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[See You Next Wednesday]

Leno fucked more people than just Conan and his crew. He fucked everyone who had a TV show on NBC at 10. Now, knowing the network, those shows would've probably been canned anyway due to ratings, but he's still directly responsible for putting hundreds of people out of work. Fuck Leno.

Yes, him stealing ratings from other shows at 10pm & the possible shows that could have been on instead of his show.
He is becoming a bigger douche bag by the minute.

 

[D23]

i miss watching conan

 

[RayStorm]

Leno fucked more people than just Conan and his crew. He fucked everyone who had a TV show on NBC at 10. Now, knowing the network, those shows would've probably been canned anyway due to ratings, but he's still directly responsible for putting hundreds of people out of work. Fuck Leno.

I will pretend that you were serious here and respond in kind.
As long as Jay Leno is not the program planner at NBC he hardly can be faulted for taking an offer that only the strongest willed could have denied.
NBC is directly responsible for canceling shows at 10. NBC is at fault for offering Leno that show.
NBC is ultimately at fault, no matter what Leno may have said or done behind the scenes.

 

[Deku]

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think NBC is probably more to blame here than Leno, especially when you go back to the original decision to force Leno to 'retire.' Even looking at that video of Leno where he claims he doesn't want it to turn into something ugly you can tell he wasn't even remotely happy, and I don't really blame him. I also doubt he was aiming to receive all this bad press, but any dumbass should have been able to see it coming (and he doesn't appear to be a dumbass).

Basically, I think they were both fucked over, and this series of events doesn't really benefit anyone in particular. The fact that Leno is an unfunny slimeball in general makes him an easy target for ire, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if Conan sees it that way. His anger seems to have been mostly directed at NBC, not Leno, and I can't really see why he would aim it at his bosses instead of his 'coworker' if that wasn't who he was really angry at.

NBC is to blame, but Leno being passive in all this, and apparently, not having a word with Conan when he probably was the 1st person NBC told that he would move into Conan's timeslot, puts some blame back onto him as the Machiavellian character who benefits. It does seem like he's quite comfortable with letting the situation play itself out in his favor.

Leno also stated previously (on his show?) that he asked NBC if Conan would be ok with moving to 12:05 and they [NBC] said yes, so apparently he just let it drop. Again, this goes back to him not having spoken with Conan.

There's something in his story that does not make a lot of sense. The most plausible scenario is that the two Dicks at NBC pretty much knew Conan would throw a shitfit, hashed out all the possibilities with Leno, including the worse case scenario (Conan walking and Leno taking back the Tonight Show) with Leno's full agreement to the plans and contingencies, then broke the news to Conan with the deck already stacked against him. The plan was likely arranged so that when the news broke, NBC , and they themselves would take the blame, while Leno gets to fly under the radar unscathed as the 'jee whiz' beneficiary of this whole ordeal.

They probably didn't anticipate the massive backlash against both NBC and Leno.

 

[AniHawk]

I will pretend that you were serious here and respond in kind.
As long as Jay Leno is not the program planner at NBC he hardly can be faulted for taking an offer that only the strongest willed could have denied.
NBC is directly responsible for canceling shows at 10. NBC is at fault for offering Leno that show.
NBC is ultimately at fault, no matter what Leno may have said or done behind the scenes.

Leno could have just quit. He could have gone on to do a show about cars. The only thing that happened to him was NBC pulling the plug on his show in favor of Conan, but seeing the kind of man he really is after this whole ordeal? No sympathy from me in the slightest.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Leno could have just quit. He could have gone on to do a show about cars. The only thing that happened to him was NBC pulling the plug on his show in favor of Conan, but seeing the kind of man he really is after this whole ordeal? No sympathy from me in the slightest.

He could have but why should he be forced to? Just for Conan's sake? Leno was looking out for himself above all. I don't buy his "aww shucks" feigning ignorance act about the whole thing, but I don't see how you can blame Jay for taking the 10pm show.

 

[Socreges]

He could have but why should he be forced to? Just for Conan's sake? Leno was looking out for himself above all. I don't buy his "aww shucks" feigning ignorance act about the whole thing, but I don't see how you can blame Jay for taking the 10pm show.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the only reason NBC offered him the 10pm slot because Leno decided to not retire, and would have inevitably appeared on another network (basically undoing the whole logic for NBC wanting to keep Conan on board, afraid he would go to another network) and up against the Tonight Show, thus taking the Tonight Show audience with him?

 

[NomarTyme]

Jennifer Aniston has some nice fucking legs!

 

[maharg]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the only reason NBC offered him the 10pm slot because Leno decided to not retire, and would have inevitably appeared on another network (basically undoing the whole logic for NBC wanting to keep Conan on board, afraid he would go to another network) and up against the Tonight Show, thus taking the Tonight Show audience with him?

Even if it is, it still isn't really Leno's fault. NBC pushed him out too early; I just don't see any way around that. All this bullshit eventually comes back to that decision.

All they really did was delay losing Conan and create a whole new PR nightmare. This should have been an obvious consequence, especially from the inside. I'm betting the meeting where they told Leno they were putting him out to pasture can't have left them with any illusions he was happy about it and was going to do anything in their best interests.

Obviously Leno has taken advantage of every opportunity that came to him, and at others' expense, but I think it's just a little bit ridiculous to consider this some absurd grand conspiracy on his part (which some people really seem to think is the case). NBC fucked up big time, and did so in several really dumb ways.

And assuming the story about NBC telling Leno that Conan was ok with it is true, I don't really think Leno had an obligation to do followup on that. I don't really take it for granted that it is true, though, either.

Again, I say this as someone with absolutely no respect for Leno as a comedian or as a person.

 

[Socreges]

Even if it is, it still isn't really Leno's fault. NBC pushed him out too early; I just don't see any way around that. All this bullshit eventually comes back to that decision.

All they really did was delay losing Conan and create a whole new PR nightmare. This should have been an obvious consequence, especially from the inside. I'm betting the meeting where they told Leno they were putting him out to pasture can't have left them with any illusions he was happy about it and was going to do anything in their best interests.

Obviously Leno has taken advantage of every opportunity that came to him, and at others' expense, but I think it's just a little bit ridiculous to consider this some absurd grand conspiracy on his part (which some people really seem to think is the case). NBC fucked up big time, and did so in several really dumb ways.

And assuming the story about NBC telling Leno that Conan was ok with it is true, I don't really think Leno had an obligation to do followup on that. I don't really take it for granted that it is true, though, either.

Again, I say this as someone with absolutely no respect for Leno as a comedian or as a person.

But he indicated to everyone that he was retiring, not just passing the torch. And then in 2007, he decides he doesn't like that idea so much, effectively unraveling everything. That, to me, was the precipitous point that led to where we are today. If he had decided in 2004 that he wanted to keep working through 2009, I don't think anyone would have faulted him. NBC would have then had to decide if they were going to keep going with Leno for several more years and let Conan go if he so decided, or force Leno to another network in order to keep Conan. It would have been rough either way, but at least people would know where they stood and no one would have gotten screwed.

I understand that Leno has this "I'll go where the suits want me to go" position that, while callous, can be accepted, but his non-retirement began a chain of events that help incriminate him along with NBC (in my mind).

 

[CzarTim]

Even if it is, it still isn't really Leno's fault. NBC pushed him out too early; I just don't see any way around that. All this bullshit eventually comes back to that decision.

All they really did was delay losing Conan and create a whole new PR nightmare. This should have been an obvious consequence, especially from the inside. I'm betting the meeting where they told Leno they were putting him out to pasture can't have left them with any illusions he was happy about it and was going to do anything in their best interests.

Obviously Leno has taken advantage of every opportunity that came to him, and at others' expense, but I think it's just a little bit ridiculous to consider this some absurd grand conspiracy on his part (which some people really seem to think is the case). NBC fucked up big time, and did so in several really dumb ways.

And assuming the story about NBC telling Leno that Conan was ok with it is true, I don't really think Leno had an obligation to do followup on that. I don't really take it for granted that it is true, though, either.

Again, I say this as someone with absolutely no respect for Leno as a comedian or as a person.

But he didn't. NBC offered him everything under the sun. This dude woulda KILLED in daytime. Especially after Oprah leaves. He agreed to something that he knew was screwing over Conan. Regardless if his show was a success by NBCs standards, everyone knew from the start that this would have hurt Conan's ability to gain the top spot. Is that really the way to treat a colleague when there are plenty of other ways to get your ego boost.

Also, thread needs title change.

 

[numble]

And assuming the story about NBC telling Leno that Conan was ok with it is true, I don't really think Leno had an obligation to do followup on that. I don't really take it for granted that it is true, though, either.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, he had a clause put in his contract for him to take the Tonight Show back if Conan refused to move to 12:05, when they were negotiating the original 10PM deal, he turned down shows for other time slots (confirmed by interviews with Zucker and Leno by the New York Times), which would presumably have kept his staff and pay. It's just slightly sketchy that he always picked the slots that would conflict with Conan, kept making statements in the media saying he would like to go back to 11:35 in the fall, etc. They were all NBC decisions, but it's not like they would've made the same decisions if he wasn't constantly running interference on other options, as he seems to have been doing.

And then you add in all the comments by others in the business about how Jay is known to be this behind the scenes shark...

 

[maharg]

I don't think Leno ever said he was actually retiring. He said he was leaving the show in "oh-nine" and "I'm not quitting show business" in the famous announcement. And while he doesn't outright say it, but it's clear they were basically forcing him to give up the show to Conan. Like I said, I bet there was a tantrum in that office that day.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d1caacad1/jay-s-2004-announcement

It's all right there. Yeah, he said he didn't want it to turn into the Letterman/Leno thing again and it obviously went tits-up anyways, but I think saying he told everyone he was retiring and that he went back on that is just not at all accurate. Everything's plain as day in that clip to me.

And really, NBC could have easily stuck to their guns on this. Given Conan the time to build up an audience and let Leno go elsewhere. It's not like Leno's contract was up. Every action by NBC has been knee-jerk, short sited, and stupid.

 

[Socreges]

I don't think Leno ever said he was actually retiring. He said he was leaving the show in "oh-nine" and "I'm not quitting show business" in the famous announcement. And while he doesn't outright say it, but it's clear they were basically forcing him to give up the show to Conan. Like I said, I bet there was a tantrum in that office that day.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d1caacad1/jay-s-2004-announcement

It's all right there. Yeah, he said he didn't want it to turn into the Letterman/Leno thing again and it obviously went tits-up anyways, but I think saying he told everyone he was retiring and that he went back on that is just not at all accurate. Everything's plain as day in that clip to me.

And really, NBC could have easily stuck to their guns on this. Given Conan the time to build up an audience and let Leno go elsewhere. It's not like Leno's contract was up. Every action by NBC has been knee-jerk, short sited, and stupid.

I watched that clip before replying to you, specifically in order to ensure that I was accurate.

Watch it again. I think we can comfortably talk about his prior intention of retiring from late night TV, particularly with quotes like:

"Plus, I promised Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60."
"I'm not spending enough time with my cars." (a joke, but clearly another reference to the fact that he wouldn't be working as much)
"You can do these things until they carry you out on a stretcher, or you can get out when you're still doing good."
"There's only one person who could have done this into their 60s, and that's Johnny Carson." (he may have specifically been talking about TTS, but this can easily be construed as talking about doing an hour-long show five nights a week)

No wonder EVERYONE felt like he was retiring. So to argue that he never explicitly said he was retiring altogether.... yes, that's true. But I don't think it's relevant. He was clearly not going to be a threat to NBC or Conan, as of 2004. Then he changed his mind and undid 70% of what he said in that announcement.

Everyone acted surprised for a reason. Leno staying on as an element of late night was never part of the plan.

 

[legend166]

Even if it is, it still isn't really Leno's fault. NBC pushed him out too early; I just don't see any way around that. All this bullshit eventually comes back to that decision.

All they really did was delay losing Conan and create a whole new PR nightmare. This should have been an obvious consequence, especially from the inside. I'm betting the meeting where they told Leno they were putting him out to pasture can't have left them with any illusions he was happy about it and was going to do anything in their best interests.

Obviously Leno has taken advantage of every opportunity that came to him, and at others' expense, but I think it's just a little bit ridiculous to consider this some absurd grand conspiracy on his part (which some people really seem to think is the case). NBC fucked up big time, and did so in several really dumb ways.

