NBC has been recycling their 'Jay Leno Show' promos to prep for Leno's return to 'The Tonight Show' slot. Could there be a clearer metaphor?
Anyway, the new promos have been using a cover version of the Beatles' "Get Back" to not-so-subtly greet the host back from prime time hell. But one very clever YouTube user found a much more appropriate song to accompany Jay on his return back to 11:30 p.m.
[via Buzzfeed]
TheJayLenoShow-related stories
Jay Leno's 'Tonight Show' Promo Gets a Music Makeover
Kevin Eubanks Quitting 'The Tonight Show'?
Maybe he's on Team CoCo? Sources have told Extra that Kevin Eubanks, who has been Jay Leno's band leader since 1994, is quitting. Eubanks joined the 'Tonight Show' band in 1992, after releasing several albums. He followed Leno over to his primetime experiment, 'The Jay Leno Show,' but sources say that Eubanks is "ready for a change" and won't be returning to 'The Tonight Show' with Leno.This news hasn't been confirmed -- in fact, NBC denied it to one of our fellow AOL writers -- so we have no further insight into Eubanks' alleged decision. TV Guide Canada is speculating that the recent Late Night Wars and the resulting instability has something to do with Eubanks leaving, which is understandable. Even though the folks who work for Leno made out better than those who worked for Conan, the constant moving around and uncertainty can't make for a pleasant working environment.
Continue reading Kevin Eubanks Quitting 'The Tonight Show'?
69 Percent of TV Guide Readers Won't Watch Leno
Internet polls are always a little squiffy when it comes to interpreting actual raw data. But if I were Jay Leno right now, my chin would be quivering right about now. TV Guide conducted an online poll of their readers and 69 percent of the respondents said they used to watch Jay either on 'The Tonight Show' or his short-lived 'Jay Leno Show' but won't when he returns to the post local news time slot.
Another 15 percent said they would watch Jay in his new time slot, 12 percent said they never watched him in the first place and the remaining 4 percent were undecided.
Leno refuses to admit to Oprah that he's culpable in Conan mess
When you look at the surface, it seemed like Jay Leno was quite revealing during his interview with Oprah Winfrey today. He said that he was "devastated" when NBC came to him in 2004 and told him that they wanted to give Conan O'Brien The Tonight Show. He claimed he was "embarrassed" by what he called "a big mess," and that NBC would have handled it better if "they came in and shot everyone. Then it would have only been a two-day story."
But when Oprah repeatedly tried to get Leno to react to how most of the public is reacting to this story -- that Jay should have stepped aside to give Conan a chance to succeed, and that he is unfairly taking back Conan's dream job -- Leno refused to play along. Not sure if he did so because he's truly not self-aware of what this whole mess looks like or he just doesn't care. But as far as Jay's concerned, this was all just business, and his decision to take back Tonight and Conan's departure are mutually exclusive events.
Clips of the interview are after the jump.
Continue reading Leno refuses to admit to Oprah that he's culpable in Conan mess
Howard Stern warned Conan to be wary of Jay Leno
You might have wondered why Howard Stern really declined to be Conan O'Brien's last few shows on The Tonight Show. Here's a possibility: Howard hates being proved right. Sure, it's a long shot. TVTattle dug up an old Late Night interview from 2006 with the longtime radio host warning Conan, "I don't see this guy (Leno) leaving and letting you walk in and I'm concerned about you."
Nice call, Howard. Would you also be willing to take over my stock portfolio and attend my upcoming IRS audit with me?
Hulu users are not big Jay Leno fans
I was on Hulu this morning looking for a clip from The Jay Leno Show for another post I'm doing, and I quickly found out that Hulu users are not on Team Jay. I let my cursor rest on one of the episodes (his January 19th one featuring Chelsea Handler), and some information about the show popped up, including user-generated tags. The above picture is a screenshot from Hulu, and if you can't read it, the tags say, "hack," "thief," "unfunny," "has been," and "backstabber."
