Now that Conan O’Brien is back on television, one might be forgiven for thinking the late night wars were behind us. But in recent weeks, Howard Stern has made a return to the talk show circuit, and has come out swinging, reviving the vitriolic Letterman-Leno-Conan dustup. And he’s held no punches about what he thinks of the 2010 scrum. …
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The Winner of the Leno-Letterman War Is… Nightline?
We’re coming up on the first anniversary of the Jaypocalypse, which I know brings up a lot of fond memories for all of us. So The Live Feed has checked in to see where the late-night ratings have settled in after the dust cleared, and it turns out that the leader in the fourth quarter of last year was: Nightline, ABC’s late-night news …
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Conan Night One Beats Networks, By Stealing Their Young
The ratings are in for the first night of Conan on TBS, and Conan O’Brien has plenty to be happy about.
The big headline everywhere will probably be “Conan Beats Jay”—and yeah, I could not resist a variation on that here—but that’s probably not a big deal in the long run. Yes, Conan got 4.2 million viewers, to 3.5 for Jay Leno and …
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Letterman Defeats Leno! Stewart Defeats Both!
Conan O’Brien‘s new talk show debuts on TBS next Monday, which is sure to raise memories of the whole ugly scene last January when NBC threw over O’Brien at 11:35 p.m. for Jay Leno. (As will the timely publication the same day of Bill Carter’s Jaypocalypse dirt-disher, The War for Late Night.)
But whatever you think of how that played …
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Weekend Reading: How Jay Beat Conan (and NBC)
When the Jaypocalypse began to unfold at NBC last January, I doubt there was a person who covers TV who did not think: Well, there’s another book for Bill Carter! Indeed, the New York Times TV-beat guy—who immortalized the Leno-Letterman fight for Tonight with The Late Shift—is coming out with a sequel of sorts (The War for Late …
While We Weren't Looking: Watch Letterman Kick The Leno Feud Back Into High Gear
Back in January, when the whole Jay Leno Show-Tonight Show controvery was blowing up, David Letterman made something of a short-term fortune in bashing Jay Leno and the suits over at NBC.
Well, I missed this yesterday, but Letterman came back from vacation on Monday night, and seems to have rekindled the anger at his old comedy …
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Dead Tree Alert: Why Team Coco Matters
In this week’s print issue of TIME, my column looks at Conan O’Brien‘s re-emergence on 60 Minutes (and on tour) and how his move to cable is another test of what it means to be a “star” in the age of niche media. Leaving aside the money (which thanks to a production deal, could earn O’Brien more on cable than on a big network) is it …
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Conan Gets It Off His Chest: "I Wouldn't Have Done" What Jay Did
CBS’ 60 Minutes has teased some bits of Steve Kroft’s interview with Conan O’Brien, which airs Sunday. It turns out that Coco was pretty forthcoming with what he thought about the events of the Jaypocalypse—specifically Jay Leno’s taking back The Tonight Show after handing him the keys in 2009 (and saying in 2004 that he’s had a long …
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While I Was Out
I’m back from staycation, and big thanks to Steven James Snyder for going above and beyond the call with a wide-ranging series of guest posts last week, on top of his work at Techland. But party’s over now, kids—it’s back to your regularly scheduled half-assed mediocrity with yours truly. Here’s some of what I missed in TV:
* John …
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Jay On Top; Dave & Jimmy Still Sniping; Conan and Fox Getting Closer?
In your late-night update for the week:
* Two weeks into his restoration, Jay Leno is still leading David Letterman in the ratings, albeit with fewer viewers than when he left the Tonight Show.
* Dave, meanwhile, had fellow Leno-basher Jimmy Kimmel on his own show (above) to fondly reminisce about the Jaypocalypse.
* And the LA …
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Letterman Blackmailer Pleads Guilty; Plus, Jay Fades and Andy Talks
Word is just in that Robert Halderman, the TV producer whose extortion attempt led to David Letterman‘s confessing a longtime affair with a staffer, has pleaded guilty.
That there will be no drawn-out trial means Letterman potentially dodged a bullet, insofar as any further embarrassing details might have come out. I suppose this is …
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The Morning After: Anyone Still Traumatized by NBC?
Coming back from a vacation is a pain in the ass, isn’t it? It is for NBC, which, its second week back from its blissful Canadian Olympics idyll, is now back in the soggy late-winter reality of its usual shows and its normal ratings. (Indications are that Jay Leno’s high return ratings may also be coming back to reality, though as I …
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Jay Leno's Long Nightmare Is Over
Jay Leno’s transition from primetime failure to once-and-future host of the Tonight Show lasted about a minute and a half. The cold open of his new Tonight Show had him waking up in a sepia-toned sequence—with Betty White, because the Internet loves her—a la Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. (If you had “finds it was all a dream” in …
