Jay and Conan and NBC

[DIEHARD]

Not sure if people have been following, but there is currently a war going on at NBC.

Jay Leno was moved on from the Tonight Show at 11:30pm by Conan O'Brien as part of a transition aimed at avoiding the chaos of Johnny Carson leaving and Leno and not Letterman taking over.

Anyway, Jay ends up doing a prime time show anyway, ahead of the old Tonight Show. The ratings have been bad so NBC wants to move Jay back in time, but Conan has dug his heels in saying any time shift of the Tonight Show would ruin the proud institution.

Now the latest rumour is that NBC have done a deal with Jay, to give him the 11:30pm slot and The Tonight Show back! If this is true, all hell will break lose.

I think NBC are mad, because Conan is a real talent and genuinely funny as hell, I think he is a genius, whereas Jay Leno has always been weak IMO and his funniest stuff was always the newspaper errors or something Kevin Eubanks says.

Rumour is FOX will go for Conan. Whatever happens, Im sure Conan will succeed. The poor guy has moved all the way from NY to LA to host the Tonight Show and has only had 7 months at establishing himself.

I hope Andy Ritcher stays with Conan.

[Steelers]

I'm a Letterman fan

[DIEHARD]

I'm a Letterman fan

Yea I love Letterman too. He has been saying some pretty funny stuff about this saga and it must be very ironic to him. He'd have to feel for Conan, Leno shafted him and now Leno is shafting Coco.

[ShockMaster]

Letterman for me to

[~lee~]

I used to watch jay leno all the time but they stopped showing it. I prefer him to conan, but to be honest along with letterman they're all pretty much the same and enjoyable to watch all 3.

You have to feel for conan in the current situation, he's certainly getting shafted.


On a side note, do you get to see the BBC's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross in Australia?

[Boofhead]

I'm a massive Conan fan - would be a crazy move if they go ahead with this, can definately see ratings sliding even further.

[Nathalie]

I'm a massive Conan fan - would be a crazy move if they go ahead with this, can definately see ratings sliding even further.

Ditto. Right on the money Boof

[Boofhead]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10435805-71.html

[DIEHARD]

Jimmy Kimmel owns Leno on his own show!

http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=t...9-a0ac54be3f31

[DIEHARD]

Leno gets support from staff; O'Brien ratings soar

Longtime members of Jay Leno's TV staff spoke up for their boss, saying he's being wrongly cast as the bad guy in NBC's late-night upheaval.
"Any idea that Jay has forced the issue to get back on `The Tonight Show' is not true," said producer Jack Coen, who has worked with Leno for 14 years. "The network asked him to make a compromise. He's being a good soldier, and he's being trashed."

Leno, typically cast as an easygoing everyman, has faced online chatter and some reports suggesting he's wresting "Tonight" from Conan O'Brien. Tracie Fiss, a co-producer who has worked with Leno for 18 years, said her reaction to such characterizations is "frustration."

"Jay doesn't have the power to make these decisions. The decisions are made by NBC," she said.

Settlement talks continued Sunday on a deal that would let O'Brien leave NBC and "Tonight," and put Leno back into the 11:35 p.m. EST time slot he occupied for 17 years through last spring. NBC is dropping "The Jay Leno Show," his disappointing prime-time show that debuted last fall at 10 p.m.

A proposed deal would give O'Brien more than $30 million for leaving and allow him to go to another network as early as this fall, according to people familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the negotiations.

After O'Brien rejected NBC's initial plan to move him and "Tonight" to midnight EST and give Leno a half-hour show at 11:30 p.m. EST, the flap became monologue fodder for them and for other late-night hosts. The exchanges, which grew increasingly pointed and with Leno often the target, have been widely reported.

Appearing by satellite last week for Leno's "Ten at Ten" question-and-answer segment, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel was asked to relate his best prank ever. Kimmel replied that he told a guy five years ago that he'd give him his show, and "then I took it back."

It was a thinly veiled reference to Leno's agreement in 2004 to surrender "The Tonight Show" to O'Brien last year.

Coen, who worked on "Tonight" with Leno and is a producer on Leno's prime-time show in charge of writing, said such barbed humor isn't unusual among comedians but contends it's being misinterpreted in news reports.

"It's interesting to be on this side of the story and see how it's being reported. They act as if he's the corporate lapdog but also the master marionette forcing these issues," Coen said.

If Leno emerges with "Tonight" but with his image scarred, it could have ramifications for him and his show.

