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UPDATE, 12:45 AM: Jay Leno may not have addressed rumors that he was leaving NBC‘s The Tonight Show to be replaced by Jimmy Fallon, but the Late Night host did — sort of (check out the video below). On tonight’s show, Fallon’s first monologue remarks were about changes at NBC late-night. “Before we get started, I have to talk about the rumors that came out today which say that I’ll be moving up to 11:30, or as my parents call it, ‘Umm, still too late.’ Actually the rumors are true: NBC is turning The Tonight Show into a diving competition. So exciting,” the host said.
Related: Speculation On NBC’s Jay Leno-Jimmy Fallon Transition Intensifies
PREVIOUS, WEDNESDAY PM: It was business as usual for Jay Leno in his opening monologue on The Tonight Show tonight — no mention of the swirling speculation that he is nearing an exit from the show but more swipes at his employer NBC, an ongoing tradition the past couple of weeks. Leno’s joke tonight was more subtle than usual, again taking on NBC’s ratings woes. “According to several reports, scientists say they are getting closer and closer to being able to do Jurassic Park-style cloning of extinct species. Imagine that? Things that were once thought to be extinct could be brought back from the dead. So there’s hope for NBC. It could turn around.” In one of his recent monologue jokes, Leno compared NBC executives to snakes and previously declared that NBC’s ratings are so bad, “The Biggest Loser isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.”
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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O.K.,I was totally freaked out there! For a moment,I thought the joke was going in another direction. *being able to do Jurassic Park style cloning of extinct species* I thought the punchline would be about cloning Nbc-I got so fuckin’ scared! Just imagine my fellow readers••• having TWO Nbcs•••THE HORROR!,THE HORROR!…
Ever heard don’t bite the hand that feeds you? At this point, Leno is running it in the ground. You don’t need your own network shows running down their own network. What IF NBC TODAY show did a segment everyday of NBC “is lowest in the ratings?” That would get old fast. Isn’t that basically what Leno is doing at this point?
Also, didn’t NBC start off the season as #1 in 18-49yrs demographic? That was definitely an improvement.
All the late night host make fun of their own network. NBC is now in 5th place!
Tonight is a comedy show and hosts have always had some fun with this. NBC looks pathetic being such babies. It really is telling that they are the first NBC admin to throw down about this and they are also the biggest failure of any NBC admin. Carson made these jokes all the time. Letterman made CBS jokes all the time when they were tanking. You didn’t see CBS crying about it. NBC = huge crybabies.
Actually Moonves objected to Letterman’s jokes and asked him to back off.
I’m not a Leno guy, but I’m old enough to remember Letterman making several jokes at GE’s expense. And I believe at CBS’s expense when their ratings were bad.
Greenblatt and the NBC suits better get used to Jay’s jokes he will continue raking NBC over the coals for the next 19 months that’s how long they are stuck with Jay. But Jay is smart he knows if he keeps making fun of them and needling them they might decide to pay him off the full amount long before October 2014.
Jay would have another show the very same day he leaves NBC he could go to FOX and get a 10 pm show and all the local FOX affiliates would push back their local news to 11 pm. Or Jay could go on at 11 after the 10 pm local news.
Or he can get a show on one of the cable networks. Jay is being smart the more he annoys Greenblatt the more he can get from them to leave early. Plus he’s having genuine fun with these jokes. Ironically people will start to watch Jay just to see him insult the network and his ratings will go up even more.
Actually, NBC could yank Leno from the air immediately, then force him to stay off tv until his contract expires. (that’s basically what they did to Conan, remember?)
No way does Fox want this damaged old timer with its young skewing viewers. Fox couldn’t get affiliates to agree to clear time for Conan when Conan was hot (believe it or not he was red hot in 2010)they’re gonna clear it for a 64 yr old dude who has 3-4 years left in him at most? Won’t happen. You sound too close to the situation. Are your initials JL?
