[web01]

Jay is a complete douche.
It will good to see him kicked from the tonight show he doesn't have long left.
The pay cut was most likely a ploy to get him to leave

[Bgamer90]

It's funny since about 2 years ago I was reading an article stating that the average age of the people who watch Leno and Letterman keep on going up.

If I remember correctly, the average viewer age for both shows is over 50. That isn't good for most advertisers since advertisers market their products to a young demographic.

Due to that, back then (in 2009), I had a feeling that something was going to happen to either Leno or Letterman (or both) before 2015. This news doesn't come to a surprise to me at all. It will be interesting to see what else happens from here on out.

...And I expect Letterman to retire very soon. He's getting old and the average viewer age of his show just keeps on going up.

[FyreWulff]

Funny how Leno did less sleazy/a-hole stuff during than the Leno/Conan thing than Conan and the network did, but because Conan was younger and had a couple stupid memes, he came out smelling like a rose. Both guys acted petty in the situation, in different ways, but Leno was the guy who made all the changes, and ultimately did what was asked of him. Conan diva'ed out for nearly the entire process.

Quick summary:

NBC has two ratings-heavy hosts. Carson and Letterman.

Carson wants to retire on the top, selects Letterman that follows him as his successor.

Leno, who is a stand up comedian and also is a corporate stooge and has managed to not massively bleed viewers when he hosts on Fridays, gets the job instead. NBC's thinking here is: Both of these guys get ratings, let's keep BOTH of them, and leads on Letterman thinking he's just going to stay put after he's been promised a job of working the Tonight Show, which is basically an institution of television. Letterman leaves for CBS in a competing time slot after he's been burned by the stupid management.


Fast forward years later, Leno has Conan following his show. Conan is promised the Tonight Show, and Leno makes a big deal out of how he's going to step down and not repeat the last incident again. Conan finally takes over, Leno can retire at the top and drive his cars until he dies.

However, Leno insists on hanging around in the lobby downstairs (and remember, he's a corporate stooge) so NBC gives him a show BEFORE Conan's Tonight Show. The Tonight Show (and Late Show, and everyone else) depends on their lead in. Leno's show starts tanking, but Leno refuses to budge and is told his show will be cancelled.

Around this time the Tonight Show's ratings start dropping, but that's expected as the same happened when Leno took over from Carson. NBC panics and then offers Leno to move his show to the Tonight Show's slot. Leno's show will now be the Tonight Show in everything but name only, and Conan's Tonight Show will be pushed out of the slot it has held for decades and essentially will be a more expensive Late Night. Leno is an idiot and actually accepts this offer, putting himself over the institution that is the Tonight Show because he'd rather stay with NBC where he's buddy buddy with the higher ups rather than walk out the door and get a show on ANY network of his choosing for the same amount of money. As Letterman puts it, "go get a show with ABC or Fox and make NBC eat their words".

Conan, after having already transplanted his staff across the country, and pissed off that he has essentially already lost the Tonight Show, opts to not let the Tonight Show be demoted (because the NBC higher ups are stupid enough to do it) and leaves with his large amount of exit money. Conan accepting the Tonight Show being moved also pushes Fallon out into later in the night, and Carson's show basically won't exist anymore in the ratings.

Conan was being a diva a lot, but yeah, I'd be too if I was promised the fucking Tonight Show and then the previous host and administration wanted takebacks, pushing the wording and spirit of the contract.

Fast forward to today, Conan and NBC are on speaking terms again because everyone that was involved in both the botched host handoffs no longer works at NBC because Comcast replaced them all. Because they were fucking idiots. They lost TWO highly rated hosts in a row from trying to hand off the Tonight Show.

Leno is a bland comedian who used to be funny but just turned the switch off and went into autopilot after he got the Tonight Show gig. He's safe and predictable while having one hell of a dark side that only comes out when his ego is at stake. The only way he's going to leave is either him dying or the Tonight Show being cancelled outright.

[mj1108]

So what made CBS so strong in recent years? Just the quality of shows? I lost track of TV for the past few years, ever since NBC started its fall.

CBS has gotten especially strong in primetime over the last several years, while NBC has gone downhill.

[DR2K]

So ratings are good, and it's bringing them money. . . so they lay people off. Gotta love capitolism.