Meanwhile, O'Brien's battle with his network certainly hasn't hurt his ratings. With his jabs at NBC network executives apparently resonating in a country filled with unemployed, viewership has soared.

"Tonight" ratings Friday were 50 percent higher than they've been this season, and O'Brien beat CBS' Letterman, according to a preliminary Nielsen Co. estimate based on large markets. In the 18-to-49-year-old demographic on which NBC relies to set advertising prices, O'Brien even beat Leno's prime-time show.

O'Brien's team sees the ratings as vindication. His manager, Gavin Polone, on Saturday compared it to when Leno, trailing Letterman in the ratings in the mid-1990s, drew attention for the memorable appearance of Hugh Grant after his arrest. Leno passed Letterman in popularity and never looked back.

"People who never watched Conan before are saying, `I'll try it,'" Polone said. "Now they're saying, `This is good, I'll stick with it.'"

It's doubtful they'll get the chance. O'Brien sounded halfway out the door on Friday's show, an exit prompted by his refusal to move his show to 12:05 a.m. at NBC's request. "By the time you see this, I'll be halfway to Rio in an NBC traffic helicopter," he said in his monologue.

Source: AP

[~lee~]

Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien gets $45m pay-off

NBC has reached a $45m (?28m) agreement with Conan O'Brien over his late-night US talk show, paving the way for his predecessor Jay Leno to return.

O'Brien, 46, will be paid in excess of $33m (?20m) to end his seven-month reign as host of The Tonight Show, with the remainder going to his staff.

The deal allows Leno, 59, to return to the show, a programme he hosted for 17 years before leaving last May.

O'Brien, who took over in June, will host his final programme on Friday.

Actor Tom Hanks is scheduled to appear, as is comedian Will Ferrell - O'Brien's first guest as Tonight Show host when he began his stint last year.

Leno will return to The Tonight Show on 1 March, NBC announced on Thursday.

The deal brings to a close an ignominious battle that has seen both hosts discuss the dispute on NBC's own airwaves.

It will also allow Leno to bounce back following the failure of his 2200 prime-time show, launched in September, to pull in audiences.

O'Brien, who used to host a show in a later slot before filling Leno's shoes, will be allowed to return to TV in eight months.

"He just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible," his manager Gavin Polone told the Wall Street Journal.

It is unclear, though, whether any of NBC's rivals will be prepared to sign him up following The Tonight Show's ratings slump during his tenure.

The dispute has provided plenty of comic material for O'Brien's late-night competitors, among them veteran broadcaster David Letterman.

The 62-year-old, who hosts The Late Show on CBS, had been expected to take over The Tonight Show from the late Johnny Carson prior to Leno's appointment.

bbc.co.uk

[DIEHARD]

Well Im glad Conan and his staff got a massive pay out that they deserved.

But this is crap. It was ridiculous the ****storm over the Leno v Letterman thing over the Tonight Show in the early 90s now this is even worse. I barely watched the Tonight Show with Leno because he has a rubbish sense of humour. I won't be watching him again.

His jokes have no edge and are usually easy fodder and they usually never hit their mark and he has to mumble and adjust his tie while explaining the joke and why it's funny while we hear the forced laughter of Kevin Eubanks.

Hopefully Conan will go on to bigger and better things and this ruccas will give Conan the profile he deserves.

Also well done for looking after your staff.

I guess he will probably move back to NY now. It was fun while it lasted I really enjoyed The Tonight Show with Conan.

[DIEHARD]

Some NBC-owned concepts we're likely never to see again, shoved asisde to make room for Headlines and Jaywalking:

Gustavo, The Smug European
The Fun Hole Guy
Cloppy The Depressed and Suicidal Horse
Andy's Sister
Triumph The Insult Comic Dog
The Masturbating Bear
PimpBot 5000
In The Year 2000
Preparation H Raymond
The Horny Manatee
No Reason To Live Guy
FedEx Pope
Vomiting Kermit
Twitter Tracker
Quackers
The Walker Texas Ranger Lever
Slip Nuts
Joe's
If They Mated
The Interrupter
Coked Up Werewolf
Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland
Hanging Out With Jordan Schlansky
Jerry Butters
Coanado
New Coins and Stamps
The World's Fattest Menorah
The Evil Puppy
Late Night Sausage Party
Polly The NBC Pea****

http://www.aintitcool.com

[DIEHARD]

Check out some of the youtube vids down the bottom.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43712

[Nathalie]

No!!! Not the Horny Manatee!!