Jay Leno Might Finally Leave NBC
By Krystal Clark
The country hasn’t been this divided since the infamous Team Edward versus Team Jacob phenomenon, because no one can escape the war that’s brewing in late night TV. For the most part, viewers are unanimously behind current “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien who recently gave NBC an ultimatum regarding his gig on the show. If they push it back a half an hour to accommodate another series for Jay Leno, he’s out. After all the hoopla that’s being generated, some reports are stating that Leno might finally take the hint and leave the network for good.
Over at the NY Post, they ran an article about Leno weighing his options with NBC. Right now the host isn’t on the best of terms with the general public and it looks like fans are painting him as the villain even though he’s also furious at the network. An insider close to the Leno camp stated that the studio has put him in a terrible position making it look as if he’s the reason Conan might be out of a job. “Jay is a great guy and it’s not fair that due to NBC’s stupidity he looks like the bad guy.”
While people are trying to make Leno out to be a victim, fans of O’Brien are gearing up for a protest in front of NBC studios Burbank. There’s a whole “I’m With Coco” campaign that’s spreading virally, with several Facebook pages that support the red-haired host. With this type of an outcry in support of Conan, what will Jay do?
Another industry insider stated that if Conan walks, and Leno returns there’s no guarantee that the audience will be there to welcome him back with open arms. With all this animosity hovering over him, it might be more beneficial for Leno to walk away than continue his involvement with the ill-fated schemes of the network. It’s a lose-lose situation for the man.
Do you think Jay Leno should throw in the towel? Would you follow him if he returned to late night?
Thursday, January 14, 2010 4:13PM
NBC defiantly has a situation on their hand but at the end of the day it's Still all about raising ratings for both Conan, Leno and NBC. Wish they would stop playing the watching audience as stupid
Thursday, January 14, 2010 5:54PM
Leno can actually not agreeing to move to 11:35pm because his contract does specify 10pm. If he refuses to move, NBC must cancel his show and pay off his contract. If he does this NBC is fully exposed as the villain.
Unfortunately for Zucker, he and NBC have repeatedly insisted that Leno's new show was performing to expectations. Zucker failed in his analysis of his experiment's impact on the affiliates. Leno's payoff is larger than Conan's ergo NBC is trying to convince Leno to cancel his contract without penalty in exchange for a 11:35pm return.
Thursday, January 14, 2010 6:24PM
David Letterman hit it on the nail. It's all about money and ratings. Both shows have been down
in the ratings and of course a shake up was imminent. However, Conan could still has a fighting
chance with all the support he's getting overall. Let's hope so.
Friday, January 15, 2010 5:17AM
Leno had his time at the late night slot; what is he still hanging around for? LENO, you had your time, NOW GET OUT OF THE WAY and let another person have a go at it. The Jay Leno show before the Tonight Show was a bad idea to begin with, because it divided the late night audience between him and Conan at NBC. Not too many people want to see the same thing twice every night, which is what Leno's and Conan's shows were in essence. It was a poor programming strategy. Viewers need variety.
Leno, get out of the way and give Conan's show space to grow and succeed in people's minds. It's that simple. If you don't, you'll be branded a loser and an ego maniac whether you deserve to be or not. It's poor taste, Jay so please, spare us the agony and exit gracefully, while you can.