Richter is to be the announcer on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, which is slated to begin airing on June 1, 2009.

A cable station aired the last six months or so of Conan's Late Night here but apparently they won't be showing this. Now I'm curious. I need to find a Hulu workaround.

but pearl jam can suck a dick.

Me first! I'm parched!

pimpbot

he was the best. havent seen him in forever

I haven't watched Letterman in years. He's just gotten old and does the same jokes over and over.

I think if CBS wants to compete, it's time to get some new blood at 11:30. Perhaps bump Craig Ferguson up or just hire someone off of SNL or something.

isn't difficult to tell how and what he's doing without watching?

I've skipped most of the guests except for MacDonald, Shatner, Hanks, and a handful of others that Conan's had good interviews with in the past.

They're slowly getting into the groove, but they need to do more of their older bits, like "If They Mated" or the Public Service Announcements. Oh, and the Twitter Tracker stuff has gotten old fast.

When has he had Shatner on there since he took over the Tonight Show?

If skipping Eddie Murphy equals racism, the box office for "Just Imagine" would seem to indicate that our nation is more racist than ever.

If skipping Eddie Murphy equals racism, the box office for "Just Imagine" would seem to indicate that our nation is more racist than ever.

Did you see who I was speaking to?

Did you see who I was speaking to?

Zing!

Die, you pathetic cunt!

As for the Shat, I've been downloading all the new episodes. But, my perfectly legal sources have only posted episodes through Larry David's appearance on Tuesday. Dammit. I didn't know The Shat was on there. I wish they would hurry up and catch me up...

I help... Tonight Show - Wednesday, June 17

Conan has crushed his enemies, driven them beneath him, and now hears the lamentation of the women!

King Snarf:

Even the cheap heat doesn't work for him.

LOS ANGELES – Conan O'Brien hit his head during a stunt for the "Tonight Show" on Friday and the production was halted, NBC said.

O'Brien was being examined Friday at a hospital. The network declined comment on his condition or whether he had been released.

O'Brien issued a statement through NBC that indicated he was treating the incident lightly.

"Last thing I remember I was enjoying the play with Mrs. Lincoln, and the next thing I knew I was in bed being served cookies and juice" O'Brien said in the statement.

The 46-year-old comedian took over the "Tonight" host's job from Jay Leno in June.

O'Brien's accident recalled a rare absence by Leno that came toward the end of his 17 years with the show, when a high fever and unspecified illness caused him to check himself into a hospital for a day.

NBC canceled two episodes of "Tonight" when that occurred in May. Leno's new daily prime-time comedy show debuted this month.

There was no word from NBC on plans for next week's shows.

NBC's decision to remove the top-rated Leno from "Tonight" and replace him with O'Brien, hoping to draw a younger audience, put pressure on the new host's shoulders.

The network's creation of a daily prime-time series for Leno, displacing five hours of scripted shows, was another bold move

So, the purpose of your post was to inform the general RKMB public of a glancing micro-curiosity you had for a fleeting moment before moving on with your life? Thank you, Snarf. Thank you for keeping us all up to speed on how lame you really are...

That's definetly a girls ass.


At least I hope it is because I've been staring at it.

I wondered why there was a rerun last night....

Jay Leno is going back to his 11:30 PM time slot, and it's looking like Conan O'Brien is the odd man out ... sources tell TMZ.

Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien

We've learned Jay's 10:00 PM show will go on hiatus February 1. After the Olympics, Jay will take back his 11:30 PM time slot. What has not been decided -- whether Jay's show will be a half hour, followed by Conan, or whether Jay's show will be an hour and NBC says sayonara to Mr. O'Brien.

We're told Jay and Conan have both been told of the changes. As for Jay, interestingly, he'll get what he always wanted -- his 11:30 PM time slot.

UPDATE: A rep for NBC tells TMZ: "Jay Leno is one of the most compelling entertainers in the world today. As we have said all along, Jay's show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates. Both Jay and the show are committed to working closely with them to find ways to improve the performance."

I think Conan is great as the host of the Tonight Show. NBC just has to let the old leno viewers realize what real entertainment and real comedy is. leno molested America every night for to long. It will take viewers time to recover and heal from all that abuse.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

It’s a done deal — Jay Leno is heading back to his “Tonight Show” time of 11:35 PM, Access Hollywood has confirmed.

Jay has signed off on the switch. NBC will be moving “The Jay Leno Show,” currently scheduled at 10 PM, into late night and cutting the show from an hour to 30 minutes, focusing mostly on his monologue.

The question is – will Conan O’Brien accept the move of his “Tonight Show” to the midnight slot?

His options include saying yes, and taking the midnight to 1 AM hour – or leaving the network. NBC could also bench the comedian, but would have to keep paying him.

The late night shuffle is expected to take place at the end of the Winter Olympics, airing on NBC in February.

*horrible leno joke deleted*

NBC has lost their mind. Thus ends the historic reign of The Tonight Show.

"My goal is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as our late-night lineup," Gaspin said, adding later that they "have the weekend to think about it" and discussions with them will resume Monday.

....

Gaspin said that despite lower ratings for NBC at 10 p.m. compared to last year, the network was making money off the show.

But affiliates were upset that it was leading fewer viewers into their late news programs, costing them significant advertising revenue. Some affiliates told NBC in December they would go public soon about their complaints if a change wasn't made, or even take Leno's show off the air.

Gaspin said about one-third of the affiliates were really hurt by the Leno show, although he wasn't clear on how many said they might pre-empt his show.

"I asked them (the affiliates) how many are they talking about, because I could have lived with one or two. But I got the sense that it was more than one or two," he said.

....

Asked if O'Brien and Fallon expressed anger at his proposal, Gaspin said both men were professional and understanding when they talked. "Beyond that, it was a private conversation," Gaspin said.

