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Jay Leno Leaving The Tonight Show Next Season???

The "young people" around here don't watch late night TV (SNL may be the only exception). And judging from the lack of discussion of the previous night's show, most adults don't either.

Unless a network can get someone like Carson, who knew how to "interview" and also gave his guests time to do their thing, late night couch shows are probably doomed to insignificant viewership. Letterman is a dirty old man. Leno is nothing but a shill for his guests latest ventures. Kimmel is a slapstick version of something. The others are on too late.
 
Jimmy Kimmel is far to green to take over the Tonight Show. Not gonna happen. Buy out Conan's TBS contract and give him the shot he deserved. I can't think of any other personality that could handle the desk of the Tonight Show... possibly Jon Stewart... probably not.
 
Kimmel's also under contract with ABC. I can't see ABC letting him go just so NBC can air him up against his old timeslot.

Personally, I can't stand Conan and like Fallon even less. Conan's humor something you either get or you don't. I don't get it and probably never will. Fallon is simply not funny, and his laughing at his own lame jokes before they're finished is beyond irritating.

NBC found out a few years ago that it doesn't have anyone to replace Leno and seems to be unaware that it's still lacking.
 
landtuna said:
The others are on too late.
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IIRC, Ferguson has said in the past that he prefers the 12:35 slot over 11:35 and wouldn't really be interested in moving to 11:35 once Letterman retires.
 
mescutia said:
landtuna said:
The others are on too late.
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IIRC, Ferguson has said in the past that he prefers the 12:35 slot over 11:35 and wouldn't really be interested in moving to 11:35 once Letterman retires.
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That means CBS has a succession problem, too.

Letterman will be the same age next month Carson was when he retired...and Dave seems much older. Leno's only three years younger than Dave.

NBC has been a zoo, but CBS has had 21 years to line this up.
 
I've never understood the anti-Leno crowd. I watched faithfully until he moved to 10 pm (because there's too much else good on at 10), I came back when he moved back to 11:35. It's one of only two NBC shows I watch, the other being Law & Order SVU.
 
If Leno leaves, Fallon will take over. Easy. Then Carson Daly can move up to 12:35 and give a little more time back to affiliates.

-crainbebo
 
I would like to see a re-invention of the late night programs. There's more to life than interviewing George Clooney and Taylor Swift. Why not do it more like "Today" with the occasional chef or health tidbit. Of course, Leno is funnier than Matt Lauer, so a cooking segment comes off differently.
 
I made a typo. I meant Fallon is too green for the Tonight Show. I can't picture Kimmel on NBC late night, but I think he'd be a better fit than Fallon if only due to experience.

As for Conan.... I've had a suspicion... or call it a gut feeling... that Conan and Letterman made a gentlemans' agreement when Conan left NBC. I suspect Letterman has Conan lined up to take over the chair on The Late Show when Letterman decides to retire from his on air role. I'm assuming Letterman will maintain ownership of The Late Show which would make Letterman Conan's boss if it goes that direction, and at the time these men would have discussed this possibility Conan was probably fed up with network executives. I don't recall how long Conan's TBS deal was supposed to last but I remember thinking that it would be ending around the time Letterman's age would catch up to him.
I haven't been watching Conan on TBS like I had planned to, but I was expecting Conan to mature into a fine replacement for Letterman, even a host Carson would have been proud of.

I also believe there is room on late night OTA TV for Jon Stewart or even Stephen Colbert to host a show. I think they could adapt to the 10:30 or 11:30 time slot. Of course if they wanted to keep their Comedy Central brand of humor the 12:30 time slot would be all the networks might be comfortable giving those two, but in my opinion Stewart and Colbert deserve better than 12:30 and I'd just assume they stay with Comedy Central than see them fall into late late night.

Has there ever been chatter of Comedy Central moving either of those guys to an hour long weeknight format? Have Stewart or Colbert ever publicly talked about their feelings of hosting shows different from what they have now? I also think Stewart could do a crazy awesome job hosting the ABC/CBS/NBC nightly news. It's such a stretch to imagine them tweaking to the format that it'll give you a headache trying to imagine the changes required of the anchor and the news production that most people will just write off this as impossible. I don't know which network's nightly news needs the most help, but I could see betting on Stewart to turn around numbers as a very smart business move for the weakest of the big three nightly news programs. Of course many affiliates would call shenanigans based on his prior work, but he's a pro and could do the job better than any of the current anchors.

If NBC does lose Leno and simply move Fallon and Daly up I think Henry Rollins would be a cool gamble for the 12:30 time slot. Only problem with Rollins is people either love him or despise him or have never heard of him.
 
The only problem with an agreement between Worldwide Pants and Conan is that CBS would still have the power to say yes or no. And while I like Conan, his numbers weren't good doing the Tonight Show. I know you can argue Jay at 10 hurt the late news, which hurt Tonight, but CBS has to believe that and believe it's worth paying Conan 8 figures a year.
 
landtuna said:
poledo said:
Buy out Conan's TBS contract and give him the shot he deserved.
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Conan was absolutely terrible. The kiss of death.
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Remember that the goal in late night TV is to deliver 18-49. Center of that's 33. Conan does well with that age group in research, but he didn't seem to deliver them when he had the Tonight Show.
 
