Darknite39

I'm listening to Stern right now. Disappointing.

wirefan

And this is the massive hole in the "I'm just looking out for my peeps" argument. Are we to believe that sometime after he agreed to leave back in 2004 that he had an epiphany and discovered a devotion to his crew?

The other consideration is his "people" had 5 years to plan for their next job, had he just retired as planned. Leno makes it sound like when he took the 10pm show it was to save these people who were going to be out on the street and he would have been leaving them in the lurch had he not taken the job....

Chew

Leno paid his staff too.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...writing-staff/

JasonF

If it's not embedded, it doesn't count!

(Sorry Darknite. Somehow I missed your post.)

Darknite39

If you want to make up for my laziness, no skin off my back!

Drexl

True, but a lot has changed since then. When those shows started, cable was much weaker, few people surfed the internet, and video games were largely viewed as kids' toys rather than the mainstream form of entertainment they are today. If we wanted to watch a movie at home, we had to get off our butts and go to a video store.

With all the competition, it seems like they're quicker to pull the plug now. If this had happened 15-20 years ago, they may have given Conan more time.

Hokeyboy

He sure did... AFTER he was shamed publicly about NOT paying his staff.

Double_Oh_7

Leno was number one a long time before the network's fortunes fell. He was given the opportunity by the dominant number one network to slowly build a large core audience, something Coco has been denied. Let's see if that audience comes back after Leno's prime time disaster and current controversy.

Jackskeleton

Ha. Yup. And remember how they got laid off and weren't promised to be asked back?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3034279620071201

Yup. Leno's an asshole.

Chew

The only point I'm trying to make here is that everybody keeps talking in absolutes against Leno: eg "Conan O'Brien was the ONLY late night talent" to pay his staff.

Well, no he wasn't. How it occurred, why it occurred, or what happened afterwards is not something I'm defending.

Rypro 525

Hello, i'm Conan O'Brien and I'm 3 days away from the biggest drinking binge in history

TheNightFlier

They didn't say anything about Spanish

Rypro 525

wow he's talking about the gang tour in LA thats also mentioned in the otter forum

My Other Self

Well, it was national news.

ScissorPuppy

So if Conan is leaving as of Friday, what is the deal for the tonight show until the Olympics? Guest hosts? Reruns? Or godforbid Leno at 10 AND 11:35?

Rypro 525

one of his plans for next week "Move over to Fox......MEGAN FOX"

Darknite39

I heard reruns of Leno, but I'm not sure how that would go down. Which show would they pick from?

I think they should rebroadcast some Carson-era shows just for the hell of it, but they can't do that because it would further reveal how much of a hack Leno is.

stingermck

Oh boy....

Rypro 525

ITS NORM!!!
and hes got a gift basket

TheNightFlier

Norm MacDonald is great

Fist of Doom

Man, Letterman is really relishing this. He's letting out all of his pent-up pissitude he had for Jay.

Renee

That Norm bit was absolute perfection! I loved the genuine laughter from Conan that he just couldn't control.

The Tonight Show has been so funny since Conan took on his "Fuck it- what can they do to me?" attitude. That's just gonna make it all the more depressing when he's off the air soon.

Long live the King!

Count Dooku

All the debate about the importance of the lead-in that a network's prime-time programming provides for its late night show is a red herring argument.

Why does someone purchase a particular car?
Price? Reliability? Appearance?
Probably a combination of all those factors, and some others as well.
Which is the most important factor? It depends on the individual.

Jay Leno's Tonight Show was the most popular late night show for over a decade. It was the most popular when NBC was #1 in prime-time, and it was the most popular when NBC was #3 (or #4).

Does this prove that lead-in is unimportant? No.

It demonstrates that people liked Jay Leno.
Surprise! Jay Leno is popular with the mainstream audience.
People who watched CBS's popular prime-time shows changed the channel and watched Leno.

The first 25 minutes of every late night show is all about the host.
People know this and they choose to watch the show with the host they like the most.
No one is too lazy to change the channel when there is something or someone they prefer to watch on another channel.

BUT... believe it or not, some people don't have a preference.
And it is for those (potential) viewers that the lead-in is important.

Last night watching HIMYM and Big Bang (on CBS) I saw at least three commercials for Letterman previewing what he was going to talk about and who he would be talking to.
Since I didn't watch NBC or ABC, I didn't see any commercials enticing me to watch Conan or Kimmel.

Lead-in is all about potential. It is about at least creating the possibilty that a network's commercials will convince viewers to watch that network's late night show.

A perfect example of how NBC's prime-time failings and the existence of The Jay Leno Show fucked Conan occurred last week.

Sandra Bullock was out making an "I'm just pimpin' for an Oscar" appearance and she went on Leno. If Leno's show didn't exist then she would have been on Conan. If NBC had any prime-time viewers, those viewers would have seen commercials promoting Bullock's Tonight Show interview. And maybe some of those people would have stayed tuned for Conan because Sandra Bullock is a popular movie star.

That's how lead-in can positively effect the ratings. Most of the viewers are going to be loyal fans of the host. But if you can convince just 10% of your prime-time audience to stay tuned to see a particular guest that can increase your late night audience by 25%.

whotony

Letterman did a clip of all the bits Leno stole from him and Stern.

Rypro 525

http://tv.gawker.com/5452391/david-l...&autoplay=true
theres the clip too
also that link has Leno's shots, which actually seem quite low