Late night Shows

cosmonaut · January 15, 2010, 03:39:42 AM

Partner thinks Conan trumps Jay. He's probably right, but I prefer to watch Stephen. :)

Jobydrone · January 15, 2010, 06:32:00 AM

Quote from: Just X on January 14, 2010, 08:02:55 PM
Here is my take on it...I don't like Leno. I don't like his humor and his way of using bits to make people look stupid for laughs.

^^^
This!

Conan and David Letterman have always taken the opposite tack, making fun of themselves and laughing with their audience. Jay Leno has always seemed to have a smarmy "I'm better than you" attitude that just rubs me the wrong way. All that being said I never watch any of these shows anyway and could frankly care less. The best thing about it is that getting rid of Leno's 10pm show opens up NBC's schedule and makes things easier for shows like Chuck to stick around.

billybob476 · January 15, 2010, 06:43:22 AM

For those of you that don't watch or know much about Conan, he wrote for SNL and the Simpsons in the 90's. Just for that I love the man, aside from the fact the he puts on an amazing show.

Very sad that rumour at the moment is that he's out.

If anyone has been wacthing him this week, he and his guests have been ripping on NBC HARD.

Bryancd · January 15, 2010, 07:29:46 AM

I'm in bed asleep by 9:00pm, so I'm out! :)

billybob476 · January 15, 2010, 07:38:51 AM

I PVR him :)

ChadH · January 15, 2010, 09:25:41 AM

Quote from: Jobydrone4of20 on January 15, 2010, 06:32:00 AM
Quote from: Just X on January 14, 2010, 08:02:55 PM
Here is my take on it...I don't like Leno. I don't like his humor and his way of using bits to make people look stupid for laughs.

^^^
This!

Conan and David Letterman have always taken the opposite tack, making fun of themselves and laughing with their audience. Jay Leno has always seemed to have a smarmy "I'm better than you" attitude that just rubs me the wrong way. All that being said I never watch any of these shows anyway and could frankly care less. The best thing about it is that getting rid of Leno's 10pm show opens up NBC's schedule and makes things easier for shows like Chuck to stick around.

I'm with you guys on Leno. I've seen him on other shows and he gave me a similar impression.
Like Cosmonaut, I'd rather watch Colbert or Stewart.

Geekyfanboy · January 15, 2010, 10:54:22 AM

Wow.. seems like I'm the only one who actually likes Jay Leno.. I've watched him for years. It's funny that there is all this backlash towards Leno, when it should be NBC. Leno and Conan are just pawns in some really bad moves that NBC have made. Leno's ratings were bad at his new 10pm slot, Conan ratings were bad when he took over the tonight show. It's just bad management. As much as I enjoy Leno over Conan I don't think Leno should get back the Tonight Show. He turned it over to Conan, true that Conan's rating are horrible but it's only been seven months. I think NBC needs to give him some time. I'm sure Leno's ratings weren't so great when to took over from Carson but giving him time he became huge and I think Conan could be the same.

Weather your a fan of Leno or Conan it's NBC who should be taking the rap for this mess.

billybob476 · January 15, 2010, 11:11:09 AM

Didn't Leno almost lose the Tonight Show once he had gotten it ealry on as well? I mean, after the whole drama with Letterman. I sense "The Late Shift 2" in the works!

X · January 15, 2010, 02:04:17 PM

Quote from: Geekyfanboy on January 15, 2010, 10:54:22 AM
Wow.. seems like I'm the only one who actually likes Jay Leno.. I've watched him for years. It's funny that there is all this backlash towards Leno, when it should be NBC. Leno and Conan are just pawns in some really bad moves that NBC have made. Leno's ratings were bad at his new 10pm slot, Conan ratings were bad when he took over the tonight show. It's just bad management. As much as I enjoy Leno over Conan I don't think Leno should get back the Tonight Show. He turned it over to Conan, true that Conan's rating are horrible but it's only been seven months. I think NBC needs to give him some time. I'm sure Leno's ratings weren't so great when to took over from Carson but giving him time he became huge and I think Conan could be the same.

Weather your a fan of Leno or Conan it's NBC who should be taking the rap for this mess.

I get what you're saying Kenny, but Leno is also partly responsible for the low numbers that Conan is getting. If the local station are complaining that they are losing big on their nightly news numbers by having Jay as a lead in, it goes to reason that if people aren't going to be bothered to turn back to that channel for the news, they are going to be less apt to change to it after the news ends.

