Jon Cryer: I Am a Troll

Kristin Boehm and Stephen M. Silverman
Friday March 11, 2011
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20472877,00.html

The other "man" has been heard from.

Jon Cryer, labeled "a troll" by his former Two and a Half Men costar Charlie Sheen – who later half-apologized – all because Cryer didn't rush to Sheen's defense in the latter's war against their producers, is silent no more. Nor has he lost his sense of humor.

"This is very painful for me, not the least of which … I'm sorry, I can't believe I'm saying this … The fact is, I am a troll," Cryer, 45, announced on TBS's Conan on Thursday. (After host Conan O'Brien introduced Cryer, and the curtains parted and he walked out, the audience didn't seem to believe he was there.)

"It's not something I like to talk about. My parents don't even know I'm a troll," said Cryer. "Of course, I guess they do now."

As syrupy music played in the background, Cryer continued, "The truth is, there's not a lot of tolerance for people like me, especially in Hollywood. To avoid ignorance and bullying, I've had to hide the fact that I'm a troll. … You have no idea how much time and money I've spent on electrolysis and hair dye and reconstructive surgery."

He shot down the misconception that trolls drink the morning dew from buttercups and bake cookies in trees. "That's elves, okay? Let's get this straight, people," he declared. "For the last time, we're the little guys who dangle from little girls' backpacks and sit on the ends of pencils, dammit."

Cryer went on to out other trolls in Hollywood (depicted in Photoshopped photos in their full, Troll-doll glory): Paul Giamatti, Helen Mirren and O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter.

Now happy "to be free" and no longer "living under the bridge," Cryer assured younger tolls, "It gets better. Not gay better, but sorta better."

Two and a Half Men Is Better Than None

Alec Baldwin
March 11, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alec-baldwin/alec-baldwin-charlie-sheen_b_834847.html

I read in the paper today that Conan O'Brien's documentary is out this weekend. The one that chronicles the purportedly healing journey/concert tour he went on after his messy divorce from NBC. I also read that Charlie Sheen is suing Warner Brothers for $100 million and the two of these things reminded me of one of the more character-building experiences that I had in my career, many years ago.

People often ask me why I never continued in the role of Jack Ryan in the movies based on Tom Clancy's great novels. Usually, I have given a half truth as an answer, something about scheduling conflicts and so forth. But the truth is the studio cut my throat. Or, more specifically, an executive at the studio named David Kirkpatrick who was, as studio executives are on their way both up and down the ladder, eager to prove he had that special quality that studio executives are eager to display. That quality is an utter lack of sentimentality while transacting deals around a business built on sentimentality.

The run of events in 1991 went like this. John McTiernan, who directed The Hunt For Red October, called me repeatedly over a period of a few days and that got my attention because John was not someone who did that. I knew it must be something important. I had been traveling to Syracuse to see my mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I had lost my dad in 1983 to lung cancer when he was fifty-five and the idea of being an orphan, technically speaking, at the age of 33 weighed heavily on me. It took a few rounds before John and I connected.

On the phone, John told me that during the period of the previous few months, he had been negotiating to do a film with a very famous movie star who had dropped out of his film days before so that he could go star in the sequels to The Hunt For Red October. John further told me that Paramount owed the actor a large sum of money for a greenlit film that fell apart prior to this, and pushing me aside would help to alleviate that debt and put someone with much greater strength at the box office than mine in the role. I sat there mildly stunned because not only was I in an active negotiation with Paramount, but for them to negotiate simultaneously with another actor was against the law. My mother was about to have a double mastectomy. I asked John if he was sure about all of this and he said yes, he had talked with the famous actor directly who confirmed the story. All of this served to explain why the studio would not close my deal over what I thought were some relatively arbitrary issues surrounding the dates of production.

I got a call from Mace Neufeld, the film's producer who I had worked with on Hunt. The call resembled that final scene in Sorry, Wrong Number (great film), where Burt Lancaster exhorts Barbara Stanwyck to get out of bed and scream for help lest she be killed by emissaries of Lancaster himself. Neufeld told me to sign whatever deal they were offering and "the rest would take care of itself."

I flew from Syracuse to Long Island to attend to some business. I drove to a friend's home where I was to have dinner and was informed by my assistant that I should call David Kirkpatrick right away. Kirkpatrick was a beady-eyed, untalented tool who had seemed like he was up to something throughout my sequel negotiation. Now, he became vividly clear. I had to decide if I would agree to an open-ended clause relating to dates for the first sequel and thus completely give up the chance to do one of the greatest dramas in the American theatre, or he would rescind my offer. They had the other guy all lined up, and they were looking for a way to gut me. I thought he wasn't serious at first. Then, when I realized he was, I chose A Streetcar Named Desire.

A lot changed in my life with that decision. And I do not regret it. The movie and television business are filled with some of the most wonderful and talented people you could ever know. It is also the rock under which you find the biggest, lyingest, thievingest scumbags on Earth. (They tend to be the ones that are not in any craft or union related to actually making a movie.) However, one of the great oddities in show business is how someone you respect can have a good experience with someone you loathe. Conan had a tough time reconciling Jeff Zucker's decisions. Maybe I would have too. Meanwhile, Jeff has only been supportive of me during my recent years at NBC. Go figure.

Conan has moved on and his great talent is undiminished by his difficult experiences. I had wanted to say to him back then what I will now offer to Charlie. You can't win. Really. You can't. When executives at studios and networks move up to the highest ranks, they are given a book. The book is called How to Handle Actors. And one principle held dear in that book is that no actor is greater than the show itself when the show is a hit. And, in that regard, they are often right. Add to that the fact that the actor who is torturing their diseased egos is a drug-addled, porn star-squiring, near-Joycean Internet ranter, and they really want you to go.

Granted, it didn't get real until you insulted them. And your suit may have real grounds.

But you know what you should do? Take a nap. Get a shower. Call Chuck. Go on Letterman and make an apology. Write a huge check to the B'Nai Brith. And then beg for your job back. Your fans demand it. You will never win because when you are as big a douchebag as some of these guys are, they have no choice but to snuff you. (Do you secretly want to get snuffed? So you can go back and make movies?)

Sober up, Charlie. And get back on TV, if it's not too late. This is America. You want to really piss off Chuck and Warner Brothers and CBS? Beg for America's forgiveness. They will give it to you. And then go back. You are a great television star. And you've got the gig. As I learned from closely observing Tony Bennett so I could impersonate him on SNL, this is supposed to be fun.

P.S.... buy Cryer a really nice car.

Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack

Jimmy Fallon may be a pretty dubious talent as an actor (he co-starred in Taxi, one of the worst buddy cop films ever made, and was decidedly less manly than Queen Latifah in it) and a lot of people dismissed him as a talk show host after replacing Conan O'Brien, but he is good at one thing: being the inspiration to an ice cream flavor. Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack is a tribute to his show, and after tasting this tasty combination of vanilla bean ice cream, salty caramel swirl and fudge covered potato chips, it's probably even better than Stephen Colbert's American Dream. (Although Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler is probably the best Ben & Jerry's celebrity flavor.) Just as impressive, Fallon's ice cream contains Fair Trade vanilla and cocoa, and Fallon's proceeds for the ice cream will go to Fair Trade Universities to promote the use of Fair Trade products on US campuses. So maybe Fallon deserves another look as a late night host. Or maybe not...

Jimmy Fallon Starts Ice Cream Rivalry With Colbert
Amber James
Mar 3rd 2011
http://www.popeater.com/2011/03/03/jimmy-fallon-ice-cream-ben-and-jerrys

Late Night Wars, Exposed

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/28/the-late-night-war-of-2010-gets-its-first-official-history

Late Night Wars, Exposed: New Book Reveals Why Conan Lost, How NBC Fawned Over Leno
Nate Jones
10-28-10

Now all it needs is a Ken Burns documentary!

Vanity Fair today just released an exclusive except from Bill Carter's upcoming book The War For Late Night. There are no landmark surprises — Jay Leno comes off as affably opportunistic, Conan O'Brien as a tragic self-dramatist with a little bit of a martyrdom complex — but it's a worthwhile look at the procedural negotiations that led to last winter's messy divorce. The five best revelations:

1. The man with the best contract won

An oversight by Conan's lawyers in their negotiations with NBC was the hidden germ of the scheduling conflict. As Keller tells it, when David Letterman was negotiating his move to CBS, he made the network give him a contractual guarantee that his show would air immediately after CBS' late local news. Jay Leno's Tonight Show deal had similar language. During a dinner with Conan O'Brien's producer and manager in December 2009, Letterman's producer Robert Morton happened to mention the clause:

“You guys got that for Conan, too, I'm sure,” Morty said.

