f13.net forums - The Jay Leno Show

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April 26, 2024, 07:59:52 AM

we're back, baby

Jeff Gaspin led off the session with this statement: "Anyway, let me just get right to it. Let's talk about The Jay Leno Show. I can confirm what many of you have been reporting: starting February The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10 PM. While it was performing at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet our affiliates' needs and we realized we had to make a change.

"My goal right now is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as part of our late night lineup. I've spoken to all of them and proposed that The Jay Leno Show move to 11:35 PM, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien move to 12:05 AM and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would then start at 1:05 AM. As much as I would like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that's not true. The talks are still ongoing."

He told the media that, while he doesn't know the exact date this late night quagmire will get squared away, he's confident it will be before NBC starts airing the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12th. Gaspin refused to discuss the specifics of the ongoing contract negotiations. ("We all have the weekend to think about it, and we’ll get back into conversations starting tomorrow.")

Within hours of Gaspin's TCA news conference, NBC released this statement from Michael Fiorile, Chairman of the NBC Affiliate Board, supporting the network's primetime and late night moves: "This is a great move for the affiliates, the network and, most importantly, the viewers. Speaking on behalf of the board, I thank the network for keeping the lines of communication so open, and for being so responsive to the needs of the affiliates. We admire their willingness to innovate, and their willingness to change course when it didn't work for us. We were delighted to collaborate on the launch of the 10:00 PM show, and we look forward to continuing to work with Jeff Zucker and the entire network leadership team as we set a new direction, build on our long history together, and contribute to the impressive legacy of NBC."

But, earlier, Gaspin shed the first light of what had transpired between NBC and its angry affiliates. He said they forced his hand, causing him to act before the affiliates yanked The Jay Leno Show themselves because its lead-in was hurting the stations' local newscast (which is their cash cow). "I would have liked nothing more than to give it a 52-week try," Gaspin said. First, the affiliates gave NBC until November. "Then they said, 'You know, this is not getting much better for us.'" (Gaspin later estimated about a third of the affiliates were really hurt by it. "In some cases, they just lost more of a [ratings] percentage than they thought they would. So we said, 'Let’s look at December.'" But, Gaspin noted, when smaller affiliates started getting their ratings books in November, "the drumbeat started getting louder and louder. Towards the middle of December, they made it very clear they were going to start to be more vocal about their displeasure. Then they started talking about preemption. It was then that I realized that this was not going to go well if we kept things in place. And since they are our partners, even though it was doing OK for us, and it truly was, I just made a tough call."

Gaspin said network advertising revenue was never an issue in the decision to yank Leno in primetime. "This was not an issue for the network, it was an issue for our affiliates." Later, he went on to explain, "it becomes more of a public relations issue than a contractual issue. You don’t want to have your partners, your affiliates, constantly saying, 'This is killing me.' It was going to damage Jay, and it was going to damage NBC. So regardless of what the legal situation was, this was going to continue to be a PR nightmare. Obviously, the ones that were hurt the most were the loudest."

Aw, c'mon, NBC couldn't have thought Leno at 10 PM was working out. "It was working at acceptable levels financially, so we were actually making money at 10 o'clock. To that extent it was working." Gaspin later admitted that "I think that the initial decision to put Jay at 10 is because they wanted to keep Jay at the network. The fact that there was a financial story and a financial benefit that could go along with that I think became the story. But it was not the reason we made the initial move. We made the initial move to keep Jay."

He agreed with the theory that, if NBC had a stronger primetime, Jay's show wouldn't have struggled quite so hard. "Probably. If we had a stronger 8 PM-10 PM. When Biggest Loser was his lead-in, he did well. We came in second every Tuesday." Looking back, Gaspin acknowledged, "We wanted an alternative at 10. We still think it’s a tough time period. And while I would have liked to see it do a little better than it was doing, over time I think we would have seen it grow for the network. It was not yet a wrong decision." Gaspin acknowledged, "I would have preferred to wait until September. I would have preferred to see the summer ratings." But later, he told media gathered around him, "I had to signal to the affiliates that we were willing to make a change."

