| JaggedSac said: Conan did not force Jay out. He said he wanted to be on earlier no matter where he was working. NBC did not want to let him go so they made a deal. None of this would have happened if NBC would have just let him go. Which is exactly where they are now. I do not blame Jay for anything. I don't like his show, but this isn't his fault. He was merely someone steam rolled by the inept management of NBC. Mainly, Zucker. NBC is doing so terrible now that the other networks actually have sympathy for them. And do you havbe any more recent ratings. The ones in that link are skewed from the premier week. |
So basically, Conan O'Brien was threatening to leave unless he gets an earlier show, i.e. The Tonight Show, forcing Zucker to incompetently handle the succession plan. You don't call that forcing Jay out? It was NBC show who gave O'Brien The Late Show making him who he is today. You think O'Brien would be somewhat grateful.
Oh yes, the controversy is giving both shows a boost, despite what kasz claims;
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/01/13/ratings-jay-leno-conan-obrien-controversy/
For talk shows, I'm willing to bet they fluctuate throughout the year as Leno started in September. Not going to prove this so take it however you want.
Kasz,
If the lead ins are the only reason Leno gets the ratings he does, then why did the ratings for The Tonight Show sucked, as you put it, for the first few years? Why bother keeping O'Brien at all if that's how lead ins work. Apparently, people today can't changed the channel to something they want to watch these days. What you're doing to saying vague things that can't and can be proven.
Your also setting up a strawman position-I specific said previously that leno was getting canceled due to the affliates. Leno, however, still has a contract with NBC guaranteeing him a show. If NBC doesn't, then they're are breaching the contract so they moved him back to 11:35. No O'Brien supporter has even bother to mentioned that NBC did not remove O'Brien from The Tonight Show but merely pushed it back half an hour and it was Conan who chose to leave. It was a situation that required everyone to compromise and O'Brien balked at it. He doesn't know that it'll lead to the destruction of The Tonight Show. Why doesn't he want to give it a try and actually see? Oh that's right, he wants to work at an earlier time. Everyone likes to blame Leno for all of this but he's really the only one who's been cooperating and saying yes to proposed solutions. The internet, (where jay isn't popular) who probably hasn't been watching The Tonight Show, resulting in its lower ratings, simply decided to get interested and use Jay Leno as the scapegoat.
Also for those people who point out that O'Brien needs more time to attract more viewers like Jay did, anyone wants to offer a reason how more time would give him more viewers. O'Brien is an establish host for 17 years. He's been consistent in his hosting for the last 7 months and the ratings haven't improved (not since the controversy). What exactly do you expect to happen to increase the ratings?
