Conan out, Leno to take back Tonight show

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Re: Conan O'Brien to be replaced by Jay Leno?

speeds said:
However literally everything Leno does is unfunny and it's been that way forever
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Fixed. IMO, Leno has no real talent.
 
Jesus what a slap in the face. I get up too early now to really get into the late night shows, but I loved Conan when I was more of a night owl (read: single). 28 Million would be a helluva lot of cheddar to walk away from, but man this a huge FU.
 
But honestly, isn't the whole late night talk show format played out? They're all the same. The most original one to come along in years was the Daily Show. And the only thing that made it different is no band and he doesn't stand up to tell his opening jokes.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
But honestly, isn't the whole late night talk show format played out? They're all the same. The most original one to come along in years was the Daily Show. And the only thing that made it different is no band and he doesn't stand up to tell his opening jokes.
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You think that's the only difference between the daily show and late night bullshit? :confused:
 
Nikolokolus said:
You think that's the only difference between the daily show and late night bullshit? :confused:
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I'm talking overall format. Opening jokes, banter with band, sit behind desk, tell more jokes but now with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or album, bring out second guest who is there to promote something, end show with performance from a band or unknown comedian.

The Daily Show - sit behind desk, tell jokes with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or book.
The Daily Show has some great writers, a host with a much higher IQ who isn't afraid to ask some tough questions during part of the interview, a level of guest that the other shows won't touch. (Conan is just as smart but NBC has him on an even tighter leash since he moved to the Tonight Show)

Again, I was talking about the basic format of the show not the quality of content.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
I'm talking overall format. Opening jokes, banter with band, sit behind desk, tell more jokes but now with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or album, bring out second guest who is there to promote something, end show with performance from a band or unknown comedian.

The Daily Show - sit behind desk, tell jokes with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or book.
The Daily Show has some great writers, a host with a much higher IQ who isn't afraid to ask some tough questions during part of the interview, a level of guest that the other shows won't touch. (Conan is just as smart but NBC has him on an even tighter leash since he moved to the Tonight Show)

Again, I was talking about the basic format of the show not the quality of content.
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I'd say that The Daily Show format is different in that half the show is a parody of news shows. If you lump everything under "skits," I guess you can call them the same, but I think watching The Daily Show feels like a very different experience than watching the networks' late night shows.
 
Leno is so stale and passe', he'd be a weak lead-in even for The Lawrence Welk show.

He's more suited for a daytime gameshow.
 
Minstrel said:
I'd say that The Daily Show format is different in that half the show is a parody of news shows. If you lump everything under "skits," I guess you can call them the same, but I think watching The Daily Show feels like a very different experience than watching the networks' late night shows.
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LOL! Yes, clearly it was wrong of me to "lump" skits and parodies together. :crazy:

And now that I think it about it, it was also wrong to say that John Stewart sits behind a desk and interviews people when it's clear that he is actually sitting in a parody of a network news set and asks people questions. You're right, there's no similarities what so ever between Leno, Letterman and Conan's shows and the Daily Show. I think it was the live audience thing that must have confused me.

Please forgive me.
 
What I find interesting is how so many people claim to hate Leno, but somehow he dominated Letterman for years. I actually prefer Leno to Letterman, but I like Conan better than all of them, by far.

By the way, Craig Ferguson is terrible! I can't watch 30 seconds of that show.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
LOL! Yes, clearly it was wrong of me to "lump" skits and parodies together. :crazy:

And now that I think it about it, it was also wrong to say that John Stewart sits behind a desk and interviews people when it's clear that he is actually sitting in a parody of a network news set and asks people questions. You're right, there's no similarities what so ever between Leno, Letterman and Conan's shows and the Daily Show. I think it was the live audience thing that must have confused me.

Please forgive me.
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You're an angry young man, aren't you?

Fairly bizarre attempts at sarcasm. I didn't say there were no similarities at all. I said that they weren't the same kinds of shows, in my opinion.

Chill out. I wasn't attacking you, simply disagreeing. If you don't like being disagreed with, diaries might be more your speed. ;)
 
Minstrel said:
You're an angry young man, aren't you?

Fairly bizarre attempts at sarcasm. I didn't say there were no similarities at all. I said that they weren't the same kinds of shows, in my opinion.

