Bill Carter's book on the Leno/Conan mess

Whenever I drive around the Slauson cutoff, I always laugh a little, but it's always tinged with a bit of sadness, wishing I were still that kid who was staying up way late past his bedtime without his mom knowing, laughing at a joke I wouldn't completely get till many years later.

 

The one thing Carson did was promote comedy as a craft. He loved to laugh and loved nothing better than giving a comedian who made him laugh the huge career break that was an appearance on his show. Letterman and Leno aren't very good at that. Stewart, through the ensemble device of the Daily Show, is good at it.
Comedians loved Carson for the same reason other pro golfers loved Arnold Palmer. He was good for all of them.

 

Going to pick up the book this week, but two good points come to mind here...

The 10:00 shows right now, I blame NBC. The Jay Leno Show did so much damage to that slot that it's going to take a long time to get good numbers back at 10. It can be done at the other networks (witness Good Wife, Mentalist, Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five O, for example at CBS, and then Castle and Private Practice over at ABC), so if NBC could be patient or develop something special then we might see improved numbers at 10.

It was too bad Fox's affiliates essentially shot Conan down. They were programming their own lucrative shows in syndication (reruns of The Office, Two and a Half Men, etc.) and didn't want to give up the slots. Plus some people remember what happened with Chevy Chase. I think Conan would have done much better.

 

Prefer this work of Bill Carter's:

 

About 300 pages into The War For Late Night. Pick it up...

Lots of blame all around. Here is what is striking now -- Conan was at his apex in 2004, when NBC gave him the Tonight Show in 2009. But his popularity waned...and the "world changed".

By 2009, Conan wasn't competing with Letterman as much as he was competing with Stewart/Colbert and YouTube for the 18-49 viewer.

Conan turned out to be a "niche" guy once in the Tonight Show chair. Too quirky, too resistant to the "suggestions" from NBC. Also, the contract issue that O'Brien's team had - with NO time guarantee (if O'Brien is moved from 11:35 then...) was idiotic. Legally, they had no protection.

The sandwich analogy:
Who in your city makes the best sandwich? Conan is Rizzati's Sandwich House -- it wins all the awards but is rarely packed. Leno is Subway - bland but the masses go to it.

Never confuse critical acclaim with the box office. That's why Conan got taken out of the Tonight Show.

 

In The Late Shift, I always thought that Jay came across as somewhat sympathetic. He may have dumbed down his comedy (an unforgivable sin to me) but Dave basically thought that he he was entitled to The Tonight Show because everyone had been telling him that for a long time. Jay outworked and outhustled Dave and he shouldn't be faulted for that. Both sleep on piles of $100 bills as a result of that war.

But with Conan, a deal is a deal. I don't care what the contracts said -- if Jay agreed to step aside, he should have stepped aside. If he had regrets, he should have gone to another network or done periodic specials on NBC. By staying at 10, he sabotaged everything.

The real fault is with NBC. They named a coach in waiting and that never works.

 

A book on NBC's mistakes from 2000-2010 would be about 20,000 pages long.

 

1. People watch shows they like. They don't care about the network or time slot. If NBC gets another "ER" at 10, they'll get ratings. Viewers don't think, "Ooh, I'm avoiding 10 o'clock on NBC."

2. FOX affiliates get 100% of the revenue they make with reruns at 11 o'clock. If they could make more money with "American Sportsman" reruns at 11, people would be falling asleep to geese falling from the sky.

 

This. Was. Brilliant. I agree word for word.

Dreamers like Conan are admirable; people who believe in an institution and what it represents. The fact he turned down all that money to chase a lifelong dream isn't stupid in my eyes. It's respectable and it makes me root for him even more, because it's institutions like SI that made me want to write in the first place. I completely understand where he was coming from.

All you need to know about Conan is the final farewell speech he gave on his finale months ago. Really tugged at the heart. Perfect example of a guy who's in it for all the right reasons.

 

I got the audiobook from a friend yesterday. I'm an hour in. Great stuff.

 

I'm on Chapter 5 now after my first night in, which is as fast as I've gotten through a book in a very long time. I suspect I can finish tonight if I marathon read it after dinner.

I also have trouble keeping the agents and producers straight, but I was prepared for that after "The Late Shift." These are the people who usually make things happen, moreso than the "talent," and the way Carter emphasizes their role in the contract chess games and moves in the press and board rooms are part of what makes his stuff interesting to read.

 

Ordered the book today. Can't wait to read it.