161 replies to this topic

[dolfan]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 2:08 PM, said:

So what's going on at 10 now? More Law and Order spin-offs?

NCIS: CSI: SVU

[Speed Limit]

dolfan, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 4:38 PM, said:

NCIS: CSI: SVU

I've got a Miami spin off I'd like to pitch to you. Perhaps even Vegas if you fancy that a bit more.

[Mercury69]

**** Leno. The guy has a chin the size of a Buick.

[dolfan]

Speed Limit, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 3:09 PM, said:

I've got a Miami spin off I'd like to pitch to you. Perhaps even Vegas if you fancy that a bit more.

Yeah, glaring omission on my part to leave out a city.

[Balloon guy]

JoeyJoJo, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 1:20 PM, said:

Conan's a great guy. I'm shocked NBC hasn't given his new show the time it needs to fully grow and develop. The issue was that his comedy style differs greatly from Leno's, and is much more akin to Letterman's. It's silly and outrageous. Leno's is watered down, obvious, and bland.So, Conan lost a lot of people who would regularly watch Leno. This should have been anticipated by any network that knew anything about TV. Conan needed to be given a lot of time to drain a lot of Letterman's audience, especially the younger people, and to get the old Leno audience used to him. Also, Conan needed time to get used to his new show. I don't think he was able to relax, which is understandable seeing how he was only on for a bit over half a year. Conan is at his best when he's off the cuff, when he's able to be himself, and when he's not trying to be funny but instead is funny because he can't help it. He clearly had this mindset on his old show, but moving to the tonight show put a lot of pressure on him (he's a very professional guy), and he wasn't yet able to adjust to that mounting pressure (which only grew as ratings stayed pretty low). Conan will be back if he wants to be. If not, he'll still be rich and will collect a LOT of money from NBC for a long time. But TV is his life, and I see him doing another show in some way. It's hard to imagine him doing another late night show; I don't think he'd feel comfortable competing directly against Jimmy, and if Leno is reinstated, I don't think he wants to compete against him and have the Leno vs Conan issue haunt him. I'm not yet sure where he'll fit in. Maybe he'll find a 10 pm spot somewhere on Fox or cable or what not.

Or he pulls an Arsenio (a Arsenio?) and spends the day waking up around noon, put on his bathrobe, walk to the mail box and says: "Hello check" Then takes the rest of the day off.

[Balloon guy]

Mercury69, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 2:12 PM, said:

**** Leno. The guy has a chin the size of a Buick.

And he uses it to his advantage

[BaseJester]

Balloon guy, on Friday, January 8th, 2010, 12:43 PM, said:

The Tonight Show has been evolving into this wanna be cutting edge garbage that has completely come off the rails form the shoot at the hip days of Johnny Carson.I had a friend in the comedy business, telling me of how the comedians were so excited when Leno got the spot because they were sure he would book lots of comedians, instead Leno booked less. Way less. He apparently didn't want anyone on that was funnier than him. At Bernie Mac's funeral there were even some people commenting on Leno not letting people on his show during the eulogies. ( pronounced as in Zoolander of course )But the Tonight Show needs to get back to the older crowd that made it what it was. We have plenty of alternatives for the younger crowd who think "In the year 3,000" skit is funny enough to do more than once.Conan was a horrible choice. Leno was barely able to be the guy. We need someone more sophisticated, who is secure enough with himself to allow the show to make the guests special, instead of just the host.I do not have the right person in mind, but he would be strikingly like Johnny Carson.

I find myself in complete agreement with Balloon Guy. Odd.

[Balloon guy]

BaseJester, on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010, 4:24 PM, said:

I find myself in complete agreement with Balloon Guy. Odd.

We are old...in spirit. And we love Johny Carson?

