NBC: Conan to replace Leno in 2009 (1 Viewer)

[David Galindo]

quote:Hmmm, who is the second one you are talking about?

Craig Kilborn hosted the Daily show back in the day, before Jon Stewart took over.

 

[Jonny P]

What?!!?



You mean to tell me that they don't want John McEnroe to host the "Tonight Show"?!!?



Someone at NBC has their heads up their butt if they can't see the talent in Johnny Mac.

 

[teapot2001]

Seriously now, I think Wayne Brady and Ellen Degeneres would make good hosts for late-night, but I don't see Ellen leaving the daytime show.



~T

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Craig Kilborn hosted the Daily show back in the day, before Jon Stewart took over.



Yeah, but Kilborn is off the air.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

What? Johnny left The Tonight Show? Who the heck is this "Leno"? And "Conan"? Arnold is doing a talk show now? I thought he planned to stick with politics. I've gotta start keeping up with the news...

Regards,



Joe

 

[Francois Caron]

quote:"but I realized i'm not spending enough time with my cars."

I like both Jay and Conan. David has become a has-been in the last few years. When The Tonight Show was not on the air one evening, I tried to watch The Late Show but couldn't get past the monologue.

And I thought Conan's monologues were bad! Phew!

 

[Ashley Seymour]

I don't think Conan is strong enough to effect a smooth transition. Carson and Leno were/are the best at offering up political satire. You knew as a Clinton supporter that during the monologue you were going to cringe over a Leno joke. With Bush the material is different, but the cringe factor is just a great. Maybe Conan can change with new writers and a different hour and thrust to the show, but I have my doubts.



Conan strikes me as someone who is not comfortable in his skin. He pokes a lot of jokes at himself and they mostly go flat. Leno has even more room to poke fun at himself, but he takes a diffeent tact. Kevin can get off a skud at him, but Jay will come back a joke or two later and more than make up for it.



I always thought Leno was very evenhanded in who he dissed on. What may upset viewers is that he is too hard on their favorite politician, cause, team, city, musician, etc.



Is he too easy on his guests? Kind of an irrelevant question. This is an entertainment talk show where celebrities come in and pitch their movie, CD, campaign, etc. If I want a pit-bull I turn in Tim Russert.

 

[David Galindo]

Really? Kilborn isnt hosting his late night show anymore?



Where have I been?

 

[Tony Kwong]

I really liked "Dave Letterman our TV man" back in the old NBC days, he sucked when he moved over the CBS. Fan of Conan since day 1! I do miss Andy, as their banter between monologue and guest are always funny. Darn, Andy has been replace by a "Texas Ranger"!

 

[Dave Miller]

Does this succession thing give Conan creative control over the writing, production staff, band, etc.? Can he come into the Tonight Show and clean house, or is the show something he will just inherit and make the best of?



How did it work from Johnny to Jay? I'm asking.



Peace,



DM

 

[Scott L]

Conan already has a pretty strong following, but I'm betting he won't be well received by the Leno fans. In time he'll grow on people.

He's very intelligent and has an extremely quick wit. Harvard grad that wrote for the Simpsons and SNL? C'mon.. fuggedaboudit.

PS- someone screwed with the formatting of this thread. Had to edit my post to get rid of the weird spacing.

 

[David Galindo]

I wonder if Andy will come back now that Conan is prime-time late night. That would be awesome!

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I'm pretty sure Conan will change the Tonight Show to fit his style, or leave for a network which will let him. No one wants a watered down Conan, especially Conan.

 

[RyanAn]

Conan is the king of late night, I just hope he brings Max on... I love Jay Leno, but no one should overstay their welcome, so he will leave on his own free will, which is nice.