O'Brien reportedly has a contract that guarantees him a multimillion-dollar payment if "Tonight" is moved later than 12:05 a.m. EST.

But Gaspin, asked if a contractual penalty weighed into the decision to bump O'Brien's show a half-hour rather than a full hour, replied, "No, not at all."

As for reports that Fox may be considering courting O'Brien for a late-night program, Gaspin repeated his desire to keep him, Leno and Fallon at NBC.

That is how you properly bitch slap a network that is fucking you over.

That is how you properly bitch slap a network that is fucking you over.

Good. Hopefully there's a clause in Conan's contract that'll give him a huge payout when NBC decides to finish fucking him over. Or, as unlikely as it seems with NBC, the network will pull their heads out of their asses and leave him alone and give the kiss off to Leno.

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this whole page is full of win.

that is all.

Conan has been so damn good lately.

And then you posted...

Conan O’Brien kept up the patter of jokes related to his late night contretemps Thursday night:

“Hi, I’m Conan O’Brien, NBC’s “Employee of the Month.’”

“There’s a rumor that NBC is so upset with me, they want to keep me off the air for three years. My response to that is, if NBC doesn’t want people to see me, just leave me on NBC.”

“Time sure does fly. Do you realize that a baby born on the day we did our first “Tonight Show” is now a slightly larger baby?”

“This is absolutely true—I received a letter from the adult film company ‘Pink Visual’ offering me a role in one of their porno movies. In the movie I’d be having sex with a beautiful woman and just as we’re about to climax I get replaced by Jay Leno.”

“No matter what happens, it’s been a real honor to sit in the same chair as Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jay Leno.”

why joe?

is it because of shonuff?

[Asked why he came on to do the segment] "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children—all you have to take care of is cars. I mean, we have lives to lead here. You've got $800 million, for God's sakes—leave our shows alone."

LOS ANGELES - NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol has defended Jay Leno against comedic barbs from Conan O’Brien and David Letterman in the wake of NBC’s request to move “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m.

According to The New York Times, Ebersol called O’Brien and Letterman “chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn’t beat in the ratings.”

“They’re just striking out at Jay,” he added. “It seems like professional jealousy.”

NBC announced on Sunday that they planned to cut “The Jay Leno Show” down to 30 minutes and move it from 10 p.m. to 11:35 p.m., and they’ve asked to move “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” to 12:05 a.m. However, O’Brien said earlier this week he will not accept the move.

Ebersol blamed the late night shift on O’Brien.

“What this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan,” Ebersol added, referring to “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien’s” ratings, which have fallen since O’Brien took over the reigns.

Ebersol told the newspaper that he met with O’Brien several weeks before he was due to take over “The Tonight Show” seat last May, encouraging him to broaden his appeal. O’Brien’s people confirmed to the newspaper that the two had a meeting.

And according to the newspaper, Ebersol was not pleased that O’Brien didn’t take the advice to tweak his “Late Night” style to suit the earlier “The Tonight Show.”

“I like Conan enormously personally,” Ebersol told the newspaper. “He was just stubborn about not being willing to broaden the appeal of his show.”

Additionally, Ebersol said arguments by O’Brien’s people that seven months behind the “Tonight Show” desk wasn’t long enough for the funnyman to hit his “Tonight Show” stride, was “specious.”

And Ebersol defended Leno, who has been the punch line of repeated jokes by O’Brien. He told the paper that Leno didn’t push for the changes that brought O’Brien to “The Tonight Show” helm, or the push from the network to move Leno to 10 p.m.

“Jeff (Zucker) and I are big boys,” Ebersol said. “When we do something big in the public forum and it doesn’t succeed, we know we’ll be the butt of criticism. But you don’t personally attack someone who hasn’t done anything.”

“We bet on the wrong guy,” Ebersol added.

NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol has defended Jay Leno against comedic barbs from Conan O’Brien and David Letterman in the wake of NBC’s request to move “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m.

I like how Ebersol blames Conan for the low ratings. It's not like Jay was able to continue the ratings bonanza of Carson as soon as he took over.

If Leno would have said fuck you NBC, I'm going to FOX he would have been a hero to everyone including Conan fans. Instead I believe it's about ego, it's an I told you so moment by taking Tonight back. Leno had a clause where he would be out free and clear if he was canceled at ten.

Didn't Ebersol also take over SNL when Lorne Michaels left for a couple years and got it canceled but Lorne came back and the network gave it another shot?

BC had the TV network "Sophie's Choice": Do you keep the guy people watch? Or the guy that people like?

"Jay Leno Show" has consistently drawn higher average ratings than "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien."

Yet media and TV fans tend to be more enthusiastic about the creative O'Brien, and hunt for reasons to vilify the traditional Leno.

Since their shows became publicly endangered, however, this narrative has shifted. Ratings for "Leno Show" and "Tonight Show" are telling a clear story: Fans are rallying behind O'Brien.

When rumors first hit that Leno's 10 p.m. show might get canceled, 'Leno Show' actually went down in the ratings. And since, Leno's numbers have been average at best.

Yet Conan's ratings are edging up, up, up ... climbing the last three nights.

Based on preliminary metered-market estimates, on Thursday night O'Brien drew a 1.9 in the adult demo -- nearly double his usual average. That's 27% higher number at 11:35 p.m. than Jay Leno, who drew a 1.5 using the same type of measurement, earned at 10 p.m.

NBC research is unsure, but this might be the first time O'Brien has ever beat Leno in their current slots.

NBC Universal sports chairman Dick Ebersol may have picked the wrong day to bash O'Brien's show as "an astounding failure."

On the other hand: O'Brien's bump is clearly driven by the headlines rather than an organic rise in popularity. Such gains in late night are almost always temporary.

