The Debacle at The Tonight Show

As has been widely reported, NBC has initated a major shakeup to its prime time and late night programming. Jay Leno will no longer host a 10 pm nightly talk show. Instead, he'll return to a talk show at 11:35 pm (i.e. immediately following the local news). Conan O'Brien, who had inherited The Tonight SHow after NBC had pushed Leno from the gig 7 months ago, was given a choice: accept a demotion (hosting a the show at 12:05 pm) or leave. Conan, in the single greatest press release I've ever seen (click continue reading for the full release), has refused NBC and appears poised to leave. Whether O'Brien will collect his remaining paycheck for the next 4 years while sitting on a beach is unknown (he'll get the big C in 20 minutes due to his pasty skin, though). Conan may head to another network (Fox? Or replace Kimmel? Or succeed Letterman?) and compete against Leno.


And that is what I want, a direct competition with Leno. In fact, I think that's what all Conan fans have unwittingly wanted from the very start: the chance to see Conan beat Leno at his own game. Conan never had a chance to succeed during the seven months he hosted "The Tonight Show." As he brilliantly notes, "It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both." That's a great swipe at Leno, who was the "prime-time schedule" that floundered. Read the funny, wry, and cutting press release after the jump.

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

Late Shift II

The Late Shift, a mid-1990s HBO movie chronicling the Leno/Letterman "war" over the Tonight Show, is an underrated classic. We're currently in the midst of the Late Shift II, a cold war. Conan O'Brien is supplanting his friend and coworker, Jay Leno, as host of the Tonight Show.

Tonight (Friday) is Jay Leno’s final show as host of The Tonight Show, his 3,776 (not including guest-hosting stints when he filled in for his predecessor, Johnny Carson). On Monday, June 1, Conan O’Brien replaces Jay Leno at the helm of the Tonight Show. Starting in September, Leno will appear on NBC at 10 pm as host of the new “The Jay Leno Show” (five nights a week for an hour, in a format that will strongly resemble his “Tonight Show”). The move fulfills NBC’s contractual obligation to Conan, made in 2004, when NBC promised the “Tonight Show” to Conan in order to keep him from competing with Leno.The Tonight Show remains the gold standard for late night television. It regularly trounces its closest competitor (David Letterman’s “The Late Show” on CBS) and represents the national sentiment better than its more trendy peers, such as Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Indeed, when President Obama recently wanted to sit down with a late night host, he chose Leno. During the campaign trail, Obama went on other shows that skew younger, wealthier, or hipper; Leno is middle America.The Tonight Show shuffle isn’t the only interesting development in late night talk shows. Jimmy Fallon has swooped into Conan’s old gig at 12:30, and has already garnered attention for his approach to hosting, which resembles a more mellowed version of his impish SNL characters crossed with Leno’s broad appeal. Over on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel’s show (“Jimmy Kimmel Live”) has grown into a worthy competitor for late night eyeballs. Finally, Craig Ferguson on CBS is terrific and unique and hilarious, trying to stay within the general conventions of the format (desk, couch, monologue, band) while stretching them beyond their normal boundaries (e.g. his efforts to produce completely original opening sequences every night). The emergence of Kimmel, Fallon, and Ferguson, coupled with the moves of Conan and Leno, and combined with the consistent Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the perennial Letterman, plus the much-discussed Saturday Night Live renaissance, means that the late night television is more interesting than it has been since Leno and Letterman were in their primes 16 years ago.


Late night television matters in America, and these moves will lead to serious ramifications in television, and in what you will get to watch in the next ten years. The New York Times Sunday Magazine published a strong piece on the subject, hitting the high notes of the issue and getting O’Brien and Leno to speak (on-the-record) more frankly about the issue than either host had before; the Times followed it up with another article mid-week, focusing on Fallon’s early success. Drawing from those articles, as well as from a few others (and, notably, from some Bill Simmons podcasts, since Simmons is a former talk show staff writer and good friend of Jimmy Kimmel), I’d like to show why this late shift will change tv in very obvious and tangible ways. Some of the significant impacts:

1-Leno moves to 10 pm on NBC and he gets all the good guests, instead of Conan. Both shows will film in LA. If you were Angelina Jolie, and had a new movie out this weekend, and you can go on one late night tv show on Thursday night before your new flick opens, you go on “Leno” instead of “Conan” because Leno is in primetime (more eyeballs) and his track record is more proven than Conan. This undermines Conan, possibly causing his “Tonight Show” to falter.

2-Scripted dramas will deteriorate. This is significant because for the last 20 years, at least, NBC has shown scripted dramas at that hour: ER, Law and Order, etc. 10 pm is the hour for nittier-grittier tv. Leno brings topical humor to that time slot, an hour ahead of John Stewart doing the same thing. 10 pm will become a haven for Leno, and Leno-esque shows. NBC already tried to get Oprah to do a similar show. Fox and American Idol (I know, 9 pm) could easily spin off Ryan Seacrest into a nightly, hour-long program. There are probably only a handful of other talents who could sustain five hours of prime-time every week (Oprah, Leno, Scos), but that’s all that the public needs to be sated.

Some might suggest that that conclusion was inevitable. In This Economic Climate, expensive dramas (such as ER or CSI) are already less desirable. A decade ago, when broadcast television began to realize the end was nigh (HBO was surging, ESPN began buying up cheaply produced sports programming, and the internet began occupying more and more eyeballs), reality tv emerged (Who Wants to Be a Survivor/Mole/Apprentice). The Networks produced “high quality” programming at low costs. Public interest in reality TV, while waning, has not entirely dissipated (god I hate Howie Mandel and everything he stands for). Leno’s inevitable success (and it is inevitable) will mean that dramas will be rarer and rarer, because every night on NBC, the old ER/Law&Order slots are filled by the big-chinned funnyman.

3-This new Late Shift (Late Shift II) will hurt The Daily Show and its popular influence. The Daily Show is hilarious, but will no longer be the first-out-of-the-gate talk show; in turn, this also hurts the Colbert Report. Leno will be the first guy making topical and fresh jokes every night. That’s the Daily Show’s brand and butter. I recognize that Stewart et al. rely on the high quality of their comedy, too.

4-Craig Ferguson and David Letterman will benefit. Second-tier guests on the Conan-helmed L.A.-based Tonight Show will only benefit the New York-based CBS shows.

In conclusion, I predict that Leno at 10 pm will be a success, and lead to imitations. Fewer dramas on the networks will result. Conan will suffer by comparison. Enjoy watching the Leno finale on Hulu tomorrow over your Saturday waffles…