Welcome to the show folks...
Reader Blast Hardcheese (pseudonym of Biff Plankchest) asked:
In 2004 NBC seeking to avoid the bloodbath that happened when Johnny Carson retired tried to plan ahead. Conan O'Brien was getting interest from other networks, and they wanted to keep him, and they thought the best way to keep him was to give him the Tonight Show. NBC then made a deal with Jay Leno to leave the Tonight Show about 18 months before the end of his contract.
Now they could have bought off Conan to wait a little while longer and have Jay leave with an even 20 years under his belt, but NBC was impatient. They also wanted to keep Jay around for that remaining 18 months, they just hadn't developed anything specific for him.
The change happened, and that's when things start getting messed up.
The change got Zuckerfied.
NBC-U CEO Jeff Zucker cut loose a brain fart and instead of having Jay Leno do some specials, or at most a weekly show, he put him on 5 times a week. Now the logic behind this decision was to save NBC millions by avoiding paying for the expensive hour long dramas that normally dominate the 10pm time slot.
The fact however was quite different. The fact was that a nightly talk-show is essentially dead air at 10pm creating yet another black hole in NBC's ratings.
Which brings us to Conan.
Yes, Conan was getting beaten by Letterman in ratings.
However, he was tied in some key demographics, and wasn't that far behind overall. In fact, he was doing pretty well, even in comparison to Jay Leno's first three+ years in the job, and Jay didn't have to deal with a 10pm black hole destroying the lead in to the local news, which in itself was the lead in to the Tonight Show.
While Jay was good at holding onto an older audience, Conan's gift was develop new viewers who normally avoided network television at late night. In time, he probably would have overtaken Letterman with the combo of new viewers, something different on at 10pm, and the fading of interest in Letterman's lecherous employment policies.
However, Conan was not going to get that chance, because he was going to get Zuckerfied.
Zucker put that black hole in the already struggling schedule, burning local affiliates, and the Tonight Show, but instead of trying to fix it, he decided to make it worse. He cancels Leno's bomb, but still refuses to let Leno go, for fear that Leno might do something successful somewhere else. In Zucker's mind it's better to be an NBC failure, than a success anywhere else.
So Zucker starts trying to jerk around the Tonight Show, something Conan believes violated his contract and stood his ground. Zucker cannot brook rebellion, and had Conan promptly shit-canned, and then slandered in the media through anonymous leaks, and not-so anonymous statements by NBC house-jock Dick Ebersole.
Conan's out, Jay's back in, and Zucker once again manages to make things worse for NBC-U, while getting his contract renewed.
Now Jay is probably guided more by insecurity over malice. He's so rich that he has yet to spend a penny of his Tonight Show money, but refused to let anyone guest host the show*, and slashed the number of prominent comedians who appeared in comparison to Carson for fear that he would be replaced by NBC. He probably knew that his 10pm show would be a disaster, but did it anyway, because he can't face life as just a millionaire comedian with sold out Vegas shows, who doesn't appear every weeknight on TV.
Was he expecting the failure of his 10pm show to help him usurp his throne back from Conan?
Who knows.
However, if Leno was a truly "stand-up" guy, he would have stood up to NBC, and said: "Go ahead, cancel me, the show is shit anyway, I should never have done it, and you should at least give Conan the same chance I had." Then driven away on his Stanley Steamer for a new life, knowing that he did the right thing by not playing Zucker's game and screwing Conan.
But he didn't, because deep down, Leno doesn't have a spine. He does what the network tells him, even if it makes him the toady of an incompetently run corporation that couldn't organize a shag in a bordello.
So to sum it all up: Zucker was the original jerk. But Jay made himself as big a jerk by going along, and then playing the "I'm a regular guy" card, and claiming that it was "just business."
You're not a regular guy Jay, you're a multi-millionaire, who would rather have a spot on the smoke-stack of the Titanic, rather than making the sort of stand that might get them a navigator who knows how to dodge an iceberg.
Now please, let's find some other business news for me to gripe about!
*The exception was a Tonight/Today Show one-shot exchange with Katie Couric, but that doesn't count.
Reader Blast Hardcheese (pseudonym of Biff Plankchest) asked:
Who was the initial jerk in all this - NBC or Leno? Did NBC say 'Gee, Conan isn't doing so well, let's stick Jay back in there" or did Leno say "Gee, my new show isn't doing so well, I'd like to go back to the Tonight Show." Whatever his faults, Leno seems like a stand-up guy, so I tend to think it was NBC/Zucker who started it.So I'm going to give my explanation of what I think happened.
In 2004 NBC seeking to avoid the bloodbath that happened when Johnny Carson retired tried to plan ahead. Conan O'Brien was getting interest from other networks, and they wanted to keep him, and they thought the best way to keep him was to give him the Tonight Show. NBC then made a deal with Jay Leno to leave the Tonight Show about 18 months before the end of his contract.
