NBC said to be building new Tonight Show studio at 30 Rock

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Some Fox stations (like WFXT-25 in my hometown of Boston) have expanded their 10 P.M. (Eastern) late evening local newscasts to 90 minutes, so it now runs from 10 to 11:30.

So if Jay Leno were to go to Fox for an 11 P.M. (ET/PT) talk show (or Fox launching any other network show running at 11 P.M. Monday-through-Friday), they would have to convince at least a few stations to give up a half-hour of late local news at 11.

If Leno goes to Fox, what are the chances of having "The Chevy Chase Show with Jay Leno" on the network's hands? (Nearly 20 years after Chevy's ill-fated show).

 

[1069_KIFR]

The question Jay has to ask himself is he willing to work for less money. Because if he goes someplace else, especially Fox, that's what they'll want. The dollars just don't work, especially on Fox, for a show with his kind of budget and staff. Even at NBC, he's seen his staff cut. It would be smaller anyplace else.

At least he'd be working

 

[1069_KIFR]

Conan went to TBS
Leno should go to TNT!

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

And now this....Late Night with Seth Meyers?

http://tvline.com/2013/03/22/late-night-with-seth-meyers-replace-jimmy-fallon/

Sounds like a winner to me. Meyers & Fallon each deliver with similar comic styles, something I would call cynicism with a smile. Meyers could conceivably keep that ball rolling in the later time slot. Fallon on the other hand is a little more charming; he smiles more easily than Meyers, qualifying him as the better choice of the two to fill Leno's spot, assuming Leno really is on the outs. NBC may have already pulled the trigger, but I'm still not smellin' any smoke.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

If Leno goes to Fox, what are the chances of having "The Chevy Chase Show with Jay Leno" on the network's hands? (Nearly 20 years after Chevy's ill-fated show).

My view on the Chevy Chase flop is that Chevy, for all of his camera appeal, always performed best in a "troupe" setting, both on SNL and in his movies. Viewers were spoiled; they got too used to his SNL comedy, which heavily relied on playing off fellow comics. Hosting his own TV show required him to play a more mature "straight man", a role viewers just didn't buy from such a physical, bumbling comic. Leno of course offers plenty of straight man credentials, thanks to his Tonight Show exposure.

 

[landtuna]

The truth is that the shows are popular with younger audiences.

Really? Define 'young'. I don't know of anyone who regularly watches any of the late night shows (excluding SNL by the pimple crowd).

 

[TheBigA]

Really? Define 'young'. I don't know of anyone who regularly watches any of the late night shows (excluding SNL by the pimple crowd).

How many people do you know? The ratings do breakouts for age groups, and a lot of people in their twenties watch late night shows. Thus the desire to get rid of the hosts in their 60s. They can see very clearly that Fallon and Kimmel are delivering younger demos.

 

[landtuna]

How many people do you know? The ratings do breakouts for age groups, and a lot of people in their twenties watch late night shows.

Going back to my working days literally hundreds. Occasionally I would have the TV on Leno for the monologue and bring some tidbits to work the next morning. Very, very seldom did anyone around me ever admit to watching his show or any of the others (once again, SNL seemed to be the only one anyone watched).

Thus the desire to get rid of the hosts in their 60s. They can see very clearly that Fallon and Kimmel are delivering younger demos.

I have always heard that The Tonight Show is a major revenue generator for NBC but I don't know how that can be because it never delivers more than 3M in total numbers and a good part of those are outside the desired demo. Additionally, when Leno came aboard he was described as "edgy" which is a term that appeals to the more youthful audience (and judging by the audience they are....until you remember that the show is filmed mid-afternoon in a tourist-junket segment of El A so is not totally representative of the TV viewing audience). Jay hasn't changed his schtick over the years so the appeal should be identical now. His show is obviously the numbers winner, and always has been, so this whole change thingy makes no sense to me. Audiences didn't slam Johnny for being "old" and he could have stayed on TV for many more years had that been his desire (and health).

I will admit to not knowing a lot about either Jimmy but from the little I've seen I would not pick either as they are too "Jerry Lewis like" - that is, just silly. Ferguson would be my choice as I think his appeal is far wider and much more interesting than the other two.

In any case, I don't see NBC being able to survive financially on the revenues of TTS for any length of time. Unless they shore up their prime time offerings and do it quickly they will fall into the category of a second rate cable station and it won't matter who the Tonight Show host is.

 

[TheBigA]

Going back to my working days literally hundreds.

That doesn't come close to reaching a minimum for statistical accuracy. You know hundreds out of a population of 320 million. I'm sure I can find a few hundred young people to disprove your theory.

The people making these decisions have access to better information than you. They don't just observe their family and friends. They subscribe to surveys that cover the entire national population. Anecdotal evidence is the same as heresay.

 

[landtuna]

That doesn't come close to reaching a minimum for statistical accuracy. You know hundreds out of a population of 320 million. I'm sure I can find a few hundred young people to disprove your theory.

The people making these decisions have access to better information than you. They don't just observe their family and friends. They subscribe to surveys that cover the entire national population. Anecdotal evidence is the same as heresay.

I never claimed to be statistically accurate. I claimed simply that no one I know watches one of the late shows. I've got five "kids" (38-22) and none of them have ever watched Leno or Letterman nor do any of them watch SNL. When their friends were over they watched movies, not live TV. I had a room mate in the 60's who was a devoted Carson fan but he retired when Johnny did.

