NBC in an alternate reality

January 19, 2010 on 5:10 pm | In Current Events, Movies and TV and Stuff | 4 Comments

In another time stream, in an alternate universe, NBC is not run by drunken hobo orangutans. In that universe, lets look at The Tonight Show.

In 2004, they wanted to keep Conan O’Brien so they made a deal with Jay Leno, and offered Conan The Tonight Show. Jay agreed to it. Let’s watch the video of Jay announcing this decision:

Jay’s 2004 Announcement – watch more funny videos

So, 2009 came along and Conan was given The Tonight Show. His crew moved to California and they were very happy at 11:35.

What happened to Jay Leno? NBC wisely told him that another daily comedy variety show would be foolish. Instead, they offered him a chance to do what he loves. He is given a one hour weekly car show on NBC. It is like the US version of Top Gear. He gets to be on TV in front of a live audience. He gets to play with cars. And best of all, he leaves Conan O’Brien alone, like he promised in 2004.

In that universe, they all lived happily ever after. Jay and Conan both got to be popular in their own niche. No hard feelings anywhere, and NBC had two hit shows and didn’t have to pay severance pay to anyone. Wouldn’t it be nice to visit that universe?

4 Comments »

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  1. Why are you so excited about this??

    Comment by Sara — 19 January 2010 #

  2. Couldn’t tell you precisely. Other than the fact that I have been a big fan of Conan since he was just starting out. I was thrilled when he took over The Tonight Show because they actually show that over here a little bit. And I was looking forward to seeing Conan, then Craig Ferguson when I moved back to the US, cause I love them both and I hated when I had to choose one or the other. But I guess what bothers me the most is that it isn’t just about Conan. He had a staff of about 200, many of whom relocated their whole families across the country, just to get screwed by NBC. I guess I can relate to people who are angry, depressed, unemployed and thousands of miles from their real home.

    Comment by girlalive — 19 January 2010 #

  3. Hey Alana, I wish I had recorded Jay’s comments on Monday. He basically sat down for about three minutes and told most of his side. He left the Tonight Show #1 in ratings, Conan (I like him too remember) has never climbed in the ratings for whatever reason, probably a lot to do with Jay being on at 10:00 and people my age getting their laughs before they go to bed. Conan lost a lot of “Boomers” because they don’t like change remember? Jay could not compete with what CBS and ABC were putting on at 10:00 and keep the affiliates happy, remember people don’t change the channel after 10:00 I guess.

    On Monday Jay said he really has no choice – NBC tells him to go to 10:00, if he wants to keep his job and not pay huge contract busting fees he goes to 10:00. Now they are moving him back to the Tonight show (it looks like) and again, he could quit or keep on doing what he likes to do.

    It sounds like Conan is getting $40 Million for his “going away” – it seems like NBC only looks at ratings and not content, I will miss CoCo too but it all comes down to activity – NBC may be trying this to get more viewers in their sick and twisted way.

    Comment by Mark (your dad) — 20 January 2010 #

  4. Keeping Leno on NBC, doing the same show as Conan was trying to do was just a mistake from the word “go”. If NBC wanted Leno to keep doing The Tonight Show, why couldn’t they just fire Conan *before* he uprooted his life and his staff to move to LA?

    I don’t blame Jay necessarily. But at the same time, he has completely gone back on his word. He has done the exact opposite of what he promised in 2004, and for that he has lost about 80% of my respect. It wasn’t his fault he was put in that position by idiotic management, but how he reacts to the management decisions is a mark of his character.

    Don’t forget that after the Leno/Letterman debacle in 1992, Leno’s ratings were bad on The Tonight Show for 2 years. He was behind Letterman in ratings for TWO FULL YEARS and NBC didn’t say a word about it. Conan is behind in ratings for 6 months and it’s the end of the world and something must be done about it. Basically Jeff Zucker is an egotistical asshole cut from the same hollywood mold as my old boss, Marty Oppenheimer. Conan made him look silly back in college, and he has had a personal vendetta against Conan ever since. He was bound and determined to see Conan fail, and to make it happen in the way that would do the most personal damage to Conan.

    Comment by girlalive — 20 January 2010 #

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