The Tonight Show, and The Jay Leno 11:35 Laff-Half-Hour
Jay Leno's show is a disappointment ratings-wise from 10-11 p.m., Conan's underperforming at 11:35 p.m., and local NBC affiliates are upset that Leno's adversely impacting ratings on their 11 o'clock news shows. Here's what I don't get: why is NBC's apparent solution "cancel Leno's 10 o'clock show and move it to 11:35"? Will rejiggering to the traditional 10 o'clock fare help the affiliates, and giving Leno a half-hour afterward do better than Conan's done even though Leno's 10 o'clock show was disappointing?
Like all young people, I do feel that Conan is much, much better than Leno. I also feel like Leno's cold feet in advance of the announcement/development of his 10 o'clock program was pretty duplicitous. He's like NBC's own Joe Lieberman in that sense. Besides, they announced the change in Sept. 2004: five years in the making and he couldn't renegotiate or become comfortable with the arrangement? Or, better, before it was announced five-and-a-third years ago, Leno didn't have the prescience to suppose he'd still want to be doing it? Here's some hilarious Wikipedia on the issue:
On September 27, 2004, the 50th anniversary of The Tonight Show's debut, NBC announced that Jay Leno will be succeeded by Conan O'Brien, in 2009. Leno explained that he did not want to see a repeat of the hard feelings and controversy that occurred when he was given the show over David Letterman following Carson's retirement.
In light of that, I do believe the Joe Lieberman/Emperor Palpatine view of Leno is the correct one.