12:35 seemed to be the perfect fit for Conan on NBC. I actually miss the show being there. His TBS show seems different. I'm not sure it's in a good way either. Something is a little "off". I don't even know how Carson Daly still has a show. That thing is beyond horrible. NBC should have killed it a long time ago. Letterman is older and is only a tiny fraction as funny as he was 20 years ago. Jimmy Kimmel is OK. The guy deserves a better theme song though. I can't believe they have kept it for the past 10 years. It's horrible. I think Fallon is better now than when he first started. I don't see him as an 11:35 guy though. Craig Ferguson still deserves a band and maybe get rid of the robot. It was a funny bit for a while. But at this point he just has a co-host that's made out of metal. Leno is... well... hard to explain. He was one of the funniest stand up comedians of the 80's. But as a talk show host he has never been one to push the envelope. Late Night is kind of stale at the moment. It has the potential to be even more of a mess very soon with retirements and people possibly switching around. Damn.. I miss Carson. There still isn't anybody nearly as good. Ellen is witty though and probably has the best potential out of anyone I can think of. I wonder if America would accept her in late Night. People accepted Joan Rivers when she filled in for Carson. I don't see any reason why Ellen couldn't work at 11:35. Just an idea for NBC if they are reading this. I actually think she would be a good choice.
 
Skynet74 said:
12:35 seemed to be the perfect fit for Conan on NBC. I actually miss the show being there. His TBS show seems different. I'm not sure it's in a good way either. Something is a little "off". I don't even know how Carson Daly still has a show. That thing is beyond horrible. NBC should have killed it a long time ago. Letterman is older and is only a tiny fraction as funny as he was 20 years ago. Jimmy Kimmel is OK. The guy deserves a better theme song though. I can't believe they have kept it for the past 10 years. It's horrible. I think Fallon is better now than when he first started. I don't see him as an 11:35 guy though. Craig Ferguson still deserves a band and maybe get rid of the robot. It was a funny bit for a while. But at this point he just has a co-host that's made out of metal. Leno is... well... hard to explain. He was one of the funniest stand up comedians of the 80's. But as a talk show host he has never been one to push the envelope. Late Night is kind of stale at the moment. It has the potential to be even more of a mess very soon with retirements and people possibly switching around. Damn.. I miss Carson. There still isn't anybody nearly as good. Ellen is witty though and probably has the best potential out of anyone I can think of. I wonder if America would accept her in late Night. People accepted Joan Rivers when she filled in for Carson. I don't see any reason why Ellen couldn't work at 11:35. Just an idea for NBC if they are reading this. I actually think she would be a good choice.
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A woman's a good idea. Ellen's got potential. Actually, now that I think of it, so does Tina Fey.
 
Skynet74 said:
Ellen is witty though and probably has the best potential out of anyone I can think of. I wonder if America would accept her in late Night. People accepted Joan Rivers when she filled in for Carson. I don't see any reason why Ellen couldn't work at 11:35. Just an idea for NBC if they are reading this. I actually think she would be a good choice.
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Funny. Back during the Leno/Conan debacle I tweeted "Tip for NBC: The Tonight Show with Ellen Degeneres." It was half a joke, but now that I think about it, I think it would do well. She's popular among Leno's core age group, and different enough to bring in some curious new viewers.

Tina Fey might even be a better idea, but I don't want Lorne Michaels to get within 500 miles of the Tonight Show.
 
Pab Sungenis said:
Skynet74 said:
Ellen is witty though and probably has the best potential out of anyone I can think of. I wonder if America would accept her in late Night. People accepted Joan Rivers when she filled in for Carson. I don't see any reason why Ellen couldn't work at 11:35. Just an idea for NBC if they are reading this. I actually think she would be a good choice.
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Funny. Back during the Leno/Conan debacle I tweeted "Tip for NBC: The Tonight Show with Ellen Degeneres." It was half a joke, but now that I think about it, I think it would do well. She's popular among Leno's core age group, and different enough to bring in some curious new viewers.

Tina Fey might even be a better idea, but I don't want Lorne Michaels to get within 500 miles of the Tonight Show.
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Thing is, you want to get younger than Leno's core age group. 35-45 would be ideal.

Johnny got the Tonight Show at 36. No one expected it to be a 30-year run until he got past 20 years. And by staying, he delayed both Dave and Jay's careers to the point that Dave was 45 and Jay 42 when they got their 11:35 shots. And now they've been on for 21. They've made it an old man's game. Heck, Conan's pushing 50.

Fallon and Kimmel are right generationally, but I don't think Fallon's all that strong and the Jury's still out on whether Kimmel can be #1. I like him...I appreciate his willingness to be surprised and I think some of the production piece are tremendous. I just don't think he's hit his stride yet and if CBS and NBC don't have strong successors for Dave and Jay, Kimmel could lead by default.
 
michael hagerty said:
I know you can argue Jay at 10 hurt the late news, which hurt Tonight, but CBS has to believe that and believe it's worth paying Conan 8 figures a year.
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Only problem with that argument is Jay's primetime show started in September. Conan had all summer & ratings took a nose dive after the first week.
 
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