NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

Now, it’s been less than a year and NBC is making a huge mess of things.  They’ve canceled the variety show they had given Leno and now they want him to have some crappy half hour show at 11:35pm which would bump Conan to 12:05am.  I’m not even going to comment on what this is going to do to Jimmy Fallon and Carson Daly, who come on after Conan.

There has been a lot of support for Conan, ranging from his fellow late night hosts including David Letterman, to the fans.  A poll on TVGuide.com shows that 83% of viewers feel that Conan should remain in the 11:35pm time slot.

I am a long time fan of Conan’s brand of comedy and I really think it’s petty and ridiculous that Jay Leno is being coddled like this.  His time is up, he chose to retire and he should have to live with his decision.

Post from: EveryJoe

The show will now be changed to run for half an hour on weeknights, beginning at 11:35pm, which is currently the time slot for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

This new change will push Conan back to a 12:05am start time, and his show will also become only half an hour long.

Leno’s show currently airs at 10pm ET and leads in to nightly newscasts on. However, Leno’s ratings are lower than some of the dramas that air on NBC. Last season, these dramas lead in to the news, but now that the spots have changed, the newscasts are getting less viewers.

NBC recently said of Leno, “As we have said all along, Jay’s show has performed exactly as we anticipated on the network. It has, however, presented some issues for our affiliates.”

I don’t know about this. It seems a bit dodgy that everything is changing around to accommodate for Leno. What are your thoughts on this?

Image: Zuma Press

Post from: EveryJoe

In the end, Conan was sent to the hospital and it was later determined that he had suffered a concussion but would be fine after resting for a few days at home.

Remarkably, he returned to work on Monday and then last night, he sat down and talked about the experience with his friend/announcer, Andy Richter, who filled the audience in on what happened backstage when the production team began questioning Conan about how he was feeling.

The video isn’t the best quality but it’s good enough.  Warning – I found the fall pretty yucky so if you are sensitive to this sort of thing, you might want to fast-forward.

NBC Photo: Paul Drinkwater

Post from: EveryJoe

According to Variety, Conan won the ratings race for his first 13 nights in the 18-49 demographic and averaged 2.013 million viewers.  Compared the the 1.126 million who tuned in to Letterman, the margin of victory is the largest NBC has seen in the five-plus years since the frame of the Friends finale in May 2004.

However, Letterm did enjoy some major boosts from his interviews with Howard Stern, Julia Roberts and that huge feud with Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin.

I do think, though, that in the long-run, Conan will end up taking some of Letterman’s younger viewers since his kind of humor is more appealing to that age group.

NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

Post from: EveryJoe

NBC Photo: Mitchell Haaseth

“Ryan Seacrest and I are lovers, so that just makes sense. That is around. The Post, I think, Page 6 already had it,” Conan said.  Good to know that moving out to Los Angeles from New York hasn’t changed him a bit!

He got serious for a second, though, when he talked about the importance of taking on a show that has been hosted by favorites like Johnny Carson and Jay Leno.  “Johnny Carson, when I met him years ago, told me, ‘Just be yourself,’” Conan said. “That was back in 1993. That is basically all anyone who knows anything about these shows can tell you: You’ve got to do it your way.”

I think that’s great advice because Conan is still on the air because his audience loved him exactly as he is (even if he is a little crazy).  I was also pleased to read that he plans to gradually incorporate familiar segments from his old show (including “Year 2000,” “Noches de Passion con Conan O’Brien,” and Jim Gaffigan’s “Pale Force”) so that his loyal fans won’t miss out.  “I want to keep the best of the ‘Late Night’ show … a couple of pieces here and there that really worked for us,” he adds. “I see no reason why Triumph, the insult dog, can’t file reports for us.”

What about the set and the theme song?  Apparently, he’s going with a new LA-style art deco look that he calls “elegant” but he will keep his theme song but promises that it will be “turbo charged.”

He also revealed his guest lineup for the first week which include Pearl Jam, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks and Ryan Seacrest.

Post from: EveryJoe

Post from: EveryJoe