I find “Burt Wonderstone” a movie that many say has literally not a single laugh, to be an appropriately ironic moniker for a Jay Leno supporter.
Jay’s not going to cable. For him it’s the network or nothing. Read Bill Carter’s Late Shift and The War For Late Night.
LOL…..you are so clueless. Back in Letterman’s prime in the 80s he used to rake NBC and GE over the coals on a nightly basis. Who could forget the night he attempted to deliver a fruit basket to GE’s headquarters?
I don’t understand what more Jay Leno could expect from an employer like NBC?
They pushed out Carson for him.
They F’d Letterman for him.
They F’d Conan for him.
They F’d 10 O’clock time slots for him.
The list goes on.
Very well said.
Thank you dude, you hit it home completely.
For over twenty years now, NBC has bent over backwards for him. He’s made them and himself a lot of money. But that man has convinced himself that The Tonight Show belongs to him, I’m sure if it. How else can anyone explain it?
Keep in mind that Leno is and was in 1992 a better choice than Letterman. Plus Leno had been permanent guest host for several years prior to 1992. It would not have made much sense to just dump Leno in favor of Letter (especially since Letterman was not a good choice). It was Carson pushing for Letterman, not NBC or anyone else.
In 2004 Conan and his agents start pressuring NBC. The bad choice of announcing a 5 year plan didn’t make sense. The bad planning was NBC’s fault, not Leno or Conan. How can you tell in 2004 what your ratings will be in 2009? Seriously.
It amazes me that people complain about Leno and give Conan a pass on pushing Leno out in the first place.
That’s complete B.S. JohninDC. Conan and his agents did not pressure NBC for the Tonight Show. Conan was getting offers from Fox and other networks to go elsewhere, and he was considering taking it, but would rather of had the Tonight Show. All he and his people asked for was to take over the Tonight Show when Jay was done with it. NBC agreed to that plan, and told Jay that they were not renewing his contract in 2009, therefore he had to step down. He was fired, he was let go, just like what’s happening now, again. It’s no different than with Caron and Letterman, where Letterman was guaranteed the Tonight Show once Johnny stepped down, but no thanks to Jay, that didn’t happen.
You got it all wrong. Carson’s career was over, Letterman eclipsed him, and he overstayed his welcome at NBC. Letterman was very well known as a self-involved asshole who did a poor job promoting his show to affiliates. He wasn’t a serious consideration. His bizarre behavior at CBS, which including featuring the intern he was screwing in comedy bits, as well as his regular political rants, has shown NBC was right. Letterman is a little bit nuts. Carson would have been extremely disappointed in Letterman’s performance.
Conan took YEARS to build a base on his old show, because he’s just not a great interviewer, or comedy performer. He picked great writers, was a nice boss, and played well with affiliates. That’s what kept his old show afloat when he was actually having problems getting a studio audience to show up for taping. People forgot how long it took to create his base of college pothead viewers, as well as the fact that the average viewer still hadn’t warmed up to him because he, as a performer, is mediocre. Always has been, always will be.
NBC wasn’t stupid. They gave him a shot, and hedged their bets by keeping Leno around the corner while Conan tanked. Imagine the disaster if Leno hadn’t been around to bail NBC out! Affiliates were very serious about dumping the Tonight Show from their roster as long as Conan was hosting. That would have been a real disaster for stockholders of the company. NBC was right to hold Leno in the waiting area, and did well by their stockholders to hedge their bets on Conan.
The 10 o’clock time slot was a non-issue. It was just a chess piece given away to protect the King, and it worked.
Bottom line: it all comes down to money. Conan couldn’t perform with the big boys. He needs training wheels to look good. Ain’t no training wheels on the tonight show. You must deliver. That’s why it pays the big bucks. Conan is back where he should be, with his training wheels back on. Leno is where he should be. Hauling ass down Mulhulland on his way to the Tonight Show.
I think Leno might have had enough of the Tonight Show, and God knows he’s got a nice pile of cash stashed away, as well as a first-rate webshow highlighting classic cars. If that’s the case, I SO hope Fallon gets the Tonight Show, and they move it to New York City. I love pyrotechnical train wrecks.
