That was never going to happen. Carson was furious that Letterman, who he handpicked to follow him on The Tonight Show, didn't get the gig.
I'm sorry, but I have to ask how many people really watch the late night talk shows anymore? I honestly no one who watches Leno, Conan, Fallon, Letterman or the like. If anything actually interesting happens or there is a guest they like, they just watch that snippet on youtube, hulu, or something. Personally, I can't stand any of them. They just aren't funny. Only shows that are "similar" I hear people talk about are The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Somebody does or their wouldn't be this much of an uproar about this. I watch Conan 2-3 night per week on average, I would guess. Don't always make it through all the guests, though. As for others, I'll catch bits and pieces here and there between Kimmel and Fallon, but never a whole show.
I'm talking about your initial logic. It is not Conan's lower ratings that made NBC re-evaluate their lineup. It is Leno's low ratings that started this whole mess. Yes, if Conan maintained Leno's ratings they would not have made this decision. But as with any new show, it rarely maintains the previous show's rating in it's first year. It's very unrealistic to expect him to achieve that in it's FIRST SIX MONTHS. One local affiliate lost 50% of it's audience this year. If your lead-in loses 50%, a direct cause of the 'Leno effect', what do you expect? NBC is taking the easy way out. Hopefully Conan leaves NBC. When Leno retires again, they will have no good replacement for him and NBC will have to look in the mirror and realize they killed the Tonight Show.
Leno is corny but the Headlines is funny. Not a fan of Conan or Letterman. I don't know how you guys watch tv after midnight. My body shuts down at that point. I'm assuming you guys have no kids.
Conan moves across the country for a gig that was promised to him in 2004, takes over the network's flagship talk show, humbly watches the network kow-tow to the former host while they pussyfoot around and try an experiment doomed for failure... former host threatens to walk to another network. network gives in. experiment fails. former host wants old timeslot/show back. network gives in. network offers new host a take it or leave it option that benefits old host. am i missing something here?
Leno doesn't benefit at all, how can you guys NOT see this? He had an hour long show in PRIME TIME every single night, now his show is getting trimmed in half! Neither host wins in this. If anything, Leno would be the one to leave NBC. NBC doesn't want that, and it's possible Leno's contract forbids him from leaving the network. Leno's show was a failed experiment but that wasn't because of him, a talk show during prime time does not work, not even if Jesus Christ was hosting it. Bottom line, NBC is struggling for ratings across the network, they don't have time to let Conan gain viewers gradually, especially since they still have what worked for them for many years still on the network(Leno).
Does anyone else feel like we are watching history here? These events will go down as some of the "worst bumblings in management history" - sort of like the idea of "New Coke" at the Coca Cola company? I can see Harvard Business School making a case study of these happenings in 5-10 years for business school students to study in management classes.
NBC repeated history. There was this bad HBO movie called the Late Shift that dramatized the Leno/Letterman feud. Same patterns of mismanagement going on here...
I keep thinking about what the complaints to the FCC would be about a JC hosted, network prime time talk show.
Leno benefits because he gets to keep a show. His show is the one that is utterly failing which is causing all of this to happen, yet he gets to take the prime late-night spot back. Sure, Conan wasn't doing as well as the Tonight Show under Jay, but it's still young and he was recently leading the 18-49 demographic.
So Leno doesn't benefit at all from this?? After pulling a Bret Favre and having NBC cater to his every whim?? Creating new shows for him, and booting other hosts to give him his old show back?? How can YOU NOT see THIS??
How can you not see how he does? I mean, even if you put aside the initial 'unretiring' and NBC's catering to get him back on the air, surely you recognize that, as a result of his primetime show failing, he gets: 1. ANOTHER show 2. His old timeslot BACK 3. To push the late night host who took over for him back (screwing Conan over for the second time). Awful nice reward for failure, don't you think? Not too mention how badly this reflects on NBC in general and specifically in their treatment of Conan. But they will do it anyway. NBC is just hoping and praying that Leno can still pull the big ratings when they shove him back in the late night slot. Who knows if they will be right.
Leno never wanted to leave "The Tonight Show" to begin with. NBC hatched the whole transitional period so Conan wouldn't bolt to Fox back in 2004. I don't fault him nor do i fault Conan. NBC is squarely to blame for this whole mess. If/When Leno goes back to his regular time slot i fully expect to see him dominate the late night ratings. His prime time ratings have been poor for a prime time show however they've been nearly identical if not slightly higher on some nights than what he was pulling on the tonight show. He has a very loyal following who will follow him regardless of the time slot. If Conan has any self respect there is absolutely no way he stays on NBC. It is certainly a slap in the face to move the show back 30 minutes. He's better off bolting to Fox who usually caters more to a Conan audience than NBC anyway.
This. NBC wanted it both ways. They promised Conan the Tonight Show. Conan was going to bolt so they shoved Leno out of the Tonight seat. Afraid Leno would end up at Fox or ABC opposite Conan, NBC hatched a plan to keep Leno by putting him in primetime. When the ratings began tanking for both programs, NBC now wants to go back to the way it was.
if anything, this is driving up the ratings for both personalities... i have been watching conan's show (on hulu) ever since the news i cannot wait until the gloves are off
