Leno/Letterman/Oprah Superbowl Ad
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MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 06:03 PM)
Then he deserves an Oscar for his 18 year role. And just because he was trying to book him doesn't mean he was going to kiss his ass. Dave is known for putting people on the hot seat. He told O'Reilly that he was full of crap so I can only imagine what he would have said to Leno. Asskissing is Leno's job.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
fctiger — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 06:10 PM)
I know people are going to overanalyze this to death lol, but end of the day its all a business. I dont think Dave loves Jay all of a sudden, but all the controversy has created oppurtunity for all of them.
Frankly it shows that both can be good sports about this. Of course wouldve been greeeeeaaaat if Conan was there as well, but maybe next year
. -
masterimmortal — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 06:11 PM)
I didn't say he was going to kiss his ass. But I know if it was me, and I hated someone for 18 years, I sure as hell wouldn't want them anywhere near my show, ratings be damned.
I'd be above a stunt just to torpedo the new guy's debut. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 06:33 PM)
It's the same as when SNL hammers someone for months or even years then they book the person on the show though this is more personal. Having Leno on his show and the sparks that would fly between them would make for not only big ratings but something that would be talked about for a long time. Shocking that a television star wants publicity and ratings for his show.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
masterimmortal — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 06:50 PM)
SNL is built around making fun of people. They don't harbor ill feelings towards their targets. To listen to Letterman, it's not about mocking Leno, he has intense hatred for him. If that's the case, having Leno on just for publicity and ratings is just hypocritical in my book.
If you really hate someone, you normally don't want to have anything to do with them. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 07:55 PM)
You think in the 30+ plus years of SNL, no writer has ever harbored ill feelings towards a person they've skewered in a sketch? Read a history book about SNL, my friend. Michael O'Donoghue's writing was based on just that. If you've ever heard Tina Fey talk about Paris Hilton (she called her "a piece of beep and a tranny), then you'd know that they do sometimes harbor ill feelings towards their targets. But Hilton was on the show. If you believe that SNL writers are liberals (they are), then you better believe they had ill feelings towards the Republicans they skewered. Yet, Bush, McCain and other Repubs have appeared. Yes, they make fun of everybody but many times it stems from a dislike of someone and they wanna take them down a peg. The writers are human beings and they do have feelings. But TV is a business and it's about ratings and publicity. Getting the targets to come on and show their good sports is good for both parties.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
masterimmortal — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 08:17 PM)
If you believe that SNL writers are liberals (they are), then you better believe they had ill feelings towards the Republicans they skewered.
And yet they skewer Democrats just as much. It's not about their personal feelings, it's about lampooning whoever is in the spotlight at the time.
And regardless of how some individual writers may feel about some celebrities, they aren't booking the show. They just work with what they are presented no matter who is showing up. Now if Tina Fey had Hilton on 30 Rock which she is executive producer of, you'd have a point.
But Letterman OWNS his show. He has all the say in who his guests are. To express such hatred for someone, but then want to give them air time just for ratings is petty. And then to turn around and blast Leno and "support" Conan. Yeah, support the guy whose debut show you were trying to undermine with stunt booking. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 08:39 PM)
"To express such hatred for someone, but then want to give them air time just for ratings is petty."
I don't see how that's petty. If he banned Leno from ever setting foot in the theater that would be petty. And if Letterman did do that, you'd say how wonderful it was that Leno had Kimmel on his show after Kimmel skwered him and why can't Dave be as good a sport.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 08:57 PM)
I hope that you aren't one of the people whose defense of Leno includes "Hey, this is show business." Because show business includes trading in your personal feelings for ratings. Any of the talk-shows would have Bin Laden as a guest if they could. And although Leno hasn't publically said much about Letterman, let's not pretend he's the heartbroken little boy holding a drooping flower. He probably has developed bad feelings toward Letterman over the years yet there he is promoting his show.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
masterimmortal — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 09:14 PM)
No, I don't believe that. I don't see any of the talk shows having Bin Laden on just for ratings. Most people do have integrity and class and will draw the line somewhere.
