1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Jay Leno's last "Tonight" is tonight

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by finishthehat, May 29, 2009.

  1. MacDaddy

    MacDaddy Active Member

    He'll probably draw bigger numbers at 10 -- the pie is much larger than at 11:35. And, as an NBC exec pointed out, it costs the same to make one "CSI" as it does a whole week of the new Leno show. So even if they don't draw big numbers it'll be profitable.
     
  2. SoCalDude

    SoCalDude Active Member

    I always preferred Leno to Letterman. Letterman always seems too arrogant. Leno is more down home. (And maybe it's a West Coast vs. East Coast thing for me).
    Conan, I never liked at all. I just don't think it's funny his "gaa ... gaa ... gaa" and other mouth noises he makes. And it's irritating that his shtick always includes the contrived hitting on the hot guest when you know he is married and the guest is only pretending to be interested.
    I do like Craig Ferguson, who is really sharp. I don't like his interviewing all that much because he gets silly with the celebs, but you can tell how capable he actually is when he has a non-celeb guest, like the recent appearance of Madeleine Albright.
     
  3. exmediahack

    exmediahack Well-Known Member

    The whole genre faded out just after Carson retired in 1992. At that time, you had Carson (with those old demos), Arsenio (with ultra-young demos).

    Then, in swooped Letterman in 1993 to CBS, bringing the now 30-40 year old men who watched "Late Night" at 12:30 on NBC. He made a solid transition for that first year with some memorable moments but then fizzled. I always got the sense on Letterman that he was a tortured soul, a perfectionist of the highest order at NBC and his first couple of years at CBS. Then, I think sometime around '97 or '98, he just started doing it for the money. (Can't say I blame him).

    Letterman has been on cruise control for about ten years, with a few memorable moments, (his heart surgery, 9/11, becoming a father) but, then, you can't expect him to have the same interests or the same comic passion from when he was 36 on Late Night in 1982...Not at 63 years old.

    Leno is a different cat. Not arrogant at all -- always willing to do the affiliate stops and help out. Great attitude (which my fellow news anchors would often take a cue!). But he often goes for the cheap joke when interviewing guests and didn't really seem to listen to them. He was a paradox, in that his humor was usually not that edgy but he kept on with the O.J. jokes in 1994, even after that had played itself out.

    Admittedly, Leno stepped into a hard spot, replacing Carson and having NBC offer his job to Letterman a few months after Leno took over in Burbank. Not easy at all. Yet, in his 17 years in the chair -- NEARLY as many years in California as Carson did -- I hardly remember anything noteworthy, except for his denim shirts in 1992, the Hugh Grant's interview and Alyssa Milano looking really really yummy in 1998.

    That's thousands of shows and not much to take back. Instead of being a superstar, Leno was like a guy who cranked out 2,500 hits and a .270 average across 15 years in the majors.

    The genre, now, is so fragmented (like just about everything else in broadcasting). The political heads who only watched Carson before 1990 can now get their fix on Daily Show or Colbert. Howard Stern's TV show on the E! Network took the "socially edgy" audience who loved the 'visual' aspect of entertainment.

    Of the current and recent hosts, I actually thought Craig Kilborn had the most energy and potential but he still walked away...and I'm not exactly sure why he walked away. Keep reading about getting into writing films and acting but I just haven't seen much..
     
  4. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    I've watched a ton of Conan over the past decade or so, and wouldn't consider "hitting on the hot guest" as his "schtick." I mean, if you had asked me, "What is Conan known for?" -- my answer wouldn't have been, "He's the guy who fake hits on hot guests!"

    Conan has always been the funniest of the three, because he simply does not give a shit. Back when Andy Richter was his sidekick, it reminded me of what "Wayne's World" would have been had it been a real show. It was great. It was edgy. You never knew what those two were going to do.

    And the greatest TV moment of the past 10 years -- Norm MacDonald completely insulting Courtney Thorne-Smith -- happened on the Conan show. Though it was completely unscripted and unplanned -- basically it was Norm being a dick of his own volition -- I somehow give Conan credit for that. It never would have happened on Leno.