Crucially, they had not, leading to NBC's infamous attempt to shift Conan's Tonight Show back to 12:05 to make room for Jay Leno at 11:35.

2. Leno for a second there thought he was fired

Leno knew his 10 p.m. show was underperforming and that NBC affiliates were threatening to revolt over the issue. When Jeff Gaspin, head of NBC's entertainment division, visited Leno's studio, it was clear there was a problem. Gaspin told Leno the network was aborting the failed Jay-Leno-in-prime-time experiment, news that Jay met with a glum "OK." Then Gaspin told him the good part: Jay would be going back to 11:35.

Jay's relief, Gaspin noticed, was instantaneous. His face lifted and brightened. “Yeah, let's do it!” he said, the pitch of his voice almost as high as his performance level.

Leno's people were initially suspicious of NBC, especially after the network explained its full scheduling plan. Jay doubted Conan would go along with it; Gaspin told him they were 75% sure Conan would. After being assured that nothing would change with the production of a half-as-long Jay Leno Show, that no one on the crew would get fired, Jay assented to NBC's plan.

(This section, incidentally, reflects quite well on Jay Leno. He's always painted himself as essentially passive in the whole story, and Carter's account appears to verify this. Jay is much more acted-upon than active.)

3. Conan first launched his zingers at NBC in private...

Conan spent much of December with premonitions of having The Tonight Show taken from him. When he was informed of the proposed schedule, he initially remained calm, even as he chafed as NBC executives explained how painful the decision had been for them, how it had been a "Sophie's choice." Finally, he laid his case for keeping his show in the same time slot to the executives. When they apologized, saying that they felt they were letting both Jay and Conan down, the redhead let it out:

"What does Jay have on you?” Conan asked, his voice still low, his tone still even. “What does this guy have on you people? What the hell is it about Jay?”

4. ...But the jokes in public were the ones that finally convinced NBC that Conan wouldn't go along

Even after Conan's "People of Earth" statement, NBC quietly hoped he would reconsider his options and decide to accept the network's plan. That changed during Conan's monologue on January 13, when the host joked, "I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life. Unless Jay Leno wants to do it too."

The joke displeased Jay (who, still seeing the move as a favor to Conan, wondered why he would have to cut his show in half for someone who mocked him in public) and NBC executives. It was the beginning of the end:

Gaspin asked himself: How could these guys work back-to-back if Conan hates Jay? There was no longer any question about resolving this in a fashion that might keep Conan at NBC, as far as Gaspin was concerned. It had come down to how the matter would be settled, and Conan would go on his way.

5. Leno's people thought Conan handled the situation with regrettable naïveté

Leno and his team could not understand the self-righteousness that led Conan to walk away from The Tonight Show. To them, Conan was ignoring the fact that, by failing to bring in ratings, he had failed

When Jay was a kid he'd dreamed of hosting The Tonight Show, too. But when he was an adult it became his employment ... one that required bringing in winning ratings. On Jay's side of the late-night divide, pretending that ratings didn't matter so much qualified as a form of arrogance, of a kind to which he and [his people] could just not subscribe because, as they saw it, they were too busy doing shows.

It's a great account of the fiercest pop-culture war of our time, one that you really should take time out to delve into sometime today. Go to Vanity Fair to read the whole thing.

Quote of the Week: Conan O'Brien

"In three months I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I'm headed back to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly."

Jay Leno triumphs over what's cool

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-leno-demographic23-2010jan23,0,158827.story

Jay Leno triumphs over what's cool
NBC's logic-defying decision to replace him with Conan O'Brien was based on misguided demographics.
January 23, 2010
Neal Gabler
January 23, 2010

Every high school in America has its cool kids, the smart, snarky ones who sit in the prow of culture, and its dorks, the plodding if amiable ones who sit in the middle of the boat and try not to make waves. One needs to be reminded of this in assessing what was really at stake in the headline-making Leno-O'Brien war that ended Thursday with an agreement to pay $45 million to O'Brien and his staff.

Celebrities and critics are still taking sides -- the younger, hipper ones decrying how shabbily NBC had treated poor Conan; the older, statelier ones backing Leno -- giving us a clear demonstration of just how much this was a function not so much of money or ratings but of demographics. O'Brien and Leno stood across a cultural and generational divide: young vs. old, cool vs. uncool.