[jamesinclair]

. Conan accepting the Tonight Show being moved also pushes Fallon out into later in the night, and Carson's show basically won't exist anymore in the ratings..

But Conan had no problem pushing George Lopez an hour later....causing that show to get cancelled. Woops.

[Pudding Tame]

Can you explain this? I remember seeing him handing out donuts or something on the picket lines so I assumed he supported them.

This article explains it pretty well.
Leno to pay 'Tonight' staff after all

I just mean that they can't expect the ratings they used to get and they can't rely on it for money anymore.

The ad money made during the news goes to affiliates not the network, which is why strong lead-ins and lead-outs are important for them as ratings set ad prices. BTW The Jay Leno Show at it's lowest actually underperformed the Black Donnellys in every ratings category.

The whole Jay Leno Show/Local News/Tonight Show line-up created a perfect storm of suck for the local affiliates.

[Bgamer90]

Quick summary: NBC has two ratings-heavy hosts. Carson and Letterman. Carson wants to retire on the top, selects Letterman that follows him as his successor. Leno, who is a stand up comedian and also is a corporate stooge and has managed to not massively bleed viewers when he hosts on Fridays, gets the job instead. NBC's thinking here is: Both of these guys get ratings, let's keep BOTH of them, and leads on Letterman thinking he's just going to stay put after he's been promised a job of working the Tonight Show, which is basically an institution of television. Letterman leaves for CBS in a competing time slot after he's been burned by the stupid management. Fast forward years later, Leno has Conan following his show. Conan is promised the Tonight Show, and Leno makes a big deal out of how he's going to step down and not repeat the last incident again. Conan finally takes over, Leno can retire at the top and drive his cars until he dies. However, Leno insists on hanging around in the lobby downstairs (and remember, he's a corporate stooge) so NBC gives him a show BEFORE Conan's Tonight Show. The Tonight Show (and Late Show, and everyone else) depends on their lead in. Leno's show starts tanking, but Leno refuses to budge and is told his show will be cancelled. Around this time the Tonight Show's ratings start dropping, but that's expected as the same happened when Leno took over from Carson. NBC panics and then offers Leno to move his show to the Tonight Show's slot. Leno's show will now be the Tonight Show in everything but name only, and Conan's Tonight Show will be pushed out of the slot it has held for decades and essentially will be a more expensive Late Night. Leno is an idiot and actually accepts this offer, putting himself over the institution that is the Tonight Show because he'd rather stay with NBC where he's buddy buddy with the higher ups rather than walk out the door and get a show on ANY network of his choosing for the same amount of money. As Letterman puts it, "go get a show with ABC or Fox and make NBC eat their words". Conan, after having already transplanted his staff across the country, and pissed off that he has essentially already lost the Tonight Show, opts to not let the Tonight Show be demoted (because the NBC higher ups are stupid enough to do it) and leaves with his large amount of exit money. Conan accepting the Tonight Show being moved also pushes Fallon out into later in the night, and Carson's show basically won't exist anymore in the ratings. Conan was being a diva a lot, but yeah, I'd be too if I was promised the fucking Tonight Show and then the previous host and administration wanted takebacks, pushing the wording and spirit of the contract. Fast forward to today, Conan and NBC are on speaking terms again because everyone that was involved in both the botched host handoffs no longer works at NBC because Comcast replaced them all. Because they were fucking idiots. They lost TWO highly rated hosts in a row from trying to hand off the Tonight Show. Leno is a bland comedian who used to be funny but just turned the switch off and went into autopilot after he got the Tonight Show gig. He's safe and predictable while having one hell of a dark side that only comes out when his ego is at stake.

Pretty much sums it up.

I also recommend this:



It's a pretty good movie that talks about everything that happened at NBC after Johnny Carson stepped down.

[Bgamer90]

But Conan had no problem pushing George Lopez an hour later....causing that show to get cancelled. Woops.

Wrong.

Conan talked to Lopez before doing it. He wanted Lopez to be fine with it before he did it.

Lopez thought Conan would be a good lead in to his show so he accepted.


On the flip side, Leno didn't talk to Conan at all. Conan found out about everything at pretty much the last minute.

[GraveRobberX]

But Conan had no problem pushing George Lopez an hour later....causing that show to get cancelled. Woops.

