Jay Leno to MC White House Correspondents Dinner

[MediaBoy4Radio]

The Leno damage control parade........................

Stop One......Crying on the Oprah show..........

Now, major news outlets are reporting that Jay will be the comic du jour at the upcoming White House Corespondents Dinner.

BYW...how do you rate Jay's heart felt performance with Oprah?

 

[radiodog2]

Lame :

 

[1069_KIFR]

When asked about his ratings for the 10pm show "I didn't know it was that bad" BullS#!* He was behind this entire fiasco.

 

[imhomerjay]

Revisionist history is fun, isn't it?

He didn't want to be pushed out of Tonight in the first place, so he wasn't "behind" that. He didn't control NBC's schedule; he was offered the 10 p.m. gig (as opposed to possibly taking a job elsewhere, which would have been perfectly within his rights had NBC let him go). Not "behind" that, either. He doesn't make the decision to cancel shows, so he's not "behind" that either. He accepted a job offered--and agin, the decision, not his, could have been made to not move him back to the previous time slot. Yet again, not "behind" anything. If anyone was behind something, it was Conan, who took a gamble that things would work well if he pushed for, and signed, a contract giving him the 11:30 gig. The gamble didn't pay off, as it sometimes happens. It wasn't a bad bet, just one that blew up for a number of reasons...but those are the inherent risks in the business.

 

[Skynet74]

The right thing to do would have been for Jay to say....

OK the Tonight Show isn't mine anymore. It's Conan's. I'm not even going to accept the show back. NBC can put me on after Conan or I'll go to another Network if I choose. But I'm not going to put Conan and 200 other people out of work after they've been promised the Tonight Show for the last 5 years!

That WOULD have been the right thing for Jay to do.

 

[justpassingthough]

The right thing to do would have been for Jay to say....

OK the Tonight Show isn't mine anymore. It's Conan's. I'm not even going to accept the show back. NBC can put me on after Conan or I'll go to another Network if I choose. But I'm not going to put Conan and 200 other people out of work after they've been promised the Tonight Show for the last 5 years!

That WOULD have been the right thing for Jay to do.

The world must be nice to see through those rose-colored glasses. Jay doesn't owe Conan anything. NBC gave Conan a shot and he failed, like most people anticipated he would, because he doesn't have the mass appeal to audiences that Leno or Letterman possess.

Why does Leno have to be altruistic? Do you honestly think that NBC would put Leno or Conan's thoughts, feelings, or ethical issues in front of profit? They're a corporation. They exist solely to make money.

Leno isn't putting anyone out of work. NBC and Conan are putting these people out of work. Besides, by going back to airing dramas and reality shows FIVE nights a week at 10pm, MANY more people will gain employment than the 200 people who lost their job when Conan decided to give up the reins of "The Tonight Show". Again, this was Conan's decision, and he made sure his employees were fairly compensated.

 

[Garrett]

The Leno damage control parade........................

Stop One......Crying on the Oprah show..........

Now, major news outlets are reporting that Jay will be the comic du jour at the upcoming White House Corespondents Dinner.

BYW...how do you rate Jay's heart felt performance with Oprah?

That's a cynical response from an uninformed person.
Please stop blaming Jay for something that was not done by him. Did you watch the interview on Oprah? If you had, you would know that Jay has a crew too, and those people need work too. He did what I would have done. When your employer comes to you the way they came to him, you accept offers that way he did, in order to be sure that your staff has a job the next day. Jay Leno never wanted for any of this to happen, and felt bad for Conan.

Conan's very last words on the Tonight Show were "please don't be cynical." I echo that. People need to stop being mad at Jay Leno for not just giving up his show. You don't fault a person for not giving away the bank.' Would that have been fair? I think not. I like Conan, I blame some of the people at the network, and I hope he gets another soon. But please, time to move on.

 

[imhomerjay]

The right thing to do would have been for Jay to say....

OK the Tonight Show isn't mine anymore. It's Conan's. I'm not even going to accept the show back. NBC can put me on after Conan or I'll go to another Network if I choose. But I'm not going to put Conan and 200 other people out of work after they've been promised the Tonight Show for the last 5 years!

That WOULD have been the right thing for Jay to do.

Conan set the chain in motion. No, he couldn't have possibly predicted how it played out, but why would Jay owe him something?

 

[Skynet74]

The world must be nice to see through those rose-colored glasses. Jay doesn't owe Conan anything. NBC gave Conan a shot and he failed, like most people anticipated he would, because he doesn't have the mass appeal to audiences that Leno or Letterman possesses

Yeah we saw Jay's mass appeal at 10PM. That worked out really well. The affiliates couldn't stop complaining. In contrast I didn't hear any affiliates complaining about Conan. Did you? That's a serious question. Did you?

 

[Skynet74]

Conan set the chain in motion. No, he couldn't have possibly predicted how it played out, but why would Jay owe him something?

Jay likes to play Mr. Nice Guy. So what happened to him being nice?

 

[landtuna]

Yeah we saw Jay's mass appeal at 10PM. That worked out really well. The affiliates couldn't stop complaining. In contrast I didn't hear any affiliates complaining about Conan. Did you? That's a serious question. Did you?

OK then, remove 'mass' from appeal but you still have a different audience at 10:00 than at 11:30.

And, most affiliates don't follow the 11:30 show with their local newscasts as they do after 10:00.

