Decker

Yeesh that was not a good song.

Count Dooku

I'm sure NBC, ABC, and CBS think of Jimmy, Jimmy, and Stephen as competitors, but I don't think they think of themselves as that.

Each one is very secure in their position (Kimmel is getting ready to retire) and the attitude seems to be that each one makes the show that they want to make, and the people that want to watch it will do so.

I know someone who watches Colbert every night because she wants to hear him attack Trump and the GOP. I'm sure their are people who watch Fallon exactly because his show is not so political.

Decker

Yeah it's pretty cool that they allget along so well after the bitter animosity of Jay vs Dave.

JeffTheAlpaca

Too bad Dave and Leno could not follow the lead of todays late night hosts and get along.

Count Dooku

Sometimes a person cannot get over feeling betrayed, even though many years pass.

RichC2

They swapped shows outright a year and a half ago, it is good they do seem to all get along well.

JeffTheAlpaca

Though according to the Late Shift movie and book it seems Leno's manager was the reason for all the beef between Dave and Leno.

Count Dooku

The beef between Jay and Dave was that Jay took the job that Dave thought was rightfully his.

Ultimately, NBC offered the Tonight Show job to Leno, and Leno accepted it. I imagine Dave believed that Jay should have turned the job down, and so felt that Jay personally betrayed him.

Jay and Dave were longtime friends, and Jay was only in the position to be considered as permanent Tonight Show host because Dave had supported and promoted him on Late Night. Leno has always asserted that the Tonight kerfuffle was just business. However, some might say, that you can't go against your friend because it's "just business" and expect the personal relationship to stay the same. If it's "just business," then the relationship is business, not friendship.

cultshock

Funny, I'm actually reading the Late Shift book right now. Leno's ex-manager was indeed a lot of the problem (she sounds horrific and NBC soon rightly fired her as exec producer of the Tonight Show), but also, NBC handled the whole host changing deal in a super inept manner, the execs come off looking like a bunch of idiots in the book. When they finally realized what a huge debacle they had created, it was too late to keep both Dave and Leno.

Quatermass

This is what I heard too, except NBC had secretly already promised the Tonight Show to Leno in order to keep him from starting a rival 11:30 talk show on another network. NBC let Letterman think he still had a shot at it to keep him from getting a rival 11:30 talk show too. Leno knew and didn't tell Letterman which was why he felt betrayed by both Leno and NBC.

Count Dooku

Dave was never going to stay at NBC and follow Leno. Dave was willing to spend a decade as the junior partner in NBC's late night line-up because Johnny was always The King in his book. He wasn't going to play second fiddle to Jay. I honestly believe if Dave could not have found another landing place, he would have just quit the talk show business rather than be on after Jay. If any of those knuckleheads at NBC honestly thought they could keep Letterman around, then they don't know a fucking thing about him or his ego.

cultshock

Yeah, I'm sure he would have quit the business if he couldn't have gotten an 11:30 show somewhere else. According to the Late Shift book, NBC at the last minute offered him the 11:30 slot, while Jay was already hosting at that point. Letterman didn't take it mainly because it was an insulting offer money/control-wise, and he wanted to replace Carson, not Leno. The CBS deal was a very good one.

Count Dooku

And while it was not the time slot he wanted, if push came to shove, going to ABC and being on at Midnight after Nightline still would have been better than staying at NBC to follow Leno

etching

That was weird seeing Jimmy Fallon as musical guest tonight on JKL...

whotony

Rerun from a couple weeks ago.
Soneone posted the clip a couple posts back.