Even as reports continue to swirl that Leno will take over "Tonight Show," NBC has to wonder if it's betting on the wrong horse. This a crucial point. After a slew of disastrous late-night decisions, this is one call that NBC must get right.

Didn't even know what that was until you persuaded me to do a Google search.....Yikes. How did I ever live without it?

Anywho, I can't say I'm surprised that you bunch like these late night shows where all you do is watch a guy sit behind a desk and make half-assed riffs about pop-culture.

Not a problem 'ol buddy.

Like I said, It's pretty funny watching a bunch of irrelevant talk show hosts butt heads over something as meaningless as the Tonight Show.

The fight between Leno and Conan might be over, for now. Entertainment site The Wrap is reporting that NBC has agreed to pay Conan O'Brien $30-million to leave his 11:35 p.m. time slot.

From their post:

The network has agreed to pay O'Brien $30 million to vacate the 11:35 p.m. "Tonight Show," sources involved in the negotiations have told TheWrap.

The deal, which still has to be formally signed, will be announced later Friday.

NBCU President and CEO Jeff Zucker, NBCU Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and Co-Chairman NBC Entertainment and NBC Televison Studio Marc Graboff were involved in the final all-night negotiations. The deal was brokered by Universal COO Ron Meyer, who was brought in on Tuesday, after talks had reached an impasse.

Earlier reports had indicated that Conan and NBC were close to a deal that involved the network waiving O'Brien's non-compete clause, paving the way for him to leave for another network and host another show.

From the Daily Beast:

The NBC-Leno-Conan war is close to ending, according to a knowledgeable source. According to the outlines of a settlement, Conan O'Brien will leave NBC and the network will make an as-yet unspecified payment. The comedian will be free to appear elsewhere on television well before his contract expires, despite earlier threats from NBC that it would prevent him from working anywhere else.

Conan's last episode of the Tonight Show is set for January 22. Any new show with O'Brien could take weeks and even months to set up.

The Los Angeles Times rounds up some of Conan's post NBC options. Where ever he goes we wish Coco luck.

Fox is the most obvious choice, and Kevin Reilly, the network's entertainment president, has not been subtle about how much he likes O'Brien. But, as we've previously noted lots of times, the network's affiliates would be a hard sell. They already have programming in the 11 p.m. hour and while sitcom reruns may not seem sexy, they are big cash generators for local TV stations.

With Fox already trying to get affiliates to give the network a cut of any money they get from cable operators for carrying their local stations, asking for a time slot on top of it may be a reach. Fox's own TV stations may also be wary about late night for the same reason. Those reruns cost a lot of money.

The Masturbating Bear is dead.

As a deal nears for Conan O'Brien's exit from NBC, one thing is certain: the characters and recurring comedy bits O'Brien originated during his 16-plus years on "Late Night" and "The Tonight Show" will not follow the host when he leaves NBC.

The Peacock owns the intellectual property behind such popular O'Brien characters as Pimpbot 5000 and Conando, as well as recurring segments such as In the Year 3000 and Desk Driving. Sources involved in the settlement negotiations say NBC is keeping the copyrighted and trademarked elements of O'Brien's shows as part of the deal. That means the bits and characters will likely never be seen after O'Brien's "Tonight" ends its run Jan 22. ‬

While the vast majority of the characters O'Brien introduced are said to owned by NBC, it's unclear who controls Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet that is perhaps O'Brien's most popular recurring bit. Triumph was originated by writer and longtime O'Brien pal Robert Smigel, whose reps declined to comment on whether Smigel or NBC owned rights to the character.

In 1993, David Letterman got into a dustup with NBC when he departed "Late Night" for CBS's "Late Show." NBC attorneys attempted to prevent Letterman from taking intellectual property originated on "Late Night" to the comic's new home. Letterman responded by dropping certain bits and renaming other recurring segments--"Viewer Mail" became "CBS Mailbag" and frequent guest Larry "Bud" Melman began referring to himself by his real name, Calvert DeForest. Letterman mocked the dispute on his first "Late Show" when NBC anchor Tom Brokaw interrupted the monologue and stole cue cards in the name of securing NBC's intellectual property.

O'Brien, if he lands at another late-night show, might be in a tougher spot. Unlike comic personalities Letterman and Jay Leno, O'Brien began his career as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons," and his shows relied more heavily on the cleverly scripted bits and outrageous characters.
Losing those assets could hurt O'Brien as he looks for another home, although his "Tonight" had featured fewer of the characters than "Late Night" and the host--who is considered one of the top comedy writers in the business--may be looking for a fresh start. Sources close to him said he was not interested in taking his NBC characters with him.

That settles it, I'm done with NBC after this week.

Its rumored that Conan signed a deal saying that he can use the characters that he created as long as he never makes fun of the network that raped him and everyone who works for him.

That's all well and good, Jay. However, when it became clear that NBC didn't have Conan on board for the move, the classy thing would have been to support him and not steal his show.

In the strongest indication yet that Friday indeed will mark Conan O'Brien's final "Tonight Show," a list of the booked guests for the rest of this week released Tuesday featured Will Ferrell set to appear Friday.

Ferrell, of course, was the first guest on "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" when the show launched June 1.

It has become somewhat of a tradition on "Tonight." Jay Leno's first guest in 1992, Billy Crystal, guested on what was supposed to be the talk show host's second-to-last "Tonight Show" episode in May. (Leno is now set to return as "Tonight" host March 1.) The reason why Crystal didn't appear on the very last episode was that, in a demonstration of what was billed as a seamless transition, Leno's guest then was Conan O'Brien.

It is safe to say that there is zero chance O'Brien would return the favor.