The origins of this battle actually go back to 2004 when NBC decided to boot Leno to the curb five years down the road and replace him with Conan O'Brien, 13 years Leno's junior, after Leno had been helming "The Tonight Show" for 17 years. Aside from Leno, no one seemed particularly startled by this succession, though it turned television logic on its head. Leno was drawing huge ratings, regularly beating the pants off of his CBS competition, David Letterman. By the time he left, he was attracting 5 million viewers a night, and "The Tonight Show" was one of NBC's most profitable franchises. And though Leno's ratings, like all ratings on broadcast television, had declined in his last year, he was still unassailable.

Which was precisely what NBC had expected when Leno took over "The Tonight Show" in 1992 after being tapped over Letterman. Everyone agreed then that Letterman was edgier than Leno, more iconoclastic, and, to a lot of people, funnier. Letterman wore the self-deprecating dork's mantle, but it was a ruse. He was the cool, droll kid who had reinvented late-night television, and NBC decided he might not be the best fit for the square "Tonight Show," where middle-American Johnny Carson had held forth for 30 years.

As it turned out, NBC was right. Leno had been an edgy -- and very funny -- comedian once, but he had gradually drifted to the center where the larger audience was. If that meant blunting his comedy, Leno was willing. By the time he took over "Tonight," Leno's basic commodity was not his humor, which had become toothless, but his likability. He was your grandmother's comedian -- the comedian of the Silent Majority.

Meanwhile, Conan O'Brien was handed Letterman's vacated spot after Leno. O'Brien had never been before the camera. He was a writer. But he was a great idea for a late-night show host: Harvard-educated, then trained at the writers' tables on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons." It didn't get any cooler than that. Even if he was as jittery as a nervous Chihuahua and milked his handful of jokes for everything they were worth by shameless mugging, he was young and different -- a hipster.

More important, he was the beneficiary of a sea change in television. Over the 16 years from O'Brien's first appearance on late night to his taking over "The Tonight Show," Leno didn't change his nice guy persona and O'Brien didn't get any more comfortable on stage. They remained pretty much the same. It was the culture that changed around them. And that's where demographics came in.

Few people alive today remember that television was once measured, reasonably, by how many people actually watched a particular program. You either had the most viewers or you didn't, and advertisers paid accordingly. The problem with this system was that year in and year out, actually 20 out of 21 years from 1955 through 1976, CBS got the highest ratings. ABC and NBC couldn't make a dent. So ABC, typically mired in third place, devised another strategy. It got the brilliant idea of finding a slice of the audience in which it could compete with CBS -- never mind that the choice was arbitrary. That's how ratings suddenly got divided into demographic segments -- which was like a football team saying that while it lost the game, it outscored its opponent in the third quarter and that ought to count for something. ABC boasted that it got younger viewers than CBS.

All of this is relevant to Leno and O'Brien because of the way ABC and NBC justified this magical and nonsensical confabulation. Younger viewers, they said, were better viewers. They were more susceptible to advertising blandishments. They were more likely to decide on a product and maintain loyalty to it for life. And they were harder to reach and therefore more desirable. Whatever the excuse, the result was that older viewers -- and old meant over 50 -- were suddenly worthless in television terms. Losing Conan O'Brien, should O'Brien have gotten restless and decided to leave NBC when his contract was up, wouldn't have been much of a loss on its face. Even if he had gone to Fox or syndication, there was no way he could have competed against Letterman, much less Leno. He would have been the Irish Arsenio.

But Conan was young and hip; and, astonishingly, he had over the years gotten increasingly favorable reviews and growing cachet, especially as Leno was denigrated by the press for having gone mainstream. O'Brien became a critical darling. Reversing the logic that had prompted it to reject Letterman, NBC apparently concluded that O'Brien was the pompadour of the future. If it lost him, it would lose his cool.

Leno, for all his ratings prowess, was just too square for NBC in the age of the almighty 18-to-34 demographic that everyone now lusted after. In a way, NBC, like an aging suitor, was addled by youth.

There was just one complication. Leno, unlike O'Brien, actually could take his Silent Majority elsewhere, uncool or not. When NBC at the eleventh hour offered Leno the 10 o'clock slot, it wasn't because it expected him to reap great ratings against dramatic shows or even because it wanted cheaper programming. It was a defensive maneuver to keep him from defecting to another network and demolishing O'Brien on "The Tonight Show," its cash cow. NBC didn't really want him, but it didn't want to have to compete against him either.

