Okay Folks, weigh in! Bigger Douche Jay, Conan or NBC?

[Worf101]

I've been watching this whole dust-up with some interest. I KNEW that the whole idea of a nightly "Prime-Time" talk variety show was a moronic idea, but they went and did it anyway because they had to get Jay off of TTS and they'd promised it to Conan. How much crack was NBC smoking. I'm sure they thought if Jay can at least hold the line the amount of money they'd save NOT producting real television would make the move financially brilliant.

They were wrong, they screwed the pooch. Did they think that people used to watching ER and Law and Order were gonna watch the Chin for an hour instead? NBC's execs who approved this move ought to be collecting unemployment. The chin is not clean in this either. Jay's too arrogant and proud to admit he'd made a mistake agreeing to leave TTS when he did. So now he's pulling the prima dona act and like some spoiled kid he wants the bicycle he gave to his younger brother BACK. Does he think he's Carson? He isn't ther's only been one other TV entity as powerful as Carson (ie able to make other people famous with just a nod) and that's Oprah.

I don't watch Jay, I used to watch Conan religiously but grew out of the habit. If the Chin thinks that people don't see this for what it is he's nuts. Conan might not be everyone's cuppa but he's generally considered a nice goofy guy as was Jay, until now. Jay will get his Tonight Show slot and show back, but I think he'll realise in short order that "every victory ain't a win".

Worf

[dean_martin]

We need to have OUR show ready to go! Let's hear your pitch.

[JohnMichael]

I have never been a fan of Jay Leno. If sober enough to stay awake I watch Letterman and Craig Ferguson so I can not comment on Conan's show. I did enjoy how much fun Letterman was having last night with the whole situation.

[ForeverAutumn]

I have never been a fan of Jay Leno. If sober enough to stay awake I watch Letterman and Craig Ferguson so I can not comment on Conan's show. I did enjoy how much fun Letterman was having last night with the whole situation.

Yeah, same here. Ferguson just slays me! I wish that I could stay up late more often to watch him. As it is I only catch his opening monologue about once every couple of months.

I really should DVR him.

I've never liked Leno and won't watch him no matter what time slot he's in. I do enjoy Conan on occasion, but I'm usually in bed right after The Daily Show.

[Feanor]

I've been watching this whole dust-up with some interest. I KNEW that the whole idea of a nightly "Prime-Time" talk variety show was a moronic idea...

Worf

They're all douches. I'm in bed by 10:30 PM so ratherly saw either of them. Thus I wasn't enticed to watch "The Chin" at the earlier time.

I only watch Steward/Colbert in rerun next day at 5:00 PM. However when it comes to Chin vs. Hair, I prefer the Hair, so maybe he's my "least douche" of the three.

[bobsticks]

The Panultimate Bags of Douche award goes to NBC for hiring both those fools to begin with. Watching either show is like being trapped in a room with a bunch of people that aren't nearly as smart as they think they are. Sorta like reading Samuel Beckett on Ketamine...

[GMichael]

Fire them all and put THE MAN SHOW in that slot.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

All of this foolishness is the fault of Jeff Zucker NBC studio head. It was his stupidity that replaced the Chin in the first place, a move that everyone in Hollywood thought was a mistake from jump street. The Chin was number one in his slot when the replacement happened, so it was rediculous to make the change in the first place.

Now Zucker is threatening to lock Conan out for 3.5 years because Conan does not like how he is being treated. The news all over Hollywood is that he is trying to shift the blame to Conan for his mistakes to keep from getting canned. He is a sorry SOB, and while I will not wish ill will on him, he should pay for his mistakes just like you and I would.

[blackraven]

Craig Ferguson is the king of late night! I have not met one person that likes Conan.

They should replace Conan with Craig Kilborn. He was a funny dude and I loved his show.

[3LB]

This isn't as big a scandal as when NBC put the squeeze on Arsenio Hall back when Leno first took over from Carson (by tying up big name celebs and insisting they hold off appearing on Hall's show until they first appeared on TTS, NBC effectively put a choke-hold on Hall causing a huge dip in his viewership).