[BigDMcGee]

Balloon guy, on Friday, January 8th, 2010, 11:43 AM, said:

The Tonight Show has been evolving into this wanna be cutting edge garbage that has completely come off the rails form the shoot at the hip days of Johnny Carson.But the Tonight Show needs to get back to the older crowd that made it what it was. We have plenty of alternatives for the younger crowd who think "In the year 3,000" skit is funny enough to do more than once.Conan was a horrible choice. Leno was barely able to be the guy. We need someone more sophisticated, who is secure enough with himself to allow the show to make the guests special, instead of just the host.I do not have the right person in mind, but he would be strikingly like Johnny Carson.

A couple things. First off, I loved carson as a kid.. during the summer, I'd stay up late and watch him.. and I'd also watch the best of carson shows that were syndicated. And when you say " cutting edge garbage".. well.. carson was pretty cutting edge for his day, he would do sketches, tell jokes and make sexual innuendo that were pushing the envelope, for it's time and place. It's just the envelop is much further out there today than it was in the 70's. In the 70's, Art Fern and the Slauson Cutoff was cutting edge, in the 00's the masterbating bear was. Another thing.. I don't even think Carson could be Carson today. Back during Johnny's heyday, there were basically 3 networks. He was IT when it came to late night.. he was the premier show. If you got on carson, you'd made it. And there weren't many other forums for you to see stars like that, in "casual" settings, talking conversationally, so each night was a bigger deal. Tonight Jimmy Stewart is on, Last night Raquel WelcH! It would be the only time you'd get to see stars like that, to get to know them. Now, not only are there infinite late night talk shows, there are afternoon talk shows, morning talk shows, sports talk shows. There are 300 networks now, and several of them are dedicated to celebrity. there is the internet, TMZ, and all manner of other medium for people to consume stars. So, when a star goes on Leno, or Letterman, it isn't special any more, because we've seen them 100 times before, in a 100 different ways. Unless the show is memorable, unless the show and host are funny, then it's hard to get an audience. Also, you say that the tonight show should look to find an older crowd, but 1) older people go to bed earlier, so there are going to be less older people watching late night shows than younger people 2 ) older people are much less desirable to advertisers, as older people tend to be more set in their consumption ways, and it's younger people the advertisers covet. And Advertising runs the show. So yes, Johnny was special, glamorous, legitimately funny and his show had a certain cultural cache.. but I don't think that cache is achievable these days, for a myriad of reasons.Personallly, I pine more for the golden age of letterman in the 80's. When Comedy central first came on the air, they would show old 80's letterman shows that would just SLAY me. He was so good back then, he's a shell of that now.

[hank213]

BigDMcGee, on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, 6:36 PM, said:

Personallly, I pine more for the golden age of letterman in the 80's. When Comedy central first came on the air, they would show old 80's letterman shows that would just SLAY me. He was so good back then, he's a shell of that now.

I saw Brother Theodore on Letterman one night and it changed my life.

[BigDMcGee]

hank213, on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, 7:55 PM, said:

I saw Brother Theodore on Letterman one night and it changed my life.

dear god that's amazing

[hblask]

BigDMcGee, on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, 6:36 PM, said:

Personallly, I pine more for the golden age of letterman in the 80's. When Comedy central first came on the air, they would show old 80's letterman shows that would just SLAY me. He was so good back then, he's a shell of that now.

"It's just plain big."

[hank213]

BigDMcGee, on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, 8:14 PM, said:

dear god that's amazing

check out "that itchy chick." Just brilliant.

[Voldemort]

hank213, on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, 11:19 PM, said:

check out "that itchy chick." Just brilliant.

Wow....that guy is great

[king_tanner]

Conan has been royally trashing NBC the last 2 nights, hope he keeps it up. I'm suprised NBC is letting him go on like this.I get that Conan got screwed, but doesn't he owe just a little bit of thanks to NBC? They could have cancelled him when he started out with the 12:30 show and didn't have great ratings.

[timwakefield]

king_tanner, on Thursday, January 14th, 2010, 12:33 AM, said:

They could have cancelled him when he started out with the 12:30 show and didn't have great ratings.

