Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

He had fun on television on his last show. He did what he said he was going to do.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I think Stern is just ticked because he thought he could have done a better job on the show (which is probably right) and he feels as though everyone should feel about NBC as he does. That doesn't necessarily make him right, but he does make a valid point on the guests. Hanks wasn't great.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I like and agree with this from Time magazine:

"And then, as Conan said, something truly amazing did happen. Conan called onstage Will Ferrell, in bell-bottoms and wig (with cowbell!), to lead a band including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Beck and Ferrell's own pregnant wife—plus Max Weinberg and the crew—in a full version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." And in what must be a first in talk-show-host farewells, Conan—who's wielded an axe numerous times on his shows—played himself off the air by ripping a guitar solo, to a balls-out Southern Rock power ballad about getting out of a relationship with no future.

This wasn't Bette Midler tenderly singing off Johnny Carson, but it was beautiful. It was the raucous, sly and true-to-himself sendoff of a host who—even if he wasn't the right match for Leno loyalists—has a thought-out entertainer's vision and knew exactly what he was doing with his Tonight Show. Conan had a rough ride, but he nailed his Tonight's ending: it was weird, wryly appropriate, classy and straight from the heart.

Just like the show that, let's hope, someone other than NBC will soon get to put on the air."

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

"Freebird" is bastardized a hell of a lot more when the reunited "faux" Skynyrd performs it with Kid Rock. Compared to that, Will Ferrell's version is practically the authentic original!

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I dig that.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I liked the whole show, except for the "Freebird" ending bit. It went on too long and all the performers seemed uncomfortable. Of course, I really dislike Will Ferrell and never found him funny. He's like a little kid who won't leave you alone until you laugh at his stupid antics. I thought he was pretty good in "Stranger than Fiction" though. The Freebird bit might have worked if Ferrell wasn't involved.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

The Conan threads have been long so maybe someone posted these thoughts already:

At the last minute, why didn't Conan agree to do "The Tonight Show" at 12:05 and let Jay have his little thirty minute variety show? Chances are that with all this backlash Jay's show would have gone down in flames. What exactly could he have done in thirty minutes except a monologue, a short skip, and one guest?

Due to age, Letterman and Leno are reaching the end of their years as hosts, Conan could have then had his 11:35 slot back and beat whoever CBS was putting in to replace Letterman.

Was Conan afraid that if his ratings were still low at 12:05, NBC would give him the axe?

Conan could have taken "The Tonight Show" to 12:05, made lots of sarcastic remarks about being "punished" or whatever, then by being a team player could have renegotiated a better contract for himself and his staff so that when Jay exited Conan would be quite the power player to contend with.

For all Conan's "respect for "The Tonight Show" name and franchise," Leno's 11:35 show was NOT going to be the "The Tonight Show." It was just going to be another version of the weak-ass "Jay Leno Show" at a later hour.

I think that Conan was too hasty in declaring that he would not follow Leno again. Just my opinion, but by continuing to battle Leno at his new 12:05 time slot and making Leno look like a spoiled brat may have won him the war. NBC has flip-flopped so much on this, who's to say that it wouldn't pay off Leno and can his ass seven months down the line for his 11:35 show?

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I don't know about that, but I assume Conan recognizes that the executives who made the decisions over the past month are not necessarily going to be the same people running the company down the road. If I were him, I wouldn't want to work for a Zucker-led NBC ... but five years from now, who knows if Zucker will still be running things at NBC. Or, for that matter, whether the guys who hire Conan at Fox and treat him well in 2010 -- assuming that happens -- will still be calling the shots at Fox.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

"The ShoSho with CoCo."

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Because it would have been a demotion. Conan would have been following Jay again, just a half-hour earlier. Time slots are important - there's a reason Jay and Dave are considered the late-night kings and Jimmy Kimmel isn't. And it's doubtful that Jay's half-hour show would go down in flames.

Who knows how long they'll keep working. Conan already waited five years for an 11:35 show, obviously he doesn't want to wait any longer.

I doubt that had anything to do with his decision.

I don't think Conan wants to have a show whose premise is based on bashing NBC. And when Jay exits, he'll still be a power player with (the new) NBC management.

The Tonight Show follows the local news, has for decades. That half-hour difference is important. NBC wanted to demote Conan after promising him the flagship late-night franchise. Conan played second fiddle to Jay for years and doesn't want to go backwards in his career.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Conan didn't decide "at the last minute" about the move. He decided almost immediately after the news of the deal leaked in the trades, which is before NBC actually asked him (they made a deal with Leno first).