Read this please:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug...lopez-20110811

Despite A-list guests, an informal party atmosphere and Lopez's irreverent Latino-flavored comic persona, the show still struggled to find an audience after a high-profile launch. "Lopez Tonight" had dropped 40% in viewership in its second season, and was averaging 546,000 viewers nightly. O'Brien's 11 p.m. show, by contrast, has been attracting a nightly average of more than 1.1 million viewers. Insiders speculate that Lopez's show might have been yanked sooner if O'Brien had not come to the network.

Conan isn't a vengeful fuck like Leno

Leno is greedy to the core, he may show you the d'aww I <3 my staff and their kids, but wouldn't railroad or throw them under the bus to stay on top

Howard Stern hates him for stealing away stuttering john not for losing an employee, but just slipped the rug under him, not even a call of "Hey Howard, mind if I talk to John about a job"
Also the scab moments during the strikes didn't help him

Conan deserves the Tonight Show, he put in in his dues
Conan I hope gets the Late Show after Letterman goes and comes back to NYC, and be the true Conan he is

You can tell LA took out his comedic soul

[FyreWulff]

But Conan had no problem pushing George Lopez an hour later....causing that show to get cancelled. Woops.

Lopez was the one that called Conan and told him to take TBS's offer. Conan originally declined TBS's offer because it would bump Lopez's show.

[DonMigs85]

Wrong. Conan talked to Lopez before doing it. He wanted Lopez to be fine with it before he did it. Lopez thought Conan would be a good lead in to his show so he accepted. On the flip side, Leno didn't talk to Conan at all. Conan found out about everything at pretty much the last minute.

I also wonder what exacty made Lopez hate Leno so much, since they seemed so buddy-buddy in the past.

[GraveRobberX]

I also wonder what exacty made Lopez hate Leno so much, since they seemed so buddy-buddy in the past.

Leno burns bridges with a lot of guests

Doesn't he also steal material from comedians, which is like the most blasphemous thing you can do
Something of that sort, always picks up on stuff others and remixes it into his own and tries to get away with it

Lopez commenting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnmYPKxzjaE

[Bgamer90]

Leno burns bridges with a lot of guests Doesn't he also steal material from comedians, which is like the most blasphemous thing you can do

Yeah, from what I read that seems to be the case.

Rosie O'Donnell is a good example. She doesn't like Leno at all. She was very vocal about her past dealings with Leno when the situation at NBC with Leno/Conan was all over national news.

[Shaneus]

Fuck you Conan. You did this.

Bahahaha. Comedy gold.

Unlike Leno.

Fast forward to today, Conan and NBC are on speaking terms again because everyone that was involved in both the botched host handoffs no longer works at NBC because Comcast replaced them all. Because they were fucking idiots. They lost TWO highly rated hosts in a row from trying to hand off the Tonight Show.

Great summary, but can you elaborate on Conan and NBC being on speaking terms again? I haven't seen any mention of either in the same story for a LONG time.

Also, any chance Conan's going to mention this in a monologue? I know he's been relatively classy about the whole thing since it happened, but I'd wager that the time period for his silence regarding the issue has long gone (I think it went right when that 60 Minutes interview aired?).

Anyway, those who haven't seen Conan for a while would be doing well to give it another shot today. It's not up to Late Night standards (yet) but it's getting consistently better every week. Easily better than his Tonight Show stint, at least.

[FyreWulff]

Bahahaha. Comedy gold. Unlike Leno. Great summary, but can you elaborate on Conan and NBC being on speaking terms again? I haven't seen any mention of either in the same story for a LONG time. Also, any chance Conan's going to mention this in a monologue? I know he's been relatively classy about the whole thing since it happened, but I'd wager that the time period for his silence regarding the issue has long gone (I think it went right when that 60 Minutes interview aired?). Anyway, those who haven't seen Conan for a while would be doing well to give it another shot today. It's not up to Late Night standards (yet) but it's getting consistently better every week. Easily better than his Tonight Show stint, at least.

He's made an appearance on Fallon and he mentioned that everyone from the transition was gone now when he was on Letterman a month or so ago.

