Layoffs at Tonight Show, Leno takes pay cut

[Inky_Wretch]

Rumor is 24 laid off. Leno takes a pay cut of between $5-$10 million to prevent more cuts.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NBC_TONIGHT_SHOW_CUTBACKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

[TigerVols]

More on the Comcast-caused cuts.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/tonight-show-cuts-latest-in-wave-of-nbc-layoffs-cost-trims-imposed-by-comcast/

 

[Batman]

 

[exmediahack]

Conan - whom I like as a comedian and a person - can love this all he wants. He simply wasn't an "11:30 performer". Leno is a comedian about 25 years past his prime but he is Subway. Conan makes a far better sandwich but the great unwashed like Subway.

Never confuse the box office with the reviews.

 

[Alma]

Conan - whom I like as a comedian and a person - can love this all he wants. He simply wasn't an "11:30 performer". Leno is a comedian about 25 years past his prime but he is Subway. Conan makes a far better sandwich but the great unwashed like Subway.

Never confuse the box office with the reviews.

I honestly don't get his show. Why does he do a monologue? Why? He's not any good at it. He's good at some things, but not that. He's not much of an interviewer, either. I'll try his show for a couple nights, and it just doesn't do much for me. The show's too conventional, and he isn't.

About the only thing I consistently watch is Leno's Headlines segment, for obvious journo reasons. I'm not sure I've ever watched a full night of Leno.

 

[Buck]

Conan's monologue has always been unwatchable.
Of course, Leno's entire show is unwatchable.

 

[lcjjdnh]

According to Leno himself, he lives entirely off of his standup income. Tonight Show money goes into a bank account he never uses or even looks at.

 

[Versatile]

He just needs to do commercials for the Garden-Weasel.

 

[Brian]

On a related note, Barrett-Jackson just took caviar off the spread at the company Christmas party.

 

[crimsonace]

Conan's monologue has always been unwatchable.
Of course, Leno's entire show is unwatchable.

"Headlines" is must-see TV in our house, but my wife & I are both either current or former journos. Jaywalking is a tired bit, but it provides me some good fodder for my history classes.

Leno's monologue is OK, but he's a horrendous interviewer.

Conan's monologue, I've never found funny, but his bits are tremendous.

Count me in the "I never really got Conan" camp, but to each his own.

 

[DanOregon]

So you wonder how many jobs a $5 million salary haircut would save on Leno.
They cut about 10 percent of the 200 person staff.
Leaving 190. Figure 50 at $100k per?

 

[Versatile]

The best interviewer these days is Craig Ferguson. Conan O'Brien remains the funniest host. Jimmy Kimmel is affable and right behind Ferguson as an interviewer. And Jimmy Fallon has The Roots.

David Letterman and Jay Leno can't match any of those guys for quality of programming.

 

[imjustagirl]

The best interviewer these days is Craig Ferguson. Conan O'Brien remains the funniest host. Jimmy Kimmel is affable and right behind Ferguson as an interviewer. And Jimmy Fallon has The Roots.

David Letterman and Jay Leno can't match any of those guys for quality of programming.

I agree with all of this.

 

[nmmetsfan]

Leno's monologue was good when he first took over. That was a long time ago.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I'll watch Leno if Carolla or Norton is on, but I always find myself fast-forwarding through the monologue. I don't think he's funny at all...

I stopped watching Conan awhile ago. It's just not a very good show either. I loved him at 12:30, but the show has been pretty mediocre for awhile.

I don't like Leno, but I respect that he took a pay cut to save jobs.

It's one of the biggest reasons why he wound up with that job in the first place. When they had a rotating guest host, I think it was him, Shandling, Billy Crystal and maybe one other and Shandling's agent wanted them to hold out for $25K a show. Leno undercut them and agreed to work for scale.

 

[Chef2]

The best interviewer these days is Craig Ferguson. Conan O'Brien remains the funniest host. Jimmy Kimmel is affable and right behind Ferguson as an interviewer. And Jimmy Fallon has The Roots.

David Letterman and Jay Leno can't match any of those guys for quality of programming.

I agree with all of this.

The Craig Ferguson interview with Dennis Miller might be one of the funniest things I have ever seen on television.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I need to find that Ferguson-Miller interview...

I like Kimmel's show the best because he actually looks like he's having fun. I think Fallon does too... I don't think Conan, Leno or Letterman can say the same thing.

 

[Joe Williams]

It's one of the biggest reasons why he wound up with that job in the first place. When they had a rotating guest host, I think it was him, Shandling, Billy Crystal and maybe one other and Shandling's agent wanted them to hold out for $25K a show. Leno undercut them and agreed to work for scale.

I believe that in the recent PBS American Masters 2-hour special on Johnny Carson, they noted that Leno's agent (or maybe it was Leno AND his agent) leaked stories near the end of Carson's run that NBC wasn't happy with Carson's ratings and wanted to make a change. That sent Carson toward the door.

If true, that's some serious rat-******* ****. (Can't say I paid much attention to the so-called Late Night Wars, so don't know for sure.)

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's one of the biggest reasons why he wound up with that job in the first place. When they had a rotating guest host, I think it was him, Shandling, Billy Crystal and maybe one other and Shandling's agent wanted them to hold out for $25K a show. Leno undercut them and agreed to work for scale.

I believe that in the recent PBS American Masters 2-hour special on Johnny Carson, they noted that Leno's agent (or maybe it was Leno AND his agent) leaked stories near the end of Carson's run that NBC wasn't happy with Carson's ratings and wanted to make a change. That sent Carson toward the door.

If true, that's some serious rat-******* ****. (Can't say I paid much attention to the so-called Late Night Wars, so don't know for sure.)

Helen Kushnick was a legendary Hollywood *****. I'm just curious how much she did without Jay's knowledge.

That said, I find it a little hard to believe that anyone could push Johnny out the door, but anything is possible.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

When he started out as a guest on the Carson show, Leno was very funny. Of course, the Berlin Wall was still up, too. It's been widely documented that Carson was very tight with Letterman, but that Leno was the fav of the NBC brass because they felt he was the more middle American (mediocre) of the two and would hence get higher ratings. It took the Hugh Grant interview to prove them right.