 

[imhomerjay]

And if they'd put Conan at 10, what, exactly, do you think would have been different about the outcome?

 

[firepoint525]

Best thing for Jay to do at this point would be to "knock 'em dead" at this correspondents' dinner, and make everyone forget all about this stupid NBC fiasco!

 

[Skynet74]

And if they'd put Conan at 10, what, exactly, do you think would have been different about the outcome?

Nothing. Conan's ratings would be awful at 10 as well. But that was NBC's dumb mistake.

 

[SKIPPER]

I may get banned for this... but it's how I feel

JAY LENO IS A ****** BAG.

 

[imhomerjay]

And if they'd put Conan at 10, what, exactly, do you think would have been different about the outcome?

Nothing. Conan's ratings would be awful at 10 as well. But that was NBC's dumb mistake.

Precisely. So the notion that Jay was the one that bombed while Conan did well is a completly false argument.

 

[Biffstunt]

And if they'd put Conan at 10, what, exactly, do you think would have been different about the outcome?

Nothing. Conan's ratings would be awful at 10 as well. But that was NBC's dumb mistake.

Precisely. So the notion that Jay was the one that bombed while Conan did well is a completly false argument.

I wouldn't say it's a completely false argument...just partially false. Jay bombed: true. Conan did well: not true when talking ratings. The difference is that when Leno took over the Tonight Show and his ratings were awful, Carson wasn't lurking in the wings waiting to take it back. Carson had class...Leno apparently does not. NBC decided that when Leno's ratings were not showing any signs of improvement that they would offer the Tonight Show to Letterman -- he turned it down and went to CBS. Leno improved (according to several people anyway), as did his numbers. Conan was not given that chance. That's the major difference.

Leno's argument about his staff doesn't make sense either. Conan had a staff too and made sure they were taken care of. After 25+ years at the network in a few different capacities, you'd think that Leno could have done the same.

 

[LKellerIII]

And if they'd put Conan at 10, what, exactly, do you think would have been different about the outcome?

Nothing. Conan's ratings would be awful at 10 as well. But that was NBC's dumb mistake.

Precisely. So the notion that Jay was the one that bombed while Conan did well is a completly false argument.

If you put all these Conan/Leno threads together, we're all saying the same thing over and over - the Leno fans putting the blame and Conan and vice-versa for the Conan fans.

I'm a Conan fan who never found Leno particularly funny. But I hope I'm open minded, and I believe that neither man is to blame for wanting the 11:35 slot. Conan deserves no blame for wanting to keep it, and Leno deserves no blame for wanting it back.

Where they both deserve "blame"...or maybe I should say "need to take responsibility for"...is that they both did weak shows. The Jay Leno Show at 10:00 was weak from the get-go, and so was Conan's Tonight Show.

I suspect the Leno at 10:00 experiment would have failed even if Jay had done a strong show.



I wouldn't say it's a completely false argument...just partially false. Jay bombed: true. Conan did well: not true when talking ratings. The difference is that when Leno took over the Tonight Show and his ratings were awful, Carson wasn't lurking in the wings waiting to take it back. Carson had class...Leno apparently does not. NBC decided that when Leno's ratings were not showing any signs of improvement that they would offer the Tonight Show to Letterman -- he turned it down and went to CBS. Leno improved (according to several people anyway), as did his numbers. Conan was not given that chance. That's the major difference.

Leno's argument about his staff doesn't make sense either. Conan had a staff too and made sure they were taken care of. After 25+ years at the network in a few different capacities, you'd think that Leno could have done the same.

If you consider all these many Conan/Leno threads together, the whole thing is getting repetitious and circular. Conan fans think Leno is at fault and vice-versa for Leno fans.

Here's my take (and I'm a Conan fan who never found Leno particularly funny). There was no "conspiracy" and neither man deserves blame for wanting the 11:35 slot. Conan shouldn't be blamed for wanting to keep it, and Leno shouldn't be blamed for wanting it back.

But both men need to take responsibility for putting on weak shows. The Jay Leno Show at 10:00 was weak, and so was Conan's Tonight Show.

In my opinion, The Leno experiment probably would have failed at 10:00, even if it had been a strong show. For that fiasco, NBC and Zucker deserve blame, not the two hosts.

 

[formeraa]

The right thing to do would have been for Jay to say....

OK the Tonight Show isn't mine anymore. It's Conan's. I'm not even going to accept the show back. NBC can put me on after Conan or I'll go to another Network if I choose. But I'm not going to put Conan and 200 other people out of work after they've been promised the Tonight Show for the last 5 years!

That WOULD have been the right thing for Jay to do.

B.S. NBC management screwed this up by making a promise to Conan years ago. I questioned their sanity at the time. But the fact is that Conan flopped and lost much of the Tonight Show's audience. The affiliates were in revolt. NBC had to do something and putting Jay back at 11:35pm was the answer. Conan should have the b**ls to go to 12:05am without complaining. But, no, he SELFISHLY just wanted the money from his contract without doing the work. Conan's just another selfish Hollywood hack. I hope FOX doesn't hire him because he's not that funny.

 

[firepoint525]

If anyone should leave NBC, it's Jeff Zucker! If he keeps his job there after this colossal fiasco, then there's simply no justice in this world! You or I would be immediately fired for a mistake of this magnitude!