Jay Leno back to old timeslot?

[Allskate]

Kimmel talked about it Thursday night, especially when Oprah asked about Kimmel's appearance on the Leno show (Kimmel said earlier "Oprah said my name! " )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujo9FRh8nf0

I caught Kimmel. I think Jay should just do himself a favor and just STFU about this because playing victim is just going to get him more criticism. Claiming that Jimmy sucker-punched him was ridiculous, and he obviously should have known that Jimmy was not just going to shut up when Jay claimed he was sucker-punched.

Also, from some clips I saw, it seemslike Jay tried to pretend that he didn't know that Conan would be unhappy being moved to after midnight and that he didn't agree to go back to the Tonight Show until Conan was actually fired (although he has said things to contradict this.). Nobody is going to believe him and now he is coming across as not only selfish, but dishonest. And, really, if he was so worried about people keeping their jobs, he would have worried about all those Conan employees who just uprooted their families and all the people who lost their jobs when he took over the 10:00 spot all week on NBC. Dude needs to lay low during the Olympics and then start back to work without dredging up all this stuff that will just remind people that maybe Jay isn't such a nice guy.

[Lacey]

I think I'll stick with Nightline and Kimmel.

[Latte]

I really dislike Jay for this, and I think I am not alone.
He promises Conan the show for 5 years, gave it to him and then takes it back because his new show tanked? I am not a Conan fan, not a late night fan at all, but this smells to high heaven.
I hope no one watches Mr Spoiled Leno's show and he has to retire (again!) as a loser.
Can you tell I don't like what happened? Everyone has a opinion, and this is mine.
Good luck Conan, I won't be watching(as I said, don't like comedians)
But you got a raw deal and good luck anyway.

[PrincessLeppard]

Jay didn't promise Conan anything. NBC did.

[kittyjake5]

I feel sorry for Conan and I do think he got shafted by NBC but (I am probably in the minority here) I am thrilled that Jay will be back on the Tonight Show. I have been watching Jay for years and I really enjoy his show.

[pixie cut]

I feel sorry for Conan and I do think he got shafted by NBC but (I am probably in the minority here) I am thrilled that Jay will be back on the Tonight Show. I have been watching Jay for years and I really enjoy his show.

You are not alone. Leno wasn't number one for 15 years for nothing. He was number one because viewers liked watching him. If NBC had not plotted this move with O'Brien, I think Leno would have held onto the number one spot for another few years. Of course, we don't know what threat O'Brien might have posed had he left NBC around 2004 or 2005 and gone to Fox or ABC (back in 04-05 Jimmy Kimmel was still struggling). We will never know if O'Brien could have overtaken Leno.

As for the poster who said Leno was full of it when he said to Oprah TV is not fair, who would know that better than Leno. He had the number one late night show and NBC still pushed him out. There's nothing bogus in him saying TV isn't fair. It isn't.

[Andora]

I agree it's NBC who is at huge fault through all of this, between screwing Jay first then Conan, etc. etc. But, really, Jay did himself NO favours with that Oprah interview.

Who knew Oprah was a harder interview than Larry King?

[AragornElessar]

I watched the Oprah interview and...I know not everyone sees the same thing, but I actually thought Jay came across really well. I mean...When asked about the 10pm show he admitted it was a mistake, it didn't work and since it's his name on the show, the fault lays on no one's shoulders than his.

How is that being full of oneself or twisting things that happened to make himself look good?

I do agree there were *some* points where I was thinking what Jay said didn't fly, but only a few and not everything. Especially what he was thinking when offered The Tonight Show back and accepted the offer.

However, for the most part I think Jay came off a lot better than some in here think he did. He's right about the way TV works. Especially in this day and age when there's just so many options. Others have posted far more in depth about that, so I won't repeat myself.

He also had a *very* valid point when talking about the jokes he'll use in his monologue. Which tied into why Jay has in his contract that he's able to still go and do stand up at various venues. He doesn't see himself as a TV Star, but a Stand Up Comic who hosts a TV show on the side, and that really has helped him on TTS w/the Monologue. Like he said, it's one thing to do a joke that will work in say...LA, NYC, Miami, but that's the only place it'll work. If a joke gets the same response in LA, Vegas, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Anchorage...Then it'll work on TV.

I think that might have been part of Conan's problem. He focused on the one group of people...The younger demographic. I hate to break it to certain people though, that demographic isn't as big as the current leading demographic of people is, that belongs to all of those aging Baby Boomers. You focus on *only* one group of people, instead of having a selection of material for everyone, and...People will be turned off, start looking for something else to watch and not come back.

Did anyone else know just *how* bad the ratings were for Conan and his version of TTS? I was shocked when Jay said it had a 40% drop in viewership since Conan took over and this would have been the first season since it hit the airwaves that TTS would have lost NBC money.

I knew they'd dropped off, but not by *that* much.

Nope...I didn't think Jay came off as badly as others think and my parents said the same thing.

BTW...This is JMO and what I think of this entire mess...

I knew this wouldn't work and for a reason an awful lot of people seem to be missing. When Jay took over from Carson, he was an unknown. Sure he was a Temp Host from time to time, but other than that, he was just another Stand Up Comic as far as the general public was concerned. Of course viewership fell off big time for that first year, but Jay was also figuring out what would work and what wouldn't. I also read somewhere that for the first year either he or NBC (can't remember which) wanted no major changes to the set or the old set up. Reason being they wanted things as familiar to the Carson version to the viewers and had a chance to "get to know Jay".

Now maybe that's not right and is something I just dreamed up, but I could swear I read that somewhere when Jay took over things.

I know a lot of people have been screaming NBC never gave Conan the same chance, but here's where the difference between Jay taking over from Carson and Conan taking over from Jay comes into play...