As Fist of Doom pointed out, it was a demotion to Conan, regardless. Also, who's to say Jay's show would've stayed at only a half-hour long? If Conan agreed to the first bump, NBC could've came back 6 months later and say, "you know, Jay is doing so good in his timeslot we're going to give him another half hour and bump you back to 12:35." Then he'd be stuck back at his old time slot. Not to mention that Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly would've been demoted by the move, due to no fault of their own.

Leno said that we was nearing retirement age 5 years ago. We know how that turned out. At his point, I don't think anyone would want to base their career's future on when Leno will quit.

Or, he could quit NBC and get an 11:30 slot in 7 months, instead of waiting for a current host to retire and hope that he's picked as a replacement again.

Leno has an iron-clad contract, reportedly. For NBC, it was cheaper to let go of Conan than it would be to get rid of Leno. Also, NBC hasn't flip-flopped. Every scenario they provided had Leno before Conan. The whole "Jay Leno Show" fiasco was because NBC wanted to keep Leno even after they had promised Conan the Tonight Show. NBC isn't going to let go of Leno until Leno wants to retire.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I meant to imply that Conan could have let this drama continue to unfurl for a few more weeks as his fan base and the other late night school hosts continued to bash Leno and THEN decide at the last minute to come in and do NBC a favor by accepting the time change and keeping "The Tonight Show." That would have surely taken a lot of wind out of Leno's sails. (Maybe enough people would have seen Leno for what he really is and been turned off by his unprofessional style?)

But thank you, Jay G. and Fist of Doom. You gave some very excellent answers which made me see things from a different point of view.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I doubt NBC would've let Conan waffle on the decision for that long; they needed a fix fast to appease the affiliates. And if Conan had initially agreed to the move and then reneged, then he would look like the bad guy (similar to how Jay initially agreed to retiring, then reneged years later).

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

The Tonight Show has had the timeslot following news at 11:30-11:35 for over 50 years. It would cease being The Tonight Show. And Conan didn't have weeks to think about it. Once NBC pulled the plug on Leno's show, the wheels were spinning quickly for a resolve before the Winter Olympics.

NBC was willing to fuck over 3 hosts (Conan, Jimmy Fallon, and Carson Daly) with the time shift only to accomodate Leno's huge contract garauntee. I think by now, as seen by all the bashing and negative talk, the wind is most certainly out of Leno's sails. Whether his audience will stick with him past his first week back will remain to be seen.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Looking back, the most irritating thing about this entire mess is that the men who came up with the plan to dump Leno 5 years ago and move Conan, then keep Leno but move him to 10pm, then move him back to 11:30 just to avoid a ridiculous cash payout STILL HAVE JOBS. I mean, how badly can you bungle a situation with millions and millions of dollars on the line and yet still get high fives in the hallway while you light your cigars with hundred dollar bills?

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Ask the banking industry.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

we both know that's not true

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

He was never relevant? ;)

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

And the sadder thing is that this situation isn't their only mess. These same executives passed on Lost, are losing millions in the upcoming Winter Olympics, passed on Monk and Psych, cancelled Southland, only to see it succeed later on TNT, and essentially killed their 10 PM primetime lineup. How the hell do these people still have jobs?!?

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Well to be fair, Monk and Psych are on USA... which is owned by NBC/Universal.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Close. He wanted more song parodies -- probably my least favorite part Stern's show.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I find myself rewatching Free Bird a few times a day. I'm so happy the show ended on such a high note, when things could have turned out so differently (e.g., if Stern had come on the show--which I'll admit sounded like a good idea last week).

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Yes, but the ad money goes to the USA Network and doesn't reflect on the NBC network productivity.

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

I personally wish Conan had taken that 12:05am start time offer. It's far better than him being off-the-air as he is now (IMO). Plus Jay is 60 y.o. this year, so I think he probably will retire in the next 6 years. After that, Conan could've moved back to the 11:35pm start time again.

And it would NOT have been the first time The Tonight Show had it's start time moved later into the night. In the '60s (and maybe through the early-'70s), The Tonight Show started at 11:15pm every night because the 11 o'clock local news was only 15 minutes long back then. When local news expanded to 30 minutes, then the start of The Tonight Show was moved back 15 minutes to 11:30pm. And later, it was moved back 5 more minutes to 11:35pm to allow more commercials. So a move back of the show's start time would not have been an unprecedented event (although, if it had happened, it would've been the first time with an after midnight start, at least in some timezones).

Re: NBC: let's see how low we can go (Conan thread, part 2)
 

Should I buy a table to go and heckle the guy?

:lol: