Popeater spends several paragraphs talking about how Conan O'Brien has one foot out the door at NBC. Well, one foot out the door sounds like he would be quitting. Apparently this is more of a firing situation because the numbers are so bad. NBC denies this of course. But, people will talk and apparently they are talking about Jerry Seinfeld. Really? I think Jerry Seinfeld would be the worst talk show host ever. He just doesn't seem to be inquisitive and engaging and doesn't come across as the kind of guy who would be good at talk shows. He is funny but it is a very one dimensional funny which works well with great writing.
NBC is set to have their lowest Tonight Show ratings in like 15 years. Here is what you do. Jay goes back to the Tonight Show. Conan goes back to Late Night and Jimmy Fallon graduates from high school.
I always wondered why NBC was pushing out Jay Leno until I read the head of the network, Jeff Zucker, went to school with Conan O'Brien. As far as I'm concerned they can bring back Leno.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling that Leno doesn't really care what happens at this point.
ReplyDeleteJerry has all the personality of a cranky old man. His stand-up is terrible.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for Conan, as I wonder how "fair" of a deal it was for him. He got the Tonight Show, but they put Jay in front of him...and guess who gets the big names? Jay Leno. If Jay wasn't in an earlier slot, I wonder if Conan would get the better guests & potentially higher ratings. At the same time, I do feel that he was better suited for the later time slot.
ReplyDeleteyeah, jay leno more than likely doesn't care. he's so loaded.
ReplyDeleteI hope if Jerry Seinfeld does get to host, Uncle Leo will make an appearance. I love that guy!
ReplyDeleteReplacing Jay Leno on the Tonight Show was a terrible move for NBC. BAD CALL.
ReplyDeleteI like watching Conan, but he was at his best on the later show, and Jay had the most viewers out of all the Talk shows.
And the network had actually wanted Jay to step down a couple of years sooner, only Jay persuaded them to keep him a little longer.
Now they are regretting this situation.
The best thing would for both Jay Leno and Conan to return to their previous shows, but I am thinking that Conan would probably find that too humiliating and may leave for another network.
Jerry Seinfeld will never work out as a talk show host. He has zero empathy and such a self-importance complex that he probably could not force himself to seem interested enough in his guests.
Seriously, you would fire Conan before you fire Leno? Leno, the man who hasn't said anything remotely funny since '85? Well, then I guess NBC deserves to have low ratings.
ReplyDeleteActor Len Lesser, who played Uncle Leo, just turned 87 but it looks like he is still working.
ReplyDeleteNOT MY CONESIE!!
ReplyDeleteI love that man.
I know he's not everyone's cup of tea...but I really, really want him to succeed. It took three years for him to become a good talk show host. Give him more time to adjust to the new demographics.
I actually really enjoy Jimmy Fallon on Late Night. He's still adjusting but he's so much better -- and the Roots are awesome.
Jerry Seinfeld would be awful imo.
ReplyDeleteI think Conan's ratings are probably bad because people miss their L&O at 10. I wonder what Leno's current ratings are.
I love Conan, but since his move I've discovered Craig Ferguson and if Conan went back to Late Night, I'd stick with Craig.
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ReplyDeleteShmooey, I agree 100%. He is entirely self-involved and would have no sincere empathy or even interest in his guests.
ReplyDeleteConan > Leno
ReplyDeleteConan is too hip for the room. The Tonight Show has been feeble for years. Leno had to indicate wildly to explain his jokes to the audience.
ReplyDelete@ Isabel: "Leno, the man who hasn't said anything remotely funny since '85?"...lol, so true
ReplyDeleteLeno is weak. I like Conan's self-deprecating humour.
i think Melody hit the nail on the head.
Craig Ferguson is uber funny, although anything said in a Scottish accent sounds funny to me.
Seinfeld is ass.
"Jerry has all the personality of a cranky old man. His stand-up is terrible." A big yes to that.
ReplyDeleteLeno's move to an earlier time slot was all about $$$. It's cheaper to have Leno on in that slot than produce a network show. NBC even said that.
I love Conan, but I agree about Ferguson. He is so funny.
i loved seinfeld - i've probably seen every episode 3 times. but damn, jerry was always my least favorite. he is such an ass.
ReplyDeleteWhat!?! I LOVE Conan. I hope this is a nasty rumor. I was so excited for him to get the bump up. I know the skits can be stupid at times, but LOVE him, love his monologues and LOVE his interview style. Perhaps my secret crush on him is skewing the way I look at night time hosts but I NEVER really liked Leno or Letterman. Love Craig Ferguson too. Seinfeld is good, but I don't know about in that format. Were the ratings really THAT much higher with Leno??? Also, I know people will disagree but I love Jimmy Fallon. His skits are usually pretty amusing, I LOVE The Roots and I think his self deprecation/giggles are adorable.
ReplyDeleteI think talk shows are on their way out. Simple as that. I don't think the people who used to watch Conan are watching some other talk show.
ReplyDeleteThis BTW is the theory that scares the bejezus out of network heads because it means THEY MIGHT HAVE TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING ORIGINAL!!!
Anyway, that's my theory. How do I know? Hey, I don't watch the talk shows anymore. Neither do my friends.
Who do I want to invite into my livingroom? Conan, anyday. Leno & his stupid schtick, hogging primetime, just pisses me off.
