Jay Leno going back to 11:30... Conan's future unclear

[Yeah_Baby]

I'm on team CoCo, but can't you argue away the online poll results to a demographic thing?

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I'm on team CoCo, but can't you argue away the online poll results to a demographic thing?

Absolutely, but they're even more meaningful because of the demographics: Internet users are typically younger and more affluent and more appealing to advertisers. This is an audience that television networks are desperate to hold onto. So while you would be right to argue that online poll results are not representative of the entire TV-watching population, I think it would be a mistake for network executives to ignore online polls as meaningless, especially given the passion and one-sidedness of such polls.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Absolutely, but they're even more meaningful because of the demographics: Internet users are typically younger and more affluent and more appealing to advertisers. This is an audience that television networks are desperate to hold onto. So while you would be right to argue that online poll results are not representative of the entire TV-watching population, I think it would be a mistake for network executives to ignore online polls as meaningless, especially given the passion and one-sidedness of such polls.

if polls on the internet were accurate than there would be no problem here because Conan would have been crushing the ratings.

Networks are interested in age groups, not internet users.

And Leno has been beating Letterman in the ratings for something like 12 years, not just when people knew he was going to be leaving. And I would guess if during that time you took an internet poll as to who was more popular that Letterman would have won.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

if polls on the internet were accurate than there would be no problem here because Conan would have been crushing the ratings.

Networks are interested in age groups, not internet users.

And Leno has been beating Letterman in the ratings for something like 12 years, not just when people knew he was going to be leaving. And I would guess if during that time you took an internet poll as to who was more popular that Letterman would have won.

Ah, you sound exactly like an NBC executive. Here's the problem with that logic: if the young demographic is not engaged, then the network's overall audience shrinks as time goes by, unless you hope that they'll reach a certain age and all the sudden the shows they've been ignoring for years suddenly become funny. If you simply assign a demographic as being an internet users and not try to engage them, you're essentially writing off an entire generation of potential TV viewers. Fox is the #1 network on TV largely because they have a huge advantage in the younger demographic, while holding their own in more mature viewers. That demographic does watch TV; the distinction is that they don't watch late-night TV. The current potential gain for a network like Fox is about shaping the viewing habits of that audience.

[troutman]

Tina Fey poked fun at her employer on the Golden Globes red carpet, Talking to Billy Bush on the NBC preshow, Fey said of the weather, it's not rain, "It's just god crying for NBC."

Jay Leno used his Friday night monologue to go after David Letterman for his recent sex scandal. Leno, who once offered kind words for his CBS counterpart, said "Even Dave Letterman taking shots at me. Which is a surprise. Usually he's just taking shots at interns."

After astutely pointing out that "this week, you didn't need Cinemax to see someone get screwed on TV," SNL's Seth Meyers provided the most accurate analogy for the Leno/Conan drama yet.

"SNL" opened Saturday's show with a sketch featuring cast member Bill Hader as O'Brien and Darrell Hammond as Leno, brought together on CNN's "Larry King Live." O'Brien was portrayed as somewhat humorless, while Leno needed to be cut off from automatically going into a monologue routine. Jason Sudeikis also made a cameo as a giggling David Letterman, perpetually throwing pencils at the camera.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Ah, you sound exactly like an NBC executive. Here's the problem with that logic: if the young demographic is not engaged, then the network's overall audience shrinks as time goes by, unless you hope that they'll reach a certain age and all the sudden the shows they've been ignoring for years suddenly become funny. If you simply assign a demographic as being an internet users and not try to engage them, you're essentially writing off an entire generation of potential TV viewers. Fox is the #1 network on TV largely because they have a huge advantage in the younger demographic, while holding their own in more mature viewers. That demographic does watch TV; the distinction is that they don't watch late-night TV. The current potential gain for a network like Fox is about shaping the viewing habits of that audience.

Jay Leno had more of the young demographic during his time on the tonight show than Conan has during his

I liked Conan on late night just as much as anyone but their isn't some conspiracy against him. If his show had done well in the ratings, like it did when it followed Leno before, than there would be no problem here.

And the reason polls on the internet don't work is because they are not a random sample, they are targeted at a specific website etc. To get a fair bearing on the general public you need an absolutely random sample. The people who are more invested in this story and to take the time to vote are on Conan's side no doubt. Which skews the results of an internet poll

[metallicat]

So what's happening? Is Conan on tonight?

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

So what's happening? Is Conan on tonight?

I think this is his last week

[J pold]

Why CoCo?

[troutman]

Guest list for what could possibly be Conan's last week:

http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrie...episode-guide/

Mon - Scorsese/Firth/Kooza
Tue - Hanks/Bettany/Spoon
Wed - Fri - TBA

[Regulator75]

Spoon! Excellent!

[d_phaneuf]

dono if this was mentioned all ready in the thread but he asked Howard Stern to be on this week, asked him last week, and Howard said he would consider it because its Conan's last week on the tonight show.

Dont know what he decided though, but he said Conan's people were putting calls in to big guests to go out strong in their last week

[Acey]

For the most part I like what NBC has done with the post-Leno schedule. Just a network that fell really fast because of some bad decisions. Best of luck to them.

[awildermode]

there has been a lot of teasers/commercials for up coming 10PM shows for NBC.

[Lanny's Stache]

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Maybe Leno needs to remember what he said in 2004.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d1...ent?rel=player

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Lanny's Stache

Not sure if anyone else caught this, but I thought it was pretty interesting. Maybe Leno needs to remember what he said in 2004.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d1...ent?rel=player

actually Leno does remember what he said as he made a statement on his show last night in regards to it.

He also spoke highly of Conan.

It seems that both guys clearly lay the blame at the Networks feet. and rightfully so. NBC has either really screwed this up or.....(conspiracy theory) it was carefully planned to boost ratings on both shows.

[troutman]

Zucker told Charlie Rose he has been getting death threats.

Zucker and Conan were rivals at Harvard. Zucker even got Conan arrested:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/cul...n-rivalry.html

Zucker and O’Brien first encountered each other at Harvard in the 1980s, during a heated period of the Crimson/Lampoon rivalry,when O’Brien hijacked a shipment of Crimson issues the day before they could be delivered. As O’Brien once told Business Week, “My first meeting with Jeff Zucker was in handcuffs, with a Cambridge police officer reading me my rights.”

[Sainters7]

^^^
Haha wow, interesting story! I've heard before that Conan was a bit of a prankster at Harvard, that's funny.

Anyone watch last night? He had Scorcese on. I've only seen him in sparing interviews before and he didn't seem to enjoy the camera, he always seemed flighty and kinda weird in interviews. Which is why I was surprised to see him so friendly, chatty and accomodating last night, he was actually talking Conan's ear off. He was laughing a ton too, I was actually quite surprised. I didn't think he was like that.

You can tell the respect many in the industry have for Conan by the big names who are showing up for his last few shows, and the way they treat him.

[Suave]

Here is a link to Jay and his side from last nights show.

http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/video/...s-pov/1194348/

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Anyone watch last night? He had Scorcese on. I've only seen him in sparing interviews before and he didn't seem to enjoy the camera, he always seemed flighty and kinda weird in interviews. Which is why I was surprised to see him so friendly, chatty and accomodating last night, he was actually talking Conan's ear off. He was laughing a ton too, I was actually quite surprised. I didn't think he was like that.

Yeah, even outside of the context of everything else that's going on around Conan, that was a very good interview. Scorcese was extremely engaged and much more forthcoming than I've ever heard him before.