Jay Leno Gets Back Conan's Time Slot

BlueMaxx wrote:I hope they do at least one internet show in a 7-Eleven parking lot.

That would be awesome.

^ Haha! Couldn't you picture it? Conan at a desk or a box with that big goofy smile. The audience are people sitting on the hoods of their cars, and Conan starts with saying how things are going great and all that. Andy's inside getting donuts and Max is getting a forty. Heh. It could be so good!

Their guest has to be someone famous, prestigious...like Scorsese or something, with Shutter Island coming out and all.

I just saw Jay Leno interviewed by Oprah. Such crap.

jaydee74 wrote:I just saw Jay Leno interviewed by Oprah. Such crap.

I don't get that thinking at all. Everyone is making Leno the bad guy, and it wasn't his decision.

Conan's ratings were crap, Leno had nothing to do with that. Also, Conan could have kept his job, and just been moved back a half hour. It wasn't Leno's fault he didn't want to to that.

Leno was #1 when he hosted the Tonight Show, and they forced him out.

It just seems like everyone here LOVES Conan and no matter what is said you guys are going to demonize Leno. If you want to demonize anyone demonize the NBC executives.

I just don't get it, it's not like Conan was a ratings success and they forced him out, he was pretty much tanking. And before anyone says he only had 7 months, that's plenty of time. Leno was only given 4 months, and most shows that don't do well get canceled. Why should Conan be any different?

^ Well, JM, Leno has a right to speak his mind. Oh, and there is a little thing called actions. He didn't have to take that gig. Conan was doing better in ratings than when Leno started, but the network doesn't like that? I'm sure there is a tanglement in there somewhere. Conan never redeemed Leno by saying he was a good guy for a reason. He's kind of a dick. Again, Leno didn't have to move back. He signed a contract to move out, and he renegged, with the excuse of his lawyer(s), agent(s) and network.

^I'm just tired of everyone thinking that Leno is evil and Conan is a wounded little flower.

Sure, Leno didn't have to take the job, but it was offered to him. It wasn't like he himself kicked Conan out. Conan couldn't reach an agreement. It seemed to me like they were trying to come up with a compromise and Conan wouldn't budge.

Why is Leno such a dick? He didn't want to leave the Tonight Show to begin with. Why isn't Conan a dick for basically kicking him out in the first place? I know it wasn't specifically him doing it, but it was the network doing it to keep him. He could have said "no, Jay's still #1, and not ready to retire. I'll just wait until he's ready to leave". No one is blaming Conan for kicking Jay out, but they are blaming Jay for coming back? Again, it wasn't him saying "give me the Tonight Show back", NBC offered it to him when they couldn't come to a resolution that was acceptable for Conan.

I'll go by what you are saying and assume that Conan's ratings were better than Jay's when he started. If that is true, it really doesn't matter. More people watch TV nowadays then they used to, and TV is more competitive now as well.

Will in fairness, Leno was not doing well when he first started. Leno was able to keep his ratings up because his show catered to middle ground and he had prime time shows to lead into him. Yes Conan had poor ratings but he had no lead ins. This may or may not be an excuse but its also a fact. Should Leno have been forced out? No. Should Conan have been kicked off his show? No. Should Leno have turned down the return to 1135? Maybe depends on what he wants. Over all NBC screwed this whole thing up years ago. NBC is a 4th place network because they have not had anyone lead the network for years.....

Reasearch on the internet is fun and easy! Relating to the current late night mess (Not the oldlate night mess, where Leno first was outed as a sneaky little bastard.)


Leno has faced heated criticism and increasing negative publicity for his perceived role in the 2010 Tonight Show timeslot conflict.[37][38] Critics have pointed to a 2004 Tonight Show clip, wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident.[38][39] At the time, Leno stated he didn't want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson."[39] Leno also described the Tonight Show as a dynasty, saying "you hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting..." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"[40]

Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt was among the first celebrities to openly voice disappointment with Leno, saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks;' it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of the best comedians of our generation... willfully has shut the switch off."[41] Rosie O'Donnell has been among O'Brien's most vocal and vehement supporters,[42][43] calling Leno a "bully" and his recent actions "classless and kind of career-defining."[44] Howard Stern, who has been openly critical of Leno for years, has become even more so in the wake of the controversy.[45]

The Wall Street Journal reported that Leno had quickly "raced past the reviled likes of Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia on the list of popular stand-ups hated by comedians and comedy writers."[46] Bill Zehme, the co-author of Leno's autobiography Leading with My Chin, told the LA Times: "The thing Leno should do is walk, period. He's got everything to lose in terms of public popularity by going back. People will look at him differently. He'll be viewed as the bad guy."[47]


Not to mention just the fact that he sucks. A big draw of his is the segments where he makes fun of the average American. Hey, why not, the average American is an idiot. THe thing that sucks is he panders to those same idiots. His humour is safe and unchallenging, like white bread, perfect for the average american, the same idiot he gets all of the other diiots to laugh at.

I thought Leno was a dick when this whole thing started...after the Oprah interview, now I KNOW he's a dick.

Is he trying to get EVERYONE to hate him??

