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Leno did it again

He dropped another hint during last night's monologue about going to ABC.

I'm thinking a Leno/Kimmel lineup - for sure.
 
Seems to me that "dropping a hint" at going to ABC is an easy way to get a laugh

But we'll find out next year
 
I'm curious as to what everyone here thinks: Leno at his standard 11:30 and Kimmel at 12:30 or move up Jimmy 30 min. and put Leno on at 12:30.

I think we're all in agreement that if Leno jumps to ABC, Nightline is toast. I know Ted Koppel wanted us to give it a chance but it just hasn't been Nightline since he left. Not to mention that CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ect. has made it pretty much obsolete.

That being said, with the young demos and huge ratings gains he's seen in the last 5 years, I think ABC could really be shooting themselves in the foot if they were to move Kimmel back to 12:30. That could be the Letterman-NBC situation all over again and Jimmy might take a walk. I think he'd fit in well at Fox.

Leno is pushing 60 and has never been funny (IMO, of course) and I don't think there are many viewers who will follow him to ABC (and the ones who do are too old to matter).

For some reason, there is speculation on this board that Conan will fail -- badly. Appartantly, the reason for this is because Conan can't do the same show at 11:30 as he could at 12:30 and he won't be able to adapt. Letterman was able to adapt and so will Conan. He'll be fine -- I think it's Jimmy Fallon NBC has to worry about. But just think back to Conan's first couple of years. Maybe Fallon will become a hit. As for me, I'll be watching Craig Ferguson at 12:30.
 
adam95 said:
-- I think it's Jimmy Fallon NBC has to worry about. But just think back to Conan's first couple of years. Maybe Fallon will become a hit. As for me, I'll be watching Craig Ferguson at 12:30.

wasn't Conan on 13 week contracts for the first couple of years?
 
One thing has been confirmed...Jay will not be with NBC after his contract expires. It does sound more and more ABC each day.

I suspect the joke is to help in any negotiations with ABC...and sending a message to NBC brass (who probably are not happy that Jay is making these jokes).

Put another way...Jay is using the NBC airwaves as a tool to help him get with ABC. Pretty clever idea.
 
adam95 said:
I'm curious as to what everyone here thinks: Leno at his standard 11:30 and Kimmel at 12:30 or move up Jimmy 30 min. and put Leno on at 12:30.

I think we're all in agreement that if Leno jumps to ABC, Nightline is toast. I know Ted Koppel wanted us to give it a chance but it just hasn't been Nightline since he left. Not to mention that CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ect. has made it pretty much obsolete.

It's not Ted Koppel's 'Nightline', but the news program still commands a very sizeable late-night audience (over 3 million, more than Kimmel or O'Brien). And Jay Leno may have to wait a while before jumping ship to ABC, if NBC Universal holds firm on his current contract:

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/ar...te_51/How_Jay_Leno_would_likely_do_on_ABC.asp
 
"I know Ted Koppel wanted us to give it a chance but it just hasn't been Nightline since he left."

As Nate has noted on the ratings story - Nighline is actually up in numbers and has beaten Letterman on several occassions of late. While it's not Ted's Nightline of the past, the program has acutally picked up its paced and with two-three stories each night, it's a pretty solid broadcast and has a renewed vigor.

With that said, if ABC could lure Leno into the family, there's no doubt that they would make more money off of Leno's gabfest, give them a larger ratings presence in that time slot and continue to give Letterman and the new Tonight show with Conan a decent run for the money. I've never been a fan of Leno - prefer Letterman far more - but Leno certainly has his audience and does the show very well, as the ratings prove. Don't plan on seeing Leno anywhere but NBC for now but once his contract ends, you may just see him somewhere.
 
Should ABC dump NightLine to make room for Leno. Then it should be Jimmy Kimmel at 11:35 Followed by Leno at 12:35!
Or if Kimmel bolts ABC, line him up for The Late Late Show on CBS. Ferguson has said in interviews that when his contract is up, he wants to move on to movies and get out of the tv studio.
 
I'd go Leno at 11:35, Nightline at 12:35.

Of course, Leno can't do anything until the GM of the Green Bay Packers has his say... ;D
 
jal41 said:
One thing has been confirmed...Jay will not be with NBC after his contract expires. It does sound more and more ABC each day.

I suspect the joke is to help in any negotiations with ABC...and sending a message to NBC brass (who probably are not happy that Jay is making these jokes).

Put another way...Jay is using the NBC airwaves as a tool to help him get with ABC. Pretty clever idea.

