Kilborn is outa here
 

Heard this on the radio this morning and can not beleive there was not a post yet.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=5967457


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Late-night comedian Craig Kilborn is quitting his CBS talk show after a five-year stint in the time slot following "Late Show With David Letterman," Hollywood's trade papers reported on Friday.
Kilborn and Viacom Inc. -owned CBS had been in talks throughout the summer for a new multiyear deal keeping him at the helm of "The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn," but he told network executives on Thursday that he wanted to move on, according to Daily Variety.

"It was easily the greatest job I've had, and CBS was very generous in their offer to re-sign me," the paper quoted Kilborn, 41, as saying. "But I simply want to try something new. I can now focus on writing and producing different television projects I haven't had time for."

Kilborn will leave his Los Angeles-based job by early next month, Daily Variety said. It speculated that CBS may try to lure Conan O'Brien, whose NBC show outdraws Kilborn's in the 12:35 a.m. slot. However, it noted that O'Brien's contract with the General Electric Co. -owned network does not expire until December 2005.

During the past 12 months, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" has averaged 2.5 million viewers each night, compared with 1.6 million for "Kilborn," according to the Hollywood Reporter.



Sorry no bold, the article is short enough.

I wonder if he would ever go back to ESPN full-time?

That was my first thought....I hope so. Doubt it though.

Good riddance, the only one worse than him is Leno

I would think if he wants to write and produce different television projects, he won't be going back to Bristol.

I always thought he was great on SC, not so great on CBS.

Somewhere, a frat boy is weeping.

at the bottom of a dark, Scottish lach...

My stomach churns at the thought of months and months of media speculation as to the new host. Jon Stewart??? Conan O'Brien??? Chris Rock??? Dat Phan??? Justin Guarini???

I would highly doubt Conan would jump ship. His deal w/ NBC is extremely lucrative. It would be funny if they hired Andy Richter to go up against Conan. :lol:

I only thought Kilborn was funny on the Daily Show. I never really liked his talk show.

I don't see Conan going anywhere either

das Monkey with his loyal sidekick Twikoff!

I loved watching Craiggers on The Daily Show. I tried watching Kilby for a little bit when he got the Late, Late Show, but it just didn't take.

Get ready...it'll be Ryan Seacrest.

;)

guess this'll free up his time for some more "grab ass" at the Playboy Mansion..

Carson "I'm a self proclaimed tool" Daly

Kilborn was awful and he knew it, that's why he quit.

If Letterman has any say, he should do anything he can to steal Jon Stewart away from Comedy Central. And before everyone who loves that show decides to kill me, CBS and Letterman should tell Stewart he can bring his entire staff and do the show exactly how he wants to do it. They should also tell him he gets the Late Show when Dave retires.

Dave had a chance at Stewart before and something didn't work out. I've always thought Stewart would be the best to take over for Dave, except that if Dave wants to do 10 more years or even 5, would Jon want to take over that late?

If CBS had Letterman followed by Stewart (with Lewis Black and Colbert, Bee, Helms, etc doing their bits), they might blow NBC away. They'd certainly win all of the Emmys.

Chalk me up as one of the ones that actually liked The Late, Late Show. Funnier than Letterman and Leno combined.

Unforunately the midget demographic is not large enough to give sufficient ratings.

Didn't Stewart sign a deal recently with Comedy Central that lasts until 2008?

Maybe so, but it's not even half as funny as Late Night w/ Conan.

Yep. Like $5 million a year or so, I think.

They should just run infomercials at that time period. Nothing can compete with Conan.

I think you guys are seriously underestimating the play that CBS will make for Conan.

As much as I love Dave, it's become apparent that he has very few years left in him. He's going to emulate Carson right down to his "always leave them wanting more" approach to retirement. That will leave 11:30 in play, in a relatively short amount of time.

And I think Mr. Letterman would love nothing more than to leave behind a Conan vs. Leno late-night landscape.

Of course, the fact that CBS and Comedy Central are both owned by Viacom could also free up Jon Stewart, as well.

I thought Conan signed a contract with NBC that would have him until 2006.

From what I've been reading, I think you might be right. It seems like Dave may have even let CBS know already that he's not going to go for that many more years. This would be a great opportunity for Conan, because he will never get The Tonight Show, because Leno will work until he drops dead. Conan could have the Late Show and the coveted 11:30 spot within 5 years. I still prefer Jon, but to see Conan step in and be the eventual replacement for Letterman would make me feel great because Conan has said he grew up looking up to Letterman, kind of the way Letterman looked up to Carson. It would be perfect. But what can Moonves do to get Conan? Will there be another late night war over Conan? Would Triumph replace the Late Show models? Does Conan have the balls to upset the people at NBC who gave him his job and Jay Leno for a once in a lifetime opportunity? This is getting fun.

word

I'm surprised Kilborn would leave since it is high paying and a good gig. It's not like he has a ton of experience writing or producing (although producing is a pretty general term)

He's really not well respected in what he does. He never gets Emmy nods and I'm surprised he gets the audience he does. Probably only because he makes a point of trying to book "hot chicks" every night of the week. I would think it would wear on a guy to be the joke of late night, especially with Kimmel on now. Leno is even worse, but he has a huge, mostly old fan base and he gets the best guests day in and day out because they all live there and want to be promoting their movies or cds on the Tonight Show, despite how awful Jay is as the host.