Well done
agree 100 percent. this train wreck is going to be great to watch. as is the sinking ship Today show.
And crybaby Jay refuses to take ANY blame for anything. Get him off NOW!
@burt *jay would have another show the very same day he leaves NBC he could go to FOX and get a 10 pm show* uh,yeah sure,because the last time jay had a 10 pm show•••it did so well?
Yes really for two reasons. FOX goes off the air at 10 every night they have no programming at 10 they give their affiliates that time for local news. Therefore putting Leno at 10 on FOX would be a big win for FOX. They don’t care about the numbers Jay would get at 10 and in fact when he was on NBC at 10 he was getting better ratings than NBC currently gets at 10 which is the ultimate irony. A more likely scenario would see Jay at 11 on FOX possibly for just a half hour which would be interesting to see happen.
Wow you’re really dense.
Fox does not want, need a 10pm or 11pm show. The costs of putting on a five-nights a week talk show these days are considerable. The production values required now are way ahead the old Merv Griffin setup.
Fox was doing well with its local news and Seinfeld reruns at 11pm. Paying however many millions to Conan to come aboard would have –potentially– been a minus in a plus’ signs clothing.
Nothing’s changed. While it wouldn’t be outrageously expensive to get Jay now (hey, guy is pretty much willing to work for relative peanuts) Fox does OK with the little TMZ/Dish Nation syndie deal. (I don’t know about other markets but in DC they air twice a day, making it a pretty nice bargain.)
Fox doesn’t care about a network talk show right now. They don’t have time. They’re still trying to find good, solid replacements for House and 24. The Sunday night toons and American Idol are aging rapidly. They’re paying through the yin-yang for the NFL.
They’ve got to find hits and find them in a cost-effective manner. IMHO that precludes taking a crap shoot on Jay
THIS…
Has anyone considered that this so-called spat between Leno and Greenblatt could actually a publicity stunt? NOBODY was talking about the Tonight Show until they started allegedly fighting, now it seems to be the ONLY topic of conversation.
NBC ran Whitney not once, but twice tonight. I’m not sure what the numbers are on that one, but it seems to have gotten quite a few at bats for a show that no one seems to want to see.
Jay’s just stating the obvious: NBC is terrible. At least the other networks seem to have some kind of brand. I’ve always been a Letterman guy myself, but I do understand why Leno does the things he does. NBC seems to have been trying to get rid of the guy…and yet have him stay, forever.
People talk about Jay like he’s this terrible snake, which he may very well be, but everyone else in this town is a stand-up guy? This place has more diseased pricks than a needle exchange.
I’m certainly not saying it’s ok to be a d*ckhead, but put yourself in Jay’s situation: If you were Number 1 and the only thing on NBC that anyone is watching…and they’d basically been trying to get rid of you for the past 10 years…and you’ve been number one for the past 20, wouldn’t you think the suits could take a jab here and there while you’re finally on your way out? Like the guy above said, this stuff is soft compared Dave’s GE jokes from awhile back. And that was when NBC was great!
I love Jimmy Fallon and I look forward to him getting his turn, and he will soon enough, but until then, why in the world should it be off limits for him to make a joke about how inept NBC is? 30 Rock did it constantly. They were a lot better at it. Sure, they’re paying Jay’s salary, but they’re paying him to be funny and now, he finally seems to be doing it. I mean, this network used to have Seinfeld, ER, The West Wing – Jesus – NBC changed television. Before HBO, there was NBC. How has the new regime decided to innovate? By running Whitney twice and giving Donald Trump, the biggest asshole on the planet air time.
Why doesn’t NBC leave Jay leno alone. Every time they mess with him they lose ratings. When he is ready to leave there will be a big hole to fill.
Sorry Burt, FOX affiliates are making more money with local reruns and news. They won’t give up the time slot for Jay. That’s the reason why Conan didn’t go to FOX, he couldn’t get the clearance.
Jay also thinks he’s too old to make a new start in “new media,” which includes cable.
Read Bill Carter’s “The War For Late Night,” it’s all in there.
Are you ready for it… “The Battle for The Tonight Show, Part III”
When is Leno going to take the hint already. He is not the creator or owner of The Tonight Show, NBC is. He is an employee. If NBC wants him gone, he should respect their decision and leave. Johnny Carson respected it. Letterman respected it and left to go somewhere else. Conan did the same as well.
In Bill Carter’s second book about the subject, “The War for Late Night,” Conan O’Brien makes a comment asking NBC executives… “What does Jay Leno have on this network so bad that they can’t seem to get rid of him?” I too am starting to wonder the same thing. Is Jay that completely obsessed with being the host of “The Tonight Show,” that going somewhere else to do another show is just completely out of the question? It’s not as if he is somehow preserving the legacy that is the Tonight Show. He had to qualms about pushing it up a half and hour before Conan said no to that deal back in 2010. He doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about Steve Allen, Jack Parr or Johnny Carson’s legacy either.
I can see that this time around, Jay isn’t going to go quietly into the night like he almost did in 2009. Because he knows, that’s it… no other network will have him. With Arsenio coming back into syndication in the fall, there’s simply no room for another late night talk show anymore. It’s over for him, and he’s going to make a big stink about it till his dying day.
Jay did better at 10p than he gets credit for and his numbers were higher than most of the current nbc lineup.
Jay will be fine once he’s been moved of The Tonight Show. This time, for good.
Don’t ever count out Jay Leno. He’s a cat with nine lives. Leno and Fox have been talking for years; Fox wants a piece of the late night pie. They’ll do whatever is necessary, including changing the time of their late night news to set Leno up to compete with that lame ass Jimmy Kimmel. As for NBC, it will continue its downward spiral. Jimmy Fallon isn’t the answer.
Ashley, I’ll bet you a million dollars that Fox will do no such thing with their local news. Jay is going to be 65 when he’s free from his NBC contract. Fox, nor any other network, wants to start a new show with a 65 year old damaged goods host.
Complete bullshit Ashley. Fox wanted a piece of the late night pie, 8-10 years ago. But not now. That’s why Conan never went over to Fox, and landed TBS. Fox has no interest in playing in the Late Night wars, at least for now they don’t.
I was about to say the exact same thing!
NBC’s actions are incredibly unprofessional. I can’t believe those morons didn’t learn a thing from Johnny’s departure. They seem to be hell bent on destroying their two most precious assets from “Today” to “Tonight.”
Jay Leno has brilliantly kept The Tonight Show Number ONE for years and years. Why is NBC/Comcast attempting to try to fix something that ain’t broke? I fully support Jay Leno and understand the way he is right now.
NBC is moving the show to New York and they can say goodbye to middle America and some Pacific Coasters ratings and viewership too. The Tonight Show from NYC will be seen as a East Coast Regional Show ONLY with limited viewership and ratings. Johnny Carson brining the show to LA meant NUMBER ONE ratings for years and years. Again, why fix something that ain’t broke. Jay Leno has proven himself to keepping the show Number ONE and helping to bring dignity and class to a low rated network.
I DVR Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night and feel that he still needs a few more years of experience and seasoning BEFORE he is ready for The Tonight Show. Some viewers are already talking about some of his sketches and bits will have to go in order to be Tonight Show worthy. Conan O’Brien worked tirelessly for years and years in Late Night prior to doing the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon needs a little more time.
Conan should see a positive uptick to his ratings with this change on NBC and good for him. He can wait it out to be able to say “I told you so” to the suits at NBC/Comcast.
and this is great news for Arsenio Hall since he is prepping for his talk show premiere too. He knows how to do a successful talk show and the timing could not come at a better time than right now with this mess with NBC and Jay and Jimmy. So Arsenio Hall is probably in the best shape for the Fall shows coming up.