And assuming the story about NBC telling Leno that Conan was ok with it is true, I don't really think Leno had an obligation to do followup on that. I don't really take it for granted that it is true, though, either.

Again, I say this as someone with absolutely no respect for Leno as a comedian or as a person.

Here's the million dollar question, however:

Was the decision made in 2004 done so because Leno agreed? If Leno said "I do not want to do this, I want to keep hosting the Tonight Show", would NBC really have gone through with it?

Something tells me not.

Whether Leno, internally, wanted to stay on doesn't really matter. What did he say to those NBC execs back in 2004?

 

[RayStorm]

Leno could have just quit. He could have gone on to do a show about cars. The only thing that happened to him was NBC pulling the plug on his show in favor of Conan, but seeing the kind of man he really is after this whole ordeal? No sympathy from me in the slightest.

Look, I'm not advocating any kind of sympathy for Leno here, I'm just against letting the real culprits of the hook.
NBC could have just stood its ground. In the end they are who decide what's on their network and when.

 

[Personifried]

He could have but why should he be forced to? Just for Conan's sake? Leno was looking out for himself above all. I don't buy his "aww shucks" feigning ignorance act about the whole thing, but I don't see how you can blame Jay for taking the 10pm show.

I kinda do blame Jay for taking the 10pm show, mostly for two reasons. First, it wasn't the first show they offered him. He was offered, at least to my knowledge, a proper Top Gear US on NBC and a weekly monologue show, both denied. And he kept turning down all of NBC's offers.

The other reason is that I was almost vaguely hopeful about the 10pm show, despite the fact I don't like Leno. It was a rare opportunity for him to change television with a new, hopefully-relevant 2009-on primetime variety show. And don't get me wrong, I knew to expect long monologues, headlines, and Jaywalking because that's become Jay's signature, but I expected at least a little something new. But really, Jay? "Green Car Challenge" is the best new bit you can come up with for a prime-time show that needs to take risks to be revolutionary?

Jay took no risks in his show's composition, it was just his Tonight Show at 10pm. And thus I have nothing to believe but that Jay absolutely knew it would fail. Which makes me think the only reason why he took the 10pm show to eventually take 11:30 back.

 

[WillyFive]

It's everybody's fault, I think:

It's NBC's fault for wanting to keep Leno and not trusting Conan.

It's Leno's fault for accepting NBC's offer after he announced he was going to retire and give his show to Conan on the air.

It's Conan fault for not accepting the 12:05 time slot.

That's how all this went.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

It's everybody's fault, I think:

It's NBC's fault for wanting to keep Leno and not trusting Conan.

It's Leno's fault for accepting NBC's offer after he announced he was going to retire and give his show to Conan on the air.

It's Conan fault for for accepting NBC's offer of moving all his employees and family from New York to Los Angeles for a show and timeslot promised to him years ago; and after 7 months, NBC decides to give him an ultimatum.

That's how all this went.

Fixed.

 

[Thomper]

Mo Ryan of the Chicago Tribune is live-transcribing Leno's interview. It's... weirdly fascinating. So far, there's been mentions of Roman Polanski, him saying his cheap shots at Letterman were completely deserved, and that Conan was already being destructive with the Tonight Show franchise by not getting the right ratings.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune...eno-tells-his-side-of-the-story-on-oprah.html

He's also sticking by the it's-right-because-Tonight-Show-was-losing-money thing, which I still find a bit hard to believe. At worst, Conan was still pulling the same ratings Letterman's been getting for over a decade, and CBS was more than pleased with those. Hell, he's beating Kimmel, too, easily. The only way I could see that NBC was 'losing money' on the Tonight Show was if they're counting the cost of building the studio and moving Conan's staff to the running profit/losses for this year. Sure, that all cost money - but it's a one-time investment. Is Leno saying he should always and forever be the only host of the Tonight Show, because that way NBC will never have to spend money on a new studio/new team?

 

[polyh3dron]

I just saw jay outside this karaoke dive bar on the sidewalk near his studio with a camera crew shooting something so if anyone has some water balloons lying around, it's across from the Warner music group building on olive St lol

 

[numble]

Heh..

He compared his wish to hang on to the 'Tonight Show' to Oprah's long run as host of her own syndicated run (she's said she'll end that run next year). Leno said neither of them was "going anywhere."

