The Tonight Show hits 15-month peak in viewership a week before Leno exits
The Tonight Show
Late-Night Highlight: Jay Leno Serenaded by Seth MacFarlane and Bill Maher
“You crushed him in the ratings and you’ll take that to your grave”
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Does Anybody Believe Jay Leno Is Just Fine With Leaving the Tonight Show?
In a 60 Minutes interview, Jay has only nice things to say about Jimmy Fallon. But don’t get the wrong impression.
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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 …
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Jaypocalypse 2: The Jaysurrection–How Will He Do?
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, as I’ve noted, has no blockbuster guest list, …
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Leno Announces Guests for First Weeks of Jaysurrection
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 Jay get back? His first …
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Free Bird: Conan Flies Coop, Seeks New Perch
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Conan O’Brien intoned at the beginning of his final Tonight Show, “we have exactly one hour to steal every single item in this studio.”
Well, how about the audience? Can you fit them under your jacket? In his final show, O’Brien left with a mix of gratitude, rebellious humor and the implicit promise to be back, …
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Jay Leno, Politician
Because it’s been making the rounds, here’s an unusual Funny or Die clip. It’s not “funny because it’s true,” it’s just, well, true. It’s simply a verbatim Jay Leno talk, from 2004, on how he didn’t want an ugly fight over the Tonight Show, would graciously hand over the desk to Conan in 2009, and did not want to try keeping the show …
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Ouch! Conan Slaps Down NBC, Will Quit if Tonight Moves to 12:05
NBC wanted a decision quick, and it got one: Conan O’Brien says he will quit [Update: or to be precise, all but says it] the Tonight Show if NBC moves it to 12:05 to shoehorn in Jay Leno at 11:35. This is not Conan “quitting” the Tonight Show exactly, but it is demanding NBC choose him or Leno.
[Update: NBC says that, yes, there will be …
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Jaypocalypse Now: What Is NBC Thinking?
If the reports are true—and it increasingly looks like it—that NBC is planning to send back Jay Leno to 11:30, it raises a lot of questions: Will Conan stay? What does NBC program in primetime? What about Carson Daly? For this post, I’ll stick to one: Why now?
What’s most surprising about the move—again if reports hold true—is …
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…Or Will NBC Send Conan Walking?
Whoa—things are getting interesting at NBC, or at least in the NBC rumor department. TMZ is now reporting that the network is moving Jay Leno back to 11:30 after Feb. 1. The open question, it says: will Jay take the Tonight Show back, or will he get a half hour, followed by Conan O’Brien? (Or, will Conan be screwed, or will Conan be …