Other big names scheduled for O'Brien's final week on "Tonight": Tuesday, January 19: Quentin Tarantino, Paul Bettany and musical guest Spoon; Wednesday, January 20: Adam Sandler, Joel McHale and musical guest Joss Stone; Thursday, January 21: Robin Williams and musical guest Barry Manilow; Friday, January 22: Tom Hanks, Ferrell.

As for the official announcement of O'Brien's exit and Leno's return to "Tonight," it was delayed again Tuesday as the two sides have not settled yet on the size of the severance packages of the "Tonight" staff.

NBC said Thursday it has reached a $45 million deal with Conan O'Brien for his exit from the "Tonight" show, allowing Jay Leno to return to the late-night program he hosted for 17 years.

Under the deal, which came seven months after O'Brien took the reins from Leno, O'Brien will get more than $33 million, NBC said. The rest will go to his staff in severance, the network said in an announcement on the "Today" show.

His final show will be Friday, and Leno will return to "Tonight" on March 1.

"In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket," his manager, Gavin Polone, told The Wall Street Journal. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible."

O'Brien will be free to begin another TV job as soon as September, NBC said. There has been speculation on where he might go next. ABC (which airs "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!") has said it wasn't interested, while Fox, which lacks a network late-night show, expressed appreciation for his show — but nothing more.

Copying and pasting what someone else says. Learn to think for yourself.

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Conan O’Brien’s final appearance as host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” scored big ratings last night. The show not only won its time slot among the younger viewers that advertisers covet, it was No. 1 for the entire evening among all late-night and prime-time programs according to early numbers from NBC.

According to preliminary data from Nielsen Co. provided by NBC, O’Brien’s last show registered a 7.0 rating and a 16 share, compared with “Late Show with David Letterman” with 2.5/5; “Nightline” with 2.8/6; “Jimmy Kimmel Live” with 1.3/4; “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” with 3.3/10; and “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” with 1.5/4. The figures cover only metered markets.

A ratings point represents about 1,149,000 households, or 1 percent of the estimated 114.9 million TV homes in the U.S. The share is the percentage of in-use TVs tuned to a given program.

In addition, O’Brien’s final “Tonight Show” scored a 4. 8 rating among viewers aged 18-49. Its leading late-night competitor, “The Late Show with David Letterman,” scored a 0.6.

O’Brien’s ratings had been soaring in his final week, handily beating some of his late-night rivals. On several nights recently, including Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, O’Brien registered higher numbers at 11:35 p.m. among viewers aged 18-49 than Jay Leno did in his prime-time show, “The Jay Leno Show.”

After a surreal week of high emotion and comic abuse of NBC on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," the 46-year-old host is gone for good from the network's airwaves after only seven months in Johnny Carson's old chair.

But the story of this misguided adventure in prime-time and late-night programming by NBC's top brass is far from over. The narrative of O'Brien being pushed out of the job he prepared himself for over five years to make room for Jay Leno, who failed miserably in prime time, demands some discussion about what happens next to the redhead.

The interest is greatest, of course, among O'Brien fans, who will miss having him there Monday night after the late local news - and hope he will be back somewhere on TV after the no-compete portion of his severance agreement with NBC ends in September. But even casual observers of this incredible corporate crackup are surely curious about how the only character who remotely resembles a protagonist in this sorry tale might fare.

The happiest pro-O'Brien story line has him showing up on Fox in September and trouncing NBC, hopefully, in some form of head-to-head competition against Leno. The Conan-moving-to-Fox scenario has been treated like a done deal in some online sites - to the point that several media outlets fell last week for hoax stories that the network had registered a Fox-Conan domain name. Not true.

"I think Peter Rice [Fox Entertainment chairman] wants Conan on the broadcast network - and, in fact, in one of our interviews, Rice said that Fox would like to be in business with him," says Stuart Levine, assistant managing editor at the trade publication Variety. Levine has been covering the late-night saga in Los Angeles.

"The problem is that Fox would have to get clearance for that from the affiliates. So emotionally, it sounds great right now for people to say Conan's going to be on Fox in September. But financially, I don't know how it would work. I'm not sure anyone has talked to the affiliates about clearances yet."

Affiliates are those 200 or so stations across the country that are not owned by the network but, as a confederation, give it the power to sell ads nationally. Affiliates were the part of the network food chain that ultimately forced NBC to cancel "The Jay Leno Show" a few weeks ago by threatening to pre-empt Leno's low-rated 10 p.m. show with their own late-night newscasts moved up an hour.

"Clearances" refer to the affiliates' clearing a time period of any local programming so that a network program can have it.

Getting clearance at WBFF-TV (Channel 45), the Fox affiliate in Baltimore, could be "complicated," according to general manger Bill Fanshawe, who also oversees Fox affiliates in Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

"Conan is clearly a talented host and would be a huge asset to any company, but there are lots of factors involved - factors that would have to be worked out between the network and the CEOs of the companies that own the stations," Fanshawe says.

"If there was an opportunity and the network got Conan, for us, one of the biggest factors would involve us having a brand [local news] built at 10 and 11 - and established in those time periods. But if there was some flexibility ... and they would consider having Conan come on after 11:30, yes, there could be an opportunity at my particular Fox station in Baltimore."

Translation: Baltimore's Fox45 airs its late local news from 10 to 11, and then offers an update at 11. The station and its owner, Sinclair, get to keep all the revenue from advertising during those time periods.

So if Fox wants to air O'Brien in Baltimore any time between 10 and 11:30, it probably would have to compensate the station for the lost revenue - and, given the comedian's weak ratings performance at 11:30 on NBC, it is far from certain that O'Brien would generate the kind of earnings that would be enough to provide for both network and affiliate profits.

Making an early start even more problematic and potentially expensive in Baltimore is the fact that Fox45 has established its late news as a winner in that profitable niche at 10 p.m., right after such Fox entertainment fare as " American Idol."