Ryan

 

[Ted Lee]

quote:PS- someone screwed with the formatting of this thread. Had to edit my post to get rid of the weird spacing.

it's a known issue. no one purposely screwed with your post.



regarding leno's humor, i read an interview with him. he tries to "cover all bases" during his monologue. he goes for the smart joke, the easy joke, the political joke, the celebrity joke, etc. he knows he has a diverse audience and wants to try to get in at least one joke that will make them laugh.



doesn't he also have the longest monologue or something like that? that gives him the time to really keep up his stand-up skills.

 

[Rich Malloy]

quote:I love Jay Leno, but no one should overstay their welcome, so he will leave on his own free will, which is nice.

Are we sure about that? I have no idea, but I was reading Slate yesterday and found this...

quote:Last night's 50th anniversary Tonight Show had a clubby, nostalgic show-business feel. Oprah wheeled in a huge birthday cake and jitterbugged with Jay. Garry Shandling sat beside him on the sofa, reminiscing about the old days with Johnny, like an uncle at a family reunion. Clip reels of famous moments with the show's three previous hosts, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson, celebrated the show's venerable history. But in the midst of the lovefest, Leno's announcement that he'll be replaced in 2009 by Conan O'Brien sounded strangely resentful, even passive-aggressive. In less than two minutes, Leno managed to place the blame on NBC for subtly edging him out of his job ("They came to me and said, 'We don't want to lose Conan O'Brien.' I said, 'Oh, OK, what does that mean?' ") and for ruining his relationship with David Letterman back in '92 ("Quite frankly, good friendships were permanently damaged")...

I didn't see the show--did anyone else think it came off like this? That article goes on to say...

quote:One hour later, in a rerun of Late Night, you could catch Conan poking fun at the recent NBC/Universal merger in a goofy surrealist segment called "Let's Look at the Far Reaching Implications of the NBC Universal Merger." Citing downsizing concerns, he asked the audience to choose a Universal Pictures character to throw in the "Late Night wood chipper" (it was E.T. that wound up in shreds on the studio floor, one severed finger still glowing). Granted, it was a rerun—O'Brien would probably not have chosen to mulch one of the boss' properties on the very night he was handed the keys to the executive washroom. But it pointed up a fundamental philosophical difference between late-night and late late-night programming. What will Conan do when he has to stop ridiculing the dinosaurs of the entertainment industry ... and start dancing with them around the birthday cake?

Which reminded me of last night's Conan when he gave that long, I'm-so-honored, thank-you Boss spiel, and my wife turned to me and said "there's gonna be a punch-line, right?"



Sadly, nope. It was a sincere suck-up. And the beginning of the end of Conan as we know him?

 

[MickeS]

quote:I didn't see the show--did anyone else think it came off like this?

No. It came off as sincere, and frankly, it really felt like Jay was relieved to have it work out this way. I didn't see it as passive aggressive at all, it seemed more like he was happy to be able to lay speculations to rest and have a "target date" (at least for now...).

quote:What will Conan do when he has to stop ridiculing the dinosaurs of the entertainment industry ... and start dancing with them around the birthday cake?

Jay is ridiculing them (though not as often), so I don't think Conan would have to change that much. As long as he delivers the $$$ I don't think they care.

/Mike

 

[Ted Lee]

quote:it really felt like Jay was relieved to have it work out this way

jay has brought in almost 1 billion dollars for nbc. i really don't think they would let him go unless it was his choice. the dude is a cash cow for the studio.



i was trying to find the article i read from fortune mag a while ago, but could only find this.



http://www.fortune.com/fortune/phot...88484-1,00.html

 

[Jason Seaver]

quote:jay has brought in almost 1 billion dollars for nbc. i really don't think they would let him go unless it was his choice. the dude is a cash cow for the studio.

Is it Jay Leno specifically, or the show? He took over a show that was doing pretty well before he got there.

 

[RyanAn]

Will it be Late Night or the Tonight Show with Conan? I am pretty sure it will be the Tonight Show, but I really think what makes Conan work so well is what he is doing now, with the people he is with, like Max.



Ryan