Conan's Exit Confirmed

[vermicious knid]

Howard Stern has always disdained Jay Leno. Rosie O'Donnell has no love for him either.

[Zombie]

Originally Posted by vermicious knid

Howard Stern has always disdained Jay Leno. Rosie O'Donnell has no love for him either.

I myself disdain Jay Leno. He's always struck me as a giant doucherocket, whereas Conan comes off as rather affable and easy to talk to during interviews, etc. So I will watch Conan's show when I remember to, and I actually watched several episodes of The Tonight Show for the first time in years and years, just because he was there instead of Leno.

[bucklind17]

What's interesting about this to me is that I don't know a single person who prefers Leno to Conan. All anyone is buzzing about is "team Conan", there's no "team Leno", there's no one hoping that Leno prevail and stay on the air, there's no one lamenting the possibility of Leno going away from our TV screens. Everything I see is pro-Conan. I don't know if it's because of the way this came about, if it's the websites I check, the people I follow on Twitter, etc. but it seems to me it would have been in the best interest of the (struggling) network to keep Conan on the air and buy out Leno because who is going to watch Leno after all of this? If ratings is really the issue, it's not like Leno is going to have higher ratings with all of this going down. Both of their ratings were low and down but this sure isn't going to make LENO's go up. Conan's, yes. Leno's, no.

[CreepingDeath]

Craig Ferguson

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I think the end of Letterman was when he had to shut down his upstairs p^$$^ palace. Without that, why bother going to work?

That's right. If work can't be fun then the hell with it.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by CreepingDeath

Craig Ferguson

I just finished his book. He's a funny guy and his show is good to. That said, in this situation, I'm Team Coco.

[vermicious knid]

http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-w...conan-in-2004/

[Zombie]

Letterman keeps ranting about NBC and the Conan/Leno thing, and this one made me laugh:



"You can't be walking around stupid and expect to be invited to parties!"

A+, would lol again.

[wheart]

wow...sad end for Conan and NBC but perhaps he's on to bigger and brighter things, although you don't get much bigger than The Tonight Show.I don't blame him for not going along with NBC's little scheme. It's like they gave him a promotion and then took it back. I always thought the guy was really funny!

Good Luck Conan!

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by wheart

wow...sad end for Conan and NBC but perhaps he's on to bigger and brighter things, although you don't get much bigger than The Tonight Show.I don't blame him for not going along with NBC's little scheme. It's like they gave him a promotion and then took it back. I always thought the guy was really funny!

Good Luck Conan!

Oh please. Clearly NBC is at fault for making some stupid decisions. But Conan could have still continued on the Tonight Show at 12:05 (which is more like the "Tomorrow Show" technically). And it's not like Conan was slaying Letterman in the ratings. But Conan's ego just would not stand for it. On the one hand, I can sympathize with bruised egos and the feeling of being betrayed. On the other hand, regardless of the timeslot, if he stayed he would still be at the helm of the most legendary of TV institutions, and his crew would continue to be employed. For all we know, Leno at 11:35 could have boosted the Tonight Show to #1 in the timeslot, which would have been a win-win situation all around. Sure, I suppose someone will pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Conan... but it's just not going to be the same.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Oh please. Clearly NBC is at fault for making some stupid decisions. But Conan could have still continued on the Tonight Show at 12:05 (which is more like the "Tomorrow Show" technically). And it's not like Conan was slaying Letterman in the ratings. .

Letterman's ratings got a HUGE boost because of The Scandal. So much so that it made me wonder if the whole thing was a put-on.
Remember, the woman involved was an ex-NBC employee.
It's not like there isn't a history of this. Both Letterman and Madonna eventually admitted that the whole thing with her repeatedly cursing on the air was a pre-planned publicity stunt.
This "scandal" is the best thing that ever happened to Letterman's ratings! Personally, I feel that Conan would have "held his own" against Letterman, over the long-term.

[LukeA]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

Letterman's ratings got a HUGE boost because of The Scandal.

Not really. It got a bump, but by Thanksgiving/Tiger Woods (AKA, 4-6 weeks), the ratings had leveled off.

Remember, the woman involved was an ex-NBC employee.

The woman in the middle of the extortion attempt (Stephanie Birkitt) is a Worldwide Pants employee. The man accused of extortion (Robert "Joe" Halderman) was a CBS employee at the time. Nothing to do with NBC.

It's not like there isn't a history of this. Both Letterman and Madonna eventually admitted that the whole thing with her repeatedly cursing on the air was a pre-planned publicity stunt.

I recall Madonna saying it was planned, but I don't remember Dave admitting or acknowledging anything. He's never suggested or intimated that he was anything other than mortified.

This "scandal" is the best thing that ever happened to Letterman's ratings! Personally, I feel that Conan would have "held his own" against Letterman, over the long-term.

Again, not so much. Within a month taking over the Tonight Show (and four months prior to the extortion attempt- no "quotation marks" needed for an alleged crime punishable by 15 years in prison), Conan had lost over half of Leno's audience totals.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by Zombie

Letterman keeps ranting about NBC and the Conan/Leno thing, and this one made me laugh:



"You can't be walking around stupid and expect to be invited to parties!"

A+, would lol again.

"...the mouth breathers" LOL.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by LukeA

Not really. It got a bump, but by Thanksgiving/Tiger Woods (AKA, 4-6 weeks), the ratings had leveled off.



The woman in the middle of the extortion attempt (Stephanie Birkitt) is a Worldwide Pants employee. The man accused of extortion (Robert "Joe" Halderman) was a CBS employee at the time. Nothing to do with NBC.

I meant to say "CBS" - I mis-spoke.

Anyway the main point I was trying to convey is that I feel that Conan O'Brien could hold his own against Letterman over the long-term.

[JWS]

Just wondering...will there ever be a female host of the Tonight Show? Joan Rivers had her own late night show that bombed. She was once a regular fill-in for Johnny.

Could Oprah make it at night?