But if Fox wants to air a new O'Brien show after 11:30, that's open to negotiations.

But the Fox45 situation, with 90 minutes of late news starting at 10 p.m., is only one model. Other affiliates in other markets are locked into long-term syndication agreements for sitcoms such as "Friends" and "Seinfeld" in those hours - including after 11:30.

Would Fox be willing to compensate or buy such stations out of those contracts with syndicators to "clear" time in their cities for O'Brien? Complications within complications - but not impossible.

Nor is broadcast TV the only possibility for O'Brien. There have been reports of O'Brien's doing a nightly cable production, similar to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central.

Levine quotes John Langraf, president of the FX cable channel, as saying he'd "love to have a daily show" with Conan. But being owned by Fox, FX would have to see what the parent company wants for its network.

And how would O'Brien feel about moving from network TV to cable with a much smaller staff and far fewer resources?

"I don't know that Conan would be willing to go from NBC to basic cable," Levine says.

Some analysts have even suggested that online TV would be a good fit for O'Brien's niche-ier brand of humor. But if O'Brien thinks basic cable might be a comedown after hosting a storied network franchise, Internet TV is probably not something he is ready to seriously consider.

Where O'Brien ultimately lands in coming months matters - if for no other reason than that he has become, in the minds of some, a kind of folk hero. That might seem a laughable description of someone who leaves NBC with $35 million in severance after failing to attract a large enough audience for his employer to make a profit.

But NBC's top executives have displayed such stupidity and audience indifference in first moving Leno to prime time, and then back to 11:35 p.m. at O'Brien's expense, viewers need to root for someone against the network - and, by extension, the corporate forces that control their lives.

If you are going to miss Conan O'Brien's late night show, you likely won't have to wait too long. FOX is already starting to court the redhead who left NBC's Tonight Show after Jay Leno took his time slot at 11:35. It looks like O'Brien is going to get a jumpstart on the late night shows by starting at 11 p.m. according to a report today.

The New York Post writes:

Indications are that Fox execs began quizzing local affiliates last week to see if time at 11 p.m. -- now reserved mostly for reruns of comedies -- can be cleared.

Talks between O'Brien and FOX could start as early as next week. It looks like the only losers in the late night scandal of 2010 will be NBC and Jay Leno who has been the butt of all jokes for the past few weeks.

just saw the final show. i thought it was fun up until the will ferrel bit, and then just thought it was confusing. i guess its what conan wanted to go out with, but just seemed like an odd choice to not really be a part of the final 10 minutes of your final show.

Wasn't Conan in the band that played the last ten minutes of his show? Didn't he even do a little solo and get applause from the audience?

We won't be seeing Conan O'Brien hosting a TV show until at least September, a stipulation of his reported $44 million separation agreement with NBC. But that doesn't mean Conan's dealings with the network are completely over — NBC has just greenlit the first show in a series produced by Conan's NBC-based production company.



The pilot is for a show called "Justice," and it tells the story of a (presumably fictional) Supreme Court justice who quits his lifetime appointment to open his own law practice. Part of Conan's deal with NBC allowed his production company, Conaco, to continue operation until the end of development season.

David Letterman looked like "either Dinty Moore or Paul Bunyan's son." Or so recalls Jay Leno from his 1996 book on his first meeting with Letterman in 1975. It was a fateful encounter that formed an initial partnership and friendship. But now, in retrospect, it's a tragic relationship in which the repercussions from the fallout between the two are still being felt 35 years later, changing late night television forever. And, unknowingly, altering the fate of a then-12 year-old boy living in Brookline, Massachusetts -- Conan O'Brien. Letterman, on a January 19 episode of Late Show, referred to Jay Leno in a discussion about the current late night television battle as "vintage Jay." What does "vintage Jay" mean, and why does Letterman feel this way? Allow us to break down exactly why Jay and Dave have come to despise one another, both in real life and for our television enjoyment.

Letterman, not surprisingly, was never completely comfortable as a stand-up comic. His initial dream was never to host 'The Tonight Show.' What he wanted was to write for 'The Tonight Show' and his idol, Johnny Carson. In William Knoedelseder's fantastic account of the 1970's stand-up comedy scene, 'I'm Dying Up Here,' he recounts those initial early days of Leno and Letterman's friendship. Letterman was impressed with how comfortable Leno controlled the stage; in turn, Leno thought Letterman possessed the most original material on the comedy scene. The two were soon hired as a team by future husband and wife Jerry Kushnick and Helen Gorman (hold this thought) to write current 'Good Times' star Jimmie Walker 15 jokes a week.

On April 9, 1979, Letterman guest-hosted 'The Tonight Show' for his first time (Carson was hosting the Academy Awards that evening). This was 12 years before Carson would announce his retirement but, in Carson's mind, he had just appointed the next host of 'The Tonight Show.' Letterman would guest host the show 50 more times.

Letterman and Leno would remain friendly over the next few years. Leno would often be booked as a guest on 'Late Night with David Letterman' but, as far as anyone seemed to know, that was the extent of their friendship through the 1980s. In 1987, after Carson had a falling out with then-permanent guest host Joan Rivers, Leno was picked to replace her. This move never wavered Carson's feelings on Letterman's eventual role as the host.

As documented in Bill Carter's book, 'The Late Shift,' Leno's manager, Helen Kushnick (née Gorman; Letterman's former boss), made a power play for 'The Tonight Show' once Carson announced his retirement. An extremely loyal Letterman desperately wanted the show, but would never go behind his friend Leno's back. Leno had no problem making secret deals and, influenced by Kushnick (who was so unpopular, Leno soon had to fire her), proceeded. NBC had their reservations about the lanky, off-beat, quirky comedian hosting his show in New York (sound familiar?) and eventually decided Leno would make the extra effort to make the affiliates happy -- something Letterman had really no interest in doing -- and Leno positioned himself with the network brass as the heir apparent. So, in 1992, with no mention of Carson on his first show, Leno became the host of 'The Tonight Show.' Letterman and Leno would never speak again.

