The latest late night television rumor has been that The Jay Leno Show is finally, mercifully, dead.If you ask me, it's about four months too late. From its inception, Leno's show was just a stale rehash of what he did on The Tonight Show, which mostly benefited from the fact that Leno was against Letterman. I've always liked Letterman more, but I realize his kind-of-wacky behavior rubbed audiences the wrong way, as well as guests, who normally preferred the canned bits and skits they could do on Leno's show. Letterman will always be cooler than Leno, who gets credit for being workmanlike but unremarkable, at least to me. The contrast between the two allowed for better ratings for both of them.
With Leno's 10 p.m. show getting sacked, the loser in all of this seems to be Conan. Contractually, I believe he has to be the host of The Tonight Show for a certain period of time, which means NBC will be doing some bizarre shell game where they push Conan's show back 30 minutes and run Leno at 11:30 for 30 minutes. I don't think this has the slightest chance at all of working, as NBC doesn't seem to realize that Leno isn't really a talent worth keeping. Conan's ratings have sucked because Leno has sucked. As proof, I'd offer the evidence that Rhode Island's flagship news station, WJAR-10, slipped out of first in the local ratings for the first time in forever this past year, probably because of how weak a lead-in Leno is.
It wouldn't surprise me if Conan's lawyers began looking for ways to break his contract the second NBC came to him with this wacky plan, and it also wouldn't surprise me if he bolted the second his contract expired if he can't break it beforehand. While CBS is seemingly set, ABC might want to make a big splash and go after Conan. Personally, I'd love to see Jimmy Kimmel get a shot at 11:30, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards with the recent reemergence of Nightline.
As far as what happens to the other NBC performers, does anyone care? I don't mind Jimmy Fallon - his show is surprisingly watchable, between The Roots band and odd, quirky bits like "Guess That Carpet Sample." However, he's not unquestionably great, and I haven't seen a ton of growth from him. If Leno does move back to 11:30, it definitely seems like the end of Carson Daly's miserable show, which is one of the few positive side effects of such a movie.
The picture of Conan with his monkey is from this site.
I never watched Leno. I always watched either Conan or Letterman.
ReplyDeleteIt might have worked out differently for NBC if the "Jay Leno Show" was anything besides exactly what he was doing before except at a different time slot (oh ok he did lose his desk).
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think Conan is that funny. I know, I know you hate me for saying that but I think he is more of an acquired taste. As for Letterman, I think he's generally funnier than Leno but a different kind of humor as you said. Like if I'm in a bad mood, I'd rather watch Letterman. I like his top 10 lists and I don't care who he has sex with in his office staff. He could be a regular Tiger Woods and it wouldn't make any difference to me!
Ah, M.P. Smith! I agree with you about the format of the show - Even if they had tried something wacky like a sketch comedy show or improv, I think that would have been more compelling, even if it failed.
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with your take on Conan, actually. He is definitely an acquired taste, and some of his stuff, like his whining, can get old quickly.
I had to watch me some Conan and Fallon last night, if this is one of the last nights of NBC Late Night as we know it. His interview with the guy who plays Chuck was hilarious when attempting to describe Xbox Live vernacular in Laymen's terms.
ReplyDeleteI only caught a few episodes of Conan since he moved to the Tonight Show slot, but I do not notice much of a change in his demeanor in his earlier time slot. I am all for Conan though, screw NBC's new proposal for him.
I ended up watching most of the NBC late night block. Something about Fallon is clicking for me, which shouldn't because he does not seem quite sure of himself throughout the show, but his passion and heart is through the roof. The guy was literally geeking out for Ringo, and it was awesome.
I have not caught much Last Call before, other than a couple of brief clips in the past, but I did enjoy its segment where Carson interviewed Bill Simmons, whose book they reference on the show "The Book of Basketball" I coincidentally purchased recently at our local bookstore.
Crap, did not intend for this post to drag forever. Later!
haha, No problem, Gruel. I liked your take on things.
ReplyDeleteFallon is strangely decent in his role. On paper, it shouldn't work at all, but then again, Conan was an even less heralded host when he started.