Leno: 'Conan got screwed'

[dfergie]

Jay Leno says he got screwed by NBC -- and so did Conan O'Brien.

In an interview with HLN's Joy Behar, the "Tonight Show" host also said he expects O'Brien to get back on the air and face him head-to-head.

Source, More & Video: thrfeed.com

More Here: thewrap

 

[DJ Rob]

Poor baby Jay. Did he talk about how he screwed Conan, as well as NBC? It's not a matter of who will win, it is the matter of doing the right and honorable thing. "This is TV" is not an excuse to pull a douchebag move on someone.

 

[televisionarchives]

Poor baby Jay. Did he talk about how he screwed Conan, as well as NBC? It's not a matter of who will win, it is the matter of doing the right and honorable thing. "This is TV" is not an excuse to pull a douchebag move on someone.

Television is a business. It will always be about "who will win"

 

[riffjim4069]

Poor baby Jay. Did he talk about how he screwed Conan, as well as NBC? It's not a matter of who will win, it is the matter of doing the right and honorable thing. "This is TV" is not an excuse to pull a douchebag move on someone.

Poor baby Conan too! His Tonight Show sank like the Titanic and we're supposed to feel sorry for him after he received $34M for failing? No way! The one fact you're overlooking is that Jay never wanted to leave the Tonight Show in the first place, and NBC offered Jay the 10pm slot only when they realized he would take the Tonight Show audience with him to another network. Regardless of the local affiliate uproar with the Jay Leno Show being aired in the 10pm timeslot, Leno would have been asked to pack is bags if O'Brien had better, much better, ratings. In a nutshell, Leno fans had no desire to watch O'Brien (Leno's ratings were comparable in the 10pm or 11:30pm slot); Leno would have taken his audence and market share from the Tonight Show to another network; O'Brien was only offered the Tonight Show (5-years ago) to keep O'Brien from leaving NBC...Leno did not want to leave the Tonight Show.

Conan got screwed, but he was well paid for his screwing. NBC tried to screw Leno but Leno, beside superior comedic talent, had one thing on his side...a large and loyal audience. Again, NBC would have booted Leno if O'Brien would have developed an audience during the summer and fall of '09. I like Conan, but he triggers a log of people's gag reflex - they simply cannot stand him. O'Brien will be back on the air soon enough...and he will occupy the 3rd position behind Leno and Letterman or be placed in the another timeslot.

 

[televisionarchives]

If Leno had left and gone to Fox he would still beat Letterman and of course Conan on NBC if they kept him.

 

[yaz96]

Pure damage control.....!sadroll

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Leno's obviously got a long history of saying and doing whatever it takes to steal and keep his job, and this is purely another calculated move on his part to do just that.

 

[Peter Parker]

I am nota big Leno fan. He does not entertain me but I know others enjoy him and good for them. I like to think however that i can put aside personal feeling sabout the players and wheter they entertain me.

The interesting thing here is that Leno, O'Brien and Letterman would all love to be the king of late night. In fact all three have publicly coveted being the host of the Tonight Show as it means following in the footsteps of Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, Jack parr and Johnny Carson----heady compant.

O'Brien wanted Leno's job. Leno wanted it back and NBC totally screwed up the whole situation. So jay is right there.

In the end I don't care that each guy dislikes the others. When i watch latenight TV I look at the guest lineups and make a decision on which show to watch. I don't care who did what to whom. None of them are angels and none of them have the talent that Kovacs or Allen had. But they are what's there. But I am hard pressed to understand the fascination with this "war' or why some see who is "best' as being so all fired important. They are just TV shows.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I agree that they are just tv shows. Late night tv is one part of a dieing industry. With dvrs being main stream and people working all kinds of shift work, the audience for late night tv is also shifting away. I don't have enough time in the day to watch a regular late night tv show as I am never up later than 9:00pm due to work schedule Mon -Friday. I do occasionally tune in but not on a regular basis.

 

[kenny911]

For all the hate that Leno gets, he sure has a lot of fans. Just read that he's been #1 in the ratings since he's come back.

 

[Derwin0]

For all the hate that Leno gets, he sure has a lot of fans. Just read that he's been #1 in the ratings since he's come back.

The hate is from a hardcore group of Conan supporters.
The majority of Jay's fans, who outnumber the Conan fans (based on ratings), don't bother with online forums.