Instead, they let him keep going and it turned into an extremely popular show, considering it was on at 12:35 AM. He's made NBC lots of money. Lots. The whole thing is pretty fucked up. Basically, this is the situation as best as I can figure it:2004: - NBC promises The Tonight Show to CoCo, starting in 2009. CoCo agrees. - I'm not sure what NBC's deal with Jay is, other than that 2009 is obviously when his contract would be ending. In other words, I dunno if he had expressed a desire to retire, or if they just pulled the rug out from under him.2009: - Conan gets his show. - Leno is upset about losing The Tonight Show, which he feels should have been his until he was ready to say goodbye. He wasn't (ready to say goodbye). NBC placates him by giving him a nightly show at 10:00 PM. 2010:- Both shows are doing terribly in the ratings. Leno, because he's only entertaining to people who are quite literally half-asleep (old people at midnight), and the primetime crowd that likes to watch ER and Law & Order is not buying his ridiculous, unfunny variety hour. Conan's show is also losing badly to Letterman. Conan's defense is that he has no lead-in because primetime has become The Terrible Jay Leno Show every night, and that he's only had the job for 6 months and everybody's ratings suck for the first 6 months. - NBC gives Leno back his old time slot, though they offer to let Conan start his "Tonight Show" at 12:05, rather than go all the way back to 12:35. I agree with Conan, and don't see how you can really argue otherwise, that the Tonight Show isn't the Tonight Show if it isn't on right after the news. If Leno was on at 11:30 and CoCo was on at 12:05, it would be basically the same as it was before Conan got the Tonight Show. Leno would only have time for 1 guest, and would have to decide between doing his headlines or his extended monologue on any given night, but he would still be first. NBC pretending that this wasn't exactly the same as ending Conan's run as host of the Tonight Show is insulting, both to Conan I'm sure, and in general to rational people.- Result: Conan quits, and Leno re-takes The Tonight Show, which is now followed by Jimmy Fallon. NBC latenight used to be good at 12:35 (Conan). Then it got good at 11:35 (Conan). Then they destroyed the only thing that was gonna keep them from getting completely stale in the coming years. Nice job, idiots.Word is that Conan will not be doing any shows after next week, by his own accord.

[timwakefield]

[Pot Odds RAC]

king_tanner, on Thursday, January 14th, 2010, 12:33 AM, said:

Conan has been royally trashing NBC the last 2 nights, hope he keeps it up. I'm suprised NBC is letting him go on like this.I get that Conan got screwed, but doesn't he owe just a little bit of thanks to NBC? They could have cancelled him when he started out with the 12:30 show and didn't have great ratings.

Gosh, he's just trying to protect the franchise. How can you not respect the hell out of that?

[king_tanner]

Pot Odds RAC, on Saturday, January 16th, 2010, 6:46 AM, said:

Gosh, he's just trying to protect the franchise. How can you not respect the hell out of that?

I actually do respect him a lot for the way he has handled things, just was playing devils advocate.

[Balloon guy]

king_tanner, on Saturday, January 16th, 2010, 10:21 PM, said:

I actually do respect him a lot for the way he has handled things, just was playing devils advocate.

I agree. I respect Conan for what he is doing, but the fact is they are trying to slice up a target audience of younger viewers with too many choices.I never thought Leno was all that good of a replacement, but he had a level of maturity that lent itslf to grabbing the entire mature audience, while bringing in the younger more sophisticated crowd.Conan is not going to hold the older crowd, his humor is more for the younger viewers.It's the entire demographic of older mature viewers who have been ignored through all this.They didn't want to watch Leno at 10, they watch the news. They don't like Conan..he's too goofy. And Letterman is too hit or miss.Of course any opinion about the realities of late night are better than the ones the NBC idiots are using. They will give themselves a bonus for completely screwing up a show that was around before they were born.