+Uncategorized | February 4, 2011

The Night Shift: Howard Stern Revives the Late Night Wars, Guns For Leno

By Steven James Snyder

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 5, 2011

The Winner of the Leno-Letterman War Is… Nightline?

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+TV Ratings | November 9, 2010

Conan Night One Beats Networks, By Stealing Their Young

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | November 5, 2010

Letterman Defeats Leno! Stewart Defeats Both!

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | October 29, 2010

Weekend Reading: How Jay Beat Conan (and NBC)

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

+TV Networks | August 25, 2010

While We Weren't Looking: Watch Letterman Kick The Leno Feud Back Into High Gear

By Steven James Snyder

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | May 7, 2010

Dead Tree Alert: Why Team Coco Matters

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | April 30, 2010

Conan Gets It Off His Chest: "I Wouldn't Have Done" What Jay Did

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | April 5, 2010

While I Was Out

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | March 17, 2010

Jay On Top; Dave & Jimmy Still Sniping; Conan and Fox Getting Closer?

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | March 9, 2010

Letterman Blackmailer Pleads Guilty; Plus, Jay Fades and Andy Talks

By James Poniewozik

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 good [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | March 9, 2010

The Morning After: Anyone Still Traumatized by NBC?

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | March 2, 2010

Jay Leno's Long Nightmare Is Over

By James Poniewozik

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 [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | March 1, 2010

Jaypocalypse 2: The Jaysurrection–How Will He Do?

By James Poniewozik

Tonight, The Grover Cleveland of television, Jay Leno, commences his second nonconsecutive term as the host of The Tonight Show. (As I write this I’m about to head off on assignment for a couple days, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to blog about his first night back or not.) His first week, [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | February 22, 2010

Leno Announces Guests for First Weeks of Jaysurrection

By James Poniewozik

Next Monday, the corpse of The Jay Leno Show will get a jolt of electricity and shamble, moaning, back to life as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. NBC and Jay have nodded to that restoration–and, perhaps, to the generational skew of Jay’s audience–with promos set to The Beatles’ “Get Back.” And with whom will [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 29, 2010

About That Late-Night Truce

By James Poniewozik

Never mind:

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 28, 2010

Leno Takes His Case to the Oprah Nation

By James Poniewozik

If you are celebrity trying to get past a major public controversy, one time-tested option is to do a dramatic interview on late-night TV. If you are the once and future host of the Tonight Show, however, and the hosts of every other late-night show apparently think you are the biggest jerk in showbiz, that [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 27, 2010

Post-Jaypocalyptic Fiction: The History-Rewriting Begins

By James Poniewozik

Last week, with Conan O’Brien getting ready to leave the air, Team Coco dominated the Internet. This week, with Jay Leno preparing for an image-rehab visit to Oprah tomorrow, the race to be “the only one out there sticking up for Jay Leno” is starting to get crowded. Mark Evanier argues that Jay is not [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 25, 2010

Leno To Go to Oprah for Makeover

By James Poniewozik

I’ve said before and will say it again: whatever my opinion of Jay Leno as a talk show host, and whatever my opinion of NBC’s canning Conan O’Brien or Leno’s role in it, the idea that he is in danger of a big ratings backlash over it is a stretch. (His ratings could be lower [...]

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Tuned In+Uncategorized | January 22, 2010

My Own NBC Clip Show

By James Poniewozik

Because of the NBC Nightly News’ bizarre obsession with prioritizing actual important news, the segment I taped yesterday on that network’s late-night wars was shuffled off to the Web. For those of you still interested, you can see me holding forth for about five seconds, in front of the giant books in the fake library [...]