Oprah: "I'm asking you this question as somebody who has made the decision that for this show, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' as it is -- done with that. Twenty-five years. Done with that."

Leno: "We'll see."

Oprah: "You don't believe that?"

Leno: "I believe you believe it."

Oprah said it had been challenging to come to grips with who she is "without a television show." "This is the real question here … Who are you without a television show?" she asked.

Leno: I am a standup comedian who happens to have a television show. This is the thing people have asked me for years, and I always tell them, I live on the money I make as a standup comedian" and he saves the rest.

Oprah: "Did your gut ever tell you that the right thing to do would have been to say no to NBC's offer to go back?"

Leno: "No."

He talked about when Jimmy Kimmel came on his show and delivered a cutting commentary on the mess Leno was in.

"Yeah, I got sucker punched," Leno said. "It's my show, I could have edited it. But I said, 'No, no, put it out there.' I walked into it."

Oprah: "Did you know he was going that far?"

Leno: "No, I didn't. But when you get sucker punched, you just get right back up again. You don't whine or complain -- 'Oh, I'm going to take that out, he said something bad about me.' That's all right."

 

[jdogmoney]

I just saw jay outside this karaoke dive bar on the sidewalk near his studio with a camera crew shooting something so if anyone has some water balloons lying around, it's across from the Warner music group building on olive St lol

You should go talk to them and pretend to be an idiot, and then make thinly-veiled references to the whole thing.

Follow in Jimmy Kimmel's footsteps.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

So of course as we've seen contracts can be remade, but how long does Jay's current/new one go through?

 

[Jet Grind Radio!]

Fixed.

Actually, Conan was the one who said he would not take a 12:05 slot. He stood his ground.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

Jay is going to get a new audience lol. Oprah's and at 10:35pm. I bet she hugged him.

 

[GK86]

Heh..

Some more from the interview:

Funnyman Jay Leno claims he was “devastated” when NBC asked him to leave “The Tonight Show” in 2004 because they wanted to give the late-night program to Conan O’Brien.

Leno also took a jab at O'Brien -- saying the ratings for "Tonight" were so low over the past few months, it was becoming "destructive to the franchise."

Leno told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that will air today that he told audiences “a white lie" when, 2004, he said he was going to retire.

Instead, Leno said he assumed he would find another job in show business.

"It broke my heart. It really did. I was devastated," Leno said, according to excerpts of the interview released in advance. "This was the job that I had always wanted and this was the only job that ever mattered in show business -- to me. It's the job every comic aspires to. It was just like, why?"

"I'm not a person who carries my emotions on my sleeve," he added. "But you know something, I'm happy with what I had. ['The Tonight Show'] was a tremendous success up to that point."

NBC recently unseated O’Brien from “Tonight” and moved Leno back to the program he had hosted for 17 years.

"The Jay Leno Show" will air its finale on Feb. 9, three weeks before Leno's March 1 return as host of "Tonight."

When Winfrey asked whether having O'Brien host "Tonight" at 12:05 a.m., following a proposed 30-minute Leno show, would ruin the show made famous by Johnny Carson, Leno didn't hold back.

"Well, if you look at where the [Conan's 'Tonight Show'] ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise."

When it came to competing at 10 p.m., Leno said, "If I'm in late-night, I know I'm competing with Dave [Letterman] every night. … We could book against [other late-night shows]. To book [guests] against the 'CSI' evil twin episode, that's going to be very hard to do."

Leno, meanwhile, said he and O'Brien never spoke to each other during all the late-night drama of the past few weeks -- and they still haven't spoken.

"I haven't talked to him through all this," he said.

Leno added, "It wasn't my place to call Conan. They made this offer to me. And I said, 'Do you think Conan will go for this?' And they said, 'We'll ask him tomorrow.' 'OK, let me know what happens.' And then thing you know, I guess Conan had his article in the paper and that was that."

Oprah asked Leno that "America has taken sides" and that "a lot of people are not on your side."

To that Leno replied, "It all comes down to numbers in show business. This is almost the perfect storm of bad things happening. You have two hit shows -- 'Tonight Show' No. 1 and Conan No. 1. You move them both to another situation. And what are the odds that both would do extremely poorly? If Conan's numbers had been a little bit higher, it wouldn't even be an issue. But in show business, there's always somebody waiting in the wings. Being me."