    If you really think Conan's act is all "goofy mouth noises" ... I question your sense of humor, sir. ;)

    Conan was always the best of the three. You must have watched like two episodes ... because I would have never thought of "hitting on the hot guest" as a Conan schtick.
     
  5. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    "They should call it 'Chairman of the Bored.'"
     
  6. Some Guy

    Some Guy Active Member

    The movie was called "Chairman of the Board."

    Conan looks at Norm, who has been merciless to Courtney this entire time, and says, "Do something with that, ya freak."

    And Norm waits a beat and says ... "I bet they spell it B-O-R-E-D."

    At which point Conan falls out of his chair laughing, and I piss my pants. On the sign-off, Conan has to basically apologize to CTS and say, "Hopefully, she's still our friend."

    Greatest TV moment of the past 10 years, easy.
     
  7. SoCalDude

    SoCalDude Active Member

    Question whatever you want, it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
    You're right that I haven't watched many episodes of Conan. And that's because ... uh ... I don't care for him and his show. Pretty simple, really.
    Maybe I'll start watching it more now.
    But up 'til now, if I was gonna stay up that late, I preferred Ferguson over Conan. Again, pretty simple, really.
     
  8. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    NBC has to pay Leno for the first two years at something north of $20 mil a year no matter what. He'll be on at least a year, if the affiliates really start grumbling NBC will crank up their series production and maybe turn Leno into a once a week thing.

    Actually watched Carson Daly's show last night - he's ditched the studio and tapes segments of the show at different locations. Last night featured an interview with Andy Richter who will be back as Conan's announcer. I've always dug Andy Richter.
     
  9. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    God, that was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

    "I know what the movie is called. BOX OFFICE POISON."

    Here's the whole awesome eight minutes.

     
  10. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Conan is kind of an acquired taste. When I used to watch him regularly I thought he was hilarious. In short doses, though, he's a big ball of tics and affectations. I saw him briefly on Leno's last show -- Leno seemed like a regular person, Conan seemed like he was doing a character the whole time. I think Conan is funnier, but he takes some getting used to.

    I've said this before about Leno, and I'll say it again: the entire key to his new show will be his ability to backload the show with bits that will hold the audience. They need to throw all the headlines and whatever other stuff is his most popular and put that in the last 5 minutes of the show. Otherwise the audience will tail off badly right as it leads into the local news. It's the opposite of how these shows are usually structured. If they can pull that off, they'll be fine. If they lose the audience in the final quarter hour the local GMs will descend on Burbank with torches. It's far and away their biggest challenge.

    People have brought up a shortage of good guests, but that won't be a problem - and honestly, if anyone suffers there it won't be Leno. Guests were already split between Leno, Letterman, O'Brien/Fallon, Daly, Kimmel, Ferguson, and whoever else I'm forgetting. One more won't hurt. And the big "gets" -- whoever is the next Hugh-Grant-after-the-hooker -- will all go to Leno because he'll have by far the biggest available audience.
     
  11. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    I'd be more worried about how Conan survives this than Leno. He managed to turn forced retirement into a better time slot and a potential 50% raise (he made $20 mil/yr at Tonight, he could make $30 mil/yr at the new gig). Leno's going to siphon the blue hairs at 10, who will stick around for the news at 11 and go to bed at 11:30.

    Maybe Conan draws enough of the 18-49 to satisfy NBC, but as noted earlier, this is a different world than in 1992. The 18-49s are getting their topical comedy fix from The Daily Show, Colbert, Chelsea Handler, etc. I don't think he's going to do very well in that demo, and after that what's left if the blue hairs are in bed at 11:30?

    I bet you there's a better chance of Leno getting The Tonight Show back no later than 2012 than his new show bombing and/or him ending up at Fox or ABC after a couple years.

    This is why I get a kick out of everyone talking about how Leno's just a nice regular guy. Maybe that's his schtick, but between parlaying retirement into a prime-time gig that is The Tonight Show except 90 minutes earlier--and how he got The Tonight Show in the first place--he's proven he's willing to get as dirty as he has to in order to get what he wants.
     
  12. ifilus

    ifilus Well-Known Member

Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page