Also, I think part of the blame is that they said that Jay wants the 11:35 time slot. That's the time slot for the start of the tonight show. Even if he's not getting the name, he's getting the time slot were the tonight show has been for decades. It's also the strongest part of the night. The numbers for the first half of the Tonight show as always been stronger than the second half. A lot of people stay up just to see the monologue and the setup for the show.

Give Jay that 30 minutes and I can assure you that it will sabotage the tonight show. After being in late night as long as they both have, I think both Jay and Conan knows that.

Rico · January 15, 2010, 06:51:46 PM

I have no backlash against Jay Leno or anything, I've just never really found him real funny or entertaining - way before the move to 10pm. Conan is more my style.

alanp · February 01, 2010, 07:55:54 PM

I don't like how they are making Jay the bad guy because it wasn't his screw-up.

1. It's not Leno's fault that a primetime, late-night style talk show is stupid. People aren't looking for that kind of entertainment that hour. Leno was put on that by the network who refused to release him. Leno asked for his release and was denied. Leno was willing to be the one to leave instead of Conan.

2. Conan's show has more sexual innuendo and racy humor than Leno, and was not what Leno's audience was into. Conan's fans loved it but are used to watching at a later hour or on the computer the next day. That didn't help ratings.

3. Neither the prime time show, nor the 30 minute 11:35 idea was Jay's idea. Both pitched by NBC executives.

4. It wouldn't have helped Conan in any way for Jay to refuse to go back to the Tonight Show.

I hear what you are saying Kenny about Jay had passed the torch so why come back, but who else does NBC have who could host? Fallon is terrible. Carson Daly? I sure hope not!

X · February 02, 2010, 04:22:16 AM

Quote from: AlanP on February 01, 2010, 07:55:54 PM
I don't like how they are making Jay the bad guy because it wasn't his screw-up.

1. It's not Leno's fault that a primetime, late-night style talk show is stupid. People aren't looking for that kind of entertainment that hour. Leno was put on that by the network who refused to release him. Leno asked for his release and was denied. Leno was willing to be the one to leave instead of Conan.

2. Conan's show has more sexual innuendo and racy humor than Leno, and was not what Leno's audience was into. Conan's fans loved it but are used to watching at a later hour or on the computer the next day. That didn't help ratings.

3. Neither the prime time show, nor the 30 minute 11:35 idea was Jay's idea. Both pitched by NBC executives.

4. It wouldn't have helped Conan in any way for Jay to refuse to go back to the Tonight Show.

I hear what you are saying Kenny about Jay had passed the torch so why come back, but who else does NBC have who could host? Fallon is terrible. Carson Daly? I sure hope not!

Jay does have a lot of blame in this. When offered the 11:35 slot, he could have said no. Jay had a contract specifying time and had he chose to say no to destroying the Tonight Show, he could have retired and gotten paid far more than they gave conan.

Jay losing a ton of viewers also didn't help Conan's numbers. The big hint is that if your local affiliates are complaining about lost numbers for the local news because of Jay, it's probably a safe bet to assume that they aren't coming back after the news.

You're right about the earlier show not being Jay's idea, but they also had a something in prime time lined up for Johnny Carson, but when he left the tonight show, he changed his mind and retired, which gave Jay the chance to build his show.

Let's not even talk about the fans that Jay took with him to prime time. If people are only looking for a bit of comedy to end their night, why stick around for the tonight show when you can see jay earlier and then get to bed after the news?

The prime time experiment had a huge effect on Conan's number.

Jay wanted the tonight show back and never wanted to leave it in the first place. In the end, he got what he wanted. How is he not to have some measure of blame in that?

Rico · February 02, 2010, 05:14:11 AM

I think the blame still is mainly with NBC. The whole thing was a bad idea from the start and I said so. People are used to late night comedy and don't seem to want a prime time/late night show. I suspect if Leno has just retired and Conan had just taken over the Tonight Show things would have been much better. But, it's over for now and I suspect we will see Conan on Fox late night in the future. Where I think he will do just fine.

billybob476 · February 02, 2010, 05:34:24 AM

Indeed. I'm glad it's all kind of over with, Conan had an amazing last show and at the end of it all I think he came out with a lot of goodwill thhat will transfer to whatever new project he takes on.