Now they could have bought off Conan to wait a little while longer and have Jay leave with an even 20 years under his belt, but NBC was impatient. They also wanted to keep Jay around for that remaining 18 months, they just hadn't developed anything specific for him.
The change happened, and that's when things start getting messed up.
The change got Zuckerfied.
NBC-U CEO Jeff Zucker cut loose a brain fart and instead of having Jay Leno do some specials, or at most a weekly show, he put him on 5 times a week. Now the logic behind this decision was to save NBC millions by avoiding paying for the expensive hour long dramas that normally dominate the 10pm time slot.
The fact however was quite different. The fact was that a nightly talk-show is essentially dead air at 10pm creating yet another black hole in NBC's ratings.
Which brings us to Conan.
Yes, Conan was getting beaten by Letterman in ratings.
However, he was tied in some key demographics, and wasn't that far behind overall. In fact, he was doing pretty well, even in comparison to Jay Leno's first three+ years in the job, and Jay didn't have to deal with a 10pm black hole destroying the lead in to the local news, which in itself was the lead in to the Tonight Show.
While Jay was good at holding onto an older audience, Conan's gift was develop new viewers who normally avoided network television at late night. In time, he probably would have overtaken Letterman with the combo of new viewers, something different on at 10pm, and the fading of interest in Letterman's lecherous employment policies.
However, Conan was not going to get that chance, because he was going to get Zuckerfied.
Zucker put that black hole in the already struggling schedule, burning local affiliates, and the Tonight Show, but instead of trying to fix it, he decided to make it worse. He cancels Leno's bomb, but still refuses to let Leno go, for fear that Leno might do something successful somewhere else. In Zucker's mind it's better to be an NBC failure, than a success anywhere else.
So Zucker starts trying to jerk around the Tonight Show, something Conan believes violated his contract and stood his ground. Zucker cannot brook rebellion, and had Conan promptly shit-canned, and then slandered in the media through anonymous leaks, and not-so anonymous statements by NBC house-jock Dick Ebersole.
Conan's out, Jay's back in, and Zucker once again manages to make things worse for NBC-U, while getting his contract renewed.
Now Jay is probably guided more by insecurity over malice. He's so rich that he has yet to spend a penny of his Tonight Show money, but refused to let anyone guest host the show*, and slashed the number of prominent comedians who appeared in comparison to Carson for fear that he would be replaced by NBC. He probably knew that his 10pm show would be a disaster, but did it anyway, because he can't face life as just a millionaire comedian with sold out Vegas shows, who doesn't appear every weeknight on TV.
Was he expecting the failure of his 10pm show to help him usurp his throne back from Conan?
Who knows.
However, if Leno was a truly "stand-up" guy, he would have stood up to NBC, and said: "Go ahead, cancel me, the show is shit anyway, I should never have done it, and you should at least give Conan the same chance I had." Then driven away on his Stanley Steamer for a new life, knowing that he did the right thing by not playing Zucker's game and screwing Conan.
But he didn't, because deep down, Leno doesn't have a spine. He does what the network tells him, even if it makes him the toady of an incompetently run corporation that couldn't organize a shag in a bordello.
So to sum it all up: Zucker was the original jerk. But Jay made himself as big a jerk by going along, and then playing the "I'm a regular guy" card, and claiming that it was "just business."
You're not a regular guy Jay, you're a multi-millionaire, who would rather have a spot on the smoke-stack of the Titanic, rather than making the sort of stand that might get them a navigator who knows how to dodge an iceberg.
Now please, let's find some other business news for me to gripe about!
*The exception was a Tonight/Today Show one-shot exchange with Katie Couric, but that doesn't count.
Now Jay is probably guided more by insecurity over malice. He's so rich that he has yet to spend a penny of his Tonight Show money, but refused to let anyone guest host the show*, and slashed the number of prominent comedians who appeared in comparison to Carson for fear that he would be replaced by NBC. He probably knew that his 10pm show would be a disaster, but did it anyway, because he can't face life as just a millionaire comedian with sold out Vegas shows, who doesn't appear every weeknight on TV.
ReplyDeleteBut he didn't, because deep down, Leno doesn't have a spine. He does what the network tells him, even if it makes him the toady of an incompetently run corporation that couldn't organize a shag in a bordello.
You're not a regular guy Jay, you're a multi-millionaire, who would rather have a spot on the smoke-stack of the Titanic, rather than making the sort of stand that might get them a navigator who knows how to dodge an iceberg.
It's been awhile, but as I recall, everything I've ever read as Jay paints him as having very blue collar roots. The man does seem like a hard worker and you're right, he isn't a regular guy any more but I think he still sees himself as one. That any minute he'll be unemployed and have to live without a job for awhile. Even though he could probably survive just fine to the day he dies, you'd be surprised how ingrained those early lessons are. (my grandmother, who survived through the great depression, was a pretty bad hoarder, even though she really didn't need to keep a lot of that stuff)
Then maybe Jay should get a little therapy. His acquiescence to NBC's (read Zucker) every whim does more damage to himself, and to NBC.
ReplyDelete