Tonight Show Wars

this faggot

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Leno could've said no and and helped Conan. That would require class though. Leno is a piece of shit by all accounts

Conan.

found the retard still living in 2011

>massively fucks up The Tonight Show
>destroys CNN

What did he mean by this

We all lost. This man was never a host.

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Leno was always #1 in the ratings and NBC went behind his back to give his show to someone else, he had reason to be an asshole about it

>O'brien was suspected to have filled the water tank in one of Leno's steam cars with kerosene, causing it to burst into flames on sunset blvd and forcing Leno to bail overboard, ultimately causing the flaming vehicle to crash into a bus full of Czech midget tourists. O'brien mocked the incident on his show later that night, "Hot enough for you, faggot?"

Leno is an absolute legend but his loyalty to NBC caused him to basically ruin his own reputation. Sad.

Funny!

Leno jewed Conan out of the job immediately after giving him one in the slimiest, most underhanded way possible

How did he ruin his reputation? Either you liked him or didn't and the fiasco with Conan (who no one seemed to like) didn't change anything

he still could've said no. Piece of shit with a massive ego. both Letterman and Conan say so

That's not how it went down, retard.
>Conan tells NBC "give me the Tonight Show or i'm going to another network"
>NBC tells Leno he has to quit in 5 years
>Leno says "ok, whatever"
>5 years go by, Conan ratings go down, Lenos go up
>NBC freaks out and offers Leno a dumb variety show
>Conan Tonight Show bombs

>Leno could've said no and and helped Conan.
Why would he help Conan when he pretty much told NBC "fire Jay and give me the Tonight Show or I'm leaving"?

People think their main rival is a piece of shit?? Holy hell user. Incredible

And what of good Letterman?

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Last 15 years of his show were unwatchable. Just a bitter man aging into retirement

He kept his two hours so Ferguson could go out with a bang.

>Last 15 years of his show were unwatchable. Just a bitter man aging into retirement
This. Leno overtaking him in the ratings broke his brain. THEN when Conan took over Letterman started winning again. But when Leno came back he started losing again.

george lopez, as always

Honestly, what improved my opinion of him was his Joe Rogan appearance.
It ruined his reputation because he reneged on a deal not for his family, not for his own survival or image, but to please NBC who knew they could milk more revenue from his being on tv. That's why people thought it was a stupid, pointless move.

Insufferable faggot who sucks Obama’s cock

Yeah no way he did that because NBC just asked him. Those fucks either had dirt on him or he did it for some other shit.

Hey remember when he did those Hans Blix bits because his CIA handler's told him to back the looming Iraq invasion?

Conan was great on the simpsons

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sauce?

Hey remember when Dana Carvey was on Leno and revealed that Saddam was in a stinking hole in Titkrit several weeks before he was actually found in a hole in Tikrit

that literally didn't happen

>Everyone knows that Conan had that $30 million dollar payday if NBC fired him for any reason
>What most people don't know is that Jay Leno made a similar deal when he stepped down from the Tonight show to do a low budget variety show before Conan
>His deal was $150 million dollars
>Naturally, a low budget Jay Leno show suuuuuucked
>Like, whole episodes appeared to have no written dialogue and everything was covered in advertisements, felt more like an infomercial show with some dad jokes
>Jay Leno's show tanks in the ratings
>Leno's show is right before the Tonight Show, so most people have changed channels by the time it comes on, Conan's ratings slow
>NBC: "We need to cancel your shit show Leno."
>Leno: "Okay... give me my $150 million dollars and I'll be on my way."
NBC: "Uhhhhh...."
>Leno: "Of course, if you gave me back my Tonight Show gig, you wouldn't be violating that contract. How much was your contract buyout with Conan? A fraction of my buyout? Would be able to buy a lot of fat guy hot wife pilots with $120 million."
>NBC: "Conan, you're fired."

Fuck Leno.

imagine the smell

>but to please NBC who knew they could milk more revenue from his being on tv
A network wanted more money, not less? Holy SHIT bro. Fucked beyond belief

Conan's show had bad ratings because he has limited appeal. He should be grateful he got a shot to prove himself, even if he failed.

>that literally didn't happen
It was in the "War For Late Night" book. Conan never disputed it.

Didn't he have lower ratings than he had on his original show?

Wrong. I don't know where you are getting this shit info from.
NBC's affiliates were freaking the fuck out that Conan was killing the Tonight Show and getting beat by Letterman. They demanded Jay be brought back.
If Conan was a hit, they would have paid Leno and said "happy retirement" because they knew the Tonight Show future would be secure. Conan fucked it up so bad though they had no choice but to can him.

I disagree. He had a long-time reputation as a company man through and through.
You're missing the point. The shocking point isn't that some corporation wanted to milk a comedian for more revenue, it's that a legendary stand-up who was well-respected by most of his peers who needed or wanted nothing, had everything in place for a comfortable, luxurious, lucrative, and graceful retirement would take the deal they proposed after the tonight show had been promised to Conan.

