What's this I hear about Jay Leno leaving the Tonight Show? I heard something about a contract for 5 years and Conan O' Brien replacing him. If anyone knows more about this, please tell me what's going on!

well
leno is retiring in 2009

http://hdtvtechno.netfirms.com

Jay Leno is scheduled to retire on 2009 but they surely picked the wrong guy to replace him. I wonder who thought of the idea to put Conan O'Brien in his place. I mean no disrespect towards Conan. But Conan is just not funny. But of course that is just my view. I am sure many people think otherwise.

I too am NOT a Conan Fan, I think the show will lose a lot of viewers. Conan is just plain silly in my opinion, not funny at all.

I love the Conan O'Brien Late Show (even if he is a Leftie, heh) and I think he'll do a great job of the Tonight Show even though he'll obviously have to tone his shtick down a bit. Besides, it's still 5 years away, I'm sure Conan will be well groomed by then.

Maybe he's leaving because it's getting to be all too much.
http://members.cox.net/frankfrontera2/Jleno.html
(Happens to the best of us, if we'll do anything to remain the best.)
Regards.

Conan is silly. But that's his brand of comedy.

Yes, the tonight show may lose a couple of viewers when the replacement comes through. But we all know that one cannot please everyone.

But we'll never know for sure unless we see it in real time. Who knows, maybe you guys who hate him would in fact start to like him in the end.

Oh yeah... whats the big deal about lefties? Just curious...

Jay, your the man! But who announces their retirement 5 years ahead of time and than names their replacement at the same time? Whats to say Conan will still be the desired choice of the viewers? Conan does not seem to be the right fit to replace a legend. His comedy is to silly and I rarely find him humerous

I totally agree with you. I hate Conan and I feel that the Tonight Show will loose a lot of its faithful viewers once Jay retires.

I totally agree with you about the fact that NBC made a wrong decision by having Conan (not funny at all) replace Jay. I think that if anyone would have been a great replacement it would have been the guy that was the host of "The Last Comic Standing". I think that his name was Ray Moore. I think that Jay is doing a great job and I couldn't give a care if Conan left the network. He's stupid.

Conan is more into action comedy, some people like it and some people dont. i think Conan is hilarious, but I'll hate to see Jay go, he's my favorite!

Jay was the person i hoped would get it 11 yrs. ago, now they are replacing Jay with Conan when he retires. This is a monumental mistake. I think Conan is a great guy, but he can't finish a joke. I watch Conan, on occasion, hoping he will get it right, but I don't think he ever will.
Looks like Dave will be back on top
I think Craig Kilborne would be a better choice. Or how about Drew Carrey??
Whatever happens, I think after a few months of viewer reaction, Conan will be replaced as TS host. He's just not funny.

The Conan show of today will not look the same when he takes the job of The Tonight Show host. There is no way anyone will--at this point--even know how the new show will take shape.

but did Leno get the same treatment when he took over for Jonny Carson

Conan can be funny. He was funny when he was a guest on Leno, and he was hilarious when he hosted the Academy Awards, but I agree that he isn't funny on his show, and I think the main reason is that he frequently looks uncomfortable on camera and unsure of his material.

I think it's because of his time slot. Conan has the graveyard shift; the time when presumably the only people watching are night workers, alcoholics and insomniacs. The vibe I get from Conan while he's delivering his monologue is that he's aware of that. A move up into the front of late night might be good for his delivery.

The graveyard shift is not the most desirable spot on TV and although Conan has a lot of poe-tential, it's not being utilized properly. I find it hard to say just what Conan would be like in an earlier time slot, he might be terrific, but if he brings with him his baggage from Late Night, he should just pack it up and go home -- I'm not watching. It might be best for NBC to keep Jay on through 2010 if they want to preserve their ratings and then decide how to replace Jay. The reason I say that is because of the triple threat on the horizon -- Stephen Colbert. If NBC doesn't grab him, then CBS will. He's the class of the race.