If you scroll all the way down on the Jay Leno Show page on Hulu, in addition to a pretty nasty comment thread about how he stole The Tonight Show from Conan, you'll see a place where you can tag videos. Currently Leno has 51 tags, and the ones I mentioned above aren't even the worst ones. They're ranked by order of use, and "hack" is number 1, having been used 66 times. However, "nicest guy in tv" has been used four times, so that's something, right?
Letterman finally weighs in on the battle between Conan and "Vintage Jay"
One man who has been suspiciously quiet about the never-ending battle over NBC's late night lineup is David Letterman. Sure he's mentioned it here and there in a monologue joke or a fake commercial, but he hasn't really let loose with the kind of spittle flying tirade that makes television worth watching.
Last night, the levee finally broke and Letterman's true feelings flowed out of him like a fine, smooth wine in a box with a wide mouth spout. No one was safe, not even Late Night host Lonnie Donnegan.
Last night, the levee finally broke and Letterman's true feelings flowed out of him like a fine, smooth wine in a box with a wide mouth spout. No one was safe, not even Late Night host Lonnie Donnegan.
Five reasons why Jay Leno should be Conan O'Brien's final Tonight Show guest
The Tonight Show has a handsome list of throwback guests, Will Ferrell and Tom Hanks who were the first and second guests when Conan O'Brien took over, on what is presumed to be his last show this Friday. Seriously, they still haven't resolved this thing. Say what you will about the dunderheads-in-chief at NBC, but at least they are consistent at failing.
And while it is nice to remind the audience and the network of the heavy hitters that Conan will have in his corner when he bids his former employer farewell, I'd like to see him take it one step further. Conan O'Brien should have Jay Leno (yes THAT Jay Leno, is there another?) as his final guest.
Sure, it sounds like a bigger pipe dream than mounting a Van Halen reunion tour with the undead corpse of Jimi Hendrix as the opening act, but here's five reasons why it would not only make sense for another small chapter of The Tonight Show dynasty, but for the television dynasty as a whole.
Continue reading Five reasons why Jay Leno should be Conan O'Brien's final Tonight Show guest
Jay Leno explains his side of the NBC late night breakdown
A lot of words have been thrown around this whole late night shakeup over at NBC and Jay Leno decided that Monday, more than a week after this whole thing hit the fan, was the right time to address the situation. Sounds like NBC isn't the only entity in this mess with a timing issue.
Leno took some time before a round of "Headlines" during Monday's show to explain the situation from his point-of-view. He insisted that when NBC decided to pull the plug on his show and refused to release him from his contract, the network was sure Conan O'Brien and company would go for the new deal. He also said Conan acted like a complete "gentleman" throughout this ordeal and insisted that no one blame him for this mess. I think everyone is way ahead of you on that last one.
TMZ grabbed some footage of last night's sincere explanation.
Leno took some time before a round of "Headlines" during Monday's show to explain the situation from his point-of-view. He insisted that when NBC decided to pull the plug on his show and refused to release him from his contract, the network was sure Conan O'Brien and company would go for the new deal. He also said Conan acted like a complete "gentleman" throughout this ordeal and insisted that no one blame him for this mess. I think everyone is way ahead of you on that last one.
TMZ grabbed some footage of last night's sincere explanation.
Continue reading Jay Leno explains his side of the NBC late night breakdown
All the Jay Leno impressions you could ever want, if all you want is five
A lot of people both in and around the media have been bashing Jay Leno, and maybe it's a little unfair. After all, it's the dunderheads at the top who are forcing Conan O'Brien to prove his willingness to preserve the sanctity of The Tonight Show, not Jay. That doesn't mean we still can't enjoy more fun at Jay's expense!