Gaspin analyzed the negative reaction to Jay's show. "I don’t think that people didn’t watch Jay Leno at 10 o'clock because of the quality of the show. I think people just have a lot of choices at 10. There were just so many choices that people thought were better, and I heard that anecdotally, over and over again."

Before making his proposal to the late night hosts and their people, Gaspin said, "we did a lot of [network and affiliate audience] research, both qualitative and quantitative, and both sets of research indicated that this had a really good shot at working, and the affiliates signed on with us. They were our partners, and they are just as disappointed as we are that this isn’t working. They just have a financial situation that forces their hand more than we do."

How did the hosts react when Gaspin went to him with his late night proposal? "Both Jay and Conan and Jimmy were incredibly gracious and professional, and they all said they understood the difficult situation I was in. Beyond that, it was a private conversation. When this settles, you are more than welcome to go and ask them what their feelings were," Gaspin challenged the critics and reporters.

But Gaspin was asked what is O'Brien’s incentive for agreeing to these changes? "I think Conan’s motivation in this will be more clear as time goes on. But what is important to me is that I gave Conan something that was very important to him, which was The Tonight Show. And so when I asked him to move to 12:05 AM, I made it very clear that The Tonight Show was moving with him."

And Leno? "What was important to Jay was telling jokes at 11:35 PM. I obviously couldn’t satisfy either completely, but that’s why I came up with this compromise."

But how does NBC fight the perecption that Jay and Conan are now damaged goods? "I think time, just time. I think when they tell jokes about this, it sort of winks to the audience that they are not doing this in the dark. But I think time is the best answer to your question."

But it's unclear how either host, and especially Conan, can trust NBC not to move their time slots again, or worse, fire them. Gaspin answered by noting that what happened was "such a unique set of circumstances -- the move to 10 oclock, the move back. I think we are in a safer zone having all of our late night folks actually in late night. So I don’t expect another upheaval like we had in the past year."

And what about Carson Daly? Is he odd man out? Assured Gaspin: "Carson Daly is going to be part of our schedule, regardless of what happens." (Sure, as if talent can believe anything NBC tells them these days!)

Gaspin admitted the network is starting from Ground Zero all over again after the Leno debacle. "For us right now, going back to basics is probably the smartest play. We lost about 30% of our rating at 10, about nine-tenths of a ratings point. So here’s nine-tenths of a ratings point that I’m handing over to CBS and ABC." But the NBC exec also noted that the other networks also have lost ratings points at 10. "Tell me there is not a problem in broadcast TV at 10 p.m. That’s rhetorical..." As for when he predicts celler-dwelling NBC will recover from this debacle, he said, "I almost don’t care how quickly it happens as long as it happens. I want to see improvement in our schedule and progress with our ratings, As long as I see an hour going up instead of sideways or down, I’ll be happy."

Added the exec: "I don’t know if it’s wrong to take chances. I think you have to take chances, but maybe we were a little too early on this one… I still think you have to play a little bit with your schedule. And I think you are going to see us, maybe not as much in the next three months because I don’t have as much to work with, but I think by the fall you will see us try some interesting stuff with the schedule."

Here's what will reassure Hollywood's TV community: Gaspin said, with the loss of Leno at 10, "My guess is this will net at least two more hours of scripted somewhere on the schedule, and another reality hour."

But the single funniest "inside Hollywood" joke made by Gaspin came during this exchange with journalists asking about Ari Emanuel, who with partner Rick Rosen is one of Conan's WME agents, as well as the inspiration for Jeremy Piven's infamously excitable (and foul-mouthed) Ari Gold on Entourage:

Q. You said that both of the comics were cordial in the room. How was Ari?.
JG: You know, based on reputation, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I have talked to Ari. I have talked to Rick Rosen on a fairly consistent basis.

Q: How much more is it going to cost to shift everything?
JG: It’s going to cost more.

