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NBC Has No 'Tonight Show' Right Now... a First?

K

KentBrockman

There are no promos running, no re-runs, no website, nothing regarding 'The Tonight Show' running on NBC or it's related networks right now.

Technically NBC has no 'Tonight Show' right now. Is this the first time in the history of the network that there has been a gap with nothing 'Tonight Show' related in the public eye since the program's inception?
 
What about other times NBC had the olympics? I worked at an NBC affiliate and I remember news airing at 1am but can't remember if Tonight aired at 1:30 or not.
 
1069_KIFR said:
Only Gaps I can think of are...

November 20, 1963 and
September 11, 2001
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Gonna have to disqualify those dates... For clarification, I am thinking more along the lines of an entertainment programming decision made by management instead of a breaking news item warranting wall-to-wall coverage.
 
During previous Olympics, NBC would also not show The Tonight Show at all until the games were over. However, this time around was probably the first when one host steps down, the show takes an Olympic break, and returns with a new host (or in this case, returning host from a prior version).
 
Even I can remember during the summer and winter versions of the Olympics where Jay Leno would do a five-minute monologue or so before throwing it back to the Games.

Interesting observation. I guess this is what you might call "cleansing" the audience.

Maybe they can start replaying that commercial with Jay riding in his car with the "TEN" license plate - in reverse.
 
On Friday, after the opening ceremonies and the late local news, they showed Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at sometime around 1:40 AM. I remember back before when Leno was still on at 11:35, they would still show Leno but it would be after the games and the late local news and the network would usually either nix the episode of Late Night or play a rerun.
 
KentBrockman said:
New 'Tonight' logo & small pic of the set are on thejaylenoshow.com...
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Hold up - thejaylenoshow.com is still functioning? One would think if Jay is returning to "Tonight," the tech nerds over at NBC would make that domain redirect to nbc.com or something like that... Perhaps a "404" error message would suffice!
 
Well, at least we know the show is going to stay at Studio 11. I'm not too crazy about that decision, but I can understand why. Maybe they are going to modify the stage this time so Leno can be closer to the audience like how Studio 3 was.

I think that particular logo should have been Conan's logo. It would be better if they go back to the old Leno logo and update it for his 2nd Tonight Show run.
 
I believe Tonight promos are set to start up either this weekend or early next week.
 
I think during the time Paar was host of the "Tonight Show" there were times when the show was on, but there was a scramble for a guest host. Guest hosts included Ernie Kovacs, Jerry Lewis, and possibly Gene Rayburn.
 
KyDXIn said:
I think during the time Paar was host of the "Tonight Show" there were times when the show was on, but there was a scramble for a guest host. Guest hosts included Ernie Kovacs, Jerry Lewis, and possibly Gene Rayburn.
Click to expand...
...Kovacs wasn't a guest host during the Paar years; he was a regular host doing split weeks with Steve Allen in 1956 before Allen quit the show, and after that Kovacs went to Hollywood to start his film career and make some series and specials (mainly) for ABC...
 
Ultimajock said:
KyDXIn said:
I think during the time Paar was host of the "Tonight Show" there were times when the show was on, but there was a scramble for a guest host. Guest hosts included Ernie Kovacs, Jerry Lewis, and possibly Gene Rayburn.
Click to expand...
...Kovacs wasn't a guest host during the Paar years; he was a regular host doing split weeks with Steve Allen in 1956 before Allen quit the show, and after that Kovacs went to Hollywood to start his film career and make some series and specials (mainly) for ABC...
Click to expand...
I've read some debate on this board that Kovacs should have been considered as a host of the Tonight show. Do you know how many times he hosted and did he host more than Conan did in his short stint as host?
 
During every Summer Olympics, NBC blows out the entire late night lineup for coverage, including The Tonight Show. During the Winter Olympics in the past, they did a special version called "The Olympics Tonight Show with Jay Leno". It was a full hour, and had a small five minute break for Olympic highlights. Conan and whoever had 1:35 AM was preempted. This is the first Winter Olympics in a while that has had the Tonight Show preempted. If Conan were still host, they might have done an "Olympics Tonight Show". But the events of the past month or so changed things.
 
It was a about a six month interregnum between Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Paar left in the middle of March, 1962. Carson was under contract with ABC until October 1st, 1962 (hosting "Who Do You Trust?") and couldn't start until that day. Probably the most notable fill-in host between Paar and Carson was Groucho Marx.