Carson became a deeply private person, granting only two interviews between leaving 'The Tonight Show' and his death in 2004. It's telling Carson never appeared on Leno's show, but his last television appearance was a walk-on appearance on Letterman's competing CBS show, 'Late Show with David Letterman.'

If there's any wonder why, in 2010, it appeared that so many in the industry sided with Conan in this latest late night mess: It's true Leno made his corporate bosses happy -- ratings were sky high -- but this wasn't the case with his fellow comics. Again, as Knoedelseder accounts, Carson was famous for using his 'Tonight Show' platform to launch the career of young comics; Letterman continued this tradition, and Leno did not -- stating the network "didn't think they drew numbers." This didn't endear Leno to the fellow comics he rose through the ranks with, as well as new comics that never had a chance of being on this new incarnation of 'The Tonight Show.' Leno had a history as the guy that conceded to make everyone happy as far back as the late 1970s comics' strike versus The Comedy Store (the basis of Knoedelseder's book). Leno, who was the first comic to voice his displeasure with the lack of pay, was known as sympathetic to owner Mitzi Shore (Yes, Pauly's mother); he was the "let's just make her happy," voice of the group. This was a strike Letterman gave his full support to, even picketing outside The Comedy Store the very same night after he hosted The Tonight Show' for the first time.

It's not surprising that Letterman can see "vintage Jay" repeating and it's even less surprising he would jump to the defense of O'Brien. It should be noted that when the story of Letterman's workplace infidelity broke, Conan refrained from making any jokes about the incident while Leno had a field day. Letterman's full quote during a taping of 'The Late Show' on Jan 19 is telling, "I've known Jay Leno for, what? Thirty Five Years? A long, long time. We used to buddy around in the old days and what we're seeing now is vintage Jay. And it's enjoyable for me to see this. It's like, 'hey, there he is; there's the guy I know.'" Considering Leno returns head-to-head versus Letterman in March, this fight is nowhere near over -- only Letterman's no longer pulling his punches... vintage Jay or not.

On Thursday, Jay Leno went on Oprah and said that Jimmy Kimmel “sucker-punched” him when Kimmel appeared on his “10 @ 10″ segment. Well, Kimmel devoted a chunk of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday night to deliver another sucker-pu… I mean, a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at how it all happened.



Kimmel talked about being booked on The Jay Leno Show, and the standard talk-show process of being “pre-interviewed” — when a staffer goes over with the guest the general topics that will be discussed. When Kimmel realized that Leno wanted ask him stuff such as “What’s your junk-food weakness?” Kimmel balked, claiming he told the staffer, “I really think we have to talk about what’s going on with Jay and Conan because that’s what people want to hear about — not about my junk food weakness.”

He was told that Jay felt “‘there’s been a lot of talk about that stuff and we don’t want to beat it to death.’”

Kimmel paused and said, “But what he did not understand was I did want to beat it to death. I like beating things to death. And so I did.”

Then Kimmel delivered the roundhouse right:

“If I made any mistake, the mistake I made was thinking Jay would have anything other to say than what was written on the cue cards. I figured he’d get into it and mix it up. You know, at one time he was a comedian. But he just stood there, kind of reading through the questions like a robot and then goes off and rats me out to Oprah.”

In case you forgot the original segment, here it is:

Kimmel concluded Thursday night by jokingly whining Lenoesquely, “He’s a tattle tale. Oprah and I had a wonderful relationship and now it’s ruined because of Jay.”

Pariah nerdy User Bow down to combaticus!
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Forum: Media
Thread: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

Pariah nerdy User Bow down to combaticus!
15000+ posts 6 minutes 52 seconds ago Reading a post
Forum: Media
Thread: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

this guy is insatiable!

Fox executives are scheming for Conan O'Brien's big comeback. They are kicking around Conan hosting a four-night-a-week show on Fox's sister station FX.

A weekend version of the show would air on Fox. Eventually, once network executives convince affiliates to carry him, Conan will return to late night against his original rival: NBC's Jay Leno.

Stephen Battaglio, the business editor for TV Guide Magazine (subscription only), spoke with sources who told him the plan. They say News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch will have a hard time resisting an attack on NBC's Tonight Show with the host they turned away.

Fox Broadcasting entertainment chairman Peter Rice would also get a boost for landing the deal. "This could make him," an insider told Battaglio. "His fingerprints would be all over it."

O'Brien and Fox are in talks but more "serious discussions are expected to happen over the next six weeks," according to TV Tattle's scan of the article.

Taking the time on FX would allow Fox to woo their affiliates. Meanwhile, they would have to figure out what to do with Wanda Sykes, who has a late night show at the 11 p.m. timeslot on Fox.

Hey, Conan's Facebook army, gather your troops.

To pull off the surprise Super Bowl spot he did with rival David Letterman, Jay Leno flew secretly to New York on the NBC jet last Tuesday and managed to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater undetected wearing a hoodie, sunglasses and a fake mustache.

Rob Burnett, executive producer of the “Late Show,” said keeping Leno’s participation under wraps was the key to preserving the effect of the 15-second promo, which featured the two late-night comedians uncomfortably watching the Super Bowl together, with Oprah Winfrey trying to keep the peace.

“We wanted desperately to keep this a secret,” said Burnett, who said the only CBS official who knew of the plan was Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. “Most of the staff didn’t know. We just knew we had to keep the circle extraordinarily tight.”

At NBC, Leno’s executive producer, Debbie Vickers, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker were in the loop, but few others had a clue that Letterman and his longtime rival had joined forces for what was easily the most unexpected Super Bowl ad of the night.