[GraveRobberX]

I think Leno also hates that he doesn't get first dibs on guests

If they are in the news or popular at the moment, Leno 1st, if not, hell to pay

Also most comedians on Late Night have there go to guys, their vetted/vouched guys/girls, come on regularly and don't do the other talk shows

Case in point like a Bill Maher (he finally did Conan a few weeks back, first time too) or Terry Bradshaw are Leno's regular guys
Conan has/had Norm and others that come on his regularly but get to go do other late night shows

Leno hates it when his guys go to the other side, like they screwed him over somehow
I think for Rosie it was when she got her own show, and now was direct competition, even though Day/Night circuit is different, Leno just hates to be upstaged

Great summary, but can you elaborate on Conan and NBC being on speaking terms again? I haven't seen any mention of either in the same story for a LONG time. Also, any chance Conan's going to mention this in a monologue? I know he's been relatively classy about the whole thing since it happened, but I'd wager that the time period for his silence regarding the issue has long gone (I think it went right when that 60 Minutes interview aired?)

Conan's show is @ the WB lot, a lot of NBC shows get shot there

Have you see the absurd amount of NBC TV show guests that show up on Conan
Every other week we would get at least 3+ from their network to drop by
Mostly The Office/Park n Rec/Community/30 Rock

Conan pimped the shit out of the Olympics

A man scorned by NBC, almost doing a better job than Leno on a different network must be in good standings

I just want the more off the cuff Coco, when he tries to Leno-fy himself, he just sucks ass

Conan is a real fucking classy guy
I met him while he was walking down 5th Avenue next to Central Park, going to work
Said Hello to him, came over, got a hug and handshake from him, while he was walking away, I said great job in San Fransisco (he was there the whole week before), nodded, and did the "be cool my baby" schtick

He's done a few jabs at Leno/NBC, but nothing vulgar or try burn bridges

One time they were fucking with camera views were the face would get distorted, big, small, merged, Conan stood close to the camera and got a big chin and did the Leno "meh laugh" mannerism, it was awesome, the crowd got it instantly

[Bgamer90]

Howard Stern and Rosie O'Donnell talking about Jay Leno

[GCX]

Conan's been getting better this year but I wish he wouldn't be so keen on the traditional late night format. I'm sure the audience wouldn't freak out if things happened in a different order every now and then.

[Shaneus]

He's made an appearance on Fallon and he mentioned that everyone from the transition was gone now when he was on Letterman a month or so ago.

I think Leno also hates that he doesn't get first dibs on guests If they are in the news or popular at the moment, Leno 1st, if not, hell to pay Also most comedians on Late Night have there go to guys, their vetted/vouched guys/girls, come on regularly and don't do the other talk shows Case in point like a Bill Maher (he finally did Conan a few weeks back, first time too) or Terry Bradshaw are Leno's regular guys Conan has/had Norm and others that come on his regularly but get to go do other late night shows Leno hates it when his guys go to the other side, like they screwed him over somehow I think for Rosie it was when she got her own show, and now was direct competition, even though Day/Night circuit is different, Leno just hates to be upstaged Conan's show is @ the WB lot, a lot of NBC shows get shot there Have you see the absurd amount of NBC TV show guests that show up on Conan Every other week we would get at least 3+ from their network to drop by Mostly The Office/Park n Rec/Community/30 Rock Conan pimped the shit out of the Olympics A man scorned by NBC, almost doing a better job than Leno on a different network must be in good standings I just want the more off the cuff Coco, when he tries to Leno-fy himself, he just sucks ass Conan is a real fucking classy guy I met him while he was walking down 5th Avenue next to Central Park, going to work Said Hello to him, came over, got a hug and handshake from him, while he was walking away, I said great job in San Fransisco (he was there the whole week before), nodded, and did the "be cool my baby" schtick He's done a few jabs at Leno/NBC, but nothing vulgar or try burn bridges One time they were fucking with camera views were the face would get distorted, big, small, merged, Conan stood close to the camera and got a big chin and did the Leno "meh laugh" mannerism, it was awesome, the crowd got it instantly

Cheers guys! I knew most of that stuff already, but hadn't really put the pieces together that any bad blood may or may not still be there... thought you might've been talking about one or two specific events that happened. Either way, it's good to know he's on the right side of almost all (if not every single) networks.

[strafer]

Fuck Leno! Fuck Letterman! Fuck Conan!

