Well, Well, Well....

For all their tampering with the fate of The Tonight Show, NBC sure is looking pretty lame for moving Conan in favor of Jay. Leno's numbers haven't been any better than our red headed son's were this time last year. In fact, Leno keeps playing ratings tag with David Letterman who wins the time slot every blue moon, which is more than he did when Leno ruled the night. Meanwhile ABC's Nightline carries a solid lead in the time slot.

It's too early to tell, but right now Conan's smelling pretty sweet now that he's left the network game. He'll still have a ratings tussle with Stewart and Colbert, but he appears to be in good company with a good sense of competition amongst friends - especially since they never weaseled their way into taking away his job.

Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily

Super Bowl Ads

Wait. WHAT!!??

Some background on how this spot happened.
(via nytimes.com)

Conan Deserves Better

Is there any way to reverse this video where he's running back to New York?



As reported, it was confirmed by NBC's Jeff Gaspin at the Television Critics Association NBC press conference yesterday that The Jay Leno Show at 10pm has indeed been canceled. Jay will get an 11:35pm timeslot, shortening his show to 30 minutes, thus pushing Conan to 12:05am. This does not really make it a "Tonight Show", but more of an after midnight talk show hosted by a guy that NBC loves to screw. And Jimmy? Sadly, he's being left to whither out there in the land of paid programming and infomercials, just when he was gaining some well deserved recognition.

The word is that Conan is not very pleased, and hasn't officially accepted this new line up.

It's this blog's hope that he keeps NBC's loins roasting slowly over the fire pit until he finds a better option. Not only does he have to deal with the reality that he's NBC's late night "stepchild" (as it's been bandied about), but he now has to make a decision on behalf of a whole staff of people who have changed their lives to work on a program that's being treated like a temporary place marker.

I'm just a fan, but I do have a wish. I want Conan to walk. I want him to get a good deal from Fox, negotiate raises for his staff and have total control of his time period, much like Johnny Carson and David Letterman have done. If he moves back to New York, all the better. But, since he's made it out to LA, he should stay there.

He's worked too hard, done so much for late night comedy over the years, been promised too much for it all to tossed over for Leno, strictly for the bottom line.

NBC Fumbling Toward Oblivion: Leno and Conan Getting Re-Organized

When the news hit the internet in a tidal wave of TMZ reports and Twitters today, what was an ordinary day in comedy TV land became a mind boggling roller coaster ride of rumors and tales of breath taking network television stupidity. Imagine the gall of taking the career of Conan O'Brien, prepping him for the prime promotion of Tonight Show host for five years, have he and his staff uproot their families and lives from New York to Los Angeles, only to find the new gig to be an experiment that just doesn't work. Then, throw in Jay Leno, who would kindly take back his old job, stand in the midst of this sinking ship, sail through rumors of cancelation, clinging on with various scenarios of 11:35pm start time here, while Conan starts up at 12:05pm there. Meanwhile, the very hilarious Jimmy Fallon, whose show is becoming a blast for the young and farty like me, sort of bangs lightly against the hull of the Titanic known as NBC. Needless to say, despite the bumps, he may be the safest of all.

"I hear Fox is beautiful this time of year."

As a comedy fan and devotee to late night comedy talk shows (a devotion that does not include Mr. Leno's fare past and present), the confusion has made me woozy with confusion. I'm team Conan all the way. The surrealism of him being in Los Angeles has waned, and I've accepted him in the sunny studios of Universal. It's been disappointing to see him temper his act a bit to suit the earlier audiences, and it pains me to find that a portion of America who likes the safe, mediocre comedy of Leno at 11:30pm won't cotton to O'Brien. NBC's patchwork of placating Leno and preventing him from moving on to a competing network, resulted in the 10pm nightly timeslot that killed five hours of originally scripted shows and murdered local affiliates lead in. It diminished their ratings and revenue in the process. Well done, Jeff Zucker.

Bill Carter of NYTimes has posted the latest this evening. There is a possible solution at hand whereby Leno could start after the news at 11:35pm for a 30 minute monologue show, pushing Conan to 12:05pm and Fallon pushed later. Oh God, my head hurts. I just want Johnny Carson to come back to life and kick someone's ass big time.

I interned and ultimately worked at NBC when it was the number one network. Golden Girls, Cosby, Seinfeld, were highly desired shows by local affiliates and O&O's. Brandon Tartikoff, a talented executive who dealt with his own flops from time to time (Hello Larry!), was head of programming and knew how to turn brass into gold. Today, the network is a mess. Patching up the leaky holes in the late night line up is not going to save anyone.

I'm sure there will be more to come in days ahead.

Jay Leno: Let's Do This Again

I like Jay Leno, I really do. It's just that I liked him when he did stand up and comedy bits with David Letterman on the old Late Night. NBC's assumption that Jay would be ready for retirement in 2009 was far off the mark. His new show feels like a consolation prize for Leno, the mea culpa from Zucker and his minions to placate Jay and the viewers for trying to phase him out. It also erased five hours of original scripted episodic prime time programming. Sad. But I wish Jay luck.

The Jay Leno Show premieres tonight on NBC at 10:00pm ET.

NBC Unveils New Leno

NBC was the first to present their new programming to advertisers yesterday at the Infronts. Although we have yet to see the fall schedule, at least we know what is on their plate for the new season. In addition to some new sitcoms such as Community (thumbs up!) and 100 Questions (hmmm...we'll see), comedy on NBC will be topped off each night with Jay Leno's new nightly 10pm talkshow, bumping the usual line up of dramas that fill the timeslot.

Here's a dazzle reel for the new Jay Leno Show, which feels like the Tonight Show with Jay Leno because his well known bits will remain on the slab. I'm sure everyone is drawing a sigh of relief. What would we do without "Jay Walking"?




Awww...I like Jay. I just never watch him unless someone from The Office is on promoting something. Being an old Letterman fan from the early days, I've always thought Jay was a better guest than a host. Here's an old episode of Late Night with David Letterman. It's a classic. And of course it contains "Jay's Beef".

NBC Gives Leno 10pm Timeslot

The New York Times is reporting NBC will announce on Tuesday that Jay Leno will be given the 10pm timeslot for a new show. This was announced after comments by Jeff Zucker at a UBS conference indicated the network was considering cutting prime time programming by several hours a week.

This move will prevent Leno from leaving the peacock network for a competitor (ABC was a contender), and provide a standard pre-affiliate news lead in. This should make the O&O stations happy. Stripping a first run talk show in prime time's 10pm slot, usually occupied by drama or reality, with a host of Leno's stature, is a first. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09leno.html?_r=1&hp.)