What NBC didn't seem to have reckoned was just how much its desire to play with the cool kids would cost them -- not in terms of ratings at 10 where it knew Leno would be swamped, but in the weak lead-ins to the local news that sparked an affiliate revolt and in sagging ratings for "The Tonight Show" itself. O'Brien's supporters may think he is the neatest kid in class and that he is therefore entitled to occupy the host's chair, but he is pulling half the ratings Leno got and recently is even down from Leno in the coveted demo. And O'Brien isn't doing any better than Letterman.

In his defense, O'Brien claimed he needed time to build his audience, though detractors could parry that he had 17 years to build an audience. Put less charitably, O'Brien may have been modish, but he wasn't funny.

But this was never about funny -- if it was, neither O'Brien nor Leno would have inherited "The Tonight Show." This was about image. In the great high school of life, NBC opted to follow the siren call of cool. And now, for what may be the first time since 18 to 49 became the American grail, the system has blown up, so much so that NBC was willing to pay O'Brien tens of millions of dollars just to get rid of him and restore Leno to "Tonight."

And that is the real significance of the Leno/O'Brien smackdown. Say what you will about Leno, his return is a cultural milestone.

As O'Brien faded into the evening last night with bundles of cash and newfound martyrdom, the baby boomers have finally gotten some small measure of revenge, however old and dorky and undesirable they may be.

Conan O'Brien ends final NBC's 'Tonight Show'

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/01/24/2010-01-24_conan_obrien_ends_final_tonight_show_with_7_million_viewers_for_nbc__now_he_can_.html

Conan O'Brien ends final NBC's 'Tonight Show' with over 7 million viewers - now he can be edgy again
Richard Huff
Sunday, January 24th 2010

In the last two weeks we've seen Conan O'Brien become himself again.

We saw him stand up to his bosses and win - sort of.

We also saw the guy be funny in ways he wasn't for most of the seven months he hosted "The Tonight Show."

Now that he's free from NBC, he's got to use that same intestinal fortitude - and comic genius - to create his next opportunity.

Armed with a load of cash, and the benefit of time, O'Brien needs to get back to what made him desirable in the first place - edgy comedy targeted at a younger audience.

Not the kind of stuff he did for most of his seven-month run on "Tonight," but what he did for nearly 17 years on NBC's "Late Night."

O'Brien was different at 11:35 p.m. than he was an hour later, and that's a downside to broadcast TV.

"That's the problem you always face," says analyst Bill Carroll of the Katz Media Group. "We want you for who you are and now we make you who we want you to be."

Reaching a mass audience means softening the edges, a bit, which O'Brien did.

"Every comedian dreams of hosting the 'Tonight Show' and, for seven months, I got to," O'Brien said near the end of his last show Friday night. "I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second."

Viewers, however, may argue that what they saw was somehow different, at least up until the end, when all bets were off - and O'Brien's ratings soared.

And his final show didn't disappoint. It attracted more than 7 million viewers, according to preliminary numbers released by Nielsen, clobbering David Letterman's 2.8 million viewers and Jimmy Kimmel's 1.4 million.

Part of O'Brien's exit talks with NBC centered on who gets the "intellectual property" rights to stuff he and his team created in his run there. One most often mentioned was the Masturbating Bear, a guy in a bear costume who, well, enough said.

The bear was a huge hit with O'Brien's "Late Night" crowd, yet, wasn't used on "Tonight" for the first time until Wednesday, when, frankly, it was too late.

The point is that while he's losing the bear in the $45 million divorce with NBC, O'Brien has a chance to get something bigger back - his sense of humor.

"The networks never really counter-program in late-night," Brad Adgate, a senior vice president at Horizon Media said of O'Brien's options now that he left NBC. "I would offer his 'Late Show' [the next time]. To do something that's exactly what Leno and Letterman are offering, I don't know if that's what viewers want."

Fox officials have said they're interested in O'Brien. And Fox, no doubt, can provide marketing muscle and reach. Anyone doubting that should look at the way Fox promotes "American Idol" to the point that you half-expect Simon Cowell to anchor the news alongside Ernie Anastos.

Going the broadcast route might provide the most money, and audience reach, but that could be a mistake.

O'Brien would be better off going to a cable network where he could push the boundaries of content and further unleash his creative spirit in ways broadcast networks could never provide.