NBC first messed up way back when they decided not to give The Tonight Show to David Letterman and then treating him like shit when he (Letterman) decided to go to CBS, giving CBS something it never had before, a bonafide latenite program in that time-slot. I don't hate Leno, but I never bought into him as host of TTS. Conan's version of LateNite was fairly good, and was usually pretty funny for the first 20 minutes, but then tapered off drastically - I don't think I've ever watched an entire episode.

All latenite shows fell out of favor with me eventually. Even Letterman is boring compared to what he once was. The Daily Show runs circles around everything its up against of that ilk.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

This isn't as big a scandal as when NBC put the squeeze on Arsenio Hall back when Leno first took over from Carson (by tying up big name celebs and insisting they hold off appearing on Hall's show until they first appeared on TTS, NBC effectively put a choke-hold on Hall causing a huge dip in his viewership).

As the house sound mixer for his show its entire run, this did not cause a huge dip in his ratings. What killed his show was his arrogance and defiance of the brass a Paramount, and a string of controversial shows on the riots in Los Angeles and his overall activism. During that time Arsenio turned his show into a "Phil Donahue" type forum on inner city problems, and I do clearly recall that one episode of his show during an discussion of this got really ugly and it was during a taping with a live audience. This is when the show got worse and from that point his audience was deserting him. Because of this, the show was pushed back into a later time slot. That is what killed him. His show mainly appealed to the hip hop, rap and R&B crowd, a crowd that neither Leno nor Carson was interested in. It was only when Leno and Carson started booking these acts, that Hall became irrelevant. By then, his show was already headed down hill.

What got him fired was having Louis Farrakhan on his show for an hour. His anti semantic views infuriated the Jewish Paramount brass, and they had it out for him, and three months later he was gone. The ultimate diss he got from Paramount was when Whoopi held up a newspaper with the Paramount brass stating that they were "horrified" of his show leaving the air. Many in Hollywood believe he was secretly blacklisted, which is why(aside from his lack of talent) he has not done a major gig since.

[Feanor]

...

What got him fired was having Louis Farrakhan on his show for an hour. His anti semantic views infuriated the Jewish Paramount brass, and they had it out for him, and three months later he was gone. The ultimate diss he got from Paramount was when Whoopi held up a newspaper with the Paramount brass stating that they were "horrified" of his show leaving the air. Many in Hollywood believe he was secretly blacklisted, which is why(aside from his lack of talent) he has not done a major gig since.

To be sure, it's difficult today to offer any criticism of Zionist -- much less Jewish -- influence in the U.S.

[JSE]

Fire them all and put THE MAN SHOW in that slot.

]

The original Man Show!! Not the second version with Stanhope and Rogan. They ruined it. Kimmel and Carolla were funny as hell in that show.

[ForeverAutumn]

]

The original Man Show!! Not the second version with Stanhope and Rogan. They ruined it. Kimmel and Carolla were funny as hell in that show.

Even I liked the Kimmel/Carolla show!

[GMichael]

]

The original Man Show!! Not the second version with Stanhope and Rogan. They ruined it. Kimmel and Carolla were funny as hell in that show.

Absofrickinlutely!

And now....














Girls on trampolines......

[nightflier]

Girls on trampolines? Hmmm... isn't Howard Stern looking for a slot?

Seriously, I agree with the first person who said they should both be retired and be replaced with Craig Ferguson. He's a riot. My guess is that with this fiasco, Letterman's ratings must be going up.

[3LB]

As the house sound mixer for his show its entire run, this did not cause a huge dip in his ratings. What killed his show was his arrogance and defiance of the brass a Paramount, and a string of controversial shows on the riots in Los Angeles and his overall activism. During that time Arsenio turned his show into a "Phil Donahue" type forum on inner city problems, and I do clearly recall that one episode of his show during an discussion of this got really ugly and it was during a taping with a live audience. This is when the show got worse and from that point his audience was deserting him. Because of this, the show was pushed back into a later time slot. That is what killed him. His show mainly appealed to the hip hop, rap and R&B crowd, a crowd that neither Leno nor Carson was interested in. It was only when Leno and Carson started booking these acts, that Hall became irrelevant. By then, his show was already headed down hill.

