This entire late-night trainwreck at NBC could've been prevented. If Jay Leno would've just let go when his time came, had he followed the tradition of late-night torch passing and moved on to other prospects after the "Tonight Show" went to a deserving Conan O'Brien, none of this would be happening.
It's Conan, however, who is being vilified by the high priests of NBC. After rejecting NBC's backhanded offer to move the "Tonight Show" to 12:05, he's reportedly within hours of a deal that would land him up to $40 million to walk away (and up to $15 million for his crew), which would leave Leno to return to the coveted 11:30 spot. But O'Brien's being attacked in unprecedentedly vicious ways by top NBC brass, who aren't taking kindly to his jabs at Leno or themselves - on their own network.
NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker, who famously called the police on Conan after a prank when the two were at Harvard together so many years ago, reportedly threatened to put Conan on a media blackout for 3.5 years if he doesn't accept the "Tonight Show" move to 12:05. NBC exec Dick Ebersol trashed O'Brien in an interview with the New York Times, calling Conan an "astounding failure" and saying his jokes about Jay Leno have been "chicken-hearted and gutless." The stakes are high, and things are getting ugly on every side of the fight. But Zucker & Ebersol's unbecoming attacks prove that O'Brien's struck a deep nerve, one that rings far more true than any face-saving spin the network is pushing.
To clarify: Leno replaced Johnny Carson as host of the "Tonight Show" in 1992, after Carson steered the ship for 35 distinguished years. Johnny had wanted Letterman to be the recipient of the torch, but Leno weaseled his way into the seat instead - and didn't even bother to thank Carson on his debut show as new host. In 2004, Leno signed a contract extension with NBC which would keep him as host of the "Tonight Show" until 2009, at which point Conan would replace him. But 2009 arrived, and Jay didn't want to let go. Despite graciously and publicly passing the torch to Conan, he worked behind the scenes with NBC to find a way to stay. Thus, the ill-fated ten o'clock prime-time-alternative show was conceived.
Everyone knew that the ten o'clock show would fail. There's no way anybody with any real sense of the industry would've believed that it was a "bold new step" in prime-time TV. Network stars revolted. There was a boycott by actors standing in solidarity with the five shows a week that were replaced by the underhanded cost-cutting scheme that this was. The show came to symbolize a cancerous sore on prime-time, the potential death-knell for fully-produced dramas that brought in so many viewers each night. It was a way to cut costs and brainpower, a way to cheapen the viewership experience. Thankfully, it failed miserably.
Here's the core problem with Leno: he's not hungry. He has no concepts of taking the show to the next level, of integrating new features, building on top of the empire Letterman and Conan grew up watching and aspiring to. He shook people's hands in the front row, which Johnny Carson never did, but messianic hand-touching doesn't exactly qualify as an evolution of the show. Even worse than his smarmy, non-controversial humor is the fact that some of his most famous bits are ripped straight off of Howard Stern (who, if there is a God, will accept Conan's offer to be among his final "Tonight Show" guests), and the man doesn't have an innovative bone in his body.
What has Jay done with either of his shows to make tuning in worthwhile and unique? How does he push the envelope? Conan made leaps in both concept and execution between his "Late Night" show and the "Tonight Show". He's already on a much faster pace to do far better than he has, and creatively he's never been better. But with the stifling Leno lead-in rather than the prime-time send-off every other show in that timeslot has had, there's no chance for him to escape Jay's shadow.
Make no mistake: the lead-in is absolutely crucial for any late-night show. For years there's been a built-in carryover audience going from prime-time dramas to the late-talk circuit, but by ruining that flow, by depriving Conan of that all-important jump start on viewers by cramming in some half-ass show resembling a public access channel, Leno effectively sabotaged O'Brien's chances for success.
If Conan had been given a "Law & Order" lead-in, if any big-draw show preceded him, he'd have had little trouble beating Letterman, who was in a tough spot after news broke of his recent affairs. But instead he has a lame duck preceding him that refuses to let go, to move on, to pass the torch, despite agreeing to six years ago. In person, Leno's known for being affable, kind and humorous. The fallback we always hear from other names in the business is "But he's so nice in person!" The thing is you just never know where you stand with the guy, and one gets the impression that his desire to win in all this, his desperate clinging to a show that's calling for new blood, is just to be able to say that he won.
"I just want to say to the kids out there watching - you can do anything you want in life... unless Jay Leno wants to do it too." - Conan's "Tonight Show" monologue, 1/14/10
With few friends, no children and a marriage four decades old, Leno has one central reason for living, it seems, and insiders have long said that they'd have to drag Leno kicking and screaming from TV. That he'd never retire. But the "Tonight Show" is bigger than him. Television is bigger than him, and by throwing a wrench into the entire deal with Conan, Leno and NBC have effectively tarnished a 60 year-old television franchise and quite possibly ruined the career (and careers of his crew) of one of late-night TV's greatest gifts: Conan O'Brien.
So Conan's 16 years of build-up at NBC to his lifelong dream of hosting the "Tonight Show" was squashed seven months in by the man who hid in a storage closet to snake the job away from David Letterman in the first place so many years ago. And now O'Brien's being slammed in public by the tactless, blame-frenzied NBC bosses, who can't seem to say enough bad things about him. But Conan will prevail. The ginger-coiffed comedian can move down the street to Fox, where his comic realm is a perfect fit, or he can explore one of a myriad of other opportunities brewing right this moment. But NBC's not helping him along, and their cards are exposed as hypocritical, disgraceful back-stabbers with no regard for legacy or honor. Here's hoping that, within a few years, Leno's getting the karmic (and ratings) ass-kicking he deserves, and Conan's sitting pretty at a network that not only respects his formidable talent, but is willing to go the distance with the greatest hope late-night television has.
