NBC, give Jay Leno back Tonight!
Interesting news today, as rumors abound that NBC might yank Jay Leno from his 10 pm spot–and schedule him in his old Tonight slot, admitting that the decision to replace Leno with Conan O’Brien was ill-conceived, and that the resulting lineup–Leno at 10, Conan after the news–had done nobody any good
I know it’s not fashionable to admire Jay Leno–Conan, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, even the old dog Letterman are the hosts de jeur. Leno’s jokes are old-school and safe, aimed toward the semi-conservative masses. Add to that the fact that, off screen, Leno has a notoriously evasive personality. Not a guy you’d like to grab and go for a beer.
But he’s also a guy who spent years trying to make it, years when he was so broke he was living in his car. Who now lives a quiet, private life with a wife who has devoted herself to important, if unpopular, causes. Who endured the sting of his mentor, Johnny Carson, turning his back on him–and still managed to survive and triumph in Carson’s late-night chair.
In a way, Leno, dethroned by O’Brien, was a classic victim of the corporate system that allows a bright young star to nudge out an old hand. But in this case, the dumping was more public, because the corporation is NBC.
As much as I love Conan–and I do think he’s the funniest of the lot, the most natural wit–there would be some generational revenge in watching Leno return to that hallowed late-night spot.
Sure, the elder jokester is partly to blame for the failure of his current show–so dull and badly produced, we turn to the worst reality show, or 10th Law & Order rerun, instead. But Leno did not ask to be ousted. Nor were viewers clamoring for a change.
No, this was a stupid suit decision. Neither Leno nor O’Brien is to blame. And if I were the stupid suits, I’d cut my losses, swallow all pride, and admit to making a big, big mistake.
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It’s an interesting thought, but I believe you’re working from an incorrect premise here.
Way back in 2003, Leno was actually asked to start thinking about how long he intended to be in the game, so NBC could avoid just this kind of confusion when it came time to hand off The Tonight Show. Leno stated then that 2009 seemed about right for retirement. Contracts were negotiated based on Leno’s estimation of when he’d be willing to relinquish The Tonight Show, and his indication that he’d probably retire from late night TV rather than, say, jumping to a competitor. Then 2009 rolled around, and Leno changed his mind. By that point, NBC already had a contract in place with O’Brien, who had otherwise planned to leave for ABC in 2003 to accept what is now Jimmy Kimmel’s spot. In choosing to honor the contract they made with O’Brien, NBC wasn’t kicking Leno out as much as holding him to a previous arrangement of his own making.
Leno may be a wonderful, hard-working guy; I don’t know. To me it seems that he’s negotiated rather aggressively through all of this for someone who keeps shrugging and saying “whatever the network wants”. NBC made him about a half dozen different offers before he accepted The Jay Leno Show in its current form, and made it quite clear that he’d go to FOX and compete directly with O’Brien if he didn’t get what he wanted from NBC. Now that the Leno Show’s tanked, he seems all too happy to volunteer to move back to 11:30, possibly leaving O’Brien out in the cold after he’s waited for 16 years, passed up many offers, and moved his entire staff from NY to CA all based on Leno’s promise to — what was it again? “Do everything I can to make sure the hand-off process is a graceful one”?
So much for that.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, and chronology, Bailey. You may be right–there may be no heroes here. My sense was always that, when NBC pressed Leno for his retirement plans, he was basically being given the boot. Or at least early warning of a kick out the door. And that this was a response to Conan’s eagerness to move up. If Leno has subsequently negotiated aggressively, can’t say I blame him!
In response to another comment. See in context »I guess the real question is why NBC allowed this disastrous situation to go on for so long.
With no disrespect to Bailey, I also recall that Leno chose 2009 under pressure when the NBC suits began worrying they might lose Conan.
As for Leno’s negotiating aggressively, is there any better way to negotiate?
Leno is the only late-night host I’ve met. I liked him. But that has no bearing on why I want him back at 11:30. I simply prefer his monologue to the other guys’ as a soothing bridge to dreamland.
I don’t doubt for a second that Leno was under pressure from the network when he said he’d step down in 2009; it would have been an uncharacteristic choice otherwise, from what I’ve read of the guy.
What I don’t buy is the argument that being under pressure lets Leno off the hook from an ethical standpoint. Honestly, I’m usually the kind of person who extends the benefit of the doubt to people, but it seems like Leno had every opportunity to make this right. If the network was unfairly pushing him to commit to a retirement date he knew he wasn’t going to keep, then he owed very little to NBC; he could have quietly let the people who were planning their careers around his retirement know that the thing was a sham.
Alternately, if he intitially meant to keep the 2009 retirement date and only later changed his mind, he should acknowledge that he’s partly to blame the current late night mess for changing his mind after promising something for five years. I’m not saying he should retire if he doesn’t want to, but he didn’t need to insist on the highest profile, highest playing slot his management could bully NBC into giving him. There’s a middle ground he should have looked for.