NBC Shakeup - Conan "Out" - Jay Back In

[searadiofreak]

Is Leno signed for Tonight? Or is it just an "agreement" at this point?

This is "outta the box", and not sure contractually how it could work, but what if, and A BIG IF, NBC lured Letterman to the Tonight Show? It would come full circle, Letterman would get what he always wanted, it would leave CBS without a host, and the underdogs in the story could fight it out. Not sure if Letterman would even consider it due to NBC's mismanagement of late night. However, if Comcast was involved in the negotiations, then what if?

 

[1069_KIFR]

NBC loves Leno. Absolutley LOVES him.

Dave has signed an extension with CBS.

If that were to happen, then wouldn't CBS persue Jay?

No matter who owns NBC, I am sure Dave would never even think about going back to NBC, same weasels new owner.

 

[LKellerIII]

NBC loves Leno. Absolutley LOVES him.

Dave has signed an extension with CBS.

If that were to happen, then wouldn't CBS persue Jay?

No matter who owns NBC, I am sure Dave would never even think about going back to NBC, same weasels new owner.

Truly. Dave wanted The Tonight Show back in the early 90s because: (1) he followed Carson at 12:30 on NBC, (2) Carson had respect for Dave and probably would have preferred Dave as his replacement, and (3) The Tonight Show was the late night crown jewel of television and had always been #1. At the time, CBS had logged two failures with Merv Griffin and Pat Sajak, and ABC hadn't done much better with late night talk, unless you want to give them brownie points for the critically acclaimed (but long dead) Dick Cavett Show.

Tonight is no longer the crown-jewel, and Dave has the number 1 late night show...why would he want to go back to NBC?

 

[LKellerIII]

NBC loves Leno. Absolutley LOVES him.

Dave has signed an extension with CBS.

If that were to happen, then wouldn't CBS persue Jay?

No matter who owns NBC, I am sure Dave would never even think about going back to NBC, same weasels new owner.

Truly. Dave wanted The Tonight Show back in the early 90s because: (1) he followed Carson at 12:30 on NBC, (2) Carson had respect for Dave and probably would have preferred Dave as his replacement, and (3) The Tonight Show was the late night crown jewel of television and had always been #1. At the time, CBS had logged two failures with Merv Griffin and Pat Sajak, and ABC hadn't done much better with late night talk, unless you want to give them brownie points for the critically acclaimed (but long dead) Dick Cavett Show.

Tonight is no longer the crown-jewel, and Dave has the number 1 late night show...why would he want to go back to NBC?

 

[stdjsb25]

This is "outta the box", and not sure contractually how it could work, but what if, and A BIG IF, NBC lured Letterman to the Tonight Show? It would come full circle, Letterman would get what he always wanted, it would leave CBS without a host, and the underdogs in the story could fight it out. Not sure if Letterman would even consider it due to NBC's mismanagement of late night. However, if Comcast was involved in the negotiations, then what if?

There's a bigger chance of a certain place freezing over than Letterman heading back to NBC at this point in time......NBC had its chance in 1992...it chose Leno, and if you ever read "The Late Shift", NBC came close to taking it away from Leno and giving it to Letterman, but it was the divine guidance of Johnny Carson himself that got Letterman to take the CBS deal.

 

[firepoint525]

Letterman is nearly 63 years old now, and probably not too far from retirement. I don't think that a competing network would roll the dice on someone that old. They would want someone younger, with more years still ahead of him.

But despite his age, Dave's mom is still funnier than he is!

 

[TheRover]

Letterman is nearly 63 years old now, and probably not too far from retirement. I don't think that a competing network would roll the dice on someone that old. They would want someone younger, with more years still ahead of him.

But despite his age, Dave's mom is still funnier than he is!

Referencing a Letterman move to NBC . . .
I'm hearing a quote from Danny Glover ala Lethal Weapon:

"I'm too old for this s***!"

 

[Poledo]

Letterman is nearly 63 years old now, and probably not too far from retirement. I don't think that a competing network would roll the dice on someone that old. They would want someone younger, with more years still ahead of him.

Good point. Think Dave might want to hire Conan to take over The Late Show?

 

[TheRover]

Good point. Think Dave might want to hire Conan to take over The Late Show?

What about Conan staying put, and trying Leno out at 11:35pm ? ?

Was this offered or considered ? ?

Or was it Leno at 10:35, PERIOD ?

Jeff Zucker on Charlie Rose Jan. 18th

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10824

 

[ding12]

It's like "A Different World," after "Cosby" left the air and the show bombed completely. There is not better example of a time slot hit.
and get away with that excuse.

