On Jay Leno.

[strredwolf]

So after the dust settles, I'll comment with this.

THANK $DEITY THE NIGHTMARE IS OVER.  JAY'S COMING BACK TO 11:35PM.

Why am I saying that?  Well, let me tell you what I posted on a comment to the Consumerist calling for a Email Executive Carpet Bomb on NBC:

I used to stay up for Jay's monologue when he did the Tonight Show. He was funny at the right time slot, and it was appropriate.

Then they experimented, moved Jay to 10pm, knocking out great shows, while moving Conan to 12:35pm as Tonight Show host. I can't watch Jay because it's right when the 10pm local news is on, and I can't stand Conan because he isn't funny. I can't watch David Letterman because his monologue is too short, I don't want more news, and the local Fox station has junk at the time. The TV goes dark.

The ratings that have been returned seem to back some of this up: both Jay and Conan are third place. People are watching something else at 10pm and ether continuing on that channel, or if they switch to NBC local news, switch back afterward (more than likely because they can't stand Conan). Or maybe they just watch the news and (GASP!) turn off the TV.

NBC is shuffling it up again because the experiment failed, and is looking to restore order. Conan wants to stay put, but if they shuffle it, he goes (and still gets paid); in essence, Jay gets the Tonight Show back, and the Late Night show stays put. Ether case, 10pm is freed up to get various shows back in. The old setup is restored, and some dead weight gets moved out (maybe to Fox).

So tell me, how really is this a bad thing to warrant not only a EECB, but a Slashdot Email Bombardment?

So guess what happened?

NBC proposed moving Jay to 11:35pm and pushing the Tonight Show to 12:05pm.  Conan staked out his position to say "The Tonight Show stays at 11:35pm with me or I'm walking."  Jay says "I'm stuck.  I have to go along with NBC." 

NBC reacted to Conan, and said "We're buying you out in accordance to the contract we have with you, even though we said 'Tonight Show' and not '11:35pm show' in said contract."  They then told Jay "You got the Tonight Show at 11:35pm."

Did I call it or not?

Ether way, Jay, Conan, Dave, and Craig are taking potshots at each other and NBC to much fanfare, and NBC's letting 'em at it without official word.

So what's next?

• Conan gets paid out; Fox picks him out and starts their own after-news show at 11:35pm and joins the rest of the rabble (which was syndicated repeats in that slot anyway, so there's room). Conan pulls his crowd in, but will have the low ratings for a while.
  
• Jay gets the Tonight Show back, suffers some low ratings for a short period, and then matches Dave.
  
• Dave stays on CBS for the Late Show.  NBC and CBS swap rating scores every few test periods.
  
• NBC shoves good 10pm shows back in their proper slot.
• Johnny Carson stops spinning in his grave.
  

Comments

[witchiebunny.livejournal.com]

Conan isn't funny *to you*

There are some of us who find him hilarious and topical. Personally, Conan got the terrible end of this deal-7 months to establish himself and then when Jay bombs and wants back into the Tonight show slot, Conan stands up for himself against NBC and *he's* made into the bad guy?

Uh uh. NOT COOL.

Jay's funny, but he's played out and I prefer Conan immensely. Conan's been nothing but faithful to NBC, uprooted his ENTIRE FAMILY to do the Tonight Show and follow NBC instead of going to another network and this is how they treat him. And all I see is people shrugging and going "Jay's Better Anyway"??

No. Just...just NO.
Oh, and BTW?

Conan, Dead weight? Right, because he SO proved himself as dead weight while writing for the Simpsons (when it was FUNNY) and in 17 years as a performer.

Yeah, real dead weight there.

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

I should of put in more context. When Jay was at 11:35pm, he was consistently killing Dave in the ratings. Now that Conan was put in, both Conan (who should have seen his grow after the switch, but has basically flatlined since) and Jay (who was up against established series) have tanked.

Aka, NBC screwed the pooch on this one; in order to fix it, they'll be giving Fox a good opportunity to be the third player. I really hope Fox picks up Conan for the sake of his audience.

Yes, Conan isn't funny to me. I'm very used to Jay at 11:35pm.

[witchiebunny.livejournal.com]

I would like to see how long it took before Jay was the ratings leader in late night, and compare it to the time Conan's had to establish himself and see if there is a discrepancy there.

[caesarsalad77.livejournal.com]

Professional courtesy on Leno's part should have demanded that he simply bow out. Can you imagine if this had been done to him when he took over The Tonight Show?

And yeah, sorry, Conan is funny. That's my opinion. Leno was amusing to me, but rarely as laugh out loud funny. When he went to 10, his show was just painful.

The real blunderer here is NBC, proving they have no idea how to handle their talent and their ratings slump.

[witchiebunny.livejournal.com]

This. Thank you.

Jay had a wonderful run, and between him and Conan I actually enjoyed NBC's line up. It was a great thing.

But this is Conan's time to shine now. if you hear him talk and read his statement, he's balking partially BECAUSE of the respect he has for the legacy of The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson. NBC is the reason why Johnny would be spinning in his grave, not Conan.

If this had been done to Jay he'd be furious, as Conan rightly is.

[kazriko.livejournal.com]

Eh, just let NBC die out already. It's basically turned into the marketing arm of General Electric and their pals in politics. ;)

Past that, I like Leno, I like Conan. I don't watch either of them because they're on the TV and not on the internet as much.

I'm wondering if the whole controversy isn't a way for NBC to try and drum up ratings.