Mental Floss has compiled a list of the best Leno impressions that have appeared on a television near you, from Jim Carrey on In Living Color to Dana Carvey on (even shorter lived than The Jay Leno Show) The Dana Carvey Show. Here's my personal favorite of the bunch: Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Mental Floss has compiled a list of the best Leno impressions that have appeared on a television near you, from Jim Carrey on In Living Color to Dana Carvey on (even shorter lived than The Jay Leno Show) The Dana Carvey Show. Here's my personal favorite of the bunch: Crow T. Robot from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Last night's Tonight Show felt like a series send-off
Even as a little kid, I remember watching the penultimate episode of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show as Robin Williams launched into an enthusiastic rant about the development of his newborn's genitals. In between battles for control of my ears from my Mom's protective hands, I remember Carson uttering as he tried to gain control of his lungs, "We're out of here tomorrow. What do I care?" Last night's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien carried the same air of "Who gives a f#*$&?", even if he'll still have an 11:30 show to do the following night.
Continue reading Last night's Tonight Show felt like a series send-off
Late-night rumors: Guest hosts for Conan and a Leno return to The Tonight Show?
After Conan O'Brien let loose his "hell no, I won't go (to 12:05)" statement earlier today, the rumors have been flying around the Twitterwebs about what NBC's next move is.NBC did confirm after the statement was released that tonight's edition of The Tonight Show is going to go off as scheduled, a new episode with Conan as host. But, according to Joe Adalian of TheWrap.com, a rumor is floating around that NBC is already trying to line up guest hosts to replace Conan. So how in the world could Conan host a new episode tonight if his network is already looking to replace him?
(Update: Adalian's sources at the network tell him that this is untrue. No official denial yet, though.)
And that's not all. TMZ is reporting that NBC is already negotiating with Jay Leno to restore him as host of The Tonight Show if Conan has to be let go because of this standoff. It goes on to say that Conan would sign a deal with FOX to host a show at 11 PM.
It's been a crazy few days, and this is just making things crazier. Stay tuned.
Conan O'Brien breaks down NBC's late night breakdown with vampires
Personally, when it comes to describing the decisions of drooling, mouth-breathing TV executives, vampires are the most appropriate literary metaphor until someone invents a teen novel series involving mutant bloodsucking teenage leeches in love. Trust me, it's in the works.
Conan O'Brien used his undying vampire assistant and the Avatar aliens to breakdown the brouhaha over NBC's late night schedule during last night's Tonight Show.
Conan O'Brien used his undying vampire assistant and the Avatar aliens to breakdown the brouhaha over NBC's late night schedule during last night's Tonight Show.
Chevy on Conan: He's "getting screwed"
As part of the entire press' never-ending effort to ask everyone and their mother in the universe about NBC's late night shake-up, a man who can provide some real perspective on the matter has spoken up. Chevy Chase, star of NBC's Community and former star of the late night titanic The Chevy Chase Show on Fox, told The Toronto Sun's Bill Harris at the Television Critics Association press tour that he felt Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien has gotten the short end of the ugly stick, now that Jay Leno has wormed his way back into his old time slot.
He attributed the move to NBC's long standing relationship with Jay and thinks Conan and company will bail ship and head to Fox because, "I think he's too good for The Tonight Show in terms of intellect, and maybe too bad for it because of that, too."
Seinfeld on Leno: The right idea at the wrong time - TCA Report
NBC served up some good panels today, and the last one was a doozy: Jerry Seinfeld, who along with host Tom Papa and executive producer Ellen Rakieten was there to promote the new series The Marriage Ref. More on that later. Halfway into the session, a reporter asked Jerry a question on Leno's show getting pulled from the 10 PM slot."It was all my fault because I wore the tuxedo (on Jay's first show)," he joked. But then he got serious and actually had a bit of praise for NBC. He equated the move to bring Jay to 10 PM to the AOL/Time Warner deal, of all things. "It wasn't a terrible deal. The timing was bad. If you substitute 'Google' for 'AOL' now, you'd be in favor of the deal. (Leno at 10) is the right idea at the wrong time. I applaud NBC for trying something so original."
Continue reading Seinfeld on Leno: The right idea at the wrong time - TCA Report
The TV Squad Podcast: New Shows, Conan Tour, 'Breaking Bad' and More!
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