To be a little fair to "A Different World", I could have sweared NBC tried to squash it by not running it and then burying it to Saturday on the summers.

After Cosby left, this is the 1993 season, Cheers was still there, so NBC aired a rerun of "Cheers" at 8, tried A Different World at 8:30 for about 2 weeks then aired nothing else at 8:30, new episode of "Cheers" at 9, and I think "Seinfeld" which was new, moved from Tuesday to Thursday.

"A Different World" was moved to Saturday as it didn't fit anymore, and NBC didn't want to build an 8pm hour at the time.
Lucky for them, "Friends" debuted the next season.

Nonetheless, "A Different World" was the only African American oriented show left at NBC and didn't have that big a base like "Cosby". It still was a decent show, but it was nearing its end of its run. It did fairly well in syndication, even on stations where "Cosby" didn't air.
In NY, WWOR had "Cosby" rights, and WPIX had "A Different World".

I think a better "time slot hit" example would be Christina Applegate's "Jesse". It did strong in ratings only being right after "Friends" but wasn't a well received show on its own merit.

 

[momnpop]

... or "Veronica's Closet," which was a big dud (in my opinion) but stayed on for several years due to its nice timeslot on Thursdays. Or "Caroline in the City". I never thought those shows came anywhere close to the glorious "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Cheers", or "Cosby Show" they were following.

NBC has now topped the dreadful Silverman era with its ridiculous programming decisions. No "Supertrain" or "Manimal", but lame shows all the way around (except maybe "Community", which seems OK, and the L&O franchise).

On our local morning news on the NBC affiliate, there are plugs for the primetime schedule every morning ... and most of the week, it's 2 hours of some game show like "Deal or No Deal" followed by Jay Leno. That is NOT a prime time schedule worth investing in.

So if they love Jay Leno so much to give Conan O'Brien the boot - and, granted, he seemed more comfortable with the late night New York show than he does with the earlier Los Angeles position he inherited - then why are they allowing both men to remain on the air in their current time slots taking shots at their bosses?!?!

Now if NBC would take on "As The World Turns" when it leaves CBS, I might be happy! After all, "Our Private World" was a spin-off of ATWT during prime time ... and CBS had a lot of success with ATWT over its 54 years. They even tape at JC Studios - an NBC studio in Brooklyn where "Cosby" started out!

 

[imhomerjay]

CBS had great success with ATWT, but those days are long gone. No reason anyone would pick it up at this point--it's unfortunate for fans, but it earned its cancellation.

(Deal hasn't aired on NBC all season, so there probably wasn't a promotion for that show followed by Jay. )

 

[momnpop]

Well, you know what I mean. NBC's lineup has basically sucked so bad for so long, I didn't know what they were airing!

As far as ATWT's earned cancellation ... agreed. But still, a piece of history leaving the airwaves ... the very definition of 'soap opera' and the last remaining P&G show ... not to mention the next-to-last New York show, where they all began.

 

[DToTheJ]

I think a better "time slot hit" example would be Christina Applegate's "Jesse". It did strong in ratings only being right after "Friends" but wasn't a well received show on its own merit...

... or "Veronica's Closet," which was a big dud (in my opinion) but stayed on for several years due to its nice timeslot on Thursdays. Or "Caroline in the City". I never thought those shows came anywhere close to the glorious "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Cheers", or "Cosby Show" they were following...

And let's not forget "The Single Guy," starring one Jonathan Silverman (any relation to Fred Silverman?)

Maybe it would be the perfect time for NBC to bring back "Gimme A Break!"

 

[TheRover]

Jay Leno back on The Tonight Show March 1st !

It's official! Conan O'Brien is out and Jay Leno is in!

Hollyscoop got a hold of a the press release NBC Universal Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin is planning on sending out later today. Here's what it had to say:

"NBC confirmed today that popular late-night host Jay Leno will return to host “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. (ET) beginning March 1, 2010 and that “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” will continue to be broadcast from 12:35-1:35 a.m. (ET).

“We’re pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years,” said Gaspin. “He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.”

As Hollyscoop reported earlier this morning, Conan and NBC reached a $45 million dollar settlement.

Conan's The Tonight Show staff will get $7.5 million and his executive producer will get $4.5 million.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

NBC has now topped the dreadful Silverman era with its ridiculous programming decisions. No "Supertrain" or "Manimal", but lame shows all the way around (except maybe "Community", which seems OK, and the L&O franchise).