Jon Stewart is the king.

[GraveRobberX]

Conan's been getting better and better this year but I wish he wouldn't be so keen on the traditional late night format. I'm sure the audience wouldn't freak out if things happened in a different order every now and then.

Conan falls back on those bad jokes and kills the dead horse too many times

Also know your audience

No one gives a flying fuck about Republicans, or stupid stuff that will not grab attention
Let Leno do those jokes

Go have fun, get the audience involved

The best shit he ever does is off remote stuff

[GraveRobberX]

Fuck Leno! Fuck Letterman! Fuck Conan! Jon Stewart is the king.

Daily Show is completely different from the late night talk show circuit

I love Jon, but the daily show molded him into what he is today, if he was on ABC or some other network, he would've been neutered beyond means
Would've been cancelled 3 times over by now

There's a reason Stewart/Colbert where they are get the most shine, come to the networks, watch them become pussified due to affiliates going the fuck... I get more viewers showing a re-run of Seinfeld than Stewart/Colbert late night talk show

[perfectchaos007]

Howard Stern and Rosie O'Donnell talking about Jay Leno

Interesting stuff. After watching that I was lead to this

Rosie on Craig Ferguson discussing Jay

[J.W.Crazy]

This article explains it pretty well. Leno to pay 'Tonight' staff after all

All that says is that he didn't tell them he'd be paying them until it became apparent that they'd be getting laid off. You made it sound like he let them go without pay.

The ad money made during the news goes to affiliates not the network, which is why strong lead-ins and lead-outs are important for them as ratings set ad prices. BTW The Jay Leno Show at it's lowest actually underperformed the Black Donnellys in every ratings category. The whole Jay Leno Show/Local News/Tonight Show line-up created a perfect storm of suck for the local affiliates.

I understand the affiliates get the money. What I'm saying is they need to stop blaming it on everyone else and accept that local news isn't the money maker it used to be. The Leno/Conan thing was just an excuse for a lot of people to stop watching something they didn't need anymore.

Howard Stern hates him for stealing away stuttering john not for losing an employee, but just slipped the rug under him, not even a call of "Hey Howard, mind if I talk to John about a job" Also the scab moments during the strikes didn't help himl

Stuttering John wasn't offered the job he auditioned for it. It's not like Jay sought him out. According to him Jay even offered to call Howard but he wanted to do it himself. Leno's done some shady stuff (like hiding in the closets to spy on NBC execs) but Howard's just using that as an excuse to hate him.

You can tell LA took out his comedic soul

I don't know if it's that or what but I could tell early on in the Tonight Show run that his view point had shifted. I remember a few specific jokes that just felt off. He was talking about the body scanners at airports and having to go through one when he moved to LA. They showed a picture and it was an X-ray style shot of Conan's head on some big muscular body. On Late Night it would have been his head on an Olive Oyl type body. Then he did the parody of Leno's staff children where they were all supposed to be his kids. He spent the last 17 years calling himself a virgin and now all the sudden he's been sleeping with everyone on staff? On Late Night the kids would have looked like Max.

The documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is really good but as a die hard Late Night fan from back in the Andy Richter days it was strange to see him be so pointlessly mean to people.

[strobogo]

It's really weird to hear other comedians talk about Jay. It's usually 50/50 that they'll say he's a really great guy and very friendly to everyone. The other half says he's completely aloof and disconnected. But everyone agrees he was a great comic in his day (which he was, if you've only seen Jay from the Tonight Show, you need to Youtube him. Especially on Dave's show.). The idea is that he does his stand up and intentionally takes out all the feeling and inflection in his jokes to make sure they'll work for TV. I don't know how true that is, but he was at one point a great comic. His early years as the full host of the show were way different than anything post 1995ish or so.

I have a feeling he's somewhere in the middle, but the stuff with Conan ruined his reputation among a large part of the comedy community. Especially among guys who grew up being influenced by Dave's humor and who have no shot of being on the Tonight Show in the first place. Bigger names seem to not really want to talk about it much. People still hold taking over the show the first time against him. It wasn't all his fault, but it was all shady as fuck. And even though Dave is clearly superior in every way, he really never proved it in the ratings, so maybe NBC was on to something?