As for Leno's feelings for Letterman, why would he have bad feelings? Letterman may have said a few jokes about Jay, but I'm sure Jay understands where he's coming from. Plus, Jay seems more like the kind of guy to not hold a grudge against someone.
Hey, maybe Letterman can have that guy who tried to blackmail him on March 1st when Leno starts back. Anything for a rating point after all. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 10:11 PM)
The Bin Laden thing is an exaggeration. You know what I mean. They'll have whoever they want for ratings. You do realize that ratings are important to the success of a show. After all, isn't that Leno supporters' defense? And as I said, in this case it's not just about ratings. Letterman would relish confronting Leno publicly. If Leno doesn't want to take the challenge, that's fine.
If Leno doesn't hold a grudge, then he wouldn't have made any jokes about Letterman at all. If he's such a nice guy and mean old Letterman's jokes didn't bother him, why dignify mean old Letterman's cruel insults with a response? He would have let it go. He didn't owe the public anything in that regard. You say that if you hated someone for 18 years you wouldn't let them near you. Would you honestly say you would no hold ill feelings towards someone who was a close friend who you apparently did nothing wrong to but he bashes you publicly for 18 years? Just shake it off with a head wiggle? No, I think you're way more human than that and Leno maybe a little more.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
masterimmortal — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 10:29 PM)
And he just happens to schedule this confrontation for the same night Conan is debuting. Yeah, it was all about the ratings.
As Leno said on Oprah, the jokes are what they do. He poked fun at Letterman back in October when the scandal first broke. The opportunity was there to poke back in January.
And Letterman hasn't been bashing Jay for 18 years. Up until a month ago, he'd been pretty quiet on the matter for all that time. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 10:51 PM)
I'm an avid watcher of Letterman and he said stuff about Leno here and there over the years. Not every night like recently. But digs whenever Leno happens to come up.
You didn't answer my question but it doesn't matter because we have gotten way off-track of the point of why I started this thread. It was to give Leno credit for accepting Letterman's offer. Remember the ad was for Letterman's show meaning that Letterman or his people extended the olive branch to Leno. I'm sure you must have felt that Letterman should have let it go and the Tonight Show situation was a long time ago and he was mean old old meanie for bashing Leno. Well, it appears he has let it go and that they are at least for now on friendlier terms. Maybe this situation got them reminiscing about the old Comedy Store days and Letterman gave Leno a call. They shook hands on the set of the ad and joked around a bit. They drove off together Leno's car which is the first car ever made. They shared an ice cream cone and traded sex stories about Sandra Bernhard. Letterman didn't mention Leno at all very recently and this ad had to be at least a week or so in the making. So even though Letterman supported Conan and bashed Leno, in the past few weeks he very well could have thought it was enough as lovely Leno surely did. Can he at least get some credit for this? I dislike Leno and I'm giving him much credit. Why not follow Leno's example and not hold a grudge? Is there nothing that Letterman can do to right himself in the eyes of the masterimmortal? Must you constantly smite thee?
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya. -
lynne-gross — 16 years ago(February 08, 2010 09:23 AM)
Here's my take on Letterman; Since Jay announced Conan's taking the Tonight Show in 04, Dave's been waiting to be #1 again. He knew there is no way in hell that Conan could beat him. And as he was right, and Conan lost almost 50% of the Tonight Show audience, NBC gives it back to Jay. Letterman, although I think he's a god, reacted as a human would, and got a bit passive-aggressive, no aggressive towards Jay. Now that there has been some time, he's bucked up, and everything will be as it was. Two of the kings of late night will duke it out again.
Whoever though of that commercial, I bet it was Dave is a genius. I loved it. -
MrBlondNYC — 16 years ago(February 08, 2010 11:14 AM)
There's an article about the ad in the paper. It was Dave's idea. The ad of course was kept top secret. Leno arrived in New York in disguise. The two men were nice to each other on the set. They wanted Conan for the ad too but apparently he never got back to Dave.
George Carlin: It's all bullsh-t and it's bad for ya.