Jay really was an unknown. Conan's had his own show for how many years now? He's not an unknown quality and the public's had their chance "to get to know him". There's far more people, and I'm one of them, who can't stand him or his schtick. He comes across as that smarmy arrogant loudmoth everyone knew in HS or has in their family. No one really wants to spend time w/that type of person, so why would they tune in to watch someone who comes across like that?

I was talking w/cousins of mine at a Family get together this summer about Conan taking over from Jay, and all of us are in that much ballyhooed and so called desired "Young Demographic", and we were all in agreement. We can't stand Conan, don't think he's very funny and would not be tuning into the new TTS. We also thought this was a huge mistake on NBC's part and that TTS would tank w/Conan as host and for all of the reasons I've got up above.

As I said, JMO, but from things I've been hearing since Conan took over, I wasn't the only one w/that opinion and the ratings tell the real story. As Jay said, his show tanking after all the fanfare and the media's focus on that, really did give Conan a bit of "cover". Now if there hadn't been a The Jay Leno Show at 10pm and if the media had focused more on how Conan was doing, then he'd be getting nailed in the media for "sinking a much loved TV insitution" w/the tanking ratings.

I've never turned into The Tonight Show w/Conan O'Brien and for the reason I stated. Judging by just how bad the ratings were, I wasn't the only one. I can't wait for Jay to come back after the Olympics and I'm willing to bet he'll bring TTS back up in the ratings.

Maybe not to the numbers he used to get and it won't be overnight, but I do believe Jay can do it.

[uyeahu]

Jay was NOT an unknown. He was a VERY popular comedian who had made numerous appearances not just on the Tonight Show but on all the other late night shows and in prime time. He was a regular on Hollywood Squares and Matchgame, had his own primetime tv specials, presented at the MTV movie awards, hosted the Emmy's, the list goes on. Go have a look at his IMDB page. He was probably much higher profile when he took over the Tonight Show than Conan O'Brien is now simply because he'd had so much presence on primetime television whereas Conan's presence has been almost exclusively late night and as a writer behind the scenes.

[smurfy]

Jay was basically the 'permanent' guest host for Johnny for awhile and not unknown. I actually saw Jay as a guest host live before Johnny left. At the time it was announced that Jay was taking over for Johnny, it was a big deal about what went down with him and with Letterman.

[pixie cut]

Jay was basically the 'permanent' guest host for Johnny for awhile and not unknown. I actually saw Jay as a guest host live before Johnny left. At the time it was announced that Jay was taking over for Johnny, it was a big deal about what went down with him and with Letterman.

After Joan Rivers left in 1986, Leno soon became a fixture on The Tonight Show. The last two or three years Carson only worked three nights a week. Leno hosted at least one night a week every week. One night was a rerun and the other three nights were Carson. Carson also had like 12 weeks off maybe even 16 (I don't remember). At least four of those, Leno would host the whole week. So he was on The Tonight Show pretty much year-round.

It's well known that Johnny Carson wanted David Letterman to become host of The Tonight Show. After he left, he never appeared on the show again with Leno. Instead, Carson made two appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, after Letterman moved to CBS.

Conan O'Brien was pretty much unknown when he began hosting Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He was also given a really long amount of time to settle in. It's largely agreed it took nearly three years for him to establish a real base and become popular. I think when he took over The Tonight Show he was as well known as Leno was back in '92. But he was known as this East Coast, edgy host. Doesn't easily translate to The Tonight Show, which is vastly more glib and West Coast.

[reckless]

Conan in Cheetos

[uyeahu]

That's pretty damn awesome.

[Habs]

Conan in Cheetos

Wow!

[pixie cut]

Conan in Cheetos

Hey, maybe Cheese Head would make a good late night host.

[deltask8er]

Jay Leno's transition from primetime failure to once-and-future host of the Tonight Show lasted about a minute and a half. The cold open of his new Tonight Show had him waking up in a sepia-toned sequence—with Betty White, because the Internet loves her—a la Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. (If you had "finds it was all a dream" in your office pool, you can probably still collect.) Then came the monologue, in which Leno said, "I'm Jay Leno, your host at least for a while" and "We were off for the last couple of weeks--kind of like the Russians at the Olympics!"

Review of Jay Leno's Return to The Tonight Show - Tuned In - TIME.com






Howard Stern blasts 'Tonight' show's Jay Leno: 'Just the mention of his name makes me want to vomit'




YouTube - CBS - The Early Show with Howard Stern - March 02, 2010 (03-02-10)

[deltask8er]

Andy Richter Slams NBC, Jay; Says Conan Tour Is "Distinct Possibility"

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b170...ays_conan.html

[deltask8er]

Eubanks leaving ‘Tonight Show’
Leno’s sideman says after 18 years, he’s ready for a career change

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36445472...ent-television

I like Eubanks as a sidekick. Musically, however, that band went nowhere. I attended a show in 2006. Ever since that show I've noticed that band basically plays the same 5 or 6 songs in and out of commercial breaks. No change in the playlist in the past decade, it seems.

With his predecessor, Marsalis, it was probably the opposite: great music, but he did NOT like being Leno's sidekick.

---------------

Maybe an older audience isn't as skary to networks as it once was.

As in: while audiences for Mr. Leno have increased more than 50 percent from Mr. O’Brien’s average, the median age for “Tonight Show” viewers has jumped more than 10 years, to 56 years old, in the wake of the departure of the host NBC had once designated to be the future of late night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/bu...ia/12late.html

[pixie cut]

Eubanks' departure has been known for a while. It was sort of announced right after Leno returned to The Tonight Show. Bloggers have speculated that Darius Rucker will replace him. As for an older age group, I guess a boat load of 50+s is preferable to a small number of 25-45s.