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Just wondering what everyone thinks of the fracas surrounding Jay Leno and Conan O'Brian.
My take? I don't think Leno wanted to retire in '09. I think that back in '04, other networks were courting Conan, and NBC needed a carrot to dangle in front of him to keep him signed on. So they leaned on Jay and pressured him to stand down, and to pass the torch to Conan.
"But what about me? Where do I go after that?" asks Jay.
"Don't worry, we'll fit you in somehwere. Maybe we'll give you a Prime Time show!" say the executives.
Jay agrees and things get announced.
Six months after the big change, the execs are troubled, and so is Jay. He never wanted to retire at all, and now his new show sucks (because he isn't funny, but I digress). The execs are wringing their hands and wondering what to do, and I think Jay came up to them and offered the idea to wave the magic time reversal wand (available at your local department store for $29.95!). He sees it as his way of getting back from NBC what he never wanted to give up, and the execs see it as a way to pretend none of 2009 ever happened. They are all convinced that Conan will go along, after all, who wouldn't want what is best for their company?
But alas, Mr O'Brian turns out the be the kind of self-serving bastard who wants to protect his career and believes in the show he was doing, and won't go along with the deal. How rude!
And now, here we are watching Late Night NBC collapse in a heap of inane management decisions.
Thoughts?
My take? I don't think Leno wanted to retire in '09. I think that back in '04, other networks were courting Conan, and NBC needed a carrot to dangle in front of him to keep him signed on. So they leaned on Jay and pressured him to stand down, and to pass the torch to Conan.
"But what about me? Where do I go after that?" asks Jay.
"Don't worry, we'll fit you in somehwere. Maybe we'll give you a Prime Time show!" say the executives.
Jay agrees and things get announced.
Six months after the big change, the execs are troubled, and so is Jay. He never wanted to retire at all, and now his new show sucks (because he isn't funny, but I digress). The execs are wringing their hands and wondering what to do, and I think Jay came up to them and offered the idea to wave the magic time reversal wand (available at your local department store for $29.95!). He sees it as his way of getting back from NBC what he never wanted to give up, and the execs see it as a way to pretend none of 2009 ever happened. They are all convinced that Conan will go along, after all, who wouldn't want what is best for their company?
But alas, Mr O'Brian turns out the be the kind of self-serving bastard who wants to protect his career and believes in the show he was doing, and won't go along with the deal. How rude!
And now, here we are watching Late Night NBC collapse in a heap of inane management decisions.
Thoughts?
Jay hasn't been funny in a while and I absolutely can't stand Conan. O' Brian's fans in particular are driving me nuts with this whole thing.
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