Ernie Kovacs hosted two nights a week from October 1st, 1956, through January 22nd, 1957. He left the show the same week as Allen because, in truth, "Tonight!" had been cancelled and replaced by the "America After Dark" version of the show. Conan O'Brien's stint as host ended 53 years to the day after Kovacs' stint.

So, with only two episodes a week for a little shy of four months, Kovacs is the the second shortest-lived of all of the official, regular hosts of the Tonight Show. Conan O'Brien is actually the FOURTH shortest. Here are the reigns from shortest to longest:

Al Jazzbo Collins, host for one month and two days (June-July 1957, replaced by Jack Paar)
Ernie Kovacs, host for four months (October 1956-January 1957, replaced by Jack Lescoulie)
Jack Lescoulie, host for five months (January-June 1957, replaced by Collins)
Conan O'Brien, host for seven months (June 2009-January 2010, replaced by Jay Leno 2.0)
Steve Allen, host for three years, four months (Sept. 1954-January 1957, with Kovacs, replaced by Lescoulie)
Jack Paar, host for four years, eight months (July 1957-March 1962, replaced eventually by Carson)
Jay Leno, host for 17 years, four days (May 1992-May 2009, replaced by O'Brien)
Johnny Carson, host for 29 years, eight months (October 1962-May 1992, replaced by Leno)

To be honest, Carson and Leno are the two outliers as far as length of hosting goes. It's only because they were the two most recent, and both hosted for so long, that we tend to think of the host of the Tonight Show as being a career-long job. Before Carson, it wasn't.
 
pabsungenis said:
It was a about a six month interregnum between Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Paar left in the middle of March, 1962. Carson was under contract with ABC until October 1st, 1962 (hosting "Who Do You Trust?") and couldn't start until that day. Probably the most notable fill-in host between Paar and Carson was Groucho Marx.

Ernie Kovacs hosted two nights a week from October 1st, 1956, through January 22nd, 1957. He left the show the same week as Allen because, in truth, "Tonight!" had been cancelled and replaced by the "America After Dark" version of the show. Conan O'Brien's stint as host ended 53 years to the day after Kovacs' stint.

So, with only two episodes a week for a little shy of four months, Kovacs is the the second shortest-lived of all of the official, regular hosts of the Tonight Show. Conan O'Brien is actually the FOURTH shortest. Here are the reigns from shortest to longest:

Al Jazzbo Collins, host for one month and two days (June-July 1957, replaced by Jack Paar)
Ernie Kovacs, host for four months (October 1956-January 1957, replaced by Jack Lescoulie)
Jack Lescoulie, host for five months (January-June 1957, replaced by Collins)
Conan O'Brien, host for seven months (June 2009-January 2010, replaced by Jay Leno 2.0)
Steve Allen, host for three years, four months (Sept. 1954-January 1957, with Kovacs, replaced by Lescoulie)
Jack Paar, host for four years, eight months (July 1957-March 1962, replaced eventually by Carson)
Jay Leno, host for 17 years, four days (May 1992-May 2009, replaced by O'Brien)
Johnny Carson, host for 29 years, eight months (October 1962-May 1992, replaced by Leno)

To be honest, Carson and Leno are the two outliers as far as length of hosting goes. It's only because they were the two most recent, and both hosted for so long, that we tend to think of the host of the Tonight Show as being a career-long job. Before Carson, it wasn't.
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Good post, and nice historical perspective. It is kind of revealing that Leno hosted 17 years, and Carson 29, when most have the perception that Carson was there forever. (He was, but not really that many more than Leno!)

The lack of a Tonight Show during the Olympics is rare, but only occurred due to the timing of recent events. The Olympics actually gave NBC a buffer to try and minimize the damage. I believe this is why they are being low-key with promos for the return of Jay. Yes, we'll see promos, but they will most likely be subtle and may not show up until next week.
 
searadiofreak said:
I believe Tonight promos are set to start up either this weekend or early next week.
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I posted the following on another Leno thread:
Saw the first commercial earlier this evening for the "new" Tonight Show (I'll call it version 2.0) with Jay Leno. Jay is driving a car with the number "10" on the side. It peels off to reveal an "11:35." The music playing is very appropriate: "Get back to where you once belonged!" ;D I just wish we had a version for those of us here on central time with a "10:35" on the side of that car! 8)
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