Chill out. I wasn't attacking you, simply disagreeing. If you don't like being disagreed with, diaries might be more your speed. ;)
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LOL! Angry, not all. Just having some fun with you. I thought you were splitting hairs with your skits vs parodies reply so I figured I'd needle you a bit. I wasn't attacking you either, I didn't insult you. I wasn't ranting nor raving. Again, just having some fun.

In reading our replies back an forth I would say that you're the one who might have a problem with being disagreed with (at least when someone uses a bizarre attempt at sarcasm to do it).

Sounds like I spun you pretty good with my reply. Sorry about that.

Anyway, it appears that both our views on this are valid. It seems that the Daily Show is included when you look at the ratings of "Late night TV talk shows" but Wikipedia doesn't included it in it's definition of what a Late night TV talk show is.

In American television, a late-night talk show is a specific kind of comedy-oriented talk and variety show that airs late at night featuring a topical monologue, comedy sketches, celebrity interviews, and musical performances. There are currently a total of five programs that directly follow that format: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC; the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS; and Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. There are, however, a multitude of other programs in the United States and throughout the world that are considered late-night talk shows.

Unlike other kinds of talk and variety shows, late-night talk shows always feature a desk behind which the host sits to interview guests and present comedy sketches. Most programs also have an old-fashioned prop microphone on the desk, which some hosts (e.g., O'Brien) often use as a comedic device.
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I'd like to see Conan on HBO or Showtime or something where he could really be himself.

Sometimes I wonder if he's dumbing himself down too much.
 
speeds said:
Real Time is only on once a week... Conan could go to HBO for a Monday-Thursday show and do his own thing. Somewhere where he doesn't have to be afraid of being so smart. The guy really is a genius but he hides it with a goofy sense of humor.
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I doubt they'd pay him anything close to what NBC is now but you're right. Give him the freedom of HBO or Showtime and he'd be hilarious.
 
SlyPokerDog said:
I'm talking overall format. Opening jokes, banter with band, sit behind desk, tell more jokes but now with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or album, bring out second guest who is there to promote something, end show with performance from a band or unknown comedian.

The Daily Show - sit behind desk, tell jokes with props or skits, bring out guest who is there to promote movie, TV show or book.
The Daily Show has some great writers, a host with a much higher IQ who isn't afraid to ask some tough questions during part of the interview, a level of guest that the other shows won't touch. (Conan is just as smart but NBC has him on an even tighter leash since he moved to the Tonight Show)

Again, I was talking about the basic format of the show not the quality of content.
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I agree with you, it is nearly the same format. But I strongly disagree with Jon Stewart being smarter than Conan or Letterman. Stewart looks smart cause he doesn't have to do anything except make comedy and ask questions and not have to come up with any real answers. I enjoy the Daily Show but most of the time Jon Stewart pisses me off cause he portrays himself like he knows what he is talking about. He literally is just a comedian and doesnt know anything more than someone who passed high school "Current Affairs"
 
I cant even watch this, he is so not funny when talented writers aren't writing fake stories for him.

[video=youtube;j1ehUN9UgWg]
 
SlyPokerDog said:
I wasn't ranting nor raving. Again, just having some fun.
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Okay. Usually when someone writes a post stuffed with sarcasm, it sounds bitter or angry to me. Glad you weren't either one!

And no, I certainly don't have any problem being disagreed with. I simply wrote a very mild disagreement to what you said about TDS vs. other late shows and your reply seemed over the top (stuff like "Yes, clearly it was wrong of me," "You're right, there's no similarities what so ever" and "Please forgive me")...you might see how that sounds a little upset and hyperbolic (since you completely changed what I said, for the sake of sarcasm).

Anyway, just explaining how I saw it. Clearly it's all good. :cheers:
 
Nate4Prez said:
But I strongly disagree with Jon Stewart being smarter than Conan or Letterman. Stewart looks smart cause he doesn't have to do anything except make comedy and ask questions and not have to come up with any real answers.
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Whereas Conan and Letterman have to do what, exactly?

barfo
 
This is the biggest TV mistake in at least a decade. Leno went prime time only 4 months ago, and the network already gives up. I expected Leno to get the variety show treatment. The last variety show was Dolly in the 1980s, but they were plentiful before then (Smothers Brothers, Gary Moore, Ed Sullivan, Sonny & Cher, etc., etc.).

NONE of the following have ever happened before.

1. Afraid they'll lose another Letterman, NBC announces that O'Brien will replace Leno in 4 years. No one ever tries to predict that far in advance, and if someone is worth starring in his own show, a network keeps it quiet or their competitors will steal him. That's why no such announcement is ever made 4 years in advance.

