TVSquad

Things are heating up in the late, late night wars. That's the 12:35 AM talk shows, as opposed to the late night 11:35 shows. In the most recent Nielsen ratings, Craig Ferguson's CBS Late Late Show rated higher than Conan O'Brien's Late Night. That's the first time that's ever happened, and industry analysts are scratching their heads to figure out if this is the pendulum swinging in CBS's direction, or simply a minor glitch in NBC's late night dominance.

NBC has declared that it supports Conan O'Brien completely and is unconcerned about the gradual shift in the numbers that have been going on for a while. It's in NBC's interest that Conan remain a strong player, especially since he will be taking over the Tonight show in the near future -- once Jay Leno's contract comes to an end in 2009. While tipping its cap to Ferguson for the ratings victory, NBC also noted that in the 18-49 demographic, Conan is still the leader in that time slot.

So, Disney CEO Robert Iger was having one of those yummy breakfast confabs talking about the future of the network and new media, alternate platforms and all those other fun buzz words about how we're going to be watching shows in the next few years. Then, kind of as an aside, he was asked about Jay Leno. With the end of Leno's era as the host of The Tonight Show looming -- and Conan O'Brien chomping at the bit to take over -- Mr. Iger said that he wouldn't rule out ABC going after Jay.

Ken Auletta of the New Yorker pressed Iger about Leno, to which the ABC head man squirmed and said, "It's not something we typically comment on."

You would think since Don Imus and his dumb attempt at humor got him kicked off of MSNBC that TV personalities would think before they joke. You would like to think that's true -- but it's not. In the latest bit of amazing insensitivity and stupidity, NBC's Jay Leno has apologized for a gay gag.

The star of Tonight was chatting with Ryan Phillippe the other night about the star's new film Stop-Loss. Thanks to some crack researcher on the Tonight writing staff, Jay decided to ask Ryan about one of his earliest acting jobs -- playing Billy Douglas, a closeted, gay teenager on One Life to Live struggling with his sexual identity. In a flip way, Leno asked Ryan to show him what it was like when he was playing gay. He said, "Can you give me your gayest look? Say that camera is Billy Bob... Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming."

So Conan O'Brien showed up on Jay Leno's show last night. Late Night is in repeats this week and O'Brien was out on the West Coast for some reason (maybe checking out his new studio?) and he appeared as the first guest. And it was kinda funny, but mostly dull.

I didn't expect some long discussion about O'Brien taking over for Leno when Leno steps down in 2009, but I did think they'd at least bring the topic up at some point. The only thing said about it all night was a one line joke by Leno in the monologue ("Conan O'Brien is on the show...is it 2009 already?"). Instead, O'Brien just rehashed his Good Housekeeping recipe story and told stories about the Emmys and Jerry Lewis. It was odd they didn't address the issue (and it was made even more weird by the fact that Leno did make a joke about it at the start of the show).

Video of the appearance is after the jump.

So, AOL TV did a poll about America's favorite talk show hosts and 1.3 million people made their feelings known. Interesting results. I didn't agree with some of them, like who I like waking up with. Diane Sawyer was the top choice, but I'd go for the second place finisher, Matt Lauer. As for whom to go to bed with -- TV talk show wise, that is -- I can't believe most of the people chose Jay Leno. Is he really that popular? I prefer David Letterman; I'm a sucker for the Top Ten lists.

Bill Carter over at The New York Times is reporting that ABC and FOX (as well as Sony Pictures Television) have indeed started their campaign to lure Jay Leno over to their networks once Conan O'Brien takes over for Leno at NBC's Tonight Show next year.

Now, the two networks can't "legally" try to get Leno right now, but senior executives at the companies have been getting word to Leno through other sources that they are interested in doing business with him in some way. NBC wants to keep Leno at their network as well, perhaps as host of another show, prime time specials, or maybe as host of a late night infomercial about non-stick pans. Leno's contract runs though the end of 2009, though he probably won't actually be on the air the last half.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• Bill O'Reilly goes on Jay Leno and talks about David Letterman.
• A Q & A with David Simon, creator of The Wire.
• Do you remember Supertrain?
• The standup of Daily Show correspondent John Oliver.
• Women's Murder Club is returning.
• A George Clooney episode of The Facts of Life, in 5 minutes.
• TV writer Earl Pomerantz (Becker, Cheers, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore, etc) now has a blog.
• Watching The Oscars on ABC tonight? Here's a complete guide.