Let me try out for the Tonight Show! I can do better than all of them! Seriously…
When Leno beat out Letterman for the TONIGHT SHOW gig, Carson famously told Dave he should leave NBC, simply because you shouldn’t work for people who treat you like that.
Maybe it’s time for JAY to take Johnny’s advice.
NBC looks tentative, scared, and don’t know what they’re doing. They act out as tentative, scared, and don’t know what they’re doing rattling viewers looking for regular television habits that they can enjoy and rely on. Impacts scheduling, development, planning, programming choices including over-relying on sports and the Olympics. With all due respect Brian Roberts/Kabletown are still stuck with the Zucker template. They should consider an all-sports channel like ESPN and have some faith in the programming but also the viewers’ interest in seeking out, finding that good programming on their own, (the hunt I think these days is part of the appeal in reference to word-of-mouth,) and sticking with it. Because that is how it works these days in my opinion. Television cultural systemic phenomena since the network competition/reality programming era, which was co-opted from cable, just has not been happening on network. It seems to me that that’s the underlying goal for all the networks.
Brilliant assessment of Leno, a power player chess guy pretending he’s not a power player chess guy who will go on to survive if not thrive.
And here’s an idea : why not give Letterman “The Tonight Show” after he “retires?” Certainly would draw a crowd.
“,,,Leno, a power player chess guy pretending he’s not a power player chess guy who will go on to survive if not thrive.”
The funny part is, Leno’s been at this game, and played it better, than the youngsters now trying to defeat him.
Here’s the lesson waiting for Greenblatt:
You eff with Leno, try to play BS games, and he will pound you into a sticky paste. In years to come, every time you think or hear the name “NBC,” you will start weeping in between jags of projectile vomiting. You are NOT his peer in business, in the entertainment field, in ANYthing!
BOW DOWN, GIRL!!
NBC needs to pay people to watch their network. Thats high concept.
The Tonight Show with…..
My god, some of the Leno supporters here seem so passionate and emotional, it’s almost as if they’re weighing in on their own livelihoods. It’s only a television show featuring a guy who’s made a fortune, but it’s as if it’s their own jobs that are at stake…plants!!!
Why the hell should or would anyone give Jay Leno a new show? He’s proved that without The Tonight Show brand he can’t get viewers (See 10 pm show), he’s in his mid sixties an age when even Johnny Carson retired, Jay’s damaged goods reputationally, and, he’s got a well deserved image for publicly slamming his bosses. IN this age where late nite hosts are made by virtue of viral videos Jay is a has been.
In response to his 10PM slot not bringing in viewers he is seen in different time zones. 10 for some is 9 for me and tuned in to other shows at that time. I missed his show seeing infrequently only because of following episodes to shpws already committed to. Now see local news at 10 and Jay following.
sick and tired of the drama surrounding Leno and this show – it’s always about him and he always creates drama about it. Letterman, Conan and now Fallon. just retire already!
All this stuff will be good for Leno. A pissed off edgy Leno is much better than the usual Jay. Can’t stand Fallon, just seems like a “look at me, aren’t I so cool cause I talk about apps & IPhones”. Poor Conan, gone and forgotten in all of this talk. And then there is the coming return of Arsenio to late night.
I am the ancient age of 38 years old. Why is someone who is 62 considered too senile and decrepit for late night entertainment?
For all you Leno haters (Conan fans), if you think Leno is just going to walk away with his tail between his legs and disappear from late night, think again. The only reason the Conan debacle ever happened is because Jay tried to be a gentleman and make it a smooth transition for O’Brien. Conan failed miserably, as most people knew he would, and NBC was left with egg on their face.
Now the same network that delayed the broadcast of the Olympics, is supposedly firing the King of Late Night. They may well be, but Leno’s not done. They’re are still many more jokes and headlines where he’s concerned. Wherever he lands, his fans will follow. Kimmel and Fallon aren’t funny. My 15 year-old could tell you that.