Now if NBC would take on "As The World Turns" when it leaves CBS, I might be happy! After all, "Our Private World" was a spin-off of ATWT during prime time ... and CBS had a lot of success with ATWT over its 54 years. They even tape at JC Studios - an NBC studio in Brooklyn where "Cosby" started out!

During the Fred Silverman era, NBC actually DID toy around with the idea of reviving the then-cancelled CBS soaps "Love of Life", and "The Secret Storm". It never did happen, but the very idea that NBC would have thought it over was just a testament to how desperate they were back in that era.

Given how badly messed up NBC is these days....I suppose it would be a "feel-good" move if the network picked up "As the World Turns", and paired it up with "Days of Our Lives"....but....let's face it......it probably wouldn't work.

Besides....Procter and Gamble is just as happy to fianlly be getting out of the business of owning and producing soap operas. Last year's efforts by P&G to find a new home for "The Guiding Light" amounted to little more than lip service.

 

[Ultimajock]

And this, from the man [Fred Silverman] who brought us "Hello, Larry", "BJ and the Bear", and "Supertrain".

...to be fair to all parties involved, Hello, Larry had been in the pipeline at Tandem Productions for a couple of years before Silverman plugged it in at NBC...

 

[imhomerjay]

During the Fred Silverman era, NBC actually DID toy around with the idea of reviving the then-cancelled CBS soaps "Love of Life", and "The Secret Storm". It never did happen, but the very idea that NBC would have thought it over was just a testament to how desperate they were back in that era.

Given how badly messed up NBC is these days....I suppose it would be a "feel-good" move if the network picked up "As the World Turns", and paired it up with "Days of Our Lives"....but....let's face it......it probably wouldn't work.

Besides....Procter and Gamble is just as happy to fianlly be getting out of the business of owning and producing soap operas. Last year's efforts by P&G to find a new home for "The Guiding Light" amounted to little more than lip service.

That was a proverbial lifetime ago, in a very different landscape. Although the Leno-at-10 effort didn't work for the affiliates--who leveraged the power they had to make a change--the Today Show expansion has proved to be a workable solution at the other end of the clock. No one expected hours three and four to generate the same ratings as hours one and two, but as opposed to expensive soaps or trying to build a new talk/game brand from scratch, their approach has worked well enough there. The only way to run any new soap is to (a) kill off an hour of Today, which--message board opinions aside--isn't going to happen in the near future, or (b) get an hour back from the affiliates, which is slightly less likely than Conan having Jay appear on his last show to hand the show back over.

 

[kenrayc]

I think a better "time slot hit" example would be Christina Applegate's "Jesse". It did strong in ratings only being right after "Friends" but wasn't a well received show on its own merit...

... or "Veronica's Closet," which was a big dud (in my opinion) but stayed on for several years due to its nice timeslot on Thursdays. Or "Caroline in the City". I never thought those shows came anywhere close to the glorious "Friends", "Seinfeld", "Cheers", or "Cosby Show" they were following...

And let's not forget "The Single Guy," starring one Jonathan Silverman (any relation to Fred Silverman?)

Maybe it would be the perfect time for NBC to bring back "Gimme A Break!"

Also don't forget about "Stark Raving Mad" Tony Shalboub's sitcom that aired after "Will and Grace "for about a season around 2000.
"Frasier", "Wings", "Night Court", and "Mad About You" had long runs in the late 80s and 90s.Two other short lived sitcom was "Men Behaving Badly" starring Rob Schneider, I think it was on Tuesdays after Frasier, and Boston Common that aired after Mad About You on Sunday.

 

[TheRover]

I don't know the exact date that NBC fully realized that they had made a grave mistake in pulling Leno from the Tonight Show and putting Conan in.

But regardless of the "offers" to move Conan to a 12:05am start time, I think that it was NBC's true intention to eventually expand Leno at 11:35 to one hour, in effect giving The Tonight Show back to Leno, if not in name.

The reason I felt that this was the underlying case, is that why was not an option to move Leno for a half hour to 12:35am ? ? ? ? Leaving Conan where he was at 11:35pm ? ? ? ?

After all the studio's stated reason for moving Leno was the affiliates displeasure of what preceded the evening News.....

So if the studio really had a desire to keep both Leno and Conan, then that option to move Leno after Conan would surely have been tendered.

But, in reality, I believe the studio wanted Conan gone and Leno in at 11:35pm.

NBC is cutting it's losses. And the results of what you see is how they did it, imo.

---------------------------------------------

Ken Burns Presents The Late Night War

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKZ1lMtd2NE