Ok, so late night wars. Huh. I have to say when NBC first announced Jay Leno would be retiring I could smell trouble. You could tell Leno was not happy about this. He has done very well as the king of late night and it just seemed all very strange to me. Why, would you "push" a guy out that is doing so well and is still not even ready to retire? Sure they made it look like a mutual agreement, but, well we all know what has happened since. NBC decided they would move Leno to 10pm. Every. Single. Night. Wait, what?
I guess they decided they didn't need a 14th type of Law and Order so instead we, the viewers, lost out on an hour of drama a night and got Leno. Don't get me wrong, I am, and always have been, a Leno fan. Sure, I'll switch over and check out Letterman, but overall I just enjoyed Leno the most. I like Jaywalking-my absolute fave, because it is so real. Look no further than your local news to realize most folks have no clue. Might I add these are the same folks voting in elections? But that is a whole other subject all together.
I've watched Conan and I think he does an OK job. I've probably watched him a bit more since he's been on at 11:35 than I ever did at 12:35. But that's because, if I'm awake, 12:35 belongs to Craig Ferguson. He is hilarious. I definitely like Conan better with Andy Richter at his side than without him. I also think Conan has gotten a raw deal. He didn't get a fair shake, and won't get it at NBC. I don't know if FOX can sustain a late night guy. I guess time will tell, but a 3 way battle for 11:35? Conan will have to step it up mightily, if he does go to FOX, especially considering he and NBC are now in a custody battle over his characters. The powers that be at NBC own those characters, so Conan will have to leave behind Pimpbot 5000 and the Masturbating Bear (I have actually never seen these characters, guess that tells you how much I really ever watched Conan).
Now NBC is trying to really make Conan out to be the bad guy, a network rep actually said, "It was Conan's decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work." Seriously NBC? Was it not your decision to play musical chairs in the first place? As Leno first put it when he was announced as Johnny Carson's successor and again a couple of weeks ago, what does NBC stand for? "Never Believe your Contract".
3 comments:
Good analysis. I have to agree with you. and NBC stands for Nuthin' But Ca$h.
I saw a clip the other day with Leno announcing his retirement and the 5 yr plan and he states everything is great and he would never mess with the 5 yr plan. Huh....LIAR! I don't watch any of the late night shows, though, so I don't have much of an opinion other than I saw the clip from 5 yrs ago and it certainly makes Leno look like the bad guy.
I don't really like either of them and I don't watch either show. But, forced to choose between Leno and Conan, I come down on Conan's side. Leno's 10 pm show was a complete failure. It cost local news HUGE ratings losses because people were already on another network NOT watching Leno. That also hurt Conan's ratings.
The idea that Leno can be such a failure in prime time and then just up and be moved back into the Tonight Show slot seems really unfair to me.
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