2. The host of a late-night show moves to prime time. This was often proposed for Carson, but he wouldn't bite. He knew the risk and he liked the subversive rebelliousness he enjoyed at that hour that he would lose.

3. The same program is shown 5 nights per week. It's not just a boring half-hour, it's a sleep-inducing full hour 10 pm show. That's 5 repetitive hours per week, not 2 1/2.

Combine those 3 unique events into this 1 short-lived event, and you have a supernova-sized error. Heads should roll, but apparently they won't.

Denny Crane said:
The drama verges on a rerun, recalling the messy battle for "Tonight" that Leno and David Letterman waged in the early 1990s when Johnny Carson decided to surrender the throne. Leno claimed it in 1992, with Letterman becoming his competitor at CBS.
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A far closer similarity is to the slow exit of Dick Cavett. When he couldn't beat Carson, ABC made him go every other night with Jack Paar. Later both were cancelled. It was humiliating for Cavett and his career died. That's the prognosis for Conan if he has to share time with this 12:05 stuff. He'll soon be cancelled altogether.

44Thrilla said:
What I find interesting is how so many people claim to hate Leno, but somehow he dominated Letterman for years.
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More NBC stations show Tonight than CBS stations show Late Night. That's why Tonight gets higher ratings. It's been that way forever (probably back to Merv Griffin).
 
jlprk said:
More NBC stations show Tonight than CBS stations show Late Night. That's why Tonight gets higher ratings. It's been that way forever (probably back to Merv Griffin).
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Really?

Letterman himself seems to think differently. Here is a very interesting interview he did for Rolling Stone magazine.
How much do you care about the ratings battle with The Tonight Show and Jay anymore? Does it matter to you who comes first in this whole game?
Well, absolutely. I wish that we — and when I say, "we" I mean "me" — I wish I could have prevailed. I think it would have made things easier for us. But the reason is the difference between me and Jay. I think more people are responding to Jay than will ever respond to me, and after a while you have to face that. I'm doing the best I can, I enjoy doing what we do, and we get a certain amount of recognition for it, but the truth is, if there's a difference between the shows, it just comes down to me and Jay. I think he has greater appeal for more people than I do.

That's a contrast to years past when people in your camp explained the ratings gap between Jay and you by saying it was because of the lead-in programming or 11 o'clock news and so on. Now you're saying, in your view, that it really does come down to personality.
I think so. As much as I would like to point the finger and say, "Well, here's the real story" — and everything's a factor, really — maybe years ago I was unwilling to recognize the difference in Jay and myself as being more meaningful. But I just think that we've been at this long enough. I have a tremendous staff, I have tremendous writers, tremendous producers, so what really would make the difference? Well, the answer is me. I just think that Jay has a wider appeal than I do and, you know, good for him.
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[From Issue 1061 — September 18, 2008]
 
IIRC Letterman has been more critically acclaimed than Leno.

NBC is so screwy.
 
The NY Post says Conan would leave and probably go to Fox.

Still talk of Jerry Seinfeld eventually replacing Leno.
 
jlprk said:
More NBC stations show Tonight than CBS stations show Late Night. That's why Tonight gets higher ratings. It's been that way forever (probably back to Merv Griffin).
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Then why did Letterman dominate Jay until Hugh Grant appeared on his show after the whole hooker ordeal?
 
tumblr_kw283w8b9x1qzpwi0o1_400.png
 
¹²³ said:
Really?

Letterman himself seems to think differently. Here is a very interesting interview he did for Rolling Stone magazine.


[From Issue 1061 — September 18, 2008]
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Nothing in your excerpt contradicts what I said. He would look like he's making excuses if he gave the reason about the differing number of stations, so he didn't.

44Thrilla said:
Then why did Letterman dominate Jay until Hugh Grant appeared on his show after the whole hooker ordeal?
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Dave's lead would have been even bigger if not for the disparity in stations carrying him.
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I read the reason about the number of TV stations in a couple of different places a few years ago. I don't remember where.

I don't watch the 2 shows for more than a couple of minutes now, but I started watching Johnny in 1967. I have many memories of funny incidents on the shows of Carson, Joey Bishop, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, Cavett/Parr, etc. That last one didn't last, and a Leno/O'Brien juxtaposition wouldn't either. It doesn't work when they share time. Conan knows this and I doubt that he'll accept it.
 
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