Since when did Katie Couric find herself in Conan O'Brien territory? Or, actually, when did O'Brien find himself in Couric territory?
The two A-list network faces — she of CBS, he of NBC — find themselves at various ends of their networks' mixed feelings about them.
In the case of O'Brien, NBC promised him Leno's timeslot in 2004, making O'Brien a sweetheart deal to keep him around, or keep him from going to a competitor, and give him the 11:30pm time slot in 2009, when Leno would move on. Now they've got buyer's remorse; in NBC's work to keep Conan, they're ditching Jay, who continues his ratings dominance and has no intention of going quietly into retirement — he'll likely go to another network and compete with NBC.
With Couric, CBS put her in the anchor chair in September 2006, only to watch her ratings sag. What they thought was a sure bet to revamp their news broadcast has turned into a short-lived evening news revolution that's sunk back to standard fare and fewer viewers.
So what if either network wants to go back on their decision? CONTINUED »
George Bush doesn't know how to speak. John McCain is old. Al Gore is stiff. Hillary Clinton is cold.
These are all character traits that allow the writers behind Leno, O'Brien, Letterman, Stewart, and Colbert to come up with bump-set-spike deliveries and amusing punchlines about the country's most high-profile politicos.
But Barack Obama? They've got nothing! He's neither too tall, nor too short. Not fat, nor anorexic. Not a baby, but not a geezer. He's got that elitist reputation, and that part about his biography where his father herds goats, but not enough to translate into regular late night fare.
We're in DEFCON 1 territory, people! CONTINUED »
CONAN COMPLAINING "Studio 6A isn’t even a proper television studio. It was designed as a radio studio. It’s much smaller than it looks on television, a weird, odd, unusual space. But there’s something magic about it." [NYM]
While discussing Brian Williams' Conan O'Brien appearance yesterday, we managed to gloss over Late Night's second guest: Gossip Girl's Leighton Meister. Watch the clip in case you had any second guesses this girl is a more terrible person in real life than she is on the show. CONTINUED »
Last night on Late Night, Conan O'Brien asked the Big Daddy of television news, Brian Williams, about the Sue Simmons, um, "incident." Who else can give this whole fiasco in some fiasco?
Simmons, who Williams says is a friend, made a "mistake" while "joking" with co-anchor Chuck Scarborough. Hey, that's what she said.
Williams himself acknowledged using "salty language" sometimes. And then he made an Eliot Spitzer joke!
And then he tried to explain the enigma that is Chris Matthews', a task only worthy a theatre critic.
"I think it’s a reach," says NBC co-chair Ben Silverman about the possibility of NBC hanging on to Jay Leno after they kick him out in January 2010, after his contract expires and after they've already handed his show over to Conan O'Brien. That's the bit of news the Times' Bill Carter thinks you missed in all the reports about yesterday's NBC upfronts. [NYT] For us, the real news was seeing new Late Night host Jimmy Fallon field questions from reporters in the form of a stand up comedy routine, which, all in all, fell flat. Looking forward to opening monologues! See for yourself, below. CONTINUED »
In not exactly news, NBC confirms they've inked Jimmy Fallon to take over for Conan O'Brien when the late night red head does some taking over himself, for Jay Leno, sometime around June 2009. [NYT] There's been mucho speculation about what Jeff Zucker & Co. were going to decide about NBC's late night slate, after rampant rumors about Jay Leno not being ready to give up his post, and NBC's fears that Leno would quickly jump to a waiting competitor like ABC or Fox, allowed for rumormongering about how Leno might not leave, which would mean the network would have to pay O'Brien a rumored $40-45 million penalty fee for not hiring him. That's a lot of cash, yes, but Leno's show is, like the Today show, a cash-frickin'-cow.
The possibility that Leno would stick around carried some weight because, well, he's Leno. And: His ratings consistently beat David Letterman at CBS, and haven't gone down the path like the sinking ship that is NBC's primetime. He remains a huge commodity, and it's certain NBC remained (remains?) nervous about his exit.
But as far back as September 2004, NBC guaranteed O'Brien the 11:30pm slot that Leno holds. They promised it to him, in ink, to keep him from defecting to another network, the very scenario they're wary of with Leno right now. CONTINUED »
It's official, at least in the way things are official in gossip circles without official conversation: Jimmy Fallon is taking over for Conan O'Brien when the redhead departs for Jay Leno's proper late night spot in 2009. A formal announcement is expected May 11 or 12, when NBC brags to advertisers about all its promising new programming, and how it's basically handing the late late franchise to a Carson Daly knockoff.
In its rush to lock Conan O'Brien into a long-termdeal, even if that meant prematurely ousting Jay Leno, NBC may have overlooked one itsy bitsy piece of information: The host of CBS' Late Late Show may be a more in-demand commodity. For the first time ever, the show's host Craig Ferguson beat Conan in the ratings game. Last week he took four out of the five nights, with 1.88 million viewers to Conan's 1.77 million. Naturally, NBC would like you, and its advertisers, to remember that its late night host won the prized 18-49 demographic.
If you've been having trouble deciding between Hillary and Barack, why not take the advice of an avuncular gay man? Tim Gunn says "she's confused about what her gender is."
Obama for America it is.
It's been so long since Conan O'Brien had real writers that we forgot that he can deliver their lines in a funny way. In this clip, he sets up one of his production assistants with an insurance salesman. If you spent last night in your pajamas, eating chocolate ice cream, maybe Conan find a match for you next.
Who wouldn't want a tour of the cramped studios at 30 Rock? Last night Conan O'Brien offered an audience member unprecedented access, from control rooms to the set of Saturday Night Live to … an on-air experience at MSNBC where breaking news happens! Like Mitt Romney dropping out of the presidential race.
Conan's full studio tour, after the jump.
Conan O'Brien has been "quarreling" with Stephen Colbert over who made Mike Huckabee's campaign. Conan claims he brought Huckabee insides Americans' homes. Colbert refutes the assertion; it was he who gets credit. And then there's Jon Stewart, who claims he made Conan O'Brien, so it's he who, ipso facto, should get the superlative.
Last night on Conan's show, they settled the matter. With a brawl, y'all!
(Confused? The on-air explanation after the jump. But the above video has the fight. So it's clear which one you're gonna watch.) CONTINUED »
So unless you were living in a shoe for the past eight weeks, you know that the writers strike has more or less destroyed American entertainment as we know it.
But last night, no longer able to sponsor their cast and crew with their own paychecks, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien returned. Only Letterman and Ferguson had the help of their writers; only Leno and Ferguson had shaved recently.
Without people on staff to be funny, Leno and O’Brien resorted to self-depreciating jokes about how unfunny they are. To kill time, O’Brien spun his wedding ring on his desk for 36 seconds. Yeah, these two shouldn’t have a problem as the strike continues.
After the jump, the first WGA approved scripted television in eight weeks from The Late Show. Since the clip is from YouTube, neither the writers nor the networks are profiting from this online material. How’s that for a compromise? CONTINUED »
STEWART/COLBERT '08 Joining Conan, Leno, Letterman, Ferguson and trail blazer, Carson Daly, Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert will return with new shows, produced without writers, starting January 7. [NYT]
Editorial Director