I never said Leno killed Hall's show. But for me, its a mile post in downward spiral. Hall claimed later that it hurt his ratings. But yer right - Arsenio was his own worst enemy. Leno acknowledged later that he wasn't aware that his show's booking dept was trying to put the squeeze on Hall and he appologized (they musta patched things up because I've seen Hall on TTS twice in recent years).

The worst thing that coulda happened to Hall was to have Carson retire. Up until then Hall was the hippest thing on late night TV. Once Hall decided his show was of significant social importance, he became insufferable. I saw the show where hecklers(protesters) interrupted his show and he let the cameras roll, cancelling the show pretty much from there just to argue with these guys - I could only watch maybe 10 minutes of that. I saw an episode with a preachy Edward James Olmos that was equally bad. And then there was his on-air spat with Dice Clay. Not that the topics of the day were not worthy, but it wasn't why one would tune in.

Up until the last couple of seasons I counted myself a fan. Sure, Hall fawned all over his guests, was self-indulgent, and a nominally talented interviewer. But he had musical acts you weren't going to see anywhere else. And to my experience, the sounds quality for the musical acts were the best on TV. Is it true no one ever lip-synced on the show? After the LA riot, his show was a complete downer with Hall givng his guests a free forum to spout off on whatever they felt like. Unwatchable.

[bobsticks]

Nice...Conan gets $40 million for sucking...

...the figure had originally been reported as $30mil...perhaps the additional 10 mil was to go away and never come back...

[Rich-n-Texas]

Biggest douche = NBC. I agree with Sir T that Zucker should be fired. Then again, I think all network execs are cheap dumbasses that should be fired.

For me it comes down to which Late Night host makes me laugh the hardest, and that's Jay. Johnny Carson was the king of Late Night comedy for many years and Jay filled his shoes quite nicely. I don't really like, or "get" Conan's comedy style, and even though Worf said nothing about Letterman in his opening post, I was never a fan of him either. All this IMO of course. We'll see how this all ends up after the Olympics.

[Rich-n-Texas]

Program note:

Neil Young is the musical guest on Conan's final appearance as host of the tonite show tonite.

[02audionoob]

Program note:

Neil Young is the musical guest on Conan's final appearance as host of the tonite show tonite.

I hope Neil does his cover of "Pants On The Ground".

[Rich-n-Texas]

Nope. "Long May You Run"

[thekid]

Really don't care.

My late night viewing is the John Stewart/Steven Colbert combo.
Smarter comedy and better guests than all of the others combined IMO.

As for NBC-

They can sign me up and cancel my show for half of what they bought Conan out. Won't hurt my feelings and I won't even spend my last few shows bashing them. I'd just sit at a desk and show the audience vacation brochures and the building plans for my dream home.....

[Smokey]

Johnny Carson was the king of Late Night comedy for many years and Jay filled his shoes quite nicely.

Except when it comes time to quit.

Jay should have done like Carson and leave when ever he said he is going. By back pedaling, he basically throw Conan under the bus to get his job back which doesn't sit too well with showbiz community.

I use to watch his monologue everynight, but after what he has done, it will not be the same watching him again at same spot. He should have let Conan finish up on his own term.

[Worf101]

Well, I guess I shoulda made this a poll. I found out some things though, particualrly about Arsenio Hall's run I didn't know. I liked the edgier humor of Conan and Letterman when they were on Late Night. Many claim "middle America" didn't get them and doesn't like them. Jay, "dumbed down" his humor (remember the Dancing Ito's?) and was/is a perfect fit. NBC tried to cover their bets. How to keep Jay and not lose Conan who eventually wants Jay's job, they thought they had the "perfect solution" in the end they had the perfect disaster. Jay's precious "nice guy image" is gone damaged perhaps beyond repair, Conan's gone with millions in hand and a free field in which to play, and Letterman et'al are laughing at a network who's apparent stupidity and arrogence knows no bounds. Ahhh karma.

Worf