David Letterman, the CBS Late Show host who's being bested in the ratings by Nightline, doesn't "know why, after the job Jay [Leno] has done for them, why they would relinquish that."
"They," of course, being NBC, which wanted to badly to hold on to Conan O'Brien they promised him the premiere Late Show spot, effectively ousting Leno — according to everybody — prematurely.
Letterman is speaking to Rolling Stone, supposedly his first real print interview since 1996, and it'd be easy to assume that he's taking a sarcastic cheap shot at his former friend-cum-nemesis, who beat him out for the Johnny Carson slot in 1993, forcing him to the less stellar CBS. The two don't exactly speak anymore, and they sometimes trade barbs. But such is the nature of the tiny world of comedy. And Letterman's comments about Leno don't come across as carpet bombs, but as a genuine olive branch to the only man who arguably makes him try harder at his own job. CONTINUED »
Jay Leno's departure on Friday, May 29, will be a mini-Super Bowl for NBC, as it expects enormous ratings numbers for the Tonight Show's grand finale. You know what that means? Time to charge advertisers enormous premiums! NBC's sales execs are pushing 30-second national spots in the $150-200,000 range, up from the typical $40-60,000 per ad, with viewership expected to quadruple as Leno's 17-year tenure ends.
Though it could be argued NBC hasn't learned anything from past mistakes: When Johnny Carson left the airwaves in May 1992, the network charged a premium of just $150,000 per spot — and saw Carson's normal viewership of 10-15 million viewers a night spike to 50 million.
But don't worry too much about NBC's fortunes: They might roll out an entire evening of Leno-related programming for the night, not just isolating his farewell to the 11:30pm slot. And of course, there's also the following Monday. You know, when Conan O'Brien makes his first stab at delivering NBC a decent ROI.
Rosie O'Donnell could be heading back to television. Or Broadway. Or both! This is so confusing!
Straight off Michael Ausiello's scoop in Entertainment Weekly that Rosie and NBC are talking about her returning to TV comes Roger Friedman's exclusive details that the scenario might involve Rosie hosting a Sunday night variety show from a Broadway theatre — an idea she's been throwing around since '02.
And though Rosie has definitely proven herself to be ratings magic (see: The View), keep in mind NBC might be viewing her deal as a Plan B if they can't sign Jay Leno, who's leaving the Tonight Show next year, to a similar variety show deal to keep him at the network. 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 »
Nikki Finke is making a big deal out of Jay Leno's comment on last night's Tonight Show that supposedly hinted at a future with ABC: "Last night on NBC's The Tonight Show, Jay Leno was doing his Monday night 'Headlines' segment when he held up a magazine cover with a picture of himself and a cutline that said Host of The Tonight Show on ABC'. When the few laughs died down, Leno looked into the camera and smirked, 'It's like a headline from the future.'"
This is, supposedly, evidence that Leno will be headed to ABC after his deal with NBC is up in 2010 (though he's pushed off the air in 2009 when Conan O'Brien steps in).
But don't read too far in to this. Not only in Leno legally barred from even entertaining offers until November 2009, but the ABC option has long been on the table — as has every other network and syndicate out there. CONTINUED »
What's going to happen to Jay Leno when NBC boots him off the air to make room for Conan O'Brien next year? The speculation about the future of the late night talker — most recently in the news for making nice with the gays — has been running rampant since NBC's promise to the red-headed giant was made. But wouldn't it be nice to know all of the $27-million-a-year funnyman's options at the same time? CONTINUED »
Jay Leno’s prepared to make-up for his “gay face” ways. The sometimes-funny man will appear tomorrow at a West Hollywood rally for gay marriage.
"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 »
On Jay Leno last night, Hillary Clinton opened with a riff on her "misspeaking" about the Bosnia sniper fire story. Then, speaking today on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, Clinton made no mention, as she did previously, of how King's contributions to society wouldn't have been possible without a president's signature.
It's like, suddenly, she knows all the right things to say. And not say. CONTINUED »
Recession? Iraq? The Hills? None of them take up enough time to keep Fox News' Neil Cavuto from backhandedly defending Jay Leno and Tucker Carlson while getting in digs at their GE overlords, or Dan Abrams from going after CNN for ripping off his "Beat the Press" segment or their DUMBEST POKER GIMMICK EVER. [TVN]
If not NBC, then maybe ABC or Fox will do. Hell, why doesn't Jay Leno, when his contract expire and he's replaced by Conan O'Brien in 2009, just head to CNN Headline News? With his tenure at NBC down to counting away the weeks and months, Leno's future prospects are worth resurrecting for another high-profile discussion. Leno is being courted by the Disney and News Corp.-owned stations, as well as Sony Pictures Television, to hammer out a possible deal to keep him on late night, trying to steal Nielsen points not just from David Letterman, but his old NBC cohort as well.
Back in 2004, the peacock network, fearing the loss of Conan O'Brien to a competitor, promised him Leno's gig for next year. Now that leaves 'em struggling to hold on to the $25-million-per-year late night ratings winner, even if they can't offer him his regular time slot. (SNL vet Jimmy Fallon is rumored to be the top pick to replace Conan.)
So far, Sony is said to be offering the most lucrative gig: $40 million per year, and ownership of his show plus an hour-long slot that would air after his show. Sony is also said to be the least likely winner for Leno's hand, since it would be unable to offer him an 11:30pm timeslot on a network.
For his part, Leno's NBC contract keeps him off the air until January 2010 (so Conan can get a jump start, sans competition). The kicker, however, is that his current deal forbids him from even being able to talk new deals with suitors until November 2009, which means we're going to have to revisit this whole thing again in 18 months. So stop caring for now.
Now that the writers strike is coming to a close – though it's not a done deal yet – and you know what to set your TiVo for and when, and what the industry will look like for the next few weeks, it's time to answer the question on everybody's mind: WHO WON THIS MOTHER F-ER?
Lots of people have lots of different answers. CONTINUED »
• Puff Daddy is literally begging for you to participate in democracy. If that and Facebook status updates don't do it for you, the terrorists will win if you don't vote.
• If your idea of a good time is to get stoned and watch the 10 funniest anti-drug commercials in advertising history, you might have a problem. Also, you're in luck because Best Week Ever did all the work for you. CONTINUED »
Wednesday was so bomb. Late night programming returned, which was quite a relief because now we don’t have to think about how hopeless our lives are and can just watch celebrity interviews instead.
And when Leno returned on Wednesday, he made a joke about how he was writing his own monologue, which was funny, ha, ha, until the Writers Guild of America was like, “Hey, guess what Mr. Funny? That violates our agreement. You’re no better than Carson Daly.” To which Leno was like, “Do you see how I act with my guests? Where do you think I started?
Even without writers, The Tonight Show is still beating David Letterman's Late Show; Leno's mediocrity is that appealing.
Editorial Director
