Conan: I would not have done the same to Leno
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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?" -
djroomba — 15 years ago(April 30, 2010 04:27 AM)
Clearly you're some internet fighting loser whos just realised that, and has moved on but I'll leave you with some facts man. Conan wasn't declining at all. Conan's ratings were never the issue, only Jay's were. Conan was outperforming Letterman in the demo by alot consistently every night till Leno came back on. Conan's numbers were not low by any measure of the word anyway.
Besides, numbers don't matter in Late Night. If they did Jimmy Kimmel would have been off the air long ago. Nielson numbers only survey a small sample of people. They are not indicative of how many people are actually watching. Broadcast executives know this and expected Conan's numbers to be lower than Jay's because his younger audience is only partially included in the survey's numbers and is much more difficult to have a group of younger people watch the show live and at the same time. -
cjoklb — 15 years ago(April 29, 2010 09:21 PM)
Oh hi again, motallica. Taking another vacation from your high stress, time consuming job? Or were you able to squeeze in a few minutes just to make the groundless claim that Conan screwed over Lopez in the same way Leno screwed Carson, Letterman, and Conan? Good luck with that one.