TVSquad

Yeah, how awful of NBC to push out a long-time host of the Tonight Show. I can see how that would upset Jay Leno.

Maybe he's just annoyed when they push out long-time hosts of the Tonight Show in favor of long-time hosts of Late Night.

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His show is so safe and predictable and totally scripted that it's a wonder anybody watches it. But at least, unlike Conan, he can tell a joke. Maybe that's what gets him mad.

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Three things, Bob:

1. Leno pre-announced his own retirement two or three years ago.

2. If his retirement was "forced," I have that much more respect for Zucker and NBC.

3. If Leno makes you laugh, chances are I don't care for you as a person.

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Leno is about as funny as his old desk. His desk may have worked perfectly, but the show sure doesn't.

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Jesus, maybe it has something to do with Leno being blander than milquetoast. I'd rather stab my own eyes out than watch Leno shake his shoulders laughing at his own "joke".

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man there are a lot of leno haters here. i think he has his moments, i especially like the headlines and jaywalking segments of the show. leno's show isn't zany as other late night hosts but he does a decent job. he is much funnier than letterman ever is, even when he guested on letterman back in the day he outshined him at every step. I think the scale of laughter from best to worst goes, Conan, Leno, ferguson, letterman, and then kimmel, who is by far the worst host i have ever seen.

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Thing is, Conan learned from Letterman's mistakes. If NBC breaks that contract, he gets a ton of cash. And still could shop his show around somewhere else.

But I agree with bstu. Jay Leno really shouldn't start reopening the Carson issue. It would only be bad news for him.

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You know, I found this all really amusing since Leno stole the Tonight Show from Letterman, the person Carson wanted to replace him.

Course, Johnny got the last laugh when it was revealed he sent Dave jokes over the years... not Leno. Gee... guess who really won.

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@3 Jim...that's a hilarious post. I agree on all points.

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This coming from the guy that pushed Johnny Carson out the door before he was ready? That's hilarious.

Don't care for him anyway - good riddance.

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#3 - I completely agree!

If you have ever been to the NBC set of the Tonight Show, you would notice 90% of the audience are old tourists (black socks, bermuda shorts and sun hats), senior citizens and college students (geeks mostly).

If I were Jeff Zucker I would have 'forced' Leno out years ago...and replaced him with someone like Rosie O'Donnell for the ratings.

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My feeling about Leno is that he's always had the ability to be funny, the way he used to be when he guested on other people's talk shows. But on "The Tonight Show," he's simply decided not to. After all, no decent comedian could so consistently tell self-satisfied jokes, repeat punch lines until they're meaningless, or ruin his own timing the way Leno does if he weren't actually trying.

The reason? He's done focus groups and lots of research, and he's learned that the largest available late-night audience doesn't want to laugh and be entertained; they want to be lulled to sleep by something dull and familiar. And it's worked -- by being boring and predictable and completely square, he consistently gets more viewers than anyone else in late night.

So while I think NBC is happy with Leno's ratings, they've decided that Leno's unhip pablum is affecting viewers' perception of the network as a whole. That's why they're bringing in Conan. His viewership may be somewhat smaller, but it will probably be younger, too. And the fact that he has real humor and edge may cause people to think that NBC -- and, most important, its prime-time lineup -- is youthful and edgy too.

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I've said what I think of Bob Sassone the crone over at my blog:
http://fakejayleno.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-do-not-resent-those-nbc-bastards.html

As for the Leno haters, which is impossible. but I respect the fact that you're just misguided, I have this to say to you:

SHUT UP!!!

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ah, I see everyone got here to make same comment is was going to. In our post shame society it is damn nice to once and a while see someone reaping what they have sown.

as for, "man there are a lot of leno haters here... when he guested on letterman back in the day he outshined him at every step."

Forgetting the rest of the out and out bull s4it in that comment, yes, I used to stay up to one in the morning as a teenager to see Jay on Letterman, except for Steve Martin he was by far Letterman's funniest guest, that just goes to show exactly how good Letterman was at his craft - Leno is as boring and dull as wonder bread out on his own, but when he had letterman as a foil, he was hi-larious. Makes you wonder why he would screw over the person who basically made his career.

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"kimmel ... is by far the worst host i have ever seen."

You've obviously never seen Carson Daly!

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Bob, I'm sure you recognize it, but for the benefit of other readers: My third point is a direct quote from a Top 10 list Peter Griffin delivered on Letterman a year or two ago. "You" refers to anyone who thinks Leno is funny.

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Since NBC knows Leno's a huge draw, but they don't want to lose Conan (who has the young-people buzz, which The Tonight Show has needed for ages), they're going to do whatever it takes to prevent Leno from leaving the company.

I don't know if someone on here once mentioned one possibility, but it's the most logical to keep all parties happy -- NBC is going to offer Leno a "Bob Hope"-type contract. Basically, Leno will be able to put together variety specials whenever he'd like, and get paid handily for them. They'd likely be on in Primetime, or in place of a re-run of Saturday Night Live, that sort of thing. And why not, if he still brings in the money and you want to keep him happy and not go elsewhere, keeping him on is a win-win for NBC.

(I also don't think Conan was being SERIOUS with his joke on "The Tonight Show", and that he genuinely wanted to avoid the situation that happened between he and Dave. He genuinely likes Conan and doesn't want create anymore possible animosity once again. He also doesn't care about the money -- he barely spends any of what he makes -- but he loves what he does, which is why letting him still performing regularly is the only way NBC can keep him aboard.)

The big stars might still be friendly to Leno, and he has been in show business long enough to have major "credo", so he'll still be able to make any of these specials into "big events". But the younger, now-buzzworthy stars all grew up watching and adoring Conan, and he'll thrive with the A-level celebrities he'll get on his show (though he does get B-to-A+ level celebrities on his current show, which for 12:35 is pretty darn good). As long as he keeps most of his writers (like, say, Brian Stack, who I interviewed a couple weeks ago -- couldn't get anything from him about what's going on for 2009) everything should work out as planned and The Tonight Show will continue to top the ratings. PLUS the Leno audience will still show up in big numbers to see him on his specials. NBC takes over late-night.

I really do hope they bring a stand-up into the role on Late Night. If it's a Jon Stewart-hosted cross between The Daily Show (with political humour and some pieces) and his old Jon Stewart Show talk show (where he got to do some stand-up/monologue at the beginning of the show) he'd be perfect for 12:30 and NBC. Sign him up, Silverman and Zucker!

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I guess I'm the minority here, because I really enjoy the Tonight Show. I don't care at all for Conan, so I won't be watching after Jay retires.

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I cannot believe that NBC thinks Conan is a better deal than Leno. Leno's going out to the people in the street is
the best. I love that he is intellgent enough not to resort
to what is called "edgy" humor. Conan is silly, I believe NBC will loose a lot of it's audience and narrow it's viewership to the moranic "three stouges" type. Stupid move!

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