ReplyDeleteawww...i like conan, i wish more people would tune in. i don't like seinfeld. it's nothing personal, but he just does nothing for me. i have yet to be able to sit thru an entire episode of his old show...no way i could handle him on a late night talk show.
ReplyDeletethis whole experiment was a loser from the start, and everyone seemed to know it but they did it anyway. can't come up with any original scripted programming? don't want to pay for it? shit, let's put leno on at 9 every night!!!! yeah, that will work.
ReplyDeletemorons.
i do feel sorry for conan. they did a real number on him.
Conan's low ratings are entirely due to NBC lousy programming every night of the week, every hour of the night. They run mostly lame reality shows and then that unfunny trainwreck that is Leno five hours a week. The only halfway decent night on NBC is Thursday. "Community" is decent. I really want to love it because of Joel McHale, but I just like it. "Parks and Recreation" is much, much better than last season, but it, too, is really just likeable, not loveable. "30 Rock" is very good, but not at its best this season. And I'm just going to say it . . . I don't like "The Office". Never have. I know that makes me some unsophisticated rube who's just too uncool to hang with the popular kids, but it's the truth.
ReplyDeletePut better shows on the air and "The Tonight Show"'s ratings will also improve regardless of the host.
Having said all that - Craig Ferguson rules!!
I can't stand Seinfeld.
ReplyDeleteThe Popeater source is someone who obviously doesn't know much about the TV industry.
ReplyDelete"The Tonight Show has lost 50% of its audience".... Yes, it has. And do you know what 50% it was? OLD PEOPLE. In the 18-49 demographic, Conan's ratings are equal to Letterman's, to the point where he's been beating Letterman in that demographic in the last couple of months. The difference between the two is in the 50+ demographic, where Letterman is dominating Conan -- and when it comes to late night broadcasting, advertisers really don't give a crap about old people.
Conan's been doing just fine, despite the handicap of the 10PM Leno show. He's not going anywhere. This is a strategic move by NBC to capture the NEXT generation of viewers, and hold on to them long-term. Going back to Leno would be idiotic. To be frank: why court viewers who are going to be dead in a decade when you can grab people who will watch your network's offerings for the next 25-50 years?
From everything I've heard, Conan is a great guy. So I want to like his show, but...no. It just doesn't make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteBut I was shocked when they gave Leno a show right before his. Wtf? So not fair to Conan.
Leno is not funny to me (though I do love Headlines). I really like Conan but I'm guessing the grandma's don't.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to watch Leno because I feel he renegged on handing The Tonight Show off to Conan. I usually don't watch Conan b/c I'm not up that late but I still do love him and hope this is just a nasty rumor. Get Jay off the air! Or move him to "specials". Better yet, he could be Conan's new sidekick. :D
ReplyDeleteSeinfeld would be awful! He would spend the whole time talking about that damn bee movie.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching Leno before but don't like his new show.
ReplyDeleteI want to like Conan but he just doesn't do it for me. For a while I was watching Letterman until the whole cheating on the wife scandal.
I absolutely loved the Seinfeld show but do not want to see Jerry as a talk show host. He's too dry and doesn't seem to care about anyone outside of himself and his damn wife.
I really like Conan, but I like Dave better so I watch him. I was then watching Craig Ferguson, my God that man is good looking, but lately, I have been watching Jimmy Fallon. The first couple skits are usually pretty good and I like the Roots. I watch Conan if Dave is a repeat.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Conan on after the tonight show. He just has a really quirky sense of humor that I knew wouldn't translate well to an earlier time slot.
Can't stand Leno.
can't stand leno. Sorry, I can't get passed the lisp--I know that makes me an asshole, but if someone has a speech impediment in real life it doesn't bother me.
ReplyDeleteSeinfeld is the most unfunny part of Seinfeld. The rest of the show rocked. He was the straight man because he is naturally unfunny.
Dave is good. But Conan rocks, always has, always will.
Agree that Leno is sabatoging Conan's show--get him off the air--PLEASE!! Bring real shows back.
And I am not a Jimmy Fallon fan, funny because I liked him on SNL and in movies, but not funny on tv.
Also agree that Conan cannot go back to old time slot because Craig has that shit wrapped up in a tidy little bow.
I adore Conan, but he was so much funnier and more comfortable at his old NY stomping grounds. On the Tonight Show, the studio audience is too far away, and because it's shot at Universal Studios, many in the audience are just tourists and not Conan fans, and it's killing the energy.
ReplyDeleteConan works best when he has an adoring audience, right up close and personal, like he did at 30 Rockefeller.
@ RJ:
ReplyDeleteI never liked "The Office" either, and I got to endure the original, when people were gushing about it as if their lives depended on it.
The good thing about Ricky Gervais spending so much time in the U.S. nowadays is that I don't have to see his smug face so much.
I will be a dissenting voice here. I like Jay Leno. Always have. But I am also one who has stopped watching the talk shows on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI like Leno's format. I like Conan's sense of humour but I always feel like he's holding himself back. My friend and I wondered how his comedy would translate to an earlier time slot/different demographic. He's become too conservative. And has far too many animals on his show.
Fallon started off weak, even weaker than when Conan first appeared. He falters from time to time but I like how he spoofs tv shows and goes into the audience and has The Roots make up a song about the person. I like how he includes them in the show, even more so than what Conan does with "The Tonight Show Band". Conan needs more Max.