Leno More Powerful Than The Tonight Show
Written by: Tom Sawyer
The Tonight Show is 55-years-old, but it must not be more important to NBC than Jay Leno is. After a 5-month expirement that fell flat, Leno’s new show is set to return to late night.
“On Sunday, NBC confirmed what was Hollywood’s hottest rumor all weekend: The network is dropping The Jay Leno Show from its prime-time lineup after his Feb. 11 show. The former Tonight Show host will return to late night on March 1, after NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, in a half-hour format in his old perch at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT. The Tonight Show, now hosted by Conan O’Brien, would move from the after-news slot it has occupied since the ’60s to after midnight: 12:05 a.m. ET/PT.”
Jay Leno wants to tell jokes at 11:30pm and Conan O’Brien wants to host the Tonight Show. This compromise just doesn’t seem right and it all came about when Leno announced when he would quit the Tonight Show. If not for that announcement, Leno would likely still be hosting the Tonight Show and this wouldn’t be an issue.
“Leno’s return to late night throws into question the future complexion of the legendary Tonight Show— at 55, one of the longest-running shows on television — as well as the future of its new host, O’Brien.
O’Brien now faces a difficult choice: Does he stay at the network that promised five years ago he’d get the primary late-night slot? Or does he bolt for another network and collect an eight-figure penalty NBC would face for reneging on his Tonight Show deal?”
I’m not a big fan of the Tonight Show regardless of who the host is, but I think this is a chance for O’Brien to get paid. If he can leave and get paid I think he should go that route – I don’t think he can win at this point. The network has decided that Leno is their late night man and they are bumping O’Brien to show it. I would have never thought Jay Leno was bigger than the tonight show, but apparently that is the case.
In a world where so many people are just out to get the most money they can, it would be smart for O’Brien to do just that. Conan, take the money, take a vacation and get paid at another network.
Tags: Leno back to late night, O'Brien and Tonight Show pushed back
January 21st, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Tom, I don’t quite understand you saying Jay Leno is bigger than the Tonight Show but let me update things since you wrote this story. Conan is leaving altogether. There will be no Conan after Leno. He refused and stood his ground and didn’t let them (NBC) treat him any kind of way! I applaud Conan for that! I mean seriously, we had to hear for five years that Conan was coming to replace Jay on the Tonight Show and then for some reason, they couldn’t make it work! But is it Conan’s fault? I wonder… If Jay hadn’t been so bad in the 10:00 spot would Conan have made it? By 11:35 when it was time to watch Conan; everyone had turned their televisions away from NBC altogether! After the 9:00 show went off on NBC (and it was time for Jay), Joe Public turned his TV to another network and just let it run there the rest of the night!
I think all of it is another gamble on NBC’s part! But Conan is getting paid! 33 million. The staff, or I guess I should say his (Conan’s) staff, is getting 12 million (between them) in severance pay. Here’s the sweet part of the story, Conan thinks the staff should get more and is going to supplement their severance out of his own pocket. How nice is that!
I haven’t really kept up with this story, lol, and may not have all my facts correct but from what I think I know; Leno is a risk and a gamble no matter where they put him now! The whole thing of him leaving the Tonight Show was a wrong move from the beginning. It wasn’t broke! Why did they try to fix it!
Can you imagine getting paid 33 million to get lost??? Wow… There are rumors of other networks wanting him but nothing for sure. I think Fox is the most interested at this point.
November 12th, 2010 at 7:38 am
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November 30th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Cool topic. I generally need to read as much about this as I can.
January 11th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
I like the way Tom write this article, some point is pretty much agree with him. good point Tom
June 29th, 2011 at 8:48 am
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June 30th, 2011 at 12:55 am
I love it when people come together and share opinions, great blog,keep it up
July 2nd, 2011 at 3:23 pm
.) When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
July 4th, 2011 at 3:36 am
.) There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
December 1st, 2011 at 2:20 am
It was a great. and informative, educational, instructive read! Marvellouswork by the author! Thank you. for taking the time to share this with us!