Leno / Conan / NBC / etc.

[jakobnicholas]

One last thing I got from the interview...

 

 

When NBC told Jay they'd like to keep him at the network by giving him 30 minutes at 11:30, Jay was excited because that means he and his staff could keep their gig, even though in a very shortened form.

 

But Jay wasn't so sure Conan would like the idea. NBC execs assured Jay that they'd give at least a 75% chance that Conan would keep The Tonight Show a half-hour later.

 

Oprah asked Jay why he didn't then call Conan to talk about it. Jay rightly said it was NBC's idea and offer and it wouldn't be right for him to talk about the offer to Conan before NBC did.

 

THEN, Conan quickly rejected it and put out his much-publicized statement how didn't want to tarnish The Tonight Show and he wasn't interested.

 

The cat's out of the bag then. It's over. Nothing Jay could say at that point would change Conan.

 

To me, I wish Conan would have called Jay before releasing his statement.

 

 

 

Personally....

 

I think Conan realized that his style of running a show wasn't meshing well with The Tonight Show, and he's very smart, and he realized that this is probably the perfect opportunity to get out and start fresh.

[GtrPlyr]

So we've learned over the past few weeks that NBC is mostly to blame for this whole incident, Conan has integrity, and Jay will agree to anything NBC throws his way--someone is desperate to hang on to their TV gig at all costs. Who here thinks Jay would've agreed to a 3 a.m. talk show with a panel of monkeys? [raises hand]

 

And one thing we learned from the Oprah interview, the Kimmel appearance wasn't preplanned like many here seemed to think... I wasn't one of them for the record .

[jakobnicholas]

Was there a statistical analysis segment of the show that I missed?

 

 

People that vote on Oprah.com surely shouldn't be expected as the best sample for what people think. But 96% is a staggering number. If a big group like that are SO one-sided in favor of Conan, it makes no sense that his ratings suffered so much.

 

If the love and respect and adoration for Conan was the same 3 months ago as it is now, NO WAY would Conan's ratings be so poor. I know a number of people who have recently said how bad they feel for Conan and what a raw deal he's getting. But they never watched his show.

 

Jay said over and over....it's a BUSINESS.

[Winston Legthigh]

And one thing we learned from the Oprah interview, is that Leno claims the Kimmel appearance wasn't preplanned like many here seemed to think... I wasn't one of them for the record .

Fixed it for you. We learned Leno's version of the Kimmel appearance, nothing more.

[Guest Speed Racer]

But 96% is a staggering number.

 

No, it's a percentage. A percentage of people who voted on Oprah's website; not a worldwide percentage of people who support Conan.

[jakobnicholas]

Your entire post is based on your own assumptions about what my post meant. Those assumptions were incorrect.

 

As for the ratings argument, Conan's ratings were shitty largely because Leno's 10 PM ratings were shitty. His ratings prior to the beginning of Leno's 10 PM show were better.

 

 

Do you have numbers to back this up.

 

I remember Conan's ratings being fairly good his first month. Then they dropped dramatically. Conan's had all Summer, without Leno, to get good numbers.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I know a number of people who have recently said how bad they feel for Conan and what a raw deal he's getting. But they never watched his show.

 

So people can only think Jay B. got a raw deal separating from Wilco if they listened to Wilco prior to 2002?

 

Do you have numbers to back this up.

 

 

Not to mention, your second paragraph doesn't mention a single number.

[jakobnicholas]

So people can only think Jay B. got a raw deal separating from Wilco if they listened to Wilco prior to 2002?

 

 

Huh?

 

 

My point is only that, based on what you read and hear in the media, Conan is a shining hero and Jay Leno is a mean, old, lying man who won't move aside for an upcoming, capable host. Oprah was trying to illuminate all the details because, based on the 96% number, she was convinved that everyone didn't know all the details of the story.

 

You all have the right to side with Conan and hate Jay's guts. But to blame Jay for a big part of this is just plain stupid. Sorry.

 

To me, if I put blame on this, I'd say:

 

NBC - 96%

Jay - 3% (Leno should have bailed 5 years ago when NBC "broke his heart" by telling him they wanted him to eventually leave The Tonight Show.)