>Didn't he have lower ratings than he had on his original show?
Yes. Conan's ratings were going down for years (due to competition from Craig Ferguson) and Leno's were going up. NBC realized they were throwing off the #1 guy in late night who didn't even want to retire and was a fucking work horse doing 5 days a week (Letterman did 4).
Conan's Tonight Show was bad because he didn't temper his act. He thought he was still doing it for the 12:30am college kids. But he was instead doing it for 11:30pm boomers who were in bed. When NBC told him to put on an A-lister as his first guest, Conan would say no and put on some c-grade comic no one ever heard of. He also brought back Andy Richter for some reason.

>You're missing the point.
Networks care about money, not an entertainer's respect level or any of that stuff. Imagine thinking showbiz ran on merit and altruism, lol

>He also brought back Andy Richter for some reason.
Andy brings credibility to Conan, he was the first traditional Ed-style sidekick in a long era of just "making fun of the band guy."

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Leno for not wanting to give up the Tonight Show

>and was a fucking work horse doing 5 days a week (Letterman did 4).
I forgot about that. Were Letterman's Friday shows a rerun from the same week?

>Andy brings credibility to Conan
lol

Disagree. Conan's show was actually better without Andy. Why go backwards? I think Conan was a little afraid of getting on the big stage alone.

Literally still missing the point. Everyone knew Leno was going to retire, everyone knew Conan was taking his time slot and the name of the show. That was the deal. Leno retired, Conan tanked the ratings and NBC got scared and asked Leno to come back. Obviously NBC was shitting their pants, obviously, they were losing money. But Leno? The fuck did he go back for? Every possible reason makes him look like pure garbage. NBC, yeah they wanted to make money, Leno had the money, he had the legacy, he had the cars, the big house, everything. Dude was fucking set for life and still came back. There is zero redemption for Leno.

Conan took it away from him to begin with.

AGAIN, YOU'RE MISSING MY POINT. I don't give a shit about a massive unscrupulous network. I care about how a legendary comedian would play ball with said company for no meaningful personal gain.

>Leno retired
No he didn't. Conan and NBC FORCED him to GIVE UP the Tonight Show. When Leno was "leaving" NBC realized that Fox and ABC would try and grab him.
All Conan had to do was wait until Leno retired on his own, or Conan should have went to Fox. Instead he played Game of Thrones and lost.

Conan didn't force him to do shit you retard. Conan was working in a dead timeslot for stoners, drunks and losers for years because the deal was that once Leno retired he'd get the timeslot. NBC might have forced him out but even if Conan had turned that offer down they would've just found someone else. Conan did nothing wron.

>Literally still missing the point.
No I'm pretty sure profit is the point. The drama behind it is simply ancillary

>No I'm pretty sure profit is the point.
What fucking profit was in it for Leno?

Leno was old and the Tonight Show was losing ratings and everyone liked Conan. You're suppose to hand off the show to the next guy

You're factually wrong. Leno promised his wife that he would retire by age 60. He told the network this and they starting grooming Conan for his successor. This literally was 5-7 years in the making.

His salary

>Leno was old
No he wasn't. Carson was older than Leno when he left. Leno was working 5 days a week (Letterman doing 4) and was the #1 guy in late night for 15 years.
>and the Tonight Show was losing ratings
100% wrong. The Tonight Show actually INCREASED it's ratings in the years after they forced Leno to leave. Conan's ratings went DOWN at 12:30 in those years.
>and everyone liked Conan
No one disliked Jay. Aside from Leno and Conan I never heard anyone say anything bad about Jay Leno.

If you dumbfucks did any research at all you would know that it was NBC's fault, coupled with Leno being a dipshit suckup.

Leno announced that he was retiring in 5 years, and that Conan would be his replacement. After the 5 years, NBC saw that they still wanted to keep Leno around. They pretty much said, hey we don't want you to do the show anymore but we don't want you anywhere else for competition.

Thats why everyone was clowning on Leno, because he didn't sign up with a competitor like CBS. Because of this, they created Leno's show. It was shitty, so the executives made the plan to create 2 separate late night shows right after the other.

To accomplish this they pushed Conan's Tonight Show into the 12:30 am slot and Leno's show would go into the 11:30 pm slot. Conan hated this decision because he said
>the tonight show would literally be the next day show. I just didn't want to be the guy to keep grasping onto it when it was clear what the network wanted.

So he made the decision to step down since NBC wouldn't listen to his requests, and Leno got the Tonight Show back.

Fuck all of you cucks for not doing the smallest and most basic google search on the story. I hope you all get AIDs.

Conan could have said yes to getting moved back 1/2 an hour too but he threw a bitch fit screaming it wouldn't be the tonight show at that time. Conan was a bigger bitch about the situation in every way

>Leno promised his wife that he would retire by age 60.
Who cares? He changed his mind and that's that.

So you agree that Leno is a piece of shit who came back for bullshit reasons. Great, glad we cleared that up.

he made a decision you would have been too gay and desperate to make.