Fixed topic. Can not fix no one wanting to read a bunch of shit about TV no one watches.

I'm glad it's gone. NBC fucked up some good shows just to give this shit a chance and any moron could have told them that Jay at 10pm was a stupid move.

Cut and pasted article. Yay. swamp poop

Whoever thought putting three nearly identical talkshows back-to-back was a good idea in the first place, needs to be shot.

Coco and the Chin keeps sounding better and better.

I hope Conan makes a fat stack of cash off of NBC's idiocy. He's really the only one I watch, and not even very often.

Conan has a bit of the Letterman effect, he's still ok in the big time, but he was better when he was underfunded and not really known.

Leno has always been pretty crappy, and the little I saw of his new show made his run on the tonight show hilarious by comparison. If I were Coco, I'd be pissed. Leno had his chance, he crashed and burned. Give him the 2:30 slot after Jimmy.

Why not just get rid of Jimmy Fallon? Fuck's sake he is to funny what chemotherapy is to cancer cells.

Broadcast TV is dead. This is just a manifestation of it.

Quote from: Numtini on January 11, 2010, 11:55:25 AM

Broadcast TV is dead. This is just a manifestation of it.

Print, PC games, and broadcast tv. Check, check, check!

Circling the drain: Broadcast TV!

All they have to do is give broadcast tv the same rules as cable tv and it has a chance!

Quote from: Evildrider on January 11, 2010, 02:33:27 PM

All they have to do is give broadcast tv the same rules as cable tv and it has a chance!

Unfortunately, the only proposals to do so accomplish it by applying broadcast censorship to cable.

Seriously this is like taking one car company and saying it can only make cars that go 40mph max. And then having congressional hearings if one goes 39 just to let them know they better keep it at 35 if they don't want more restrictions.

The problem is that Jay Leno isn't funny. He's not some fat bastard like Limbaugh, he's just your general one of the mill tv guy that runs a talk show... that isn't worth listening to, his popularity never ceases to amaze me.

I agree and I don't give Leno a minute of my time. I just thought the Riser bit with his kid was cute.

Quote from: schild on January 11, 2010, 06:29:57 PM

Leno doesn't appeal to our generation plain and simple. I've never met a person under 60 who liked him but most people past that age seem to quite enjoy him. Yet another reason NBC was foolish to move him into Prime Time.

Leno has always sucked. I was amazed he was handed the Tonight Show gig. His interviews with dumb people were entertaining, though. And he did throw some work to Gilbert.

The only shows worth watching around that time are the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Leno isn't funny at all, but I do like Letterman though I don't watch him at all.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/conan-obrien-says-he-wont-do-tonight-show-following-leno/

Quote

Conan O’Brien says he will not do “The Tonight Show” if it airs at 12:05 a.m. He released the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

It's almost hilarious how this mirrors the Leno/Letterman crap from when Carson retired.

Except nobody cares this time.

I'm curious. I tried to watch the Tonight Show with Conan several times. I attempted to enjoy it because I distinctly remember watching Conan in my late teens and laughing my ass off.

Now, at that time of night during my late teens I was generally pretty stoned. That may be the problem here. But there is also a distinct lack of things like a giant bear walking onto the stage and juggling his junk in Conan's face. I assume that's to do with the new time slot or whatever.

If it is, fuck it. Let him go back to a later slot on a different network or whatever. What matters is that we have masturbating bears and insult comic dogs.

Quote from: Azaroth on January 12, 2010, 12:48:03 PM

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Conan was never THAT risque but the show was distinctly tamer at 11:35 when he got the tonight show. I will say though that even still he's a 100x funnier than jay and nbc really needs to just find their balls and fire jay.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Might actually work out well for him if he moves to Fox. He could get away with masturbating bears (and far worse) on that channel. A much less restricted Conan would be great.

But then again, you know, Fox.

Thank god someone finally found their balls in this mess and acted like a grown-up.

FOX wouldn't work cause they don't have a real late-night presence (their programming normally ends at 10pm).

