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Late Night Wars - Conan's last Tonight Show was TONIGHT a long time ago

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Jak140 said:
Conan should go to the FOX charity thing, but un-mic'ed and have a big black censored by NBC bar over him and next to him have an impersonator of him copying everything he does and says on stage so it can be broadcast. Would be the stuff of legends.
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"Hi, I'm Andy Richter, recently fire from the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. And I'm going to speak for my good friend here. He's... in the witness protection program."
 
Andy was also on a recent episode of the Nerdist podcast. It's an hour long and does touch upon the whole NBC situation. The podcast is pretty funny and for Joel mchale fans he was on the week before.
 
http://www.movieline.com/2010/04/exclusive-does-max-weinberg-want-to-be-jay-lenos-new-bandleader.php

Sources tell Movieline that Conan O’Brien’s longtime bandleader Max Weinberg recently made overtures to Leno about joining the new Tonight Show as Leno’s bandleader. He’d be replacing Kevin Eubanks, who announced in February that he had plans to leave the show.

It’s a post that Weinberg has long coveted, though he only held it briefly during O’Brien’s truncated tenure. “I think one of the biggest thrills in my life was seeing my name in the same sentence as Doc Severinsen, who, in my view, is the gold standard for Tonight Show bandleaders,” Weinberg told Inside Jersey last August after assuming the gig. “There’s never been anyone who did it quite near the class and the brilliance of Doc Severinsen in the original Tonight Show Band. I used to think when I was a kid what a great job that must be — you know, same place, every time, everyday. Lo and behold, here I am 40 years later, doing it. That sounds deep, deep, deep, deep, deeply satisfying to me.”

In some ways, the news comes as a shock: even entering into discussions with Leno would mark Weinberg as a high-profile defector from the Conan camp, and could spark another round of backlash against Leno just as he’s settling into the Tonight Show.

Still, we hear that despite his long association with O’Brien, Weinberg was less than beloved by staffers. When O’Brien’s show was still located in New York, Weinberg would send interns to do gardening work at his house on the New Jersey shore, and would involve staffers in his pay disputes with the network — at one point, even enlisting an intern to tabulate every minute of screen time Weinberg had racked up over two years in an argument for a salary raise. Though several members of Weinberg’s band will be joining O’Brien during his live summer tour, Weinberg himself is conspicuously absent from the list.

When asked to address the matter, an NBC spokeswoman said only, “We are not commenting.” Reps for Leno and Weinberg have yet to get back to us.
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Don't do it Max. Don't turn to the dark side.
 
Still, we hear that despite his long association with O’Brien, Weinberg was less than beloved by staffers. When O’Brien’s show was still located in New York, Weinberg would send interns to do gardening work at his house on the New Jersey shore, and would involve staffers in his pay disputes with the network — at one point, even enlisting an intern to tabulate every minute of screen time Weinberg had racked up over two years in an argument for a salary raise. Though several members of Weinberg’s band will be joining O’Brien during his live summer tour, Weinberg himself is conspicuously absent from the list.
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the fuck?
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
http://www.movieline.com/2010/04/exclusive-does-max-weinberg-want-to-be-jay-lenos-new-bandleader.php


Don't do it Max. Don't turn to the dark side.
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14b593n.png
 
Wow, that just sounds... bad. I personally don't have a problem with Max not being there, especially when the majority of laughs come from Labamba anyway. And TBH, Max was absent more often than he was there with TTS and I hardly noticed.

In fact, they should make Labamba band leader :lol
 
Count of Monte Sawed-Off said:
Yeah, it's probably not true. The whole story just seems out there.
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as someone who was a PA at one time and knew other PAs doin jobs like this for actors/directors/producers isnt out of the ordinary

Brinbe said:
That would be awful... but Bamba/Pender/Vivino can step up.
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yeah im sure the band would be fine but its a shitty thing of max to do
 
I agree with the guy who recommended The Time.

Unless that was a joke.

Sometimes with the internet, this sarcasm thing, it's hard to tell.
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
Was the 100K viewership difference worth it?
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Conan didn't get the boot because of his ratings. Rather, he got the boot because the Jay Leno Show tanked and Leno's contract gave him $150 million golden parachute. It was cheaper to breach Conan's contract than Leno's.
 
RiskyChris said:
Everybody hates Jay, what was Conan's excuse?
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Summer months = lowered viewership. It's probably a little unsettling that they've already reached these levels before the summer.

Letterman got a huge boost because of the Olympics. He managed to maintain that boost for some time, until the Leno/Coco drama started

Coolio McAwesome said:
Conan didn't get the boot because of his ratings. Rather, he got the boot because the Jay Leno Show tanked and Leno's contract gave him $150 million golden parachute. It was cheaper to breach Conan's contract than Leno's.
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We know, but it's interesting seeing NBC flail a little for their decision.
 
The Abominable Snowman said:
we're comparing numbers from Coco during summer slump to Leno now. Leno is doing about 100K better now than Coco did during the summer slump.
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oh so he could do worse than conan :lol
 
Well, that chart isn't total viewership and we know Leno's primary viewership is with people 50 and older...not that that helps NBC.
 
AP is reporting Conan will start a new late-night talk show on TBS starting in November.

Here's da link:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/conan-obrien-will-do-a-late-night-show-on-tbs/

From the article:
The news comes as a stunner because Mr. O’Brien was known to be in talks with the Fox network, and most predictions had him moving there in September or January.

TBS was not known to be in the picture. But Mr. O’Brien’s representatives had been quietly talking with that cable network as issues continued to arise with the potential Fox deal.

The move will surely be closely examined for its implications for the future of broadcast vs. cable television, with one of the biggest stars of recent years in network television abandoning that side for cable.

In a release accompanying the announcement Mr. O’Brien said: “In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly.”
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I dunno how to feel about that move. I thought FOX was all over him. TBS bills itself as a comedy network last I saw. But Conan's comedy seemed better suited for FOX. I wonder if politics had anything to do with it.
 
Conan O'Brien to make TBS his new late-night home

By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer


NEW YORK (AP) -- Late-night mainstay Conan O'Brien is headed to TBS to resume his comedic duties with a talk show expected to debut in November, the network says.

The program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern, shifting TBS' "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, to midnight.

Monday's surprise announcement hit the same day O'Brien starts a two-month, nationwide comedy tour in Eugene, Ore., amid persistent reports that he was likely to claim Fox as his new late-night home.

Barring Fox, syndication was widely considered O'Brien's most likely option. Few if anyone mentioned TBS as a plausible destination.

O'Brien began serious talks with TBS just last week, the network said.

"In three months, I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I'm headed to basic cable," O'Brien said in a tongue-in-cheek-toned statement. "My plan is working perfectly."

O'Brien left NBC in January after hosting "The Tonight Show" for just eight months, as his ratings plunged from those of his longtime "Tonight" predecessor, Jay Leno, who reclaimed the hour. Until last June, O'Brien had followed Leno as host of "Late Night" since 1993.

OBrien's parting deal bars him from appearing on TV until September.
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That was unexpected. I'm guessing Fox couldn't get their affiliates to budge in regard to their syndicated sitcoms that hour.
 
danootz said:
I dunno how to feel about that move. I thought FOX was all over him. TBS bills itself as a comedy network last I saw. But Conan's comedy seemed better suited for FOX. I wonder if politics had anything to do with it.
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Being on TBS, he'll probably end up with a lot more freedom to do what he wants than with Fox.

O'Brien began serious talks with TBS just last week, the network said.
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TBS must have given him an offer he couldn't refuse if they made the deal that quick after seriously talking.
 
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