Conan Late Show was great but Tonight Show Concan mostly sucked. Tonight Show Conan humor was very bland and mainstream. While Leno's ratings had been dipping they were nowhere near as bad as Conan's in the TS.

>coupled with Leno being a dipshit suckup.
This retard thinks Hollywood is a meritocracy

>Leno promised his wife that he would retire by age 60.
Source on this? I've never heard this before.
>He told the network this and they starting grooming Conan for his successor.
Literally never happened. The 12:30 guy is almost always the "successor" and Conan had been the 12:30 guy since like 92 or 93.
Everything I am saying is from the book "The War for Late Night" and Conan has never disputed any of it.

>So you agree that Leno is a piece of shit who came back for bullshit reasons.
Making more money isn't a bullshit reason, it's a very tangible reason.

>Leno announced that he was retiring in 5 years
Conan went to NBC and said "If you don't give me the Tonight Show, I'm leaving" Then NBC came up with this scheme to keep Jay for 5 more years and force him to retire and give Conan the Tonigth Show.

no you illerate dipshit, the complete opposite actually. Leno sucked the nipple of NBC long enough for him to be their anal slave

Conan was a petty bitch at TBS too.

deseret.com/2004/9/28/19852743/gasp-jay-leno-retiring-in-09
here's best I could find in a hurry. I remember that being the reasoning when it actually happened, that he would retire "in 5 years".

source pls

I always loved Julia Roberts.

>Thats why everyone was clowning on Leno, because he didn't sign up with a competitor like CBS.
Are you retarded? What would Leno do at CBS? Letterman was their 11:30 guy. Fox would have given him a show at 11pm, but that doesn't work in the 11:35pm start time world of late night. ABC had Kimmel, but if he went their headline would be "ZOMG EVIL JAY KICKS OUT JIMMY!".

>source pls
The War for Late Night book. From the guy who wrote the Leno/Letterman book in the early 90s.

Also this:
nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/real-reason-leno-quitting-tonight-show/
I haven't read The War for Late Night, but I feel safe in assuming that it's a polished up testament about what actually happened. It seems quite obvious that NBC was playing a game of chess with the other networks to keep as much talent on their network as possible. I don't doubt for a second that Conan played this brilliantly, knowing he would get an extremely lucrative deal on another network if NBC didn't promise him the tonight show. Even if that was the case, they had 5 years to retool the deal or abandon it and they didn't. Why? Because they probably suspected that if they could convince Leno that he still had staying power for solid ratings, he'd side with them in any kind of deal that came into being.

Weak sauce. It sounds like an excuse more than a promise. He would have said "I'm gonna retire at 60 for the sake of my wife" a long time ago if that were the case. And the fact that he didn't retire the first chance he got proves that it was a bullshit statement.

Nice try Conan

Leno is a workaholic, he just loves the work. The money is just an added bonus. NBC wanted to layoff a bunch of his crew and he said he would half his paycut from 30 million to 15 to keep them and give them raises.

>National Enquirer
>“A long time ago I made a promise to my wife that I wasn’t going to be spending our so-called golden years working all the time, as I am now,” Jay told a friend.
JAY TOLD A FRIEND

>Making more money isn't a bullshit reason, it's a very tangible reason.
Leno had insane amounts of money and no kids to give it to. Its pure greed if nothing else.

>Leno is a workaholic, he just loves the work.
This. The guy was still doing standup comedy on the weekends for the minimum pay when he was making $30 mil a year. And he's working on cars when he's not doing that.

You for posting about it on a Mongolian Basket-Weaving forum 13 years later.

>no you illerate dipshit, the complete opposite actually.
No. I'm right.

If he had said that after everything that went down, I would agree with you. But this was the word on the street a full 5 years before it happened.
Except that that was the understanding in 2004-2005. I literally remember it being talked about at the time. So I posted two sources, tabloids obviously (because no one else gives a shit), but they both are remarkably consistent on the narrative Jay was putting out at the Conan deal was being worked out with NBC.

Conan spent years being told he would be promoted to the Tonight Show as long as he stayed at NBC as the execs expected Leno to retire. However, there was one year left on Leno’s contract when Conan was due for renewal. And Conan used that leverage in negotiations: either promote me or I’m walking, and they did. But they had nowhere to put Leno, and it would have cost more to terminate his contract than to keep him on television, so they came up with the dumbest solution possible and tanked all their late night shows.

Yes, Conan did not hit the ground running and struggled to get ratings, but he had less than a year to even try. A lot of people on here aren’t old enough to remember that Leno tanked for years after he replaced Carson but NBC stuck with him and rode it out. Conan didn’t get that same treatment.

Based Delocated poster

Not to mention that Conan was under threat of cancellation for like four straight years before he found his footing and following on Late Night.
youtube.com/watch?v=Xcu1mvFaUDM&ab_channel=TeamCoco

Leno was good, seemed like a jolly fat fuck. Conan always seemed like a meanspirited tryhard. Plus cars are based