O'Brien appropriately ended his last "Tonight Show" with an all-star rendition of "Freebird," a song that includes the line, "Cause I'm as free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change."

He had changed on "Tonight." And, in many ways, though he was leaving, in the end it was good to see an old friend emerge in O'Brien - the same one we'd like to see back in the fall.

rhuff@nydailynews.com

Conan O'Brien rebuffs Leno move

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0112/Conan-O-Brien-rebuffs-Leno-move-throws-NBC-late-night-into-chaos

Conan O'Brien rebuffs Leno move, throws NBC late night into chaos
'Tonight Show' host Conan O'Brien said Tuesday he would not move his show back 30 minutes to accommodate 'The Jay Leno Show' at 11:35 p.m., putting NBC on the spot.
By Gloria Goodale Staff writer, Daniel B. Wood Staff writer
January 12, 2010
Los Angeles

Late-night talk-show host Conan O’Brien essentially told NBC Tuesday: Heck no, I won’t go.

Mr. O'Brien's refusal to move his "Tonight Show" to 12:05 p.m. to accommodate Jay Leno's faltering show in the 11:35 p.m. slot is just the latest salvo in what is turning out to be a titanic struggle for NBC.

It is about what to do about plummeting ratings for “The Jay Leno Show” at 10 p.m. It is a bid to help NBC’s many affiliates, whose 11 p.m. newscasts have been losing advertising dollars because of Mr. Leno's dreadful ratings. And, increasingly, it seems to be about the future of late-night television itself.

When 'The Tonight Show' isn't 'The Tonight Show'

In a 552-word statement that opens, “People of Earth,” O’Brien wrote:

“For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting."

Many industry analysts have suggested that time slot is no longer important in the DVR era, but O'Brien said moving “The Tonight Show” to the next day is tantamount to redefining the entire late-night real estate.

Speculation has swirled that Fox has been wooing O’Brien, but executives at Fox denied any such overtures on Monday, and O’Brien himself indicated that he has no plans in the works. NBC declined to comment on O’Brien’s statement or any ongoing negotiations.

Conan O'Brien O'Saurus?

While NBC and its roster of late-night hosts squirm, media analysts are watching the situation to see what impact it might have on television.

To some, the answer is: not much. The viewing preferences of young Americans have already shifted, leaving both Leno and O'Brien behind, says Arthur Gallego, an image and branding consultant at Gallego & Co. Brand Communications.

“Late night talk shows cater to a very fragmented audience, with the younger viewers tuning in later, or opting for shows like 'The Daily Show,' or 'The Colbert Report,' " says Mr. Gallego. “Neither Leno nor O'Brien can match the relevance or wit of either of those programs, and they know it."

"That's what makes this shake-up so high profile," he says. "Leno and Conan were already pop culture dinosaurs, and this only reinforced that.”

Paul Levinson, author of “New New Media," adds: “Conan O’Brien may be taking a noble stand but it’s on a sinking ship."

Drama from a lack of dramas

Yet other commentators suggest that NBCs late-night crisis has emerged precisely because many viewers still do have traditional expectations about their TV schedules, even in the DVR era. Viewers are “still creatures of habit” and expect more substantial content than Leno delivered at 10 o’clock, says DePauw University’s Jeff McCall.

“They like watching late night comedians late at night and not earlier in the evening when they have been programmed for 60 years to see scripted dramas," says Professor McCall. "NBC should have known that breaking this sort of mold was highly risky."

Moreover, neither O’Brien nor Leno performed up to snuff in their new slots for the past six months, says Robert Thompson, a media expert at Syracuse University. But he suggests that the troubles of late-night talk-show hosts are not insignificant.

“These comedians are our cultural commentators, and so they matter in the same way that news anchors do,” says Thompson, adding: “they set a tone for our civic dialogue.”

Jay Leno time shuffle worst programming blunder

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/01/09/2010-01-09_the_making_of_nbc_tonight_horror_show.html

NBC's Jay Leno time shuffle will be worst programming blunder in TV history
David Hinckley
Saturday, January 9th 2010
If NBC moves Jay Leno's 10 p.m. show to 11:35, it could be the network's biggest mistake in TV programming history.

If NBC's Jay Leno Shuffle isn't the worst programming blunder in TV history, it might be the most embarrassing.

Assuming NBC does indeed end Leno's 10 p.m. show and return