The NBC Shuffle

[BreakABone]

So NBC took a gamble at the start of the new season by moving Jay Leno from his late night slot into one of their primetime slots. At the time, it made sense as it would be cheaper to produce than another show or 5, and Leno had a built in audience.

Fast forward a few months, and it just hasn't worked out as well as intended. So NBC is in quite the situation with their line up.

They have decided to move Leno back to his 11:30 slot, but only for half an hour, Conan will be moved to midnight, but he may not stick around with the network.

So that's the late night stuff, but now they are left with 5 hours of television, and as far as I know, very little content to fill it with. So what does NBC do?

Gaspin: "Jay and Conan and Jimmy were incredibly gracious and professional. They all said they understood the difficult situation I was in."

Gaspin being much more candid than any NBC exec I can remember. He just doesn't have much he can tell us.

Gaspin: "There probably wasn't much they could do" to change Leno's show. "They were doing the show Jay is comfortable doing. "

Gaspin says Leno Show performance at 10 "was not an issue for the network, really," and entirely a problem for affiliate late local news.

"I'm not going to talk much beyond that (about Conan staying), because I have a fluid situation." -Gaspin

He has proposed Leno Show at 11:35, Conan's Tonight at 12:05, Late Night w/Fallon at 1:05, but "talks are still ongoing."

Gaspin: While Leno show "performed to our expectations, it did not meet our affiliates' needs."

Gaspin confirms that Jay Leno Show leaves primetime Feb. 12.

[Bond]

I think it was quite evident this was going to happen. Conan simply does not appeal to the older generations. The only generation he appeals to is ours. I believe we talked about this exact problem when it was first announced.

Conan might leave NBC, but he's not going to get a better time slot at CBS or ABC.

[Teuthida]

Move to cable. Put him on after Daily Show and Colbert. Perfect lineup.

[BreakABone]

I'm more concerned with the primetime slot as NBC literally has nothing lined up, you just don't magically pull shows from thin air. And its only a month or so before this change takes place.

[Teuthida]

Probably a reality show. Cheap but full of empty calories...and turns your poo green after excessive consumption.

I did like Conan's buddy cop idea with him and Leno: Coco and The Chin.

[The Germanator]

I kind of wish Conan would just start writing movies or TV shows or something. I feel like he could succeed in that career. He was great as a writer for The Simpsons.

[manasecret]

Anyone have the ratings for Conan? Did he keep the same ratings he had at Late Night, but just that they expect better ratings on the Tonight Show?

[KillerGremlin]

Why the fuck does Jimmy Fallon still have a job?

Late night has all gone to shit with the exception of Craig Ferguson, the only funny guy at the moment. NBC ruined the quirky fun that Conan's show used to have. Leno has always been consistent, and I have nothing against him except that I wouldn't make time in my life to watch him. If he is on and nothing better is on I'll watch.

[Teuthida]

[manasecret]

He makes a good point about Conan that I was thinking myself.

As everyone knows, Conan's first year at Late Night was awkward, but NBC let him keep going and he then built it into something amazing. I watched a lot of Conan in his first few months on the Tonight Show, and I loved it and thought it was great if not better than his Late Night. I do however miss the masturbating bear, but I digress. Why won't NBC learn from its own success and let Conan build on his momentum and keep their hands off?

[Typhoid]

Why the fuck does Jimmy Fallon still have a job?

I actually think he's doing a pretty good job.
I mean, you can't compare him to Conan of the past year or three, because he's been doing it for over a decade.

If anything, compare Fallon to the early Conan - where it was highly nonsensical, random jokes everywhere, and he just made a lot of jokes over the guests. Which he still does.

I think Fallon actually has better interviews than Conan, because Conan always de-rails the interview for a few cheap laughs, and Fallon really doesn't.

Plus Fallon has The Roots. Constantly.

Plus, nobody can be as bad as Chevy Chase was when they auditioned him a long time ago.

[BreakABone]

Fallon also had the Zach Morris homage, and a potential Saved by the Bell reunion.

Anyhow, give comedies sticks and they will make fire, and some of the shots have been awesome.

http://tv.gawker.com/5444253/conan-o...e-tonight-show

Conan's opening shots from last Friday.

http://gawker.tv/5445914/jay-leno-ta...-tonights-show

Jay Leno's monologue from tonight.

http://gawker.tv/5445941/conan-obrie...ologue-updated

Everyone else's from tonight including Conan, Craig and David.

[thatmariolover]

I've never liked Jay Leno. His humor is entirely centered on making other people look stupid. Conan, on the other hand, is comic genius. I am really disappointed that this didn't work out for him.

*Edited with response from Conan*

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...ollowing-leno/

Conan O’Brien says he will not host “The Tonight Show” if it is moved to 12:05 a.m.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Mr. O’Brien said he cannot participate “in what I honestly believe is its destruction.”

Mr. O’Brien’s comments come two days after NBC formally outlined a plan to move “The Jay Leno Show” to 11:35 p.m. in March, elbowing Mr. O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” back half an hour. Mr. Leno seems supportive of the plan; but in his statement, Mr. O’Brien rejects it outright.

[The Germanator]

Good for Conan. He's getting messed around with and I'm glad he isn't standing for it. I'm still curious how this will all play out.

[Teuthida]