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

"Well, if you look at where the [Conan's 'Tonight Show'] ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise."

Fuck you to hell you shithead.

 

[Brinbe]

What a jerkass... He plays up the class while Conan's still around, but the second he cedes the spotlight, Leno runs around giving interviews and throwing in these digs.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm forever done giving this idiot as well as his precious show my attention, and I hope others do the same.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Has Chris Meloni Got an SVU Plot for Conan O’Brien
from Vulture by Bennett Marcus
1 person liked this - you

Last night, at a State of the Union dinner hosted by The Atlantic and Celerie Kemble and Boykin Curry at Le Cirque, we ran into Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's always charming Chris Meloni and asked him whether the show could give Conan O’Brien some work. "I’d love to get him on an episode," he told us. As a criminal? "Do you think he could pull it off? He’d be a very goofy criminal." Meloni gave some thought to the other option, and decided, "He’s already been victimized enough. As a matter of fact, after what he’s been through, I think anal rape would be easier for him."

Read more posts by Bennett Marcus

:lol

 

[scoobs]

wow what a turd. I'm literally never watching the tonight show again.

 

[X26]

So NBC has conan gagged, yet leno is allowed to run around and spew bs? Pathetic

 

[ryutaro's mama]

What a jerkass... He plays up the class while Conan's still around, but the second he cedes the spotlight, Leno runs around giving interviews and throwing in these digs.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm forever done giving this idiot as well as his precious show my attention, and I hope others do the same.

Yeah, I originally took the position on this thread that Leno was just accepting the job he never wanted to leave, however, after reading this little gem:

To that Leno replied, "It all comes down to numbers in show business. This is almost the perfect storm of bad things happening. You have two hit shows -- 'Tonight Show' No. 1 and Conan No. 1. You move them both to another situation. And what are the odds that both would do extremely poorly? If Conan's numbers had been a little bit higher, it wouldn't even be an issue. But in show business, there's always somebody waiting in the wings. Being me."

It wasn't just happenstance for Leno. Sounds he was actively waiting and hoping for Conan to fail so he could take the show back.

That is completely different than what I originally thought happened.

Fuck that guy.

 

[GatorBait]

Wow. As if we didn't already know, that Oprah interview basically confirms how much of an ass Leno is.

 

[Future]

I kinda do blame Jay for taking the 10pm show, mostly for two reasons. First, it wasn't the first show they offered him. He was offered, at least to my knowledge, a proper Top Gear US on NBC and a weekly monologue show, both denied. And he kept turning down all of NBC's offers.

The other reason is that I was almost vaguely hopeful about the 10pm show, despite the fact I don't like Leno. It was a rare opportunity for him to change television with a new, hopefully-relevant 2009-on primetime variety show. And don't get me wrong, I knew to expect long monologues, headlines, and Jaywalking because that's become Jay's signature, but I expected at least a little something new. But really, Jay? "Green Car Challenge" is the best new bit you can come up with for a prime-time show that needs to take risks to be revolutionary?

Jay took no risks in his show's composition, it was just his Tonight Show at 10pm. And thus I have nothing to believe but that Jay absolutely knew it would fail. Which makes me think the only reason why he took the 10pm show to eventually take 11:30 back.

Do people really think jay took the 10 spot too sabotage Conan. :lol this conan jizz fest is goin too far. Jays a selfish prick, but the Leno show was the same tonight show shit he's been doin for 17 years. It failed at 10 not because of some elaborate plot, but because that kind of show sucks balls at 10, as opposed to marginally sucking ass at 11:30

maharg is right. Jay left cuz NBC pushed him out. He wanted to keep working on a late show after it was all over, and NBC paniced. The network is last in fuckin everything except late night (at the time) and the idea of jay taking the tonight show audience somewhere else caused them to put all this stupid shit in motion. Sure, he could have been the bigger man and left show biz altogether out of the kindness of his heart to give conan his run, but only conan apologetics could believe that would ever happen.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

If Conan's numbers had been a little bit higher, it wouldn't even be an issue

Fuck this revisionist history bullshit. The whole start of this was YOUR RATINGS were too shitty for the affiliates to be content with. So instead of letting your ass go, they canned Conan in the womb and handed you back your baby as a reward for being too shitty for primetime.