Conan - 1% (O'Brien actually started the whole mess by threatening to leave NBC if it wasn't in NBC's plans to not ever put Conan on the Tonight Show)

[Guest Speed Racer]

My point is only that, based on what you read and hear in the media, Conan is a shining hero and Jay Leno is a mean, old, lying man who won't move aside for an upcoming, capable host. Oprah was trying to illuminate all the details because, based on the 96% number, she was convinved that everyone didn't know all the details of the story.

 

And my point is that you can think someone didn't get a fair shake without having consumed their product. Watching his show does not need to be a qualifier for having the opinion that he was inappropriately let go from his job.

 

The 96% figure still means crap in this situation. The figure isn't "96% of people support Conan and know nothing of the story"; it's not "96% of people support Conan and don't watch his show". It's just, "96% of the people who stumbled upon Oprah's website and decided to click one button from a choice of buttons and decided in that instant that they support Conan."

[Winston Legthigh]

O'Brien actually started the whole mess by threatening to leave NBC if it wasn't in NBC's plans to not ever put Conan on the Tonight Show.

?

 

This is how you get promoted.

 

"I want a promotion in this company. What's the outlook for that happening?, because I'll make it happen elsewhere if you guys don't value me that way."

 

That's not a bad thing to do. If Leno had that kind of spine five years ago...

[Guest Speed Racer]

You all have the right to side with Conan and hate Jay's guts. But to blame Jay for a big part of this is just plain stupid. Sorry.

 

You really have zero interest in reading our posts, and a very keen interest in projecting what you want to think we said.

[jakobnicholas]

Not to mention, your second paragraph doesn't mention a single number.

 

 

From Wikipedia:

 

On June 9, 2009, The Late Show had rated better than The Tonight Show with a 3.4 rating to 2.9 rating. It was the first time in over eight months that Letterman rated better than his NBC counterpart. Tonight would end up winning week two, however, with O'Brien garnering more than 850,000 viewers than The Late Show with David Letterman in the 18-49 demographic, plus more than 650,000 viewers in the 18-34 demographic and more than 550,000 in the 25–54 demographic.

 

The week of June 15-19, saw Letterman attract a larger audience than O'Brien, with The Tonight Show audience measuring as the smallest in the franchise's history, 3.3 million viewers, about two million fewer than Jay Leno's average as host. The following week, O'Brien's total viewership was even lower, averaging 2.8 million; among viewers 25-to-54, he tied with Letterman, the first time O'Brien failed to win that demographic since he had become host. However, the New York Times noted that the coverage of Jackson's death had placed Nightline ahead of both Letterman and O'Brien that week. By the week ending August 7, repeats of The Late Show were also beating O'Brien, albeit with the thinnest of margins—the repeats got a 2.1/6 household rating and 2.95 million total viewers, vs. The Tonight Show’s 2.0/5 rating and 2.94 million viewers; both were beaten that week by Nightline’s 3.25 million.

[Winston Legthigh]

As for the ratings argument, Conan's ratings were shitty largely because Leno's 10 PM ratings were shitty. His ratings prior to the beginning of Leno's 10 PM show were better.

According to this (it's wikipedia, so take it for what you will), Conan's ratings were "shitty" before Leno's show started, but only got shittier after Leno's shit. Seems plausible that a domino effect took place due to Leno's show, but it's not as if Conan's ratings were great before Leno dragged him down further.

 

A: Conan's ratings sucked

B: NBC's scheduling sucked, which resulted in Conan's ratings sucking even more.

C: Conan got shitcanned because NBC decided they couldn't afford to wait to see if his ratings could beat Letterman consistently, eventually.

D: Conan did not get ass-fucked. Nothing was inserted into his ass that caused discomfort. He made the Tonight Show his own, and his ratings declined.

E: Jay Leno is a spineless douche.

[jakobnicholas]

You really have zero interest in reading our posts, and a very keen interest in projecting what you want to think we said.

 

 

Stop taking every thing I say so literally. You have a beef with Jay Leno. And if you don't, it sure sounds like it.

 

That's cool. No big deal.

