Tonight Show Shakeup Leno Back In

After all these years we FINALLY got more cowbell. A great way to close out the show. I'm greatly anticipating Conan's return.

[quote name='mykevermin']Indeed. In my ideal world Leno's show dies from poor ratings, people who refuse to be on his show, etc.

But I know that the LCD hee-haws of America will click right back to see "Jaywalking," like it's actually funny.[/QUOTE]

Hee-Haw, now that show was fine comedy.
 
Jay Leno stole Chloe's idea of Conan going on Oprah to get a big hug to make his troubles go away. Jay is going to steal Conan's hug.
 
[quote name='integralsmatic']thanks for the cool breeze! It was cooling on my mustache! will you cool it again?

one of my favorite conan bits. Thanks![/QUOTE]


Love that one. Reminded me of the awesome SNL sketch where he played old timey boxer James "The Gentleman Masher" Corcoran.
 
here's a boring article that tried to compare leno and conan to some type of high school clic....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sc-ent-0126-leno-demographics-20100126,0,1081944.story

BUT, READ THE END (it's where the most important piece of data lives)

4.8



The rating Conan O'Brien's farewell show Friday (above) scored among viewers 18 to 49. (His overall rating of 7.0 translates into about 8 million households.) For the sake of comparison, last Thursday's "Jersey Shore" finale on MTV drew a 4.8 rating with viewers 12 to 34.
Click to expand...

Now, chew on that.

Conan drew a 4.8. And he's suppose to be the funnier one of the two who had two weeks basically of scandal and buzz and everyone knew when his final show was and....


...only drew a 4.8.

While Jersey Shore drew the same numbers with a younger audience....

Jersey Shore is (sadly) going ot have more seasons. Conan isn't on NBC! "This is it" to quote MJ. And this is the best he could do????

It just shows how America really feels about Conan. I've always felt this way....he's great...but he's just not good enough to spend my late night with. I'd rather watch something else or go to sleep.

This is why I don't really feel bad that he is gone. NBC took a risk thinking that Conan was going to bring his audience with him at an earlier time slot and failed miserably. I'm sure if I could sit with a Neilson data specialist, I would be correct in my logic.

Older people liked Leno. Younger people liked Conan. *Generalizations of course* When Leno went to prime time, older people tried to follow him, but were stuck because there were other shows they watched at that time slot. So his ratings died. When Conan moved up, his younger fanbase just didn't help him make an impact.

This "Team CoCo" stuff should have happened 8 months ago. He didn't have the buzz. No juice.

In fact, I'll be pressed to believe that he'll get ratings on Fox! You gotta have that older fanbase for late night at that time slot. He'll not only be competing against Dave...but now Leno. Pie is going to be split 3 ways (with Kimmel asking for a sliver). Those older people ain't going to follow Conan and without a buzz, Conan and his style is going to result in low ratings.

Conan just isn't mainstream. Let's all remember how he got his two jobs:

1) He got his late night job because he was a great writer. No prior TV experience. And at that time slot....it's just about not losing sponsors

2) He got the tonight show by negotiations. NBC biggest mistake was trying to keep him.


I'm not trying to be anti-Conan...but shoot, I remember watching him just flipping through it and if the skit wasn't great I'd just turn it to sportscenter and go to sleep. Unlike Leno, where I'd watch until he interviews boring people.
 
Not sure how much he'll be involved with this show if any, but here it is anyways:

Only days after Conan O'Brien retired his post as Tonight Show host and presumably put his career with the network to bed, NBC has picked up an hourlong pilot from the comedian's production company, Conaco. The project, known ironically as Justice, "follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the Court to start his own legal practice." O'Brien, John Eisendrath, Jeff Ross and David Kissenger are set to executive produce. As part of O'Brien's massive settlement with NBC, Conaco was to continue working with NBC Universal through the end of development season. [THR]
Click to expand...

http://www.imdb.com/news/ni1475389/
 
Wow, Leno really is a huge douche.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/leno_end_HjEI0GbIokalEc7I8ZWUJJ
http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=98c97932-9f97-446d-8c61-4b0c18623e40

Evidentally Conan being host of the Tonight Show was "destructive to the franchise." I can't believe NBC made Conan sign off on not bashing NBC or Leno but I guess Leno can say whatever he wants. All they care about is repairing Leno's image and destroying Conan's so the ratings come back with Jay in March. I read on one of Leno's recent episodes in one of his bits he types in to a Bing search engine "Overrated, Redhead, Millionaire" and Carrot Top shows up. I wonder who that joke was really meant for.