Fuck you. You couldn't just let the situation speak for itself. You just had to go and rewrite it in your favor.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Fuck this revisionist history bullshit. The whole start of this was YOUR RATINGS were too shitty for the affiliates to be content with. So instead of letting your ass go, they canned Conan in the womb and handed you back your baby as a reward for being too shitty for primetime.


Fuck you. You couldn't just let the situation speak for itself. You just had to go and rewrite it in your favor.

Naw, for me the numbers statement alone is whatevers.

It's the comments he made FOLLOWING that those (that I highlighted in my post) that revealed his true character.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I kinda do blame Jay for taking the 10pm show, mostly for two reasons. First, it wasn't the first show they offered him. He was offered, at least to my knowledge, a proper Top Gear US on NBC and a weekly monologue show, both denied. And he kept turning down all of NBC's offers.

The other reason is that I was almost vaguely hopeful about the 10pm show, despite the fact I don't like Leno. It was a rare opportunity for him to change television with a new, hopefully-relevant 2009-on primetime variety show. And don't get me wrong, I knew to expect long monologues, headlines, and Jaywalking because that's become Jay's signature, but I expected at least a little something new. But really, Jay? "Green Car Challenge" is the best new bit you can come up with for a prime-time show that needs to take risks to be revolutionary?

Jay took no risks in his show's composition, it was just his Tonight Show at 10pm. And thus I have nothing to believe but that Jay absolutely knew it would fail. Which makes me think the only reason why he took the 10pm show to eventually take 11:30 back.

What if he had no desire to to Top Gear? What if he decided after all he still really enjoyed the late night format and wanted
to keep doing it? I do think Jay could have handled things a little less slimey, but I'm not gonna fault a guy for taking a paying gig to do something he seems to enjoy, even if it hurts someone elses feelings. It's NBCs job to make sure Conan had the best shot at success and had the best possible situation, not Jay's.

 

[Sanjuro]

I liked Leno's scenario of NBC coming in murdering everyone. I had one pretty similar to that where it happened when he was doing Headlines.

 

[Thomper]

What if he had no desire to to Top Gear? What if he decided after all he still really enjoyed the late night format and wanted
to keep doing it? I do think Jay could have handled things a little less slimey, but I'm not gonna fault a guy for taking a paying gig to do something he seems to enjoy, even if it hurts someone elses feelings. It's NBCs job to make sure Conan had the best shot at success and had the best possible situation, not Jay's.

But as has been said, Leno should have simply been fair and open about that. NBC asked Leno five years ago if he would be okay with retiring in 5 years. In the Oprah interview, he says he wasn't, really. So why did he say he would? He could have put his foot down and said, no, I'm staying. Worst thing that would have happened then is Conan would leave Late Night and probably go to ABC, and Leno would happily continue hosting his Tonight Show for another decade or so. But he decided to take the offer, announce in 2008 that he didn't want to retire, destroy NBC's 10:00-slot by having his own primetime show for 4 months, make thinly-veiled hints at wanting the Tonight Show back, destroying Conan's Tonight Show lead-in, forcing NBC to pay a hefty pricy for Conan's departure, etc, etc.

If Leno had just been open in 2004 about wanting to continue hosting the Tonight Show for as long as possible, things would have been much easier. It'd be understandable, too - I don't think Leno's funny, but he enjoys doing what he does, and he was getting great ratings. Plus, Conan would probably have preferred it too, as he'd comfortably be hosting a show at ABC, not having gone through this mess he's going through now.

 

[WillyFive]

Leno had a perfect opportunity to bring his image back on the Oprah show.

But he just proved all the haters right.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

What, what a cuntfuck. He's even worse than I thought.

 

[Gui_PT]

Are there no videos of the entire interview? =\

 

[Thomper]

Are there no videos of the entire interview? =\

Just aired in Chicago - rest of the US won't be getting it for another few hours. I'm sure there will be video's everywhere once it's aired in other markets.

 

[tedtropy]

Interesting repeat choice, NBC.

Hah, yeah, that had to be intentional...

