The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

[Kimo]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

The NYTimes story on Conan's "thanks, but no thanks" statement quotes Fox folks as saying they've always wanted to do a late night show, and think Conan's schtick goes well with what they do.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

This could be a publicity stunt because NBC ratings are way down.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Conan - "as a kid I watched The Tonite Show w/Johnny Carson every night saying to myself, one day, I'm going to host that show for 7 months".

[Random]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Sorry, tutusue, but Jay Leno should have left NBC when he agreed to depart the show for Conan O'Brien.

Or never agreed to the deal with NBC in the first place.

For an anti-whiner, RW, he has such a high-quality whining voice when he does his monologue.

IMNSHO, it would be a big loss to NBC when Conan, not Jay, leaves.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

FOX has made no secret about their interest in pursuing Conan, assuming the Tonight Show host can untangle himself from his contract with NBC.

This wouldn't be the first FOX gig for O'Brien. Way back when, he was one of the writers for The Simpsons.

[Berming88]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Conan - "as a kid I watched The Tonite Show w/Johnny Carson every night saying to myself, one day, I'm going to host that show for 7 months".

Lol!! Conan's the best!

[tutusue]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Sorry, tutusue, but Jay Leno should have left NBC when he agreed to depart the show for Conan O'Brien.[...]

No problem, Random. Our different opinions are probably a generational thingie! We'll just agree to disagree! *smooch*!

[Random]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

No problem, Random. Our different opinions are probably a generational thingie! We'll just agree to disagree! *smooch*!

I don't think it's a generational thing when I prefer Johnny Carson over Jay Leno.

And while I still disagree with the antiquated Nielsen rating system, it seems that not everyone follow Jay Leno into the early before-the-news time-slot.

Now NBC is doing some damage control. Either way, one of the two hosts will have to go.

[LikaNui]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

When Johnny Carson retired, perhaps NBC should have retired The Tonight Show name and called Jay's show something else. Yeah, I know the TTS name has that history and cachet, but there will simply never be another Johnny.
(Disclaimer: I had the pleasure of meeting Johnny a few times after he retired, when he was trying to buy a boat. Long story.)
Anyway, I blame this mess on the NBC execs who, five years ago, promised TTS to Conan on a fixed date. So far we haven't heard anything about any NBC execs getting canned for letting this mess happen, but I'd expect something on that in the near future.
And remember, while Jay was running TTS he had double the ratings of Letterman, but now Letterman has double the ratings of Conan. Not surprising that NBC wants to make a change of some sort.
And I wrote earlier that there's a chance (albeit slim) that this whole mess is a publicity stunt by NBC. If so, it's working. Big risk. Might (and probably will) backfire.
Conan has now publicly refused to move back to 12:05, his lawyers met with NBC for several hours yesterday, and it appears most likely that Jay will get TTS back. I, for one, like this scenario. I'm not a Conan fan. I would've rather seen NBC bring Craig Ferguson in than Conan.
So okay, just for fun, who do you think show host TTS if it's neither Jay or Conan? Maybe Arsenio Hall? The aforementioned Craig Fergusion? Ellen DeGeneres? Or... ?

[Random]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

So okay, just for fun, who do you think show host TTS if it's neither Jay or Conan? Maybe Arsenio Hall? The aforementioned Craig Fergusion? Ellen DeGeneres? Or... ?

Just for fun? As long as Jay DOES NOT get TTS, I'm down with that.

Sorry it was a mess in the beginning but it was already agreed upon, but it'll be an even bigger mess trying to "restore" before the whole thing. And let's face it, Jay is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME. Bringing Jay back to the 9pm time-slot is IMNSHO, DUMB. He should have just waited until TTS with Conan fail before NBC come knocking on his door, then he has an even better leverage when it comes to his contract negotiation for his return. It is much more dignified for both hosts (and Conan could leave knowing he had tried his best with TTS gig).

Still, I wouldn't watch TTS with Jay anyway.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

New TTS host - THE MASTERBATING BEAR!

[Random]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

New TTS host - THE MASTERBATING BEAR!

Only if it features female [human] porn stars.

Yes, I hate censorship. I also believe children under 18 should be locked up in their bedrooms with no TV in it comes 10:30pm.

[tutusue]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

I don't think it's a generational thing when I prefer Johnny Carson over Jay Leno.[...]

Ok, I'm fine with that. But I'll still agree to disagree, because I like Jay. You obviously don't. And that's fine, too.

[...]Bringing Jay back to the 9pm time-slot is IMNSHO, DUMB. He should have just waited until TTS with Conan fail before NBC come knocking on his door,[...]

IIRC, NBC didn't want Jay to defect to another network. Hence, a show to keep him from doing that.

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Only if it features female [human] porn stars.

Why, what's wrong with girlie bear porn? I like that warm and fuzzy feeling.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

I'm not a fan of either Conan or Jay. What has happened between the two and NBC itself made for great material for David Letterman and Craig Ferguson on CBS.

Personally I don't think Conan had enough experience to replace Leno. The change was too soon. A few more years and I think Conan would have matured to a "Leno" Crowd.

I also think Leno should have allowed Conan to take over without him starting his own variety show earlier in the evening, competing with Conan. But then again Conan was relying on Leno to carry over audiences from his show to the Tonight Show. To me Conan just couldn't hold the numbers and failed in his own ability to up his ratings as well as having to compete with Leno.

What was NBC management thinking?

And now that Conan has rejected the 12:05 am slot, where does NBC stand legally. As David Letterman said last night, "you can't call it the Tonight Show when it runs in the morning!" And he's right!

AP reported that the outfall of all this might result in Leno being "Damaged Goods" with Conan being the "Victim".

What a mess over at NBC!