I'm amazed at how good Fallon got. He was AWFUL when he started. Really, really bad. I'm amazed he even got the chance to get better. I don't really watch late night TV at all anymore. I used to watch Dave and Conan just about every night when I was in school and all Summer. I came across Craig Ferguson on accident one night and was completely entranced. He's just so different and unique. And weird. His show reminds me of Pee Wee's Playhouse, not just for the puppets, but for the over all tone. He has the most interesting monologues on TV. I should watch them both more often. I was fully on Team CoCo, but I don't think I've seen more than 40 minutes since he moved to TBS. Because fuck TBS. Both TBS and TNT (but especially TBS) have been two of my least favorite networks since getting rid of WCW. TBS has some of the worst original programming I've ever seen.

Still not very interested in Kimmel, but his evisceration of Jay during the Conan debacle was phenomenal.

[Hot Coldman]

How about he does it for free and goes back to shilling Doritos

[dead souls]

Fuck Leno! Fuck Letterman! Fuck Conan! Jon Stewart is the king.

Um, no. The Daily Show has been awful for a few years now.

I watch Colbert Monday-Thursday and Maher on Friday. Nothing else is in late night is worth a watch.

[Live Free or Die]

I like Jay Leno a lot and I love Conan as well. I hope when Leno retires from the Tonight Show he takes his passion for cars and make a show out of it or something. I would love watching something about car restoration etc.

That's would be cool.

[gabbo]

How about he does it for free and goes back to shilling Doritos

Bill Hicks would do back flips in his grave

[Autumn Wind]

When it comes to the Tonight Show, it will always be Johnny Carson's show even though Jay has hosted since 1992. It's a good PR move by Jay though to me both him and Letterman are out of touch. Letterman during the Late Night days gave guys such as Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison their big breaks on network TV. Does he still do that now?

Back to Jay, I still like Headlines and that's probably the only thing I really enjoy. His monologue is okay from time to time though he rarely has any good guests. The Kardashians seem to be frequent guests as well as the people from the Jersey Shore.

He did have Michelle Obama on this week which counts for something but that doesn't happen often enough.

Pardon me for going sort of off topic here as well.

I like Craig Ferguson a lot though am still not quite sold on Fallon just yet unless he has a comedian on or SNL alumni who he can bounce off of.

My top 3 would be Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Craig Ferguson in that order.

To me what is needed on a major network is a show much like Bill Maher or the Daily Show that is infotainment

[shintoki]

I like Jay Leno a lot and I love Conan as well. I hope when Leno retires from the Tonight Show he takes his passion for cars and make a show out of it or something. I would love watching something about car restoration etc.

That was actually one of the ideas being passed around. Leno would do an American Top Gear or something similar when he stepped down. Its one of those ideas that would have been perfect. He'd still have a show, NBC would have new programing, he could exit out gracefully unlike how he came in, Conan would have his show, etc.

[Cake Boss]

Lol Late Night shows becoming irralavent.

[Pudding Tame]

All that says is that he didn't tell them he'd be paying them until it became apparent that they'd be getting laid off. You made it sound like he let them go without pay.

As soon as the Writer's strike looked like it was really going to happen and a production shutdown would occur Conan and Letterman pretty much immediately let their staffs know that they would be OK.

Leno let his staff twist in the wind for weeks after they got a pink slip, anybody who has serious intentions about taking care of their employees does not do that.

It's really weird to hear other comedians talk about Jay. It's usually 50/50 that they'll say he's a really great guy and very friendly to everyone.

Really, pretty much one of the real legit reasons every comedian I've ever heard from hates Leno because he doesn't give back to the Stand-up community. Carson helped out others careers using his position on the Tonight Show. He helped out Letterman, Gary Shandling, Joan Rivers, and especially Jay Leno through giving them exposure and allowing them to guest host. Carson also had thing where if you were an up-and-coming a stand-up on the show, and if he thought you were funny he would allow you to sit on the couch with the other guests. People took note of this and it gave a bump to the careers of people like Jerry Seinfeld and Drew Carry.

With Leno, no one guest hosts and everyone sits on the couch. I can't think of one comic who owes a modicum of their success to Leno.

Conan and Letterman have helped more comedians with their stints on Late Night than Leno ever has during the entirety of his run on the Tonight Show.