Also, I don't know who NBC thinks they're kidding with these re-runs of the Tonight Show. They aired one of the original episodes where Conan goes to focus groups based on older people and gets their reactions to him taking over. Last night's episode has Conan mentioning how good a friend Leno is to him. The episode is from last June. Unbelievable.

This guy from NeoGaf has a pretty interesting idea of how this actually went down and it makes sense.

Conan's numbers were not the issue.

NBC knew the Jay Leno Show was going to tank in the ratings from the very beginning, but they promised him two years because they figured it would be cost effective even if no one was watching. However, Leno's show was an even bigger failure than NBC anticipated and ended up costing local affiliates tens of millions of dollars within a matter of months. Overwhelming pressure from affiliates basically forced NBC to cancel Leno. However, Leno's contract guaranteed him a reported $150 million if his show was cancelled. NBC was left with three choices: a) Leave the Jay Leno Show on the air and infuriate the affiliates even further; b) Cancel the Jay Leno Show and pay him a $150 million penalty; or c) Appease Leno by giving him the 11:30 spot back and push Conan out in the process. Basically what it came down to is that breaching Conan's contract was cheaper than breaching Leno's. If Conan had been pulling in ridiculous ratings from the very beginning, it still would have been cheaper to breach his contract.
Click to expand...
 
Trakan, that angle sounds well and good, but my skepticism meter is waxing and waning over one detail: the $150M breach.

1) How can we trust this is accurate?
2) Who would have access to that info?

OTOH, I want to ask "who would be dumb enough to write that kind of clause into a contract?" - but we know the obvious answer to that.

EDIT: Also, I'm no Oprah regular (okay, I adore her and have belonged to her book club since 1993 - man, I just love Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club), but how frequently does she do television episodes with no audience whatsoever? This is flagrantly NBC trying to control the climate surrounding Leno and trying to frame the message to the public (not to mention Conan's shut-a-you-mouth clause); but has she ever done a program with no studio audience before?
 
[quote name='mykevermin']

EDIT: Also, I'm no Oprah regular (okay, I adore her and have belonged to her book club since 1993 - man, I just love Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club), but how frequently does she do television episodes with no audience whatsoever? This is flagrantly NBC trying to control the climate surrounding Leno and trying to frame the message to the public (not to mention Conan's shut-a-you-mouth clause); but has she ever done a program with no studio audience before?[/QUOTE]

If I can remember correctly she has done at least a couple but maybe she will do more without an audience since that horrible Mike Tyson interview (starting around the 40 second mark in the video below.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5RKTefN-Xo
 
Did I miss something in the Tyson interview other than the audience being box-of-rocks stupid and laughing at a very inappropriate moment?

(BTW, go watch the documentary Tyson which is available on Netflix instant queue - fucking fantastic, eye-opening film.)
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Did I miss something in the Tyson interview other than the audience being box-of-rocks stupid and laughing at a very inappropriate moment?

(BTW, go watch the documentary Tyson which is available on Netflix instant queue - fucking fantastic, eye-opening film.)[/QUOTE]

I've been meaning to check that out. Thanks for reminding me. I've had it sitting in my queue for a while.
 
I'm a sucker for all these late night shows, but yes Conan was my favorite. I have definitely lost respect for Leno. One of the many articles published online about this mess talked about how Leno was not an "NBC lapdog," that he had no choice but to do what his contract said. Then he goes and says something along the lines of "It's just business, if you don't pull in the ratings then you get canceled," if that were the case then both him and Conan should be off the air, hypocrite.

He may not have pulled the trigger against Conan but that sure isn't going to stop him from taking the post.
 