He needs to shut his mouth...he's making a bigger and bigger fool of himself.

^All of those comments are (in T-Matts post) just opinions, not any kind of facts. Just because Leno said he'd give Conan the slot doesn't mean that he wanted to. What was he gonna do, go on the show and say that Conan was stealing it from him? And it's not like he took it back from Conan. Conan couldn't come to an acceptable compromise and NBC offered Leno the chance to return. If Leno hadn't accepted who is to say that Conan would have stayed. They may have just found someone else.

Combo Mo wrote:I thought Leno was a dick when this whole thing started...after the Oprah interview, now I KNOW he's a dick.

Is he trying to get EVERYONE to hate him??

He needs to shut his mouth...he's making a bigger and bigger fool of himself.

Why is he a dick? I saw nothing in that Oprah interview that made him seem like a dick.

Batman25JM wrote:^All of those comments are (in T-Matts post) just opinions, not any kind of facts. Just because Leno said he'd give Conan the slot doesn't mean that he wanted to. What was he gonna do, go on the show and say that Conan was stealing it from him? And it's not like he took it back from Conan. Conan couldn't come to an acceptable compromise and NBC offered Leno the chance to return. If Leno hadn't accepted who is to say that Conan would have stayed. They may have just found someone else.

I kid, I kid...

^Seriously, it seems ridiculous that everyone is demonizing Jay for no reason. What did he do that was so wrong? He took a job that was offered to him. He didn't go down there in a mask and steal the show from Conan like everyone seems to think he did. I'm not a big Conan fan, and yes I do like Leno, but I honestly think that everyone is falsely laying the blame on Leno. Conan seemed a little stubborn. He wouldn't compromise at all.

Not an opinion:

Critics have pointed to a 2004 Tonight Show clip, wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident.[38][39] At the time, Leno stated he didn't want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson."[39] Leno also described the Tonight Show as a dynasty, saying "you hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting..." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"[40]

Batman25JM wrote:

Combo Mo wrote:I thought Leno was a dick when this whole thing started...after the Oprah interview, now I KNOW he's a dick.

Is he trying to get EVERYONE to hate him??

He needs to shut his mouth...he's making a bigger and bigger fool of himself.

Why is he a dick? I saw nothing in that Oprah interview that made him seem like a dick.

When Oprah asked him about all the people that were out of work because his show replaced all the 10pm prime time shows, 5 nights a week. Leno replied. "I wasn't thinking about it at the time." Really ??? Really??? That's only what everyone was talking about at the time!

Thundermatts wrote:Not an opinion:

Critics have pointed to a 2004 Tonight Show clip, wherein Leno claimed he would allow O'Brien to take over without incident.[38][39] At the time, Leno stated he didn't want O'Brien to leave for a competing network, adding, "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson."[39] Leno also described the Tonight Show as a dynasty, saying "you hold it and hand it off to the next person. And I don't want to see all the fighting..." At the end of the segment, he said, "Conan, it's yours! See you in five years, buddy!"[40]

Yep...and he just admitted to Oprah he was lying when he said that.

He's a dick.

Combo Mo wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:

Combo Mo wrote:I thought Leno was a dick when this whole thing started...after the Oprah interview, now I KNOW he's a dick.

Is he trying to get EVERYONE to hate him??

He needs to shut his mouth...he's making a bigger and bigger fool of himself.

Why is he a dick? I saw nothing in that Oprah interview that made him seem like a dick.

When Oprah asked him about all the people that were out of work because his show replaced all the 10pm prime time shows, 5 nights a week. Leno replied. "I wasn't thinking about it at the time." Really ??? Really??? That's only what everyone was talking about at the time!

I can believe that. I may not be in the business, but I didn't think about that. I thought about how it was saving NBC money.

Batman25JM wrote:^Seriously, it seems ridiculous that everyone is demonizing Jay for no reason. What did he do that was so wrong? He took a job that was offered to him. He didn't go down there in a mask and steal the show from Conan like everyone seems to think he did. I'm not a big Conan fan, and yes I do like Leno, but I honestly think that everyone is falsely laying the blame on Leno. Conan seemed a little stubborn. He wouldn't compromise at all.

Leno went back on his word. Plain and simple. He said he would step aside and give Conan the reigns, yet he stuck around and passive aggressively weaseled the Tonight Show back. Conan did the principle thing by stepping aside to keep the Tonight Show in its historical time slot.

I never had a problem with Jay, always mildly enjoyed his show. I think NBC is mainly at fault for this debacle. But I'm not sure how you don't see that Jay was also in the wrong here.

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:^Seriously, it seems ridiculous that everyone is demonizing Jay for no reason. What did he do that was so wrong? He took a job that was offered to him. He didn't go down there in a mask and steal the show from Conan like everyone seems to think he did. I'm not a big Conan fan, and yes I do like Leno, but I honestly think that everyone is falsely laying the blame on Leno. Conan seemed a little stubborn. He wouldn't compromise at all.

Leno went back on his word. Plain and simple. He said he would step aside and give Conan the reigns, yet he stuck around and passive aggressively weaseled the Tonight Show back. Conan did the principle thing by stepping aside to keep the Tonight Show in its historical time slot.

