Late Night Wars: Ep. II - Attack of the Clowns
Kyle Wilson, '10 | Senior Editor
Issue date: 2/12/10 Section: Lifestyle
"When I was a little boy, I remember watching 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson and thinking, 'Someday, I'm going to host that show for seven months.'"
These words, spoken by Conan O'Brien on "The Tonight Show" broadcast Jan.12, get to the heart of how absolutely ridiculous the situation surrounding the venerated late night show has gotten. For the uninitiated, Conan O'Brien, new host of the long running "Tonight Show," is now out of a job after NBC decided to restructure the late night schedule. It really is phenomenal how this situation came to this conclusion, an impressive ending that shows that studio executives can act more ridiculous than a man who thinks masturbating bears and manatee porn sites are the height of humor.
To accurately understand how we've gotten to this point, let us go back, way back, back into the ether of the past. Let us go to the long fabled year of 2004. September, to be exact. The 27th of September to be even more specific. It was this day that it was announced, in the future year of 2009, which to us is now the past, Conan O'Brien would be taking over the reigns of "The Tonight Show" from longtime host Jay Leno. So hey, this is a good idea. Conan is incredibly popular on his own Late Night show and he attracts a younger crowd. College students and those of a similar age and disposition love him and his humor. Anchoring him to the most popular program in late night television history is a sure fire hit, right?
Fast forward now. 2009 is here, Leno leaves and Conan takes over. But, unusually, this is not the end for Leno. During the period between 2004 and 2009, Leno began to regret his leaving "The Tonight Show." Okay, understandable. Who would want to leave "The Tonight Show?" But then studio executives at NBC began to fear that Leno would go to another network, to one day compete with Conan and "The Tonight Show." Enter Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal.
Zucker, in an effort to keep one of his greatest assets from becoming one of his greatest competitors, gave our amply clefted comedian a new gig right before "The Tonight Show." So now we have two popular late night hosts going back to back, with a half hour of local news to buffer them. He of the supple chin begins hosting "The Jay Leno Show" during the 10 p.m. hour, with Conan's "Tonight Show" picking up at 11:30 p.m. Good deal, everything works out okay. Right?
Well, that was the plan. Then something happened. Leno bombed. His show flat out sucked at the ratings. Well, bad news for Jay Leno then, right? Actually, bad news for everyone. See, television people are concerned about lead-in shows. They are shows that make viewers stay around and then, hopefully, see what's on after it if it looks good. But with "The Jay Leno Show," those lead-in viewers weren't there. And it was on. Every. Single. Night. And to make matters worse, Conan wasn't exactly hot right out of the gate. This is understandable though, as people would be naturally cautious with a new "Tonight Show" host. But the "Jay Leno Show" debacle just made things worse for the carrot-topped comic.
So a normal person would think, hey, let's just cancel Leno and let Conan do his thing. But Jeff Zucker, he is no normal person. He has the brilliant idea of moving Leno to the 11:30 p.m. spot, cutting his show in half and then moving "The Tonight Show" back to midnight. Sheer brilliance except for the fact that Conan didn't really want to move. In an open letter to...well, pretty much the world, Conan wrote about the situation:
"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.'"
This was really the opening salvo in proper in the war between the supporters of Conan and NBC. There has been a massive backlash directed at NBC for their brain damaged decisions in regards to what is arguably the most revered show in television history. NBC has now given "The Tonight Show" back to Leno and bought off Conan. Conan's price? Around $40 million, with ample pay for his staff that had to relocate from New York City to California. The deal also requires Conan to stay off television until at least September. In the end though, I wouldn't worry about Conan. With his recent surge in popularity as a result of his mistreatment and the classy way he dealt with it, I can't imagine another network not wanting a piece of Coco.
To end, let us use one more quote from Conan. "All I ask of you, especially young people...is one thing. Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen."
Amen Conan. Amen.
 | Conan walking off into the sunset, as (from left to right) Pimpbot 5000, the Masturbating Bear, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog watch his departure. The last episode aired January 22, and has been removed from both NBC's archives and Hulu.
Photo courtesy of thinkmcflythink.com |
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These words, spoken by Conan O'Brien on "The Tonight Show" broadcast Jan.12, get to the heart of how absolutely ridiculous the situation surrounding the venerated late night show has gotten. For the uninitiated, Conan O'Brien, new host of the long running "Tonight Show," is now out of a job after NBC decided to restructure the late night schedule. It really is phenomenal how this situation came to this conclusion, an impressive ending that shows that studio executives can act more ridiculous than a man who thinks masturbating bears and manatee porn sites are the height of humor.
To accurately understand how we've gotten to this point, let us go back, way back, back into the ether of the past. Let us go to the long fabled year of 2004. September, to be exact. The 27th of September to be even more specific. It was this day that it was announced, in the future year of 2009, which to us is now the past, Conan O'Brien would be taking over the reigns of "The Tonight Show" from longtime host Jay Leno. So hey, this is a good idea. Conan is incredibly popular on his own Late Night show and he attracts a younger crowd. College students and those of a similar age and disposition love him and his humor. Anchoring him to the most popular program in late night television history is a sure fire hit, right?
Fast forward now. 2009 is here, Leno leaves and Conan takes over. But, unusually, this is not the end for Leno. During the period between 2004 and 2009, Leno began to regret his leaving "The Tonight Show." Okay, understandable. Who would want to leave "The Tonight Show?" But then studio executives at NBC began to fear that Leno would go to another network, to one day compete with Conan and "The Tonight Show." Enter Jeff Zucker, President and CEO of NBC Universal.
Zucker, in an effort to keep one of his greatest assets from becoming one of his greatest competitors, gave our amply clefted comedian a new gig right before "The Tonight Show." So now we have two popular late night hosts going back to back, with a half hour of local news to buffer them. He of the supple chin begins hosting "The Jay Leno Show" during the 10 p.m. hour, with Conan's "Tonight Show" picking up at 11:30 p.m. Good deal, everything works out okay. Right?
Well, that was the plan. Then something happened. Leno bombed. His show flat out sucked at the ratings. Well, bad news for Jay Leno then, right? Actually, bad news for everyone. See, television people are concerned about lead-in shows. They are shows that make viewers stay around and then, hopefully, see what's on after it if it looks good. But with "The Jay Leno Show," those lead-in viewers weren't there. And it was on. Every. Single. Night. And to make matters worse, Conan wasn't exactly hot right out of the gate. This is understandable though, as people would be naturally cautious with a new "Tonight Show" host. But the "Jay Leno Show" debacle just made things worse for the carrot-topped comic.
So a normal person would think, hey, let's just cancel Leno and let Conan do his thing. But Jeff Zucker, he is no normal person. He has the brilliant idea of moving Leno to the 11:30 p.m. spot, cutting his show in half and then moving "The Tonight Show" back to midnight. Sheer brilliance except for the fact that Conan didn't really want to move. In an open letter to...well, pretty much the world, Conan wrote about the situation:
"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.'"
This was really the opening salvo in proper in the war between the supporters of Conan and NBC. There has been a massive backlash directed at NBC for their brain damaged decisions in regards to what is arguably the most revered show in television history. NBC has now given "The Tonight Show" back to Leno and bought off Conan. Conan's price? Around $40 million, with ample pay for his staff that had to relocate from New York City to California. The deal also requires Conan to stay off television until at least September. In the end though, I wouldn't worry about Conan. With his recent surge in popularity as a result of his mistreatment and the classy way he dealt with it, I can't imagine another network not wanting a piece of Coco.
To end, let us use one more quote from Conan. "All I ask of you, especially young people...is one thing. Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen."
Amen Conan. Amen.