I don’t generally cover entertainment news on my blog, but for whatever reason, I’ve been obsessed lately with the whole Tonight Show debacle on NBC.
As you probably know, Jay Leno left The Tonight Show last year and Conan O’Brien took over. Then NBC tried putting Jay Leno on a comedy show at 9 p.m. leading into the news — and it bombed. It was so cheap to produce that NBC was still able to make money even though the ratings were terrible. However, the terrible ratings hurt local affiliates because if people aren’t watching Jay at 9, they don’t watch that station’s news at 10. So affiliates demanded that NBC cancel The Jay Leno Show and go back to scripted programming that will bring in more viewers who will carry over to the late local news.
That got me wondering: how has this affected our local NBC affiliate, WEEK-TV 25? I asked the station’s general manager Mark DeSantis. He said local Peoria stations don’t subscribe to Nielsen, but they’re able to gauge viewership by information they receive from national advertising firms. DeSantis says that “while the average national decline in prime and late newscasts for NBC affiliates was in the 30% range, WEEK sustained less than a 10% decline with Leno at 9pm.” In short, “The effect on our late news was minimal.”
Unlike other affiliates who complained to NBC about the 9 o’clock programming, “WEEK made no demand of the network that Leno be cancelled.” But like many observers, DeSantis felt it was a “serious mistake” for the network to take Leno off The Tonight Show in the first place. Now, of course, NBC is trying to put the genie back in the bottle — that is, they’re trying to put Leno back at 10:35, much to Conan’s displeasure. DeSantis believes NBC has “mishandled the announcement” of that decision, “making this issue a real mess for all concerned.”
But he isn’t taking sides. He says he also sympathizes with O’Brien. “[Conan] is getting the short end of the stick after doing what he was asked and contracted to do.” The latest rumor is that Conan’s last Tonight Show will be next Friday, and that Jay Leno will be reinstated as host after the Winter Olympics. Many speculate Conan will get his own late show on the Fox network.
“At this point, my preference is to get through this change quickly so we can move on and stabilize late night once again,” DeSantis concluded. In the meantime, it’s hilarious to hear all the late-night comedians ridicule NBC executives for their dismal handling of the situation.
As for me, I’m on Team Conan.
WEEK did a tricky thing anyway, at the end of the show Leno says “local news starts right now”, which did not happen on WEEK, then aired commercials, then the news.
I like Jay, but his “earn your plug” routine fell flat with me. Did Conan walk away from the $20 mil contract, or will he still get some of that?
I too have been enjoying watching the pervasive late night meltdown. It is amusing to anticipate what they will do next, particularly Conan and his more flamboyant guests. I also generally enjoy Conan. However, I do not count myself a member of Team Conan (or Coco), and I will most decidedly not feel bad for Conan if he manages to hang onto his $50M payoff. Most people would quit their job for that kind of money, and it is likely Conan will garner a show on another network out of this debacle.
I also think Conan and Kimmel’s attacks on Leno have been uncalled for (particularly Kimmel’s – he has no business inserting himself, and he just isn’t funny). Villify NBC and Jeff Zucker if you wish, but the executive bungle is hardly Leno’s fault. He went along with NBC’s 2003 promise to Conan even though he did not know if he would be ready to retire in 2009, and he went along with the changing of the guard when it came. At most he is guilty of low ratings, but then, so is Conan (and the ratings are caused by a myriad of factors anyway).
In the meantime, I will continue to watch, as long as the endless rancor does not become too boring, and hope for a true explosion, like Conan stripping and rehearsing his porn movie with Andy, or Zucker leading a raid and having Conan carted off in handcuffs for old times sake. At least the insanity is finally giving NBC the decent ratings it was hoping for, and making Conan look more attractive to Fox, et al.
Jack
I cannot believe that NBC has once again created a debacle involving Jay Leno and the Tonight Show. I personally do not find Leno funny and do not understand why the network is willing to drive away good talent (once again) in order to accomodate him. I also think his behavior shows a complete lack of class on Leno’s part.
