Well, it's only been a little over 4 months since Jay Leno hit the 10 p.m. time slot for "The Jay Leno Show" and already there's talk of trouble. It seems Leno's ratings have taken a bit of a nosedive since moving to the earlier time and allowing Conan O'Brien to take the wheel of "The Tonight Show." The problem is, O'Brien is starting to lose ground to main competitor David Letterman.
Now there are some mumblings coming from the NBC executives about moving Leno back to his old time slot of 11:30 p.m. Why? Besides the low ratings, network affiliates are complaining that the lack of viewers makes for a bad lead-in to their late local news. Leno even called NBC out on the oddball situation. If the move happens, though this leaves us with a slight problem: If Leno goes back, where does that leave O'Brien?
The solution: use 'em both!
Yep, NBC says it's considering giving both comedians their own 1/2 hour shows being followed by Jimmy Fallon. They want to placate both hosts without running the risk of Conan jumping ship (say, to Fox, perhaps?). Is this a good idea? Who knows. All I know is I want to get off the "Late Night" roller coaster now...
What do you think? Is moving Leno a good idea? Should O''Brien be tossed?
- Jason
UPDATE: It was confirmed Sunday that Leno's 10 p.m. show will be moved to an 11:30 p.m. timeslot. NBC executives say that they've talked with both O'Brien and Fallon and no decision about the fates of their shows has been made yet.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like Conan has said "No!" to moving the "Tonight Show" back to midnight.
I am pretty upset about all of this considering now Conan is leaving NBC altogether! I know Jay moved his time slot to reach younger viewers and everything back fired! His ratings dropped and now Conan has to deal with Jay getting what he wants. The whole thing is a breach of contract and has caused my favorite comedian to become fed up enough to leave NBC. Now he has to wait 6 month before he can even join a competing station. It is said that Fox is going to take him on and his crew of I believe 140 people. NBC is sinking and it is their own fault, I think Conan will prosper with Fox!
Posted by: Young | Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Well, the bad news, Young, is that he has to wait 8 months :( The worse news is that all of his bits are copyright of NBC, so no more Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Conando, Masturbating Bear, etc. But the worst news is that, while Fox issued a statement saying they have 'great respect' for him, they haven't signed any deal with him at all and it's still all rumor! Coco can't get no respect!!!!
Posted by: Graphic Content | Monday, January 25, 2010 at 05:39 PM
I never really watched Conan's show but I did watch Jay's from time to time. I do think it is pretty crappy that NBC cut Conan's show, and he left completely.
Posted by: Preston | Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 10:49 AM