Kilborn is tight with a lot of the Old School/Dodgeball/Starsky & Hutch guys and he might have some better luck writing with them and making more movies. I'm sure he's met a lot of people at Hef's place, so he will certainly have the chance at doing things right away.

He's so awful at the talk show, why not do the other stuff now and not keep being the worst late night talk show host in most people's eyes?

Mainly cause he gets paid, and paid well. He may suck at it, but as you mentioned, Leno isn' lighting it up any better. Just stick around and Kilborn can be the next Leno. Leaving a guaranteed paycheck for dreams of writing and producing seem pretty far-fetched. He may be well known and have contacts, but he's got no real experience. I just get the feeling he will be begging for a job in a few years (although there's always Sportscasting)

You may be right, but Wilson, Stiller, and Vaugh seem to find ways to always take care of their buddies. He might as well try, he's made a lot of money, and he can probably coast for a long time playing around with "producing" and "acting" and writing. He actually might have some talent for writing, so no quotes for that. Again, he can always fall back on Sportscenter if he runs out of money. I wish that I had this guy's choices, especially since I can't seem to find anything he does anything but obnoxious.

Kilborn out? Hello insomnia!

My impression was always that Kilborn was the Maxim Magazine of the talk shows. I never gave the show much of a chance though becuse it was up against Conan.

I'm surprised CBS even offered him another deal since he's started losing in the ratings to Kimmel. It looks like Kimmel might be sticking around, which is good.

Why Oh Why was I so naive enough when I opened this thread that all of the Conan nerds wouldn't be bashing Kilborn? He's not as terrible as you fanboys are boasting. But than again being a Cub fan I naturally think the Cardinals suck because of our natural rivalry. (even though in real life they are one of the best teams this year) What did he have, like a 35%-39% ratings increase. And I especially love the frat boy jab, way to let everyone know your true geekdom.

Besides that asinine generalization, why do people hate him so much? my only guess is because of his arrogant sense of humor, which he definately had on his ESPN days, which of course everyone here is lauding him for. So i really don't get it. Or maybe it is because of all the beautiful women he has as guests. what's wrong with that? jealousy? Point is quite a few people find him funny, i mean would you rather have Tom Snyder back?

Relax, G.

I loved Kilborn on Sportscenter and The Daily Show. I love Conan, too.

I just thought Kilborn's talk show always was lame. Lame guests, lame writing, even a lame set. I dont' know if this was Craig's fault, but I could never get through an entire episode. He was also was often kind of a dick to his guests which is a turn off for me. I'm glad he's persuing other ventures.

Maybe because it's true? Kilborn is just too smug and takes himself too seriously. The times I've watched it, he seems to think he's a comedic genius. He's not. Conan has the ability to laugh at himself, and to not take himself so seriously.

I hope Conan doesn't go anywhere, but I will follow him where ever he goes.

I think Kilborn's show was ok. He did good interviews, or maybe I just thought so because he always seemed to be interviewing a hot chick in a low cut top.

Still I rarely watched except when flipping around during Conan commercials.

Thank you! Bring back Tom Snyder, assuming he's still alive.

Conan has said on Late Night with Bob Costas that he want's the 11:30 slot and he surely wasn't needing to stay at NBC.

Hmm. I don't know if the show has been getting better or if I've just finally gotten used to it, but I've started enjoying it recently.

He was a strange choice for talk show host because even on The Daily Show he was bad at interviews. 5 Questions was a perfect crutch for him & it's still often my favorite part of the current show. He was watchable on The Daily Show because he was good at being a self-important anchorman who could toss off snarky comments & half an hour wasn't too much to get sick of him. I hated The Late Late Show when it started because it was just Craig & he didn't seem at all interested in entertaining people or talking to his guests. It was just a pointless waste of time for everyone. No band. No sidekick. Not even an announcer. It was a vacuum show. I hated when he was doing the announcing himself. I couldn't change the channel fast enough. It was a really good move putting the producer & some of the writers on screen. They're not necessarily hilarious, but can be entertaining & it humanizes the show.

I've been liking the laid back style lately. There have been some good moments. The taped piece talking to the Morrissey fans in line was hilarious. Carl Reiner's recent guest spot as the asexual father was the funniest he's been in 20 years.

Conan's good, but I've gotten kind of tired of him. He can be as annoyingly eager to please as Leno - always jumping around & being an idiot - or making the guest repeat something said because he thinks it should get a bigger reaction. He steers the conversations to himself over & over again. I'm really sick of hearing about his big Irish-Catholic family & need for attention. He's always going on about that stuff.

& a problem I have with most talk shows these days- the overuse of announcers. Bill Wendell was great & used just enough. Don Pardo is great. You never see him. I'd be really happy to never see Late Show's Alan or Late Night's Joel ever again. They don't make me laugh. They frighten me.

Agreed. 100%. :up: Proven by the fact that he is leaving to try writing and producing.

I'm not a Conan fanboy, I don't like him either. But watching Kilborn was kind of like fingernails on a chalkboard. He is/was too into himself. Also, he was always drooling all over his female guests like he was god's gift to women. Sad really. Good riddance.

I heard from a friend who heard from a friend who heard from a friend who the replacement was gonna be.....


http://www.ryanseacrest.com/splash-ryan4_r2_c1.jpg