The latest on Conan, Leno and NBC (2 Viewers)

Diallo B · Jan 7, 2010

http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/07/jay-leno-nbc-conan-obrien-tonight-show/

Jay Leno is going back to his 11:30 PM time slot, and it's looking like Conan O'Brien is the odd man out ... sources tell TMZ.

We've learned Jay's 10:00 PM show will go on hiatus February 1. After the Olympics, Jay will take back his 11:30 PM time slot. What has not been decided -- whether Jay's show will be a half hour, followed by Conan, or whether Jay's show will be an hour and NBC says sayonara to Mr. O'Brien.We're told Jay and Conan have both been told of the changes. As for Jay, interestingly, he'll get what he always wanted -- his 11:30 PM time slot.

They should have never ATTEMPTED to get rid of Leno in the first place. Conan is awful.

Adam Lenhardt · Jan 7, 2010

Conan is great, but he's not a great fit for the Tonight Show format. It's tamer and more partitioned than late night. He's also never really had the chance to do the Tonight Show properly, because Leno poached all of the A-list guests for his show. Besides, this decision is all about Leno's failure at 10 -- not Conan's performance at 11:35. Conan didn't perform like Leno with the Tonight Show, but he was solid enough with the advertiser-friendly demographics that NBC would have been satisfied. The problem is that Leno was killing the 10:00 hour, and the 11 PM news but he's still too popular to dump; if they did, he'd go to ABC and further split the 11:30 pie.

Jimmy Fallon's abysmal performance at Late Night has pretty might handed the 12:30 slot to Craig Ferguson. I'm not sure Conan's audience would drift back if they shoehorned him back to there.

Diallo B · Jan 7, 2010

i am quite sure that if nbc saw any hope for conan they would probably keep him. (as he was touted as the future of latenight)

i guess the argument that leno was taking all the good talent at 10 has some merit. but even with that said if conan was such the future of latenight then why is nbc tossing him under the bus.

i thought it was a poor idea to make the switch in the first place. leno was doing well at 11:30 and imo, he has a better rapport with broader cross section of the country.

seriously, was twitter tracker funny??? and the slapstick was painful to watch. but hey, the year 3000 was funny.

i don't like will ferrell either. i think they are two sides of the same coin.

TravisR · Jan 7, 2010

Maybe this is 100% correct news but I don't put alot of stock in stories from a gossip site that has more interest in running a story that will generate more hits than they have in the truth.

mattCR · Jan 7, 2010

This was long rumored to be one of the demands that Comcast had as they buy NBC. Why is anyone surprised now?

Diallo B · Jan 7, 2010

Originally Posted by TravisR

Maybe this is 100% correct news but I don't put alot of stock in stories from a gossip site that has more interest in running a story that will generate more hits than they have in the truth.

i totally agree with you about the gossip site part. i abhor the gossip rags and sites. i actually found this link on a hard news site.

but tmz has been on the money lately.....

MatthewA · Jan 7, 2010

NBC is denying it:

http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-1-7-nbc-denies-jay-leno-cancelation-rumors

David Norman · Jan 7, 2010

If they are really interested in fixing the problem, put Conan back at 12:30 and can Fallon who has finally made Craig Ferguson a star. Almost 8 months into the show and if anything Fallon has gotten worse -- terrible monologues, horrible interview skills, and skits only a 6yo might find amusing for 15 seconds.

Manfred123 · Jan 7, 2010

Thanks to share this information

DaveF · Jan 7, 2010

Could they give Conan the 10pm slot? Leno is pretty dull these days; I watch though since there's nothing else to have in the background at 10pm many nights. But while Leno can look terminally bored with his own schtick, Conan commits 100% to his comedy and interviews.

Maybe they could cancel Leno completely and simply keep Conan?

mattCR · Jan 7, 2010

denying cancellation isn't the same as denying a move, and they don't do either.. they just say "he's a great performer, we're glad to have him.." a non-answer. Comcast had previously documented that if they took on NBCU, that they would want schedule changes to increase value. Jay moving back to 10:30 helps.