Pernod

Hi- This article comes from the Deseret Morning News, June 20th -

"If Leno does anything other than retire gracefully from late-night TV in 2009, his nice guy image will be finished forever"



Deseret Morning News, Thursday, June 21, 2007



What will Leno do?



Will 'Tonight' host retire gracefully or act like a schmuck?



By Scott D. Pierce

Deseret Morning News





When Jay Leno announced (in 2004) that he was going to retire (in 2009) and hand "The Tonight Show" over to Conan O'Brien, he made much of his desire for a smooth, friendly transition.







Conan O'Brien chats with Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show."



Dave Bjerke, Nbc

In his on-air announcement, Leno recalled the controversy surrounding his ascension to the "Tonight" throne instead of logical successor David Letterman, saying, "A lot of good friendships were permanently damaged."





He insisted, "Quite frankly, I don't want to see anybody go through that again."





Well, we're two years away, and it's looking more and more as if there's going to be more rancor. And friendships, if they exist, will be damaged.





Let's be clear about this. Leno's then-manager not only plotted against and double-crossed David Letterman (who had boosted Leno's career by making him a frequent guest on "Late Night"), but she plotted against Johnny Carson himself. Carson's sudden announcement of his retirement (made without forewarning his NBC bosses) was at least in part because he was tired of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering on behalf of Leno, who was the permanent guest host of "Tonight" at the time.





Not surprisingly, Letterman wasn't pleased. Neither was Carson. And Leno has no one to blame but himself for all the rancor.





So if NBC forced the 2009 retirement on him, well, what goes around comes around.





The announcement that he would step down in 2009 came as more than a bit of a surprise, given Leno's workaholism. And with that in mind, it's no surprise that he might not be retiring after all.





There are two scenarios for how this might work out. Leno is still raking in the cash for NBC, so one theory is that NBC will renege on its deal with O'Brien and pay him off under the terms of their 2004 deal — reportedly to the tune of $40 million. (There are reports that NBC is talking to Jon Stewart about taking over "Late Night" and being the next successor to Leno. But Stewart has the perfect vehicle in Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and his previous attempt at a late-night talk show, well, bombed.)





Or Leno could go to another network and compete with O'Brien. ABC might be interested. Fox is definitely interested, as reported by the New York Post (which shares ownership with Fox).





Whereas Letterman had sympathy going with him when he went to CBS after getting blindsided by NBC, Leno would look petulant if he "retires" from NBC only to move to ABC or Fox.





Whatever happens, O'Brien will land on his feet. He either gets "The Tonight Show" or he gets $40 million and a job at either ABC or Fox. (Or maybe even CBS, where he'd be the perfect successor to Letterman — if Letterman ever chooses to retire.)





And Leno, well, unless he follows through on his promise and retires gracefully, he'll be giving people the shaft all over again.





It's utterly astonishing that he has been able to maintain a nice-guy image to this point. If Leno does anything other than retire gracefully from late-night TV in 2009, that image should be finished forever.

Correction:
Letterman had Leno on his show because he was the best comedian and it boosted Letterman's ratings to have Jay on his show.

XYZABC

Hey Masquie,

I saw that article too, and it really got me angry. It's astonishing to me how broadly misinterpreted that article from B&C has been.

SOJ

Jay Leno is an incredibly talented stand-up comedian, no doubt about it, but he's not doing his best work on the Tonight Show monologues. From what I have read, Leno is very gracious with his employees and the public, but he goes to great lengths to conceal his behind-the-scenes business manipulations (as described in the book "The Late Shift") Maybe you recall the story about Jay approaching Paul Rodriguez at a club, having mistaken him for George Lopez, who called Jay "the biggest two-faced dude in TV" and telling Rodriguez that he shouldn't air such Leno image-damaging views in public.

What most annoys me about Jay Leno is his habit of explaining the punch lines of jokes (which kind of shows a lack of respect for his audience's intelligence) and his reliance on extremely tired "smutty" sex jokes (the ones where Jay adjusts his tie as he delivers the punchline) and most especially, stupid stock footage clips of dancers with heads of Jay/John Melendez/Kevin Eubanks digitatlly superimposed on them.