In the spot, Letterman is seen on a couch, glumly munching potato chips. “This is the worst Super Bowl party ever,” he says.

“Now, Dave, be nice,” responds Winfrey, seated beside him. The camera then pulls back to reveal Leno squeezed on the couch on the other side of her, with his own bowl of potato chips. “Oh, he’s just saying that ‘cause I’m here,” the NBC host says. Letterman then mimics Leno in a high-pitched voice, prompting Winfrey to roll her eyes, sigh and throw up her hands in frustration.

Letterman came up with the idea and wrote the script himself after CBS told him they were giving his show a brief promo during the Super Bowl, Burnett said. Letterman pitched the idea to Winfrey, who had appeared in a similar spot with him in 2007. She quickly agreed to it, and then Burnett ran it by Vickers. She thought it was funny, and within minutes, Leno was on the phone, agreeing to do it.

“I think for Jay, he thought of it less as a promo and more of a funny piece to be doing on the Super Bowl,” Burnett said. While the “Late Show” staff speculated internally about what the ad would do for Leno’s image, Burnett said Letterman was focused on another aspect.

“Dave is ruled by one law: Is it funny?” he said. “That’s all he really cared about. And the sense I got in the room was that all three sides thought it was really funny.”

Though Letterman and Leno have both flung pointed insults at each other on the air in recent weeks during NBC’s messy late-night imbroglio, Burnett said the two men got along well during the 20-minute shoot.

“Dave and Jay were very professional and cordial and friendly with each other,” he said. “And Oprah, in addition to her many talents, is a wonderful comedienne.”

NBC officials had no comment on Leno's participation in the ad. The taping kept Leno from doing his show Tuesday, so the network extended Tuesday’s edition of “The Biggest Loser” to fill his time slot.

I think it proves that Letterman has given up. Now all of Conan's fans are mad at him and oprah is a fat racist bitch.

If you thought the commercial featuring longtime rivals David Letterman and Jay Leno sitting within arm's length of each other was the most shocking of last night's Super Bowl ads, imagine if Conan O'Brien had appeared in it, too. As it turns out, if Letterman had gotten his wish, that third member of the recent bizarre late night television triangle would have joined them.

Letterman's team had the idea of putting the three late night hosts together for the Super Bowl spot for his show and, sensing the comedic opportunity, Leno didn't hesitate. O'Brien's team never fully rejected the idea but according to longtime Letterman producer Rob Burnett, it was never close to happening.

"I did call Jeff Ross (O'Brien's producer) to talk about it," Burnett said. "I just think they weren't in a position to consider it all."

The call came just as O'Brien and Ross were finishing up production on "The Tonight Show," so nothing ever came of the idea. Jay Leno, who jumped at the chance to share screen time with Letterman and Oprah Winfrey, secretly flew to New York City on February 2 to create the 10-second spot.

basams' was goofing on rex, not me!

goddamnit pro!

A first-run episode of "The Jay Leno Show" had been pulling in a little over 4 million viewers a night before it was canced on February 9. This week, a repeat of "SVU" drew 5.98 million viewers. (To be fair, Jay's finale on Tuesday night drew 5.8 million viewers.) However, the "SVU" episode was not just a repeat. It was a repeat of a repeat. The episode, "Hardwired," had already run twice before, on October 21 and October 24, making it the third airing of the show.

When they decided to air "The Jay Leno Show" at the unprecedented talk-show hour of 10 p.m., NBC knew they were taking a leap of faith that fans of the host would tune in earlier. Still, the network's thinking was this: When the other networks started repeats of their own 10 p.m. dramas, Leno would thrive. They probably never expected that it would take airing reruns of their own to drive a jump in ratings.

NBC's decision to remove five hours of scripted programming a week from its primetime lineup was not a popular decision. Not only would this mean fewer primetime dramas in general, it would also mean the end to many shows that, due to their more mature content, couldn't air at an earlier time.

Last season, after "ER" ended its 15-year run in April, NBC aired a new police drama, "Southland," in the Thursday night 10 p.m. timeslot. "Southland's" first two episodes drew over 9.5 million viewers each, and consistently drew more than 6.5 million viewers during its seven-episode run. "Southland," even with higher ratings, was eventually canceled by NBC. The network deemed the show "too dark" for an earlier 9 p.m. time slot -- in favor of the cheaper-to-produce "Jay Leno Show." "Southland" was eventually saved from cancellation by TNT.

One of "Southland's" stars, Michael Cudlitz, was not thrilled with NBC's decision to discontinue airing his show. He told Entertainment Weekly "What audience are they afraid of pissing off? They don't have an audience."

Changes are coming to Jay Leno's revamped "Tonight Show."

Eubanks Leno's longtime bandleader Kevin Eubanks is leaving the program, and announcer John Melendez will no longer provide voiceover for the show.

Eubanks will still appear on the revamped "Tonight Show" when it debuts March 1, but the guitarist is currently negotiating an exit date with NBC. Sources expect Eubanks will depart within months of the show's return.

The oft-amused Eubanks joined "Tonight" in 1992 and took over as band leader in 1995. Eubanks then followed Leno to his short-lived "Jay Leno Show."

As for Melendez, the former Howard Stern sidekick is still expected to continue as a writer on the show.

The network also unveiled a new logo for "Tonight," a more sophisticated-looking and darker image than those used in the past.

With Conan at 11, Lopez should kill at 12. We shall see. Only Lopez could fuck it up.

With Conan at 11, Lopez should kill at 12. We shall see. Only Lopez could fuck it up.

Friends, Seinfeld, The Office and now Conan.

they both start with a T and have 3 letters. Grandpa gets confused sometimes with this newfangled cable. His blog is full of rants about the fad of color television.