 

[Gui_PT]

Oh ok. I had no idea when it had aired. I saw some videos on youtube so I just assumed it had been out for a while

Thanks

 

[Higgy]

Does Jay Leno have any fucking pride? Told in 2004 that your show wouldn't be a hit 5 years from then and that they didn't want to lose Conan. Then 2009 came and your fired when you still had the number one rated late night show. Then given a show in prime time and fired again! At what point do you say "FUCK YOU, You didn't respect what you had here in the Leno brand. You fucked up and I'm taking my shit across the street to kick your ass!"

He should have picked up his ball and went to another network and fucking stuck it to NBC. Instead he fucking stays with the company who's tossed him a side twice like a piece of garbage.

 

[Personifried]

Do people really think jay took the 10 spot too sabotage Conan. :lol this conan jizz fest is goin too far. Jays a selfish prick, but the Leno show was the same tonight show shit he's been doin for 17 years. It failed at 10 not because of some elaborate plot, but because that kind of show sucks balls at 10, as opposed to marginally sucking ass at 11:30.

EVERYONE knew that if Jay did the 10pm show exactly how he did the Tonight Show, it would fail. Jay knew it, the execs knew it, the affiliates knew it (hence the whining before the show even went on the air)... Everyone knew it. The only way TJLS could've been a success is if he took a risk or two with the show's content, and the closest Jay did to that was a drawn out, somehow-more-awkward-than-Jay-usually-is interview segment and a really uninteresting car obstacle course. Oh, and long stretches of Youtube videos.

Jay knows a thing or two about showbusiness (and clearly a thing or two more than Conan does). It's not like lucked out and got the Tonight Show job by chance (like how Conan got Late Night by getting lucky), and it's not like Jay held his huge #1 spot by being himself and making whatever show he thought was good (like Conan did, and why Conan's Tonight Show ratings were so far behind Jay's TTS ratings). You can't tell me you think Jay thought TJLS was going to work the way he did it. Jay's too smart for that.

 

[Coolio McAwesome]

To that Leno replied, "It all comes down to numbers in show business. This is almost the perfect storm of bad things happening. You have two hit shows -- 'Tonight Show' No. 1 and Conan No. 1. You move them both to another situation. And what are the odds that both would do extremely poorly? If Conan's numbers had been a little bit higher, it wouldn't even be an issue. But in show business, there's always somebody waiting in the wings. Being me."

Conan's numbers were not the issue.

NBC knew the Jay Leno Show was going to tank in the ratings from the very beginning, but they promised him two years because they figured it would be cost effective even if no one was watching. However, Leno's show was an even bigger failure than NBC anticipated and ended up costing local affiliates tens of millions of dollars within a matter of months. Overwhelming pressure from affiliates basically forced NBC to cancel Leno. However, Leno's contract guaranteed him a reported $150 million if his show was cancelled. NBC was left with three choices: a) Leave the Jay Leno Show on the air and infuriate the affiliates even further; b) Cancel the Jay Leno Show and pay him a $150 million penalty; or c) Appease Leno by giving him the 11:30 spot back and push Conan out in the process. Basically what it came down to is that breaching Conan's contract was cheaper than breaching Leno's. If Conan had been pulling in ridiculous ratings from the very beginning, it still would have been cheaper to breach his contract.

 

[Gui_PT]

Conan's numbers were not the issue.

NBC knew the Jay Leno Show was going to tank in the ratings from the very beginning, but they promised him two years because they figured it would be cost effective even if no one was watching. However, Leno's show was an even bigger failure than NBC anticipated and ended up costing local affiliates tens of millions of dollars within a matter of months. Overwhelming pressure from affiliates basically forced NBC to cancel Leno. However, Leno's contract guaranteed him a reported $150 million if his show was cancelled. NBC was left with three choices: a) Leave the Jay Leno Show on the air and infuriate the affiliates even further; b) Cancel the Jay Leno Show and pay him a $150 million penalty; or c) Appease Leno by giving him the 11:30 spot back and push Conan out in the process. Basically what it came down to is that breaching Conan's contract was cheaper than breaching Leno's. If Conan had been pulling in ridiculous ratings from the very beginning, it still would have been cheaper to breach his contract.

Wow. Is this true?