I never had a problem with Jay, always mildly enjoyed his show. I think NBC is mainly at fault for this debacle. But I'm not sure how you don't see that Jay was also in the wrong here.

But he didn't go back on his word. He gave Conan the Tonight Show even though he didn't want to. Leno wanted to do something TV-wise, and instead of having him go to a competing network NBC came up with the prime time show. Then when it didn't work out, and Conan's ratings were crap they tried to come up with a compromise. That didn't work, and NBC ended up asking him to come back, and he accepted. He didn't steal the job.

Batman25JM wrote:
I can believe that. I may not be in the business, but I didn't think about that. I thought about how it was saving NBC money.

You'll make an excellent NBC CEO someday, JM...

^ I just don't see why it should be up to Leno do have to worry about the possible loss of jobs. Also, most of the shows that would have been in those time slots probably would have been canceled anyway.

Batman25JM wrote:

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:^Seriously, it seems ridiculous that everyone is demonizing Jay for no reason. What did he do that was so wrong? He took a job that was offered to him. He didn't go down there in a mask and steal the show from Conan like everyone seems to think he did. I'm not a big Conan fan, and yes I do like Leno, but I honestly think that everyone is falsely laying the blame on Leno. Conan seemed a little stubborn. He wouldn't compromise at all.

Leno went back on his word. Plain and simple. He said he would step aside and give Conan the reigns, yet he stuck around and passive aggressively weaseled the Tonight Show back. Conan did the principle thing by stepping aside to keep the Tonight Show in its historical time slot.

I never had a problem with Jay, always mildly enjoyed his show. I think NBC is mainly at fault for this debacle. But I'm not sure how you don't see that Jay was also in the wrong here.

But he didn't go back on his word. He gave Conan the Tonight Show even though he didn't want to. Leno wanted to do something TV-wise, and instead of having him go to a competing network NBC came up with the prime time show. Then when it didn't work out, and Conan's ratings were crap they tried to come up with a compromise. That didn't work, and NBC ended up asking him to come back, and he accepted. He didn't steal the job.

He gave him the Tonight Show with the intention of it being a passing of the torch. Then his primetime show horribly failed (which was partly responsible for news affiliates and Conan's ratings being low) and ultimately got back the Tonight Show. The class move for him would have been to step aside like he originally said he would. Conan was never given the chance to build an audience. Nobody's ratings are great when they start out, Jay's weren't either.

ok in all fairness Leno had 5 years to find a place to go. Conan was offered the Tonight show because NBC didnt want him to go anywhere. So he stayed. Leno could have had at any point over the 5 years go, ya know what I am leaving. Instead it was all done at the last minute (in tv terms the final year). Leno wanted to stay on tv and threatened NBC to go to a competing Network. NBC could not strip away Conan, at the time, because of the contract. So NBC, in all of their glory, offered Leno the 10 slot. So when both shows failed, NBC thinks Leno will be the bigger drawl and kept him over Conan. The problem is with this whole thing, and Leno's previous mess up with the Letterman thing, he has begun to alienate himself with other comedians, and now with the audiences.... Either way NBC has totally screwed themselves over....

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:

Bigtymin504 wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:^Seriously, it seems ridiculous that everyone is demonizing Jay for no reason. What did he do that was so wrong? He took a job that was offered to him. He didn't go down there in a mask and steal the show from Conan like everyone seems to think he did. I'm not a big Conan fan, and yes I do like Leno, but I honestly think that everyone is falsely laying the blame on Leno. Conan seemed a little stubborn. He wouldn't compromise at all.

Leno went back on his word. Plain and simple. He said he would step aside and give Conan the reigns, yet he stuck around and passive aggressively weaseled the Tonight Show back. Conan did the principle thing by stepping aside to keep the Tonight Show in its historical time slot.

I never had a problem with Jay, always mildly enjoyed his show. I think NBC is mainly at fault for this debacle. But I'm not sure how you don't see that Jay was also in the wrong here.

But he didn't go back on his word. He gave Conan the Tonight Show even though he didn't want to. Leno wanted to do something TV-wise, and instead of having him go to a competing network NBC came up with the prime time show. Then when it didn't work out, and Conan's ratings were crap they tried to come up with a compromise. That didn't work, and NBC ended up asking him to come back, and he accepted. He didn't steal the job.

He gave him the Tonight Show with the intention of it being a passing of the torch. Then his primetime show horribly failed (which was partly responsible for news affiliates and Conan's ratings being low) and ultimately got back the Tonight Show. The class move for him would have been to step aside like he originally said he would. Conan was never given the chance to build an audience. Nobody's ratings are great when they start out, Jay's weren't either.

NBC wasn't happy with Conan's rating so they offered Jay the show back. I don't see why him accepting it is so evil. Conan wouldn't compromise. its not like Jay forced his way back in, Conan was bombing. Even if Jay hadn't accepted the offer it doesn't mean Conan would have stayed. They may have found someone else.

Like I said before, TV is more competitive today. Bad ratings are not put up with. Conan had 7 months to build an audience. That is more than most shows get.