[quote name='yukine']It amazes me that Zucker still has a job, he really needs to be fired over this mess.[/QUOTE]

I've been thinking the same thing. NBC has been doing pretty horribly since Friends ended 6 years ago. Unless you count football, NBC doesn't have any shows in the top 10 - not even the top 20. The whole Conan/Leno debacle was a mess that ended up costing the network far more than it would have if they let either Conan or Leno go to another network, not to mention all the negative publicity. You'd think shareholders would be calling for Zucker's head on a pike.
 
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Oprah-Debates-the-Tonight-Show-Controversy-Video

Okay, Oprah asked Jay a few hardball questions, but it's very clear she's pro Jay in this video.

She's grossly misinformed. It's crazy/amazing how she can sway her audience.

She makes a point in saying that all of Conan's supporters now should have watched the show. Well, that's complicated. The ratings system is really flawed. A lot of people watch on Hulu and a lot of TVs aren't hooked up through the Nielsen ratings system. On top of that, he was only given 7 months with a shitty lead-in.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']Always loved that Inappropriate Response skit...and fucking hated how they hacked it up whenever they'd rebroadcast it. Glad that one posted was the full version.

MONEY SHO-O-TTTT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJVkByYyRA[/QUOTE]

Nice that's an awesome one too I remember. That seems so long ago now looking at Conan and Andy. That must have been 98 or 99 tops.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Did I miss something in the Tyson interview other than the audience being box-of-rocks stupid and laughing at a very inappropriate moment?

(BTW, go watch the documentary Tyson which is available on Netflix instant queue - fucking fantastic, eye-opening film.)[/QUOTE]

Tyson said, "I truly wanted to sock her." The audience laughing at that moment made me wonder what the fuck is going through the average Opera audience member's mind? Robin Givens has gotten a bad rap over the years of being a gold digger and other things but the heavy weight champion of the world beating his wife is no laughing matter. He even admits in that interview that he has hit her before.
I will check out the Tyson documentary. I loved watching Tyson fights and playing Punch Out when I was a kid before the shit hit the fan.

Sorry for the derailment. My point is that it really didn't matter that the Leno interview was without a live audience.
 
Uh, I saw the Oprah interview and she started at first being kind to Jay but near the end you could tell she was fed up with his bullshit. And it was an hour long - so you may not have seen it all.
 
What I can't understand is if Leno really was indeed offered $150 million if his show tanked, why would he want the tonight show back and essentially ruin Conan's job, it's $150 million. Also why is he complaining about Conan ruining the tonight show franchise if Leno was ok with having his own 30 minute show at 11:30 which I think would be more damaging to the franchise.
 
[quote name='Sir_Fragalot']What I can't understand is if Leno really was indeed offered $150 million if his show tanked, why would he want the tonight show back and essentially ruin Conan's job, it's $150 million. Also why is he complaining about Conan ruining the tonight show franchise if Leno was ok with having his own 30 minute show at 11:30 which I think would be more damaging to the franchise.[/QUOTE]

NBC never gave him the chance to take the $150. The only way he could've gotten it was if he didn't get to be on NBC for the full year. That was never an option they considered. Either NBC was going to push his show back to 11pm or they were going to give him The Tonight Show. Leno being taken off the air was never considered. It's fully possible he would've been happy with a with NBC paying him, but why would they give Leno $150 million to breach his contract when they could give Conan less than a third of that amount to break his. I suppose that, in itself, shows NBC has some fragment of intelligence left.
 
[quote name='Cantatus']I've been thinking the same thing. NBC has been doing pretty horribly since Friends ended 6 years ago. Unless you count football, NBC doesn't have any shows in the top 10 - not even the top 20. The whole Conan/Leno debacle was a mess that ended up costing the network far more than it would have if they let either Conan or Leno go to another network, not to mention all the negative publicity. You'd think shareholders would be calling for Zucker's head on a pike.[/QUOTE]

The shareholders are probably too busy waiting for the Comcast buyout to be finalized. But every business channel & magazine I've seen seems to say that Comcast will be dumping Zucker once they get majority control of the company(especially after this).
 
I'm curious:

Who all has come to Leno's defense, thus far? Aside from his spank-partner Jerry "I'm So Rich That I'm Completely Out-of-Touch" Seinfeld, of course.
 