Or perhaps Leno himself is surfing the internet and looking at wesbites ( perhaps even this one !! ) and see what is being said about him "maybe" going to ABC. If this is true, I guess we can consider oursleves a part of the joke too.
 
I don't think Letterman adapted his show for an earlier audience, to me he pretty much moved it. I think this is why Leno and Letterman both held up, because they weren't going after the same audience. I think Letterman took most of his audience to CBS. Letterman fans seem to be a lot more loyal to him than Leno's fans are.

As for viewers the raw numbers matter little it's the potential buying numbers that matter. A million viewers of which 10% are buyers is the same as half a million viewers of which 20% are buyers.

Don't you think there is a lead in factor. I mean going form local news at 10pm to another network news show at 10:35pm seems to be a natural flow. Having news, entertainment, news, entertainment (news, Leno, Nightline, Kimmel) seems like a lot of potential for viewers to change channels and not change back
 
I know nothing of the inside story to all this but I agree with the folks that say I never really thought Leno was funny. I don't think Letterman is quite as funny as he was on the NBC show and Conan has come a long way since he started.

My thought is Jay really wants to stick it to NBC. He's been doing well for them and he still remembers how they almost replaced him with Letterman. He's got plenty of money so it's all ego driven. I can't say that I blame him.

Now, is he serious? Maybe or it could be just a ploy to make the NBC brass nervous.
 
If Leno goes to ABC, it would have to be at 11:35. I don't seem him taking the back time slot. And if I were Jimmy Kimmel, I'd be happy to have Leno ahead of me, because it's a much better lead-in than Nightline.
 
After reading some of my posts, you may realize I am a Letterman fan. But that aside, if you were in Leno's shoes, wouldn't you want to piss off the NBC weasels? Wouldn't you want to put the screws to them as well?

Let the musical chairs begin!
 
I think Leno at ABC is a great idea. I would watch. Most likely I would switch between him and Conan though since I like both.
 
Noooooo! I think Nightline & Kimmel are the best shows on late-night, and if Nightline does a topic I'm not interested in I go to Letterman, who has gotten noticeably funnier in the past year. Please Jay Leno, don't got to ABC and screw things up there! And Conan is still too scripted and tries too hard...the interaction with the bandleader are painful...NBC should really be concerned now that Craig Ferguson often beats him in the ratings.
 
I'll throw out another thought: the Leno comments about ABC could be a ruse.
I think ABC will have a much harder time getting rid of Nightline than many think. Putting Leno on at 11:35 (or 10:35 for those of us in the Central time zone) with the proper contract would be about the only way for ABC to assure that canceling Nightline would be a profitable move. However, I think Leno wants too much money to make this deal work for ABC. Kimmel is a bargain for ABC.

So who could offer Leno the kind of money he wants for a late night talk show? Fox. Even better, Fox has been agressively adding late newscasts on its owned and operated stations. This means that Leno would start at 11:30 eastern/10:30 central. Many people will argue that this isn't likely because Fox has tried and failed to do late night talk shows before. That ignores the fact that Fox's last late-night attempt was 15 years ago when they did not have the NFL and had a much weaker lineup of stations. Fox is ready to get into this game and has the money to let Leno do what he wants. They've already been grooming a possible post-Leno show with Spike Feresten on Saturday nights after Mad TV.

Just a hunch, but look for Fox to have Leno on late night in the Fall of 2009 or Spring of 2010.
 
ABC has been talking about dumping Nightline for a couple of years now because they have wanted an entertainment program in that slot to compete with NBC and CBS. I am pretty sure they are looking at this as the perfect opportunity to finally make that move.
 
tested said:
So who could offer Leno the kind of money he wants for a late night talk show? Fox. Even better, Fox has been agressively adding late newscasts on its owned and operated stations. This means that Leno would start at 11:30 eastern/10:30 central. Many people will argue that this isn't likely because Fox has tried and failed to do late night talk shows before. That ignores the fact that Fox's last late-night attempt was 15 years ago when they did not have the NFL and had a much weaker lineup of stations.

Fox's 1st attempt at late night TV: Joan Rivers
Fox's 2nd attempt at late night TV: Chevy Chase

If your theory is true, hopefully third time's a charm...
 
Didn't CBS keep trying to have a late night talk show before Letterman? Remember Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin and even Pat Sajak? FOX will be a player but not necessarily the winner for Leno's serrvices. Another big item will be percentage of nationwide coverage. Would ALL or 85%ABC / FOX Stations clear the time slot?
 
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