Conan O'Brien wouldn't talk to TBS when execs called last week to ask if he'd bring his show to cable.

TBS already had a late-night talk-show host -- comedian George Lopez -- and O'Brien was the last person on earth who would be part of a power play to push him out.

Then Lopez called Conan and told him, not only was he alright with the idea of moving his show to midnight to make room for a new O'Brien show, the whole thing was sort of his idea, Lopez claimed.

"Lopez didn't just call," said Gavin Polone, Conan's longtime manager, "he worked it."

That was last Wednesday. By Sunday, Conan had a deal with the Atlanta-based cable channel -- and a surprise ending to the late-night soap opera that began last January when NBC pushed Conan out of "The Tonight Show" for Jay Leno's return.

"We literally negotiated for about 68 hours, and it's done, " Turner Broadcasting president Steven Koonin said. "And we did it quietly."

Conan tweeted the news yesterday, writing: "The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I'll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show."

O'Brien had been talking for months with Fox about hosting a late-night show or, alternatively, an Oprah-style show at 7 p.m.

But Fox could not guarantee Conan the two things he wanted most -- an 11 o'clock start all over the country and ownership of the new show, as David Letterman has with his CBS show.

Insiders say that more than one third of all Fox stations would not agree to clear time on their schedules for Conan at 11.

TBS essentially gave him everything he asked for including his existing staff whose salaries he'd been paying out of his own pocket since they were booted from NBC three months ago.

When TBS called, Conan's advisors had been working on an untested idea -- a talk show at 7 p.m. where games shows like "Wheel of Fortune" and TV magazines like "Entertainment Tonight" traditionally rule the roost.

The biggest stumbling block was convincing Conan to give up his late-night ambitions and try something radically new, the sources said.

"I think we've offered him something that a lot of other places couldn't," Koonin said. "We gave him ownership of the show.

"We gave him a pledge to love him in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer. Of course, now he's richer and we're poorer, but it's great!" Koonin said.

The timing of the announcement was no coincidence either.

Conan was set to begin a 30-city live tour last night in Eugene, Ore., essentially to keep his name in lights.

Now the tour will be used to promote the new show.

Damn straight. When I was your age we had three channels and could only get PBS if we moved the antenna (which we never did because that's a liberal commie government run network). And we liked it.

I think TBS gave him this show to see how a late night show would work for them. Lopez will be fired by the end of the year.

Conan O'Brien's longtime bandleader Max Weinberg isn't following him to TBS.

O'Brien confirmed Monday that Weinberg won't be joining him on "Conan," his new late-night program set to debut in November. Weinberg had been O'Brien's musical sidekick for 17 years, on both "Late Night" and the "Tonight Show."

"Max has been a huge part of my life for the past 17 years and he is an incredible band leader and musician," O'Brien said in a statement. "I hope he can find time to stop by the show, sit in with the band and pretend to find my monologue funny."

Weinberg, who's also the drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, said his time with O'Brien and crew was "a deeply rewarding experience" and that he does "look forward to dropping by."

Guitarist Jimmy Vivino will take over as bandleader, a "Conan" spokesman said. Vivino is a longtime member of the band, which was previously named "The Max Weinberg 7" and later "Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band." A new name hasn't yet been announced.

You could kind of tell Max was letting go of the show by the time they moved to The Tonight Show. I think he either wants more money, or just needs to move on to other things...

Shit, really?? Okay then, I retract my statement. I just assumed corporate studios were handing out some fat checks for primetime spots like that, rather than a band that's not all that big anymore...

nostalgia orgasm~Squee~!

Those interns are working it...

..................ew.

11pm eastern, 8pm pacific. "episode 0" at http://www.teamcoco.com

Hey Rob, have you seen that "Sweep the Leg" video I posted awhile back? You should man, with your Karate Kid love and all.

Jay Leno sucks.

Its this kind of profound and meaningful commentary that keeps me coming back to these boards.

TBS has crunched the numbers for the last quarter of '10, and turns out Conan is winning the late night game in all the ways that count. (Take that, Jay Leno!)

TBS announced last night that when DVR viewers are counted, Conan's TBS show comes in at #1 in both the 18-34 and 18-49 demographics, the group of folks that matters most to the advertisers who pay for the show. It's a big win for the basic cable show, which was considered a somewhat risky and experimental move when it premiered in November.

One reason Conan's 18-49 numbers are higher seems to be the big boost it gets from DVR, or "time-shifted," viewing. The TBS press release notes this, saying "'Conan' receives a far bigger lift from time-shifted viewing than broadcast shows, which is a reflection of the young fan base that O'Brien attracts." Younger people are more likely to use DVR to keep up with their favorite shows — a fact that is working in Conan's favor.

While Conan's winning margins are still pretty small even in the key 18-49 demographic (his show averaged 1.4 million of these viewers to Leno's 1.3 million, 1.1 million for Letterman, and 1 million for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."), it's still a sign that his TBS gamble is paying off.

fuck you, NBC!

$14? I'm paying $10 for unlimited streaming and a DVD at a time.

Are they doing a full cartoon with the Flaming C or something?

Man, you have a huge mancrush on Hardwick, don't you? You ever watch Craig Ferguson? He's on there all the time, and a HUGE Doctor Who fan. BTW, did you ever watch any Matt Smith episodes? Or are you still missing Eccleston?

I just checked my account. I have Streaming Only option, and it's only $8 bucks a month. Rex, do you have $8 bucks a month for unlimited streaming?

No I haven't! Link?

No I haven't! Link?

the first time i ever tried to go to a conan show was in 1993, the first year, and both louis CK and triumpht (robert smiegel) were pretending to be authors in a sketch.

Bobo never wears pants. It was documented photographically by the ninja turtles.