[quote name='Brak']I'm curious:

Who all has come to Leno's defense, thus far? Aside from his spank-partner Jerry "I'm So Rich That I'm Completely Out-of-Touch" Seinfeld, of course.[/QUOTE]

Seinfeld would stick up for Jay. I recall about how Seinfeld reportedly bought tickets for the empty seats at his standups so the newspapers report that he performed to a sold out audience. Almost as scumbaggish as Jay hiding in closets eavesdropping on NBC exec meetings.
 
What's with the conspiracy that Leno's stole the Tonight Show from Conan? If anything, it was Conan who first stole the show from Leno. Remember back in 2004 Conan did a backroom deal with NBC, in which he demanded to be handed the Tonight Show once Leno's contact expires in 2009, or he would leave for another network. Conan was younger and had the youth audience, and Leno was getting old, so NBC thought Leno's rating would drop drastically while Conan would be their future. NBC gave in to Conan's demand and threw Leno under the bus. Leno was never consulted nor told about this until after Conan's new contract was signed and dotted. There were many rumors back then that Leno was not happy over this backroom deal and his preemptive firing, but had to go along with his forced "retirement" PR from NBC. Fast forward to 2009, Leno's rating was still on top and did not fall like NBC expected, so NBC viewed him as a major threat if he jumps to another network. Offering Leno his own show was their best compromise to get him to stay. Meanwhile after Conan took over the Tonight Show, the rating plummeted. After several months the Jay Leno show aired and did just what NBC expected, but due to affiliate backlash they had to cancel Leno's show. Since Leno still pulled in higher ratings and is considered to be much more valuable, the only thing for NBC to do was to try and get everything back to the way they were. Conan thought pushing his show back half an hour was a slap in the face, so he decided to quit, but not before having a temper tantrum and pull a scorched earth campaign again NBC and Leno, painting Leno as some sort of evil mastermind behind all these unfortunate events. Sorry but I just can't get behind Conan over this one. He's acting like a spoiled brat who feels entitled to the show, and that his attempt to force Leno into retirement did not work.
 
[quote name='rumblebear']What's with the conspiracy that Leno's stole the Tonight Show from Conan? If anything, it was Conan who first stole the show from Leno. Remember back in 2004 Conan did a backroom deal with NBC, in which he demanded to be handed the Tonight Show once Leno's contact expires in 2009, or he would leave for another network. Conan was younger and had the youth audience, and Leno was getting old, so NBC thought Leno's rating would drop drastically while Conan would be their future. NBC gave in to Conan's demand and threw Leno under the bus. Leno was never consulted nor told about this until after Conan's new contract was signed and dotted. There were many rumors back then that Leno was not happy over this backroom deal and his preemptive firing, but had to go along with his forced "retirement" PR from NBC. Fast forward to 2009, Leno's rating was still on top and did not fall like NBC expected, so NBC viewed him as a major threat if he jumps to another network. Offering Leno his own show was their best compromise to get him to stay. Meanwhile after Conan took over the Tonight Show, the rating plummeted. After several months the Jay Leno show aired and did just what NBC expected, but due to affiliate backlash they had to cancel Leno's show. Since Leno still pulled in higher ratings and is considered to be much more valuable, the only thing for NBC to do was to try and get everything back to the way they were. Conan thought pushing his show back half an hour was a slap in the face, so he decided to quit, but not before having a temper tantrum and pull a scorched earth campaign again NBC and Leno, painting Leno as some sort of evil mastermind behind all these unfortunate events. Sorry but I just can't get behind Conan over this one. He's acting like a spoiled brat who feels entitled to the show, and that his attempt to force Leno into retirement did not work.[/QUOTE]

So, what department of NBC do you work for?
 
[quote name='Brownjohn']So, what department of NBC do you work for?[/QUOTE]

Man... I hate you. Your comment made me think he really did work at NBC so I read his whole damn post for no reason... BAH!
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Seinfeld would stick up for Jay. I recall about how Seinfeld reportedly bought tickets for the empty seats at his standups so the newspapers report that he performed to a sold out audience. Almost as scumbaggish as Jay hiding in closets eavesdropping on NBC exec meetings.[/QUOTE]

Seinfeld is one of the most overrated "talents" of all time.
 
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