Conan definitely has fresher, more engaging humor on his show than Leno, who seems to be playing to a more elderly, not especially intelligent target audience. Maybe the relization that the old, stupid people aren't going away in 2009 has led NBC to reconsoder thier deal to bring Conan on as host. I hope Jay and NBC will do the right thing and keep thier promise to Conan. The Tonight Show really needs some fresh creative leadership.

You would feel more at home on the Conan message board, they're also very poor at spelling.

Mask

I think Conan moves around more and looks funnier, but Jay is pretty good at telling jokes since he use to be a comedian. I don't know which guy is better, since both of them have "off the wall"/dirty jokes, each show is a mixed bag of comedy and crudeness.

case-in-point about Leno's incredible copycat lameness:

Last night's monologue featured a digitally altered clip of Nancy Pelosi doing magic tricks as she stood at a podium speaking - a rabbit, a flower, an egg and flames appear to come out of Speaker Pelosi's hands.

This is a direct rip-off of a recurring segment on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, which ran for about a year. They'd show clips of Donald Rumsfeld at a podium, with digitally superimposed hands doing origami, card tricks, solving a Rubik's cube, etc.

JAY, its time to retire! You are running out of ideas and are resorting to rip-offs!
(not that Craig Ferguson's show is a bastion of comic genius)

THESE TOPIC IS BEING ON SINCE 2004.

I'm not looking forward to 2009 on NBC. I am not a Conan fan. My husband has watched Conan so I have watched his show but it just isn't my kind of humor. I won't watch the show after Jay leaves. I am the type of audeince that NBC thinks they are keeping by changing to Conan, someone in their 30's who watches after the kids go to bed.
If NBC cancels Days of our Lives in 2009 , there will be nothing left to watch on the network.

I'm with you, sisterbear! Here's a thougt for NBC. Instead of trying to find a spot for Jay Leno in 2009, why not keep him on The Tonight Show and find something else for Conan. I have never laughed at anything Conan has said or done. He's so lame. He ruined the Oscars that one time they had him host. I can't watch him! Ugh.

I am 31 years old and I love watching Jay Leno. He's funny, trustworthy, I feel comforted knowing he's there and making me laugh.

Boo hiss boo to NBC!

catchyoulater,

To my knowledge Conan O'Brien has NEVER hosted The Oscars.

In fact, I am certain of it!

Conan did host the Emmys twice and the ratings that night were up and very high. He did awesome. People loved him, hosting.

I wish you'd give him a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Check the show out on the NBC rewind. You can watch the entire show online.

But as you can tell by my screen name, that I am for the Emmy Winner, Conan O'Brien not just because of the great writing he did with his fellow writers but because he is THAT funny.


With that being said, I really hope Jay Leno stays with NBC in any capacity. The more I see him the more I like him.

i think seth rogen should replace jay leno.

catchyoulater:

I agree completely. Perhaps NBC could help Conan work out a deal with Finland so he could work over there for the rest of his career. Their long daylight areas have induced such boredom that they appear willing to watch anything, including Conan.

If David Letterman doesn't retire by the time Conan O'Brien takes over, the show won't last very long. Conan cannot compete against Dave the way Jay can. I'm not sure anyone can replace Jay or Dave without losing a portion the audience to other types of programs.

I'm sure Conan is well aware of what taking on Letterman means and is preparing himself for the coming battle .... but Letterman is only human and has his weak points. Letterman has a very loyal following of middle aged and older Americans, but the young kids don't dig him at all. Sometimes even I find him insufferable and at one point stopped watching him for months until the afterimages of his belching faded away and I was able to resume viewing him, even though he relapses at times -- what is with those faces he makes? -- you see those kinds of faces in nursing homes. On the plus side, I do like his charming stories about Harry.

Talk shows tend to appeal to an older audience. there may not be enough kids interested in watching a talk show at that time to keep the show on the air. the younger generation is smaller to being with and many of its members are immigrants.