[remnant]

I told you. Comcast dont play. They Had to get rid of Jay and get somebody younger quick. But Jay is staying at least a year or so then hes gone. Too much bad blood right now.

Young people don't watch late night crap.

You would think they would learn from Conan.

[WillyFive]

Lol Late Night shows becoming irralavent.

The Johnny Carson formula is getting stale, which is probably a factor as to why younger viewers aren't as interested in the shows like the older generation is; but shows that don't follow that formula (like Daily Show/Colbert and various Youtube/online personalities) are very popular among them.

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Conan wrote Marge vs. The Monorail and Homer Goes To College.

That's all you need to know.

[JDeluis]

I like Jay Leno a lot and I love Conan as well. I hope when Leno retires from the Tonight Show he takes his passion for cars and make a show out of it or something. I would love watching something about car restoration etc.

Start subscribing now buddy!
http://www.youtube.com/user/JayLenosGarage

[Grimm Fandango]

Leno’s new salary is reportedly $27M-$30 million a year.

If this is what's left after a "tremendous" pay cut, no wonder they had to let people go.

[MarauderShields]

Young people don't watch late night crap. You would think they would learn from Conan.

Obviously these shows will become less and less relevant but the only thing they should learn from Conan is that you actually have to give a show a chance. The Conan Tonight Show didnt get it.

[Bgamer90]

Young people don't watch late night crap.

Jimmy Fallon says "hi.".

Fallon does very well in the young demographic.

You would think they would learn from Conan.

Conan also did well in the young demographic so I don't know what you are trying to say.

The Tonight Show's ratings dropped when Conan took it over because a good number of old people didn't like his humor.

[Bgamer90]

The Johnny Carson formula is getting stale, which is probably a factor as to why younger viewers aren't as interested in the shows like the older generation is; but shows that don't follow that formula (like Daily Show/Colbert and various Youtube/online personalities) are very popular among them.

The typical late night format is getting stale which is why many recent talk shows have been switching up the formula and have added more social media bits as well as internet-like humor.

[entrement]

The show makes money. Comcast is just trimming the fat.

[legacyzero]

I'm sad for those that lose their jobs in this though :(

[GK86]

Coco all the way!

Edit- It would be interesting to see who Comcast brings in to replace Fallon, if he goes to TTS.

[Synth_floyd]

I agree that the late night formula is bland and boring. Especially now that there are so many more late night shows in the last decade. Leno, Letterman, Conan, Fallon, Ferguson, Kimmel. It's all the same thing. Open with a topical monologue, do some sketches/bits, interview some celebrities. Zzzz...

[remnant]

Jimmy Fallon says "hi.". Fallon does very well in the young demographic. Conan also did well in the young demographic so I don't know what you are trying to say. The Tonight Show's ratings dropped when Conan took it over because a good number of old people didn't like his humor.

and how well does Fallon's ratings compare to Leno. The guy everyone hates.

He serves a small niche but honestly most young people don't care. There is no allegiance to Johnny Carson and the tonight show.

Case in point Conan's show on TBS isn't that big of a deal anymore and George Lopez show, which was also supposed to be aimed at a younger demo completely died.

[Jason Raize '75 - '04]

"As many as he could"

Can't let the poor man go without his supercar wishlist for the year

[Bgamer90]

and how well does Fallon's ratings compare to Leno. The guy everyone hates.

They don't and never well.

Fallon comes on at a later time. Plus Leno's overall ratings are higher than Fallon's since Leno has so many 50+ year olds watching his show.

He serves a small niche but honestly most young people don't care. There is no allegiance to Johnny Carson and the tonight show.

I wouldn't say Fallon is serving a small niche. His mash-ups and his parodies of songs have gone viral numerous times. People are watching.

It is true though that no show will ever get the viewership of Carson. I mean, since Carson's heyday TV has transformed so much from just 4-5 channels to 100s of channels. On top of that, many people go to the internet to watch shows as well.

Case in point Conan's show on TBS isn't that big of a deal anymore and George Lopez show, which was also supposed to be aimed at a younger demo completely died.

Conan's show on TBS isn't getting as much attention as Conan did on NBC since he's on cable. Basically that simple.

[Wiggler]

People calling Leno a comedian are giving him way too much credit.