 

But I'm guessing you and others here hardly ever watched Conan and maybe never watched Leno. So it bothers me a bit that people like yourself can rant and rave about this topic when I don't feel you really care about either person.

 

And if you truly are bothered about this whole thing, you'd be slamming NBC and not taking sides. Conan got screwed. But part of it might be deserved based on his ratings and the fact NBC NEVER took The Tonight Show away from him. Leno got screwed too....twice.

 

I'm a LONG time Conan fan. The guy is very creative and his Late Night show might be my favorite ever. I also like Jay. I understand why people watch his show...before going to bed, many just want simple, lighter laughs and not too much cynicism or controversy.

 

 

 

 

The 96% number is interesting to me. It reflects, to me, how the media and critics and internet blogs can stir up a firestorm and make people think a certain way, even if they know nothing about the topic. The same thing happens in politics.

 

Oprah's audience is a VERY small sample size, but the online portion with her audience was very enlightening to me. A number of woman DID NOT KNOW much of the back-story to this. They mostly just knew that Conan was promised a show and then he was "unfairly" dropped 7 months later. What's "fair" in the business of TV.

 

I'm still pissed that Andy Richter's TV show got canceled. It was a great, great show. But sorry dude...nobody's watching it. See ya later.

[u2roolz]

I just find it funny that someone named Jakob Nicholas is talking in his manner on this subject.

I picture people on the board looking at him like a child "Jakob Nicholas don't say that! Jakob Nicholas put down that cookie!....1.........2.......don't let me get out my wikipedia quotes"

 

 

Sorry. It's a very nice name. It just made me laugh after reading all of these posts in this particular instance. Winston Legthigh doesn't even sound like a child's name.

[jakobnicholas]

 

E: Jay Leno is a spineless douche.

 

 

Oh yeah. Get in that dig at Leno. Feel better?

 

It's all so wierd to me. Everthing's so freaking personal.

 

 

Leno has become the George Bush of late night hosts. And Conan's riding the post-election wave of Obama.

 

I just find it funny that someone named Jakob Nicholas is talking in his manner on this subject.

I picture people on the board looking at him like a child "Jakob Nicholas don't say that! Jakob Nicholas put down that cookie!....1.........2.......don't let me get out my wikipedia quotes"

 

 

Sorry. It's a very nice name. It just made me laugh after reading all of these posts in this particular instance. Winston Legthigh doesn't even sound like a child's name.

 

 

 

Touche.

 

Your name would have been great like in 1983 or '84. You might change the "z" to "ed".

[marino13]

If you listen to everything Jay and Oprah say about this and believe them, then my guess is that people take advantage of you on a daily basis.

 

I don't need to listen to Jay, Conan or Oprah to know who is the bad guy in all of this (other than NBC). Look at how many people in showbusiness, particularly fellow comedians and peers that ripped Jay to shreds for this whole thing. Normally they would stay out of something like this, but they jumped on him in a heartbeat. These are people that know Jay well, and that is all I need to hear to have a sense of what went down.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Stop taking every thing I say so literally. You have a beef with Jay Leno. And if you don't, it sure sounds like it.

 

Stop writing your interpretation of posts so poorly. You have a beef with people who disapprove of the situation, but since it seems important to you, I would like you to extend the courtesy of putting some more thought into your word choice. I can't know you don't really think people "hate Jay's guts" unless you write as much.

 

But I'm guessing you and others here hardly ever watched Conan and maybe never watched Leno. So it bothers me a bit that people like yourself can rant and rave about this topic when I don't feel you really care about either person.

 

I'm sorry if you think that watching a show on a regular basis is the only way I can express that I care about the show. On the occassions that I watched Conan, I enjoyed him; now I don't have the occassion to watch him anymore for reasons I find unfair.

 

And if you truly are bothered about this whole thing, you be slamming NBC and not taking sides.

 

The 96% number is interesting to me. It reflects, to me, how the media and critics and internet blogs can stir up a firestorm and make people think a certain way, even if they know nothing about the topic. The same thing happens in politics.

 

Oprah's audience is a VERY small sample size, but the online portion with her audience was very enlightening to me. A number of woman DID NOT KNOW much of the back-story to this.

 

I be slamming anyone I want, thank you.

 

And again, WHERE in that 96% number do you encounter ANY evidence of how much people know about the topic? You are throwing around hyperbolic assertions (see, "hate Jay's guts") that detract from the merit of your argument. A "number of people" from a "very small sample size" indicated with two or three seconds on tape that they did not know much. That is anecdotal, and in no way related to the very, very unscientific poll resulting in the 96% figure you continue to misuse.

[Shakespeare In The Alley]

I have a major issue with the way Jay seems to be OK with the fact that he had no intention of giving up the Tonight Show in a drama free fashion, despite promising on air that he would do just that.

 

Basically, yes, I believe what almost everyone in the business has said about Jay. He's spineless, and has no problem screwing others over, as long as there's an excuse he can hide behind.

[Winston Legthigh]

Oh yeah. Get in that dig at Leno. Feel better?

 

It doesn't really affect my feelings one way or the other, but thanks for asking.

[jakobnicholas]

If you listen to everything Jay and Oprah say about this and believe them, then my guess is that people take advantage of you on a daily basis.

 

I don't need to listen to Jay, Conan or Oprah to know who is the bad guy in all of this (other than NBC). Look at how many people in showbusiness, particularly fellow comedians and peers that ripped Jay to shreds for this whole thing. Normally they would stay out of something like this, but they jumped on him in a heartbeat. These are people that know Jay well, and that is all I need to hear to have a sense of what went down.

 

 

I CAN"T WAIT to hear Conan's side of the story. Send me a memo when Conan reveals anything that contradicts Jay or Oprah.

 

 

 

Jay's got LOTS of friends in show business. I think Jay will survive without having Rosie O'Donnel or Jimmy Kimmel sitting on his couch.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I CAN"T WAIT to hear Conan's side of the story. Send me a memo when Conan reveals anything that contradicts Jay or Oprah.

 

Again (and I will go so far as to try to speak for other people), what I and I think a lot of people here feel is that we HAVE all of the facts, and we simply do not agree with the decisions that Jay made, and no amount of explanations will change the fact that we disagree with the decisions that he made.

 

Why is it always the Jays that are divisive around here?

[Sir Stewart]

Y'all are still fucking talking about this?

[u2roolz]

Who takes over for Jay after he leaves or drops on set in 2030?

 

I say fold the show and start a new one. Or put Jimmy Kimmel on The Tonight Show and most of the people won't notice anything except Jay's hair got lighter.

 

I wonder how much of the Jay Leno Show bits & skits he'll be bringing back to the Tonight Show.

 

And I wouldn't invite Conan on to drive in that Green racing thing that he had on. Conan might run him over. Now that would be good tv.

[jakobnicholas]

Stop writing your interpretation of posts so poorly. You have a beef with people who disapprove of the situation, but since it seems important to you, I would like you to extend the courtesy of putting some more thought into your word choice. I can't know you don't really think people "hate Jay's guts" unless you write as much.

 

 

 

I'm sorry if you think that watching a show on a regular basis is the only way I can express that I care about the show. On the occassions that I watched Conan, I enjoyed him; now I don't have the occassion to watch him anymore for reasons I find unfair.

 

 

 

I be slamming anyone I want, thank you.

 

And again, WHERE in that 96% number do you encounter ANY evidence of how much people know about the topic? You are throwing around hyperbolic assertions (see, "hate Jay's guts") that detract from the merit of your argument. A "number of people" from a "very small sample size" indicated with two or three seconds on tape that they did not know much. That is anecdotal, and in no way related to the very, very unscientific poll resulting in the 96% figure you continue to misuse.

 

 

 

I'm assuming that the audience at Oprah's show is similar to those who vote on her website. Bad assumption? Maybe.

 

Forget the freaking 96%. Based solely on her audience....of mostly very well-spoken women from 30-60 years old....her interview shed a lot of light on what happened and made them much less one-sided towards Conan. The consunsus of the audience seemed to be that NBC messed up in a BIG way in how they handled everything. Leno and Conan are just pawns in the game.

 

 

Slam who you want.