While I am not a big fan of Conan either, I found his letter to be professional, articulate and refreshingly honest. I am glad to see that he is not letting Leno or NBC off the hook for their failure to fulfill his contract and expectations. I wish him the best of luck in whatever future ventures he embarks on.
I think that NBC and Leno will find they have created a public relations nightmare if they force Conan out and they should prepare for a backlash.
What I would like to know is if the 10% decline that WEEK experienced is a result of the change in NBC’s prime time lineup or the incredible drop in the quality of WEEK’s own news broadcasts after sending their production to Indiana? I think they occurred roughly around the same time, and the joke it has made out of WEEK’s news programming has been enough to push a number of people to WMBD.
It’s sad because I grew up watching WEEK and would have continued to do so had it none been for their complete lack of concern for local news programming.
I do not understand how any of this is Jay Leno’s fault.
I agree the quality of WEEK programming is very bad. Just this morning at 7:25 on the Today Show break, Lee Ranson came on my screen and told us that it was going to be in the mid 80’s for the next week. It was obviously a tape from last summer.
Very often, I notice there is dead air with no picture on the screen. They need to improve their quality big time.
This is the karma train running over Leno for not thanking Johnny Carson when he took over.
It is the battle between inanity vs irrelevancy… Perhaps the younger generation X or Y or whoever they are now have an interest in this… I have no dog in this fight.
I miss Johnny. I think NBC would have been better off replacing Johnny with an hour of dead air, or rerunning the old Tonight Shows (Steve Allen, Jack Parr, et al…)
NOTHING remarkable has come from Leno, and certainly not Conan. Letterman at least has had some interesting interviews… although I find his brand of humor rather puerile (and sadistic) too.
It has definitely affected my late-news choice. I’ve watched the 10:00 news on WEEK for most of my adult life, mostly out of habit. When NBC put Leno on at 9 I turned to CBS, because I like to watch dramas at that time of night. Frequently I’m buzzing around doing housework while it’s on, or walking on the treadmill, so I wouldn’t change channels when the news came on. I immediately noticed the quality difference that other posters have mentioned here! I hadn’t realized how badly WEEK had slipped until I saw the program that WMBD is putting on.
Leno gave a very good analysis of the problem tonight–an explanation without any attempt at humor, etc. I hadn’t known that NBC had “encouraged” him to retire in the first place–I had thought it was Leno’s idea and that he then changed his mind. I was impressed with Leno’s comments about Conan–he spoke of him as good family man who didn’t deserve any of this.
Leno is a hypocrite. He acts like he’s a victim in all this, but in actuality, he’s the perpetrator. He screwed over Letterman, now he’s after Conan. Let’s rewind back to the initial announcement that Conan would succeed Leno:
September 27, 2004:
On the 50th anniversary of the show’s premiere, NBC announced that Jay Leno will be succeeded by Tonight Show Tickets Conan O’Brien in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to see a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was given the show over David Letterman following Carson’s retirement.
Now he acts like he’s doing a “noble thing” by going back to the Tonight Show, because he doesn’t want his team of 300+ people to be out of work. These people knew they were going to be out of work when Leno passed the torch to Conan. What about Conan’s team of people who sold their houses in New York…had never owned a motorized vehicle since they used the public transit system…and moved across the country, thinking they had a secure job? Leno’s damage control speech he made on his show the other night about made me hurl.
Leno just needs to take his big chin off the network and go back to stand-up comedy, as he agreed to do back in 2004.
Thank you Dave Summers!
There is a good chance that I was being naive about Leno–I keep trying to have good feelings about somebody in the entertainment and/or athletic industry, but something negative generally comes to light. In the end, it’s all about money. Frankly, I was surprised when Kevin Eubanks returned with Leno–I think Leno often makes him look foolish. Maybe it’s still all about the money.