I was never a big Carson watcher as I had to get up early for my job and staying up late wasn't a good option. I did watch some of his stuff at the time though - both early in the 90-minute show and later in the hour show. Johnny's show was leagues better than anything Leno (or Letterman) have put together. Leno is nothing but a shill for a bunch of guests' current projects and his musical and comedic guests are straight from the wrong-side-of-the-tracks comedy clubs. His monologues can be funny but, like Bob Hope, are usually too topical for real gut-busters. It's Bush, Obama and Lindsay Lohan night after night. Leno's digs at NBC's current troubles are mean-spirited and not so funny. Johnny used to poke fun at the "NBC censor" and those were genuinely funny spots. I have never tolerated comics that had to yell at the audience to try to be funny. Leno should stick to his car collection. That is where his real talents are. Letterman was never funny and has the stage presence of a goldfish.

 

[FredLeonard]

Conan went to TBS
Leno should go to TNT!

I have my own ideas about where Leno should go.

He's backhanded office politician and he stole the Tonight Show from Dave, Johnny's rightful heir. A lot of people thought so, including Johnny.

 

[fybush]

With the Tonight Show likely moving to New York City, it's going to be the end of era at NBC in Burbank. With KNBC (and I believe its Telemundo sister KVEA as well) and Access Hollywood set to move the over the hill to Universal Studios by next year, Tonight is the last show being regularly produced at 3000 West Alameda.

Isn't "Days" still there on stages 2 and 4?

 

[landtuna]

Still no response as to why The Tonight Show is the "financial crown jewel" of NBC. ???

 

[KentBrockman]

With the Tonight Show likely moving to New York City, it's going to be the end of era at NBC in Burbank. With KNBC (and I believe its Telemundo sister KVEA as well) and Access Hollywood set to move the over the hill to Universal Studios by next year, Tonight is the last show being regularly produced at 3000 West Alameda.

Isn't "Days" still there on stages 2 and 4?

"Days" sure is. I have a gut feeling Comcast will pull the plug on it instead of moving the show over to Universal. Pretty much any afternoon talk show is cheaper to produce than "Days" and will have a higher profit margin.... even if the ratings are lower.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Still no response as to why The Tonight Show is the "financial crown jewel" of NBC. ???

Probably because it's always been a cash cow for the network, while the prime time lineup has gone through peaks and valleys and is currently deep in the latter. Carson obviously had no competition, so he was able to make NBC bow to his demands because of that revenue, and Fortune Magazine reported that Jay Leno "has generated close to $1 billion in profits for NBC" since he took over in '92.

 

[ShawnHill1]

With the Tonight Show likely moving to New York City, it's going to be the end of era at NBC in Burbank. With KNBC (and I believe its Telemundo sister KVEA as well) and Access Hollywood set to move the over the hill to Universal Studios by next year, Tonight is the last show being regularly produced at 3000 West Alameda.

Isn't "Days" still there on stages 2 and 4?

"Days" sure is. I have a gut feeling Comcast will pull the plug on it instead of moving the show over to Universal. Pretty much any afternoon talk show is cheaper to produce than "Days" and will have a higher profit margin.... even if the ratings are lower.

I totally forgot about Days...I knew there had to be one another production still there. ;D Sony owns the show, with NBC retaining a piece; if Sony wants to continue production on Days on a network other than NBC, they could move the show to its facility in Culver City.

 

[nathannah]

"Days" sure is. I have a gut feeling Comcast will pull the plug on it instead of moving the show over to Universal. Pretty much any afternoon talk show is cheaper to produce than "Days" and will have a higher profit margin.... even if the ratings are lower.

I totally forgot about Days...I knew there had to be one another production still there. ;D Sony owns the show, with NBC retaining a piece; if Sony wants to continue production on Days on a network other than NBC, they could move the show to its facility in Culver City.

Or a different option; depending on how The Online Network does with OLTL and AMC when they go in April via their site and Hulu, Sony's Crackle would definitely be an option once September 2014 comes along (when the current deal expires with NBC). There's no other natural place to take it for Sony in-house unless they want to deal with another network (GSN or FearNet will not happen), and who knows how long Disney's zombie feed of SoapNet will last?

 

[landtuna]

Still no response as to why The Tonight Show is the "financial crown jewel" of NBC. ???

Probably because it's always been a cash cow for the network, while the prime time lineup has gone through peaks and valleys and is currently deep in the latter. Carson obviously had no competition, so he was able to make NBC bow to his demands because of that revenue, and Fortune Magazine reported that Jay Leno "has generated close to $1 billion in profits for NBC" since he took over in '92.

I know the history of TTS but was asking more for current info since it doesn't seem to be bringing in the same numbers as in days of old and NBC is in far more financial trouble now with the rest of their schedule.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Still no response as to why The Tonight Show is the "financial crown jewel" of NBC. ???

Probably because it's always been a cash cow for the network, while the prime time lineup has gone through peaks and valleys and is currently deep in the latter. Carson obviously had no competition, so he was able to make NBC bow to his demands because of that revenue, and Fortune Magazine reported that Jay Leno "has generated close to $1 billion in profits for NBC" since he took over in '92.

I know the history of TTS but was asking more for current info since it doesn't seem to be bringing in the same numbers as in days of old and NBC is in far more financial trouble now with the rest of their schedule.

It's still enough of a money machine that they were able to yank cash ($20 million worth) out of the show's budget (and get Leno to take a pay cut in the process) in order to prop up some other hemorrhaging part of the network.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Lorne Michaels produces Saturday Night Live
produces Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Will he produce The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon? AND Late Night With (Its been rumored) Seth Myers?

In essence Lorne Michaels will be producing virtually all of NBC's Late Night Programming??
Holy Moley!!