The one problem with this is that NBC's development slate is damn near completely bare. They don't have enough or really any viable mid-season replacements that can fill 5 hours of programming a week. So, if they do make this change I don't know where they go on the 9PM CST/10 EST time period, because they've got nothing.

Adam Lenhardt · Jan 7, 2010

Dateline. Lots of Dateline.

DaveF · Jan 7, 2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

Dateline. Lots of Dateline.

No thanks, I'll take the waterboarding, please.

Jeff Brooks · Jan 7, 2010

The last I remember Leno being funny or the least bit entertaining was many, many years ago, when he would read from the TV Guide on David Letterman's show.

James_Koch · Jan 7, 2010

Okay, here's some more info from the New York Times:

Apparently after the Olympic coverage, when Late Night programming returns to NBC, it will look like this

11:35 - 12:05 - Leno
12:05-1:05 - Conan
1:05-2:05 - Fallon
Gone? - Daly (I guess no one cares enough to mention him. )

Really, I dunno. To me this just seems like another chapter in the recent history of NBC screwing stuff up.

Zack Gibbs · Jan 7, 2010

Rofl, it is one hell of a ball-less compromise. Maybe Conan will loosen his show back up a bit?

I'm going to go ahead a predict Leno doesn't 'recover.'

Adam Lenhardt · Jan 7, 2010

That's definitely better than dropping Conan. It'll be interesting to see what format of such a line-up would be: at 30 minutes, Leno would have time for his monologue and a couple skits or celebrity interviews, but not both. Since Jay is a terrible interviewer, it'd be better to keep him to monologues and his recurring bits like headlines, jaywalking, etc. That would free Conan up from the necessity of a standard monologue, a format which he has struggled with, and end the competition for guests since they'd be saved for the Tonight Show.

Alfonso_M · Jan 7, 2010

I for one wouldn't mind if they put it all back the way it was....Lots of "Law and orders" for the ten o'clock spot is fine by me...I love them all.

I like Jay, but I've hardly seen any of his 10pm shows, especially since He did away with the musical guest segments..

Originally Posted by James_Koch )[/list]
Really, I dunno. To me this just seems like another chapter in the recent history of NBC screwing stuff up.

Carson Daly used to do a 30 minutes show, but last season the show left the Studio and he's even "out sourcing" his musical guests now... I Like him (much better interviewer than Jimmy Fallon), but after the drastic budget cut, anyone can tell his show is not doing well.

James_Koch · Jan 7, 2010

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt ">[/url]

That's definitely better than dropping Conan. It'll be interesting to see what format of such a line-up would be: at 30 minutes, Leno would have time for his monologue and a couple skits or celebrity interviews, but not both. Since Jay is a terrible interviewer, it'd be better to keep him to monologues and his recurring bits like headlines, jaywalking, etc. That would free Conan up from the necessity of a standard monologue, a format which he has struggled with, and end the competition for guests since they'd be saved for the Tonight Show.
[/QUOTE]Actually, that is a good point. It always sort of bugged me that it seemed like some higher profile guests were skipping Conan and going to Leno instead. (I mean, what celebrity wouldn't rather be on a primetime show when they would get potentially more exposure.)

The thing that bugs me is now Conan overlaps with Ferguson. I liked being able to watch both of them. [/url]
Carson Daly used to do a 30 minutes show, but last season the show left the Studio and he's even "out sourcing" his musical guests now... I Like him (much better interviewer than Jimmy Fallon), but after the drastic budget cut, anyone can tell his show is not doing well.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I've watched Daly a few times. I actually prefered the show after the format switch. It usually has more of a music focus to it, which seems to be something Carson really loves (as do I).

I just found it funny that there is no mention of him in this news. Is it safe to assume he'll be gone completely, or are they tagging his 1/2 hour on after Fallon?

Mike Frezon · Jan 7, 2010

What an embarassment for NBC. Maybe they should just run Supertrain reruns after the local news.

Johnny & Ed must be spinning in their graves.

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