instead of Dave?
I don't know what's a sig. line? Can't think of one! Can you tell me what one is?
Gee,maybe because Craig wanted him on the show. Did you ever think about that? Who YOU wanted on the show is not relevant at all.
shareI am not a fan of Leno by any means but if there's one unfair accusation that gets thrown out about him is that he's a back stabber.
He may never be my favorite comedian, his Tonight Show was an atrocious trip back to a time long ago that should have been left behind, but he's probably one of the nicest people in show business.
While there's debate on how he got his Tonight Show gig to begin with (there are those who feel it was more his agent at the time who cheated to help him get it, though he did admit to hiding in the closet) there is no room for doubt that he had NOTHING to do with Conan leaving the Tonight Show.
Conan resigned. And the NBC execs at the time were so desperate to keep Jay from jumping to ABC that was why they cooked up the laughably ludicrous alternative shows for Leno that finally made Conan throw his hands up in disgust and walk away.
There's plenty of people to point at for Conan's failure on The Tonight Show, but Leno is the last one to get any of the blame.
Hell, and I am not even a fan of his. But I feel it's wrong to characterize him as a backstabber.
Leno paid his staff out of his own pocket during the 2007 strike and took a 50% salary cut to keep them later on. I'm sick of the Leno bashing. What would you rather watch, Fallon bouncing around like a monkey on meth?
shareLeno paid his staff out of his own pocket during the 2007 strike and took a 50% salary cut to keep them later on. I'm sick of the Leno bashing. What would you rather watch, Fallon bouncing around like a monkey on meth?
Leno getting the Tonight show was the main reason to have a grudge against him for Letterman, but on the other hand why would Leno NOT go for the job? His genuine grudge was against NBC, and the irony being of course that Leno got fired TWICE before Letterman returned of his own accord.
I was more disappointed that Leno went along with the efforts that basically made it impossible for Conan to succeed. He should have told them no. Craig's entire philosophy is to avoid that kind of politics as much as possible and while he did still joke about the whole thing he was never mean spirited about it. I do wonder about him and Letterman though. A couple of years ago Letterman referred to the next show being hosted by Craig Kilborn, who hadn't hosted the show for years, and after that it was only ever Alan Kalter that made that announcement. I do wonder how much Letterman even knew about what his production company was doing, never mind whether he cared or not.
I still disagree with blaming Leno for Conan's lack of success.
There's a lot of behind the scene stuff where he butted heads with execs who wanted him to book certain guests and make certain changes they felt would improve his ratings. He resisted so much.
And to blame the 10pm show on his failure is just ridiculous, too. There are shows that down right fail to pull in ratings at 10pm now and Fallon beats the other late night shows in ratings night after night.
Honestly, I just don't think Conan was cut out for the job. I don't think the host of Late Night should always be the default successor of the Tonight Show. If the host in Late Night doesn't work in an earlier time slot, there's no reason to give it to them just because.
And Letterman was fine with Kilborn being on after him because he knew Kilborn was never talented enough to be a true challenger for his job. True story.
And about Letterman's grudge: Who cares? The ratings don't really matter in the long run. Letterman's run will forever be more honored than Leno's. And the fact remains that even after he retired Johnny Carson continued to write jokes for Letterman. That speaks VOLUMES. Maybe he never won the ratings war, but Letterman is the modern king of late night.
...was more disappointed that Leno went along with the efforts that basically made it impossible for Conan to succeed. He should have told them no.