Immigrants? There are immigrants in this country? Well, now I've heard everything. You won't believe this, but my grandparents were immigrants!
My grandmother passed on while watching "I Love Lucy"! I guess you could say she died laughing.

Well j, even though Conan and Letterman are not directly competing in most markets, according to NBC, Conan is already beating Letterman in terms of the numbers of viewers and the number of 18-49's (AKA "the demo"). Now, that won't stop people who would rather see Jay from turning to Letterman once Conan comes on at 11:30, but I'd say Conan already has that competition well in hand. It's kind of a shame, since Conan openly acknowledges Letterman's influence on him. But what can you do? Conan's really only following in Letterman's footsteps, moving from a later hour to an earlier one.

And, Letterman has already signed a contract with CBS that will keep him where he is through 2010. See this thread for more info and commentary. So, it's a sure thing that Conan will be directly competing with Letterman. Some say that Leno will also move, but to another network, maybe ABC or Fox. But NBC says it's trying to keep him.

SOJ

Wily ol' Dave has a cunning plan! Dave is now courting younger viewers by having their idols/leaders as guests -- it started last night with Sarah Silverman (first time on the Late Show) and on Wednesday, Oct. 10th, Stephen Colbert will make his debut on the Late Show. Sarah has guested frequently on Late Night with Conan, and Stephen has also appeared on Late Night and is, some say, a 'pal' of Conan's. Visually speaking, Dave's elegant set at the Ed Sullivan Theatre has more eye-appeal than Jay's gaudy backdrop -- Jay's trying to improve his set, auctioning off the old furniture, but those cremation urns don't add anything. Jay's stage is too shallow while Conan's is too deep --you could probably fit all of Conan's audience on his stage. Following in Ed Sullivan's footsteps, if people want 'young', Dave will give them 'young' just like Ed gave people what they wanted. From now until Jay leaves, Dave and Conan will be honing their strategies.

Don't forget, SOJ, Dave leaves in 2010, and so far no successor has been named. Who's it gonna be? Sarah? Stephen? Jon? Jimmy? Who knows what's in the works -- maybe Dave's last year will be spent trying out new hosts from time to time, the most popular ones being invited back. How's Conan going to handle that?

It's a good question, Sheen--if Jon Stewart were to take over for Dave, it would practically be '92-'93 all over again. It would be a battle between an established presence and a popular host with a cult following--but deciding who is who (establishment or cult) in this case would be hard to determine. My own prediction is that competition at that hour will continue to increase with cable and new media options burgeoning, and yet, I still think that The Tonight Show will continue to command the biggest broadcast audience. I'll bet that nearly all the other networks (ABC, Fox, the CW--maybe even MyNetworkTV, the CW's afterbirth) will make their own 11:30 entries, sensing weakness in the Conan camp. But a glut of choices may only lead to people simply choosing one over all others for simplicity's sake. I still have faith in the Tonight Show, though.

SOJ

(emphasis mine)

Whoa! There's a big, honking falsehood. Sorry about that! Conan doesn't beat Letterman in total viewers, but in percentages in the demo, 18-49. Believe me, if we ever get back the ability to edit old posts, this will be the first one I'll correct.

SOJ

On second thought, I don't think Jon Stewart will take over for Dave -- the last thing viewers want late at night is a shot of adrenaline. The constant rat-a-tat-tat of The Daily Show is hardly conducive to a good night's sleep.

Is that Stephen Jr. next to Jon? Kids grow up so fast.

