman thought that he was going to get the late night show, but Jay Leno, who was a fill in alternate for Johnny in the later years, and didn't have anywhere close to the large desire to have the Tonight show like David Letterman was given the role, which caused David to leave the network for CBS. So basically, Letterman hates NBC, and tonight he proved it. He proved it by saying a lot of hurtful things about Jeff Zucker, a man who wasn't even in control of the entertainment section when he was there. Besides the top 10 of what's on Jeff's answering machine, David actually called Jeff and idiot, a dwarf, and someone who is too fat to be a horse jockey which is the job he really wanted.

I have seen a lot of television in my day, but this Late Night Wars saga that's going on I must say is probably the most entertainment event in television I have been apart of so far in my life. Just how it's deteriorated, and how much it's effected everyone in the industry, it is truly one of the most entertaining, and horribly sad moments in television history.

[King of Kings]

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/14...how-back/38944

Leno is being a huge douche and NBC is totally screwing themselves over. Leno has an older audience that can only shrink and he won't be around for much longer anyway. Even if Conan's ratings are lower, his audience has the potential to grow.