If Conan did leave, ABC would be the likely destination just like NBC was worried that's where Jay would go.

The whole thing was handled badly from the original deal to have Conan replace Jay. The Tonight Show was all Jay every wanted and he probably hoped he would expire taping a show. When they asked Jay to step down they didn't have anything planned for him at that point, presumably thinking he would retire but then when it got close to the hand-off date and NBC realized he had no plans to go quietly into the night they panicked as they didn't want him going to a competitor so they came up with the lame-brained prime-time scheme which anybody with half-a-brain knew wasn't going to work out.

Conan should take his 100 billion dollars he's going to get for them dumping his contract and start writing again. His work was the best the Simpsons ever had. I always thought he was constrained a bit by late night variety and would much rather see his comedy in writing.

Whoever takes the 11:35 slot, it's tainted now. If Conan stays, he looks like a whiny bitch. If Leno gets it, then he needs to have Brett Favre as his sidekick and they can chat all night about how to properly shit all over a nice retirement. Fallon can't carry it. Best thing is to start from scratch with it.

The only late night TV host I even bother to stop and watch is Craig Ferguson on CBS. I find him about 100000000000 x more entertaining than Leno or any of the rest of them.

Quote from: Grimwell on January 12, 2010, 11:22:14 PM

The only late night TV host I even bother to stop and watch is Craig Ferguson on CBS. I find him about 100000000000 x more entertaining than Leno or any of the rest of them.

I'll second that. Craig's show is so wonderfully casual and laid back which lets him be more spontaneous with the comedy. It's a nice departure from the bigger more staged productions. He's sort of the Uncle Floyd of late night. :)

I always liked Conan, but just like Letterman, a lot of the edge went out of the show when he came on an hour earlier.

The only other guy worth watching besides Craig IMO is Jimmy Kimmel but I never remember that he's on. ABC just isn't my first thought for late night talk shows.

I see a lot of bashing of Jay here. I like the guy. I think Conan, Dave and Craig are all funnier but I could easily see myself enjoy hanging out with Jay more. I think that is what made him successful. He seems like a much more normal, down to earth like-able "everyman" (albeit with a shitload of money)
I also feel like jay is getting a bum deal here a bit as I don't think he ever wanted to give up the tonight show and was doing well for the network with it. Then they gave him a prime time slot which is supposed to be a step up and are now dropping him back an hour.
Either way they are both getting fucked.

I guess Ill just go and watch me some more Craig Ferguson.
Oh BTW he is coming here at the end of the month but tickets are around $70. Has anyone seen his live stand up and is it worth it?

I think the last time late night shows like this were worth watching was back when Craig Kilborn had a show. Good times.
For the current situation, I do agree that the 11:35 slot is pretty tainted for now, but nothing that won't pass over with enough PR.

Stewie-
Craig Ferguson did a stand up show for comedy central about 2 years ago, it was pretty decent. You can probably find it online to watch and get a good idea. Granted that was 2 years ago, and one would hope that at least half the jokes are different just for variety. Personally, I wouldn't pay $70 to watch him though, ymmv.

I hope Conan breaks out of talk show format.

Quote from: raydeen on January 13, 2010, 05:46:50 AM

The only other guy worth watching besides Craig IMO is Jimmy Kimmel but I never remember that he's on. ABC just isn't my first thought for late night talk shows.

You are on crack. Jimmy Kimmel was the unfunniest guy on TV until Fallon got the Late Show gig. He is unbearably bad, though still better than Fallon. At least he can tell a joke without giggling at how clever he's being.

Good on Conan for taking a stand. I'm glad I don't watch any of these fuckers, except when someone links me to a funny bit they did.

Quote from: HaemishM on January 13, 2010, 08:15:14 AM

Good on Conan for taking a stand. I'm glad I don't watch any of these fuckers, except when someone links me to a funny bit they did.

That's the real rub though... 97% of the the show is unfunny - and by the time that rare 3% shows up, I have already turned the box off.

There just is not enough funny in the show to make it worth watching.