Just for the record: Jay did NOT decide to leave. The network asked him to leave because they are afraid if they don't let crybaby Conan have the show, he will leave NBC. They don't want to lose him. Well, in my opinion, LET CONAN GO, because he is an idiot. Conan is not entertaining. I can't stand Conan. They told Jay he would retire in 5 years, which is 2009, and he did not have a choice. Now, rumor has it, he does not want to leave! I had to go thru a lot of work to say this, and so, I'm going to spill my guts. (It took an hour to sign up to do this)

I swear to you, if you let Leno leave, I will NEVER WATCH AGAIN. I hate
Conan. I love Jay! Please don't make this mistake! Jay is #1 in late
night, are you crazy? EVERYONE I know says the same thing. If Conan takes over they, and I will not watch him. I personally will watch David Letterman.
Please don't do this! I do not know anyone at ch 4,
or any ch for that matter. Just a TV watcher that never writes letters!
I feel compelled to tell you how I feel. You are making a BIG Mistake!
I LOVE JAY!
He is possibly the ONLY one that could follow Johnny! You made a fabulous choice then, and don't blow it now! PLEASE! I AM BEGGING YOU. I have watched the tonight show from the time I was in my teens, and am now 62 so, I've seen em all. You are REALLY lucky you had Jay to save the show when Johnny left. He was an ikon. I thought no one could replace Johnny, but Jay did a FABULOUS job! Keep it up Jay!
Very Sincerely,
Nancy Robertson

jlc5715,
I heard today that Jay is reconsidering having Conan O'Brian succeed him.
I think that is great.
Jay does things that are sensible on the shopw and Conan just does "STUPID" things.
Way to go Jay.
Maybe Jimmy???

I agree 100%! I have been a faithful Tonight Show viewer since the days of Jack Paar but if Conan takes over, The Tonight Show will lose a long time dedicated viewer.

I am happy to see that there are so many Conan critics here--hopefully NBC will get the idea!

It puzzles me as to why some people think Conan O' Brien is funny, they must've never been exposed to anything better. He does not even compare to David Letterman during his time on NBC and in terms of intelligence makes Letterman look like a genius.

I am not a fan of Jay Leno, although I was--I believe he was actually funny in his younger days, I think it would do him good to start writing his own jokes again and hit the road--or if not--take the Johnny Carson high road and get out of the spotlight.

I too remember Jack Paar. I have been a faithful watcher of Carson and Leno. I WILL NOT watch Conan. If I want to watch an idiot I will watch my ex.

The idiot is the person who chose Conan. He does not have the right demeanor for the Tonight show. It will be the end of the show IMO when he takes it over. I know I won't be watching.

[quote name='oldklutz' date='Oct 30 2007, 01:09 AM' post='2619505']
I too remember Jack Paar. I have been a faithful watcher of Carson and Leno. I WILL NOT watch Conan.

Not tryin to be rude but have ya thought that maybe the reason why Conan will be replaceing Jay Leno soon is because Leno's viewers tend to be on AARP's mailing lists.....
It only makes sense that in the future Conan and his core viewers will take over the spot "left" by Leno..
That is two years away still and Conan put in his dues in my opinion and his writing staff can more then keep up with Leno's staff.

Is Leno leaving..

Please do not replace Jay Leno with Cone-man. Conans humour is so stupid. I have tried to watch his show many times and have given up. How on earth did he get picked to anchor a show. His stupid pauses with dumb looks/gestures make me cringe.

It will be sad to see a multi-generational show like the Tonight Show die.

Mee

In complete agreement. I always turn the channel when Conan comes on. I guess I will be watching something else at 1130.

Hi,

I happen to be a fan of both Jay and Conan, and for as much as I like Conan, there's a palpable sense in the news media now that Conan may have made his move for the Tonight Show way too early. In fact, it's hard to believe that the press, which has been so negative about Jay for so long, now has a grudging respect for him. When I read all the articles that are out there lately, I really get the sense that no one would really blame him if he were to go to another network and set up shop there the way that Letterman did--Jay's show is still on top, after a long, grueling competition with Letterman.

I will say that I hope NBC can keep Jay--there's plenty of room for him anywhere on their schedule, I think. It would be a real shame if they lost Jay, who's still got it in spades. -Rod

Jay Leno is the best late night host! I can't believe NBC is not begging him to stay. Conan is silly and not funny in the slightest. Conan will never make it on a pre-midnight show.