At first I thought this was a joke, because James Wolcott seems to be using what people are saying about this year's election (the Clinton/Obama fight, whether or not Clinton should step down, the fight hurting the Democratic party, etc) to take some satirical jabs at the late night talk show scene. But then I remembered this piece that Wolcott wrote in 2004 that infuriated me and realized that while he's obviously having fun, he's also serious.

The bottom line? David Letterman should retire as host of The Late Show with David Letterman since Jay Leno is the clear late night victor.

Let's take Wolcott's points one by one (read the two Wolcott columns above before going to the next page.)

Oh, the humanity! Wheel of Fortune is not all frivolity and fun. Merv Griffin knew what he was doing when he created this venerable game show. Drama, ensues! You think it's so easy spinning the wheel, buying a vowel, laughing at Pat Sajak's jokes and ogling Vanna's gorgeous gait? Well, it's not. Under all that pressure you'd be surprised -- or maybe you wouldn't -- to see how some people simply come up short in the solution department. The letters all float together and instead of spelling a word you know as well as your own name, you pick the wrong consonant and you're WAH-WAHed in shame and regret. The fortune goes to the next player and you're left with egg on your face.

Watch these great examples and you'll see what I mean (a sample is after the jump). Like Jay Leno's simple "man in the street" questions about common knowledge, you see that there's no telling how stupid people can be, especially with a camera and microphone in their face.

[via digg]

Pioneers of Television (in stores today) is a pretty big title for a documentary series, especially one that lasts only four episodes. You wonder, what are they going to mention and what are they going to leave out? This PBS show isn't the most comprehensive look I've seen on each of its subjects, but for one miniseries in one package, it's actually well put together, and you're going to see some TV footage, photos, and interviews I bet you've never seen before.

The next time you tell a joke you heard on TV to a friend, think of this woman.

OK, I'm kidding, because these jokes were published and probably went beyond fair use, but it puts in perspective how we can't just put anything into a book. Writer and editor Judy Brown and her publishers have agreed to pay thousands of dollars in damages to several people, including Jay Leno and NBC, Rita Rudner, and Jimmy Brogan, for reprinting jokes of theirs in several books about comedy. Brown reprinted several jokes over the years in 19 different books, including The Funny Pages.

Fans of comedy like myself waited with baited breath to see what their favorite talk shows would be like when they returned from the strike.

Dave Letterman, having made an interim deal with the WGA has settled back into usual comedy groove and Jay Leno, in all his scabby glory, has surprised millions by becoming even lamer than before. The one talk show host who stands out as really making an effort to please everyone is Conan O' Brien.

Sure, Oprah Winfrey might have her own TV network, but that doesn't mean she's number one.

The Harris Poll has released their annual list of the 10 favorite TV personalities, and Oprah actually came in second (after being on top for five years). The first place winner? Believe it or not, it's Nancy Grace.

OK, just kidding about that. Number one is actually Ellen DeGeneres, who was number eight last year. The full list is after the jump.

Variety has an interesting piece about how the television shows that have writers are faring against the shows without. To my personal chagrin, Leno is still beating Letterman in the ratings. Also, Conan O'Brien's show is topping the ratings of Craig Ferguson.

What does this say? Are the NBC shows so entrenched in American culture that it wouldn't matter if Shakespeare were writing Letterman's monologue?

Jay Leno is in trouble with the WGA. When he returned to late night television on Wednesday, he told his audience that he wrote the jokes for his monologue and that he wasn't relying on "scabs" to do his writing. It was a proud proclamation on his part, but it turns out that he was still violating the rules of the WGA strike. As a member of the WGA, he's not allowed to write. The WGA has met with Leno and let him know he broke the rules, and now the guild is trying to determine whether Leno needs to be punished.

Other late night hosts like Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel returned without writers and obviously without any sort of scripts. Conan spent a good part of last week spinning his wedding ring on his desk. David Letterman and Craig Ferguson also returned last week, but they have writers because Worldwide Pants, which produces both shows, came to an agreement with the WGA.