Conan: I would not have done the same to Leno
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cjoklb — 15 years ago(April 29, 2010 09:18 PM)
Leno did take back the show. He was making comments about how he would gladly take the show back if it was offered to him months before the whole thing erupted. He could have walked away after his 10:00 PM show failed, but he decided he would rather bump the Tonight Show back a half an hour from its historical time slot, not to mention screw over Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, just so he could host a lame 30 minute talk show to compete with Letterman. After Conan refused, Leno started with his innocent "I don't know what's going on" routine.
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Tenorsrule — 15 years ago(April 29, 2010 09:41 PM)
Why shouldn't he take it if Conan was leaving.
Because his willingness to take it was the only reason NBC was able to screw conan over. If he had told NBC he wasn't willing to help them screw conan over, they would not have screwed conan over. But he was obviously waiting for a chance to take it back for a while beforehand. -
cjoklb — 15 years ago(April 29, 2010 10:48 PM)
Shove your condescension, rolltop. Go troll another board.
Leno's show didn't help Conan, but Conan's ratings were DECLINING long before Leno's show started. That wasn't Leno's fault.
Oh yeah? Taking your Tonight Show audience with you to an earlier time slot didn't have any effect? I wonder how Leno would have fared if Carson would have taken his audience to 10:00 PM. I doubt anybody would have cared to watch Leno's Tonight Show if Carson was doing the same show everybody knew and loved at an earlier time.
"It's just business." Yeah, we've all heard Leno's answer, we don't need you to parrot it, considering you aren't really a fan of either host and are just here to argue with people.
Seriously, get a life. -
cjoklb — 15 years ago(April 30, 2010 12:15 AM)
And only the most pathetic losers hang around a message board of a show they don't like simply to argue, yet here you are. It would be one thing if you were actually a Leno fan, but you're not. You just get off on being an obnoxious snob around here. It's sad.
Your "ratings king" Leno is tracking Conan's "declining ratings" point for point on the Tonight Show. Conan debuted at 2.3 and by the second week he was down to a 1.5. By the fifth week, he dropped to a 1.0. From that point on, he bounced between 1.3 and 0.9, until the last several weeks when the ratings went way up. Leno debuted at a 1.5, by the 4th week he was down to 1.1, and for the last couple of weeks he is down to 1.0. No up and down action yet, he is still trending downwards.
If Letterman's ratings were where they were when Conan was hosting the Tonight Show, Leno would be in trouble right now. For now, Leno fans can keep bragging about Leno "dominating" with his ridiculous 0.1 lead over Letterman. -
Keatsforthewin — 15 years ago(April 30, 2010 04:09 AM)
cjoklb:
Leno debuted at a 1.5, by the 4th week he was down to 1.1, and for the last couple of weeks he is down to 1.0. No up and down action yet, he is still trending downwards.
wow.I didnt know Lenos numbers were down that much.Im delighted. -
cjoklb — 15 years ago(April 30, 2010 11:25 AM)
Not at all. Leno's ratings were declining even before this whole thing went down. He went from a 1.8 in the demo down to a 1.4, and this was before the Conan situation. Now he's at a 1.0. It will be interesting to see if his ratings slip even further.
And like I said, if Letterman was getting the ratings he was getting when Conan was hosting the Tonight Show, Leno would be in trouble right now. -
thgl619 — 15 years ago(April 30, 2010 06:53 AM)
That's pretty stupid.
Leno had 18 Months to build his audience. Conan had 7 months and 4 months with a crappy lead in.
And Conan was also under contract with NBC and that did not stop them.
Jay should have walked away with his dignity for not doing it twice. He refused it and now his ratings suck as well. -
c7c7c7r — 15 years ago(May 04, 2010 05:26 PM)
Nobody has said anything about NBC shafting Leno back in 2004, when NBC placated O'Brien by offering him the Tonight Show in 5 years. Why did Conan accept that? Why didn't he say to NBC"No, I wouldn't do that to Jay. He should be allowed to do what Johnny Carson did go on for 30 years (what David Letterman is doing now)?" When he had the opportunity to address that on 60 Minutes, he completely dodged the question. NBC insulted Leno hugely in 2004, so Leno deservedly got his show back.
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liquid_filmmaking — 15 years ago(May 04, 2010 06:44 PM)
Nobody has said anything about NBC shafting Leno back in 2004, when NBC placated O'Brien by offering him the Tonight Show in 5 years. Why did Conan accept that? Why didn't he say to NBC"No, I wouldn't do that to Jay. He should be allowed to do what Johnny Carson did go on for 30 years (what David Letterman is doing now)?" When he had the opportunity to address that on 60 Minutes, he completely dodged the question. NBC insulted Leno hugely in 2004, so Leno deservedly got his show back.
This point is brought up a lot, and frankly none of us know the details of what occurred. Bill Carter even wrote a book that dealt with this switchover and other topics, called Desperate Networks, but i'm willing to bet none of us have read it either.
if Leno had gone on for 30 years, he'd be like 72 or something by the time he was done, and even though I'm sure he'd be up for it I can't imagine NBC going along with it. also, it's all about ratings and I'd imagine at 72 his 18-49 demo would be horrible. Conan's ratings weren't super hot so they used that as one excuse to get rid of him, so basically networks live or die by ratings. Apparently even Leno's 18-49 ratings were trending downward towards the end, so I imagine NBC wanted to avoid a huge drama like with Leno and Carson, but that obviously failed.
the bigger knock against Leno over Conan is that Leno has more of a history of this, so in an effect he's probably more of a repeat offender than Conan when it comes to being a corporate bloodsucker type.
I think what Conan was saying in his interview that if he had publicly gone along with the plan and agreed to it, then he would have accepted it and moved on. Leno's biggest mistake was being passive aggressive and not stating his case earlier to retain the show, instead relying on his backroom schemes to get what he wants. A little bit of honesty and forthrightness would have gone a long way. -
a_l_i_e_n — 15 years ago(May 23, 2010 02:58 PM)
"Nobody has said anything about NBC shafting Leno in 2004, when NBC placated O'Brien by offering him the Tonight Show in 5 years. Why did Conan accept that? Why didn't he say to NBC"No, I wouldn't do that to Jay."
Just wondering if you ever did get a satisfactory answer to that particular question? -
a_l_i_e_n — 15 years ago(August 27, 2010 05:48 PM)
Yeah, it's the same kind of double standard I've noticed since this thing first hit the fan. It works like this: whatever Jay does is
BAD!
However, if Conan does something that seems similar, or, if we apply the same standard of responsibility to Conan's actions as we do Jay, then you're outta' line.
There's no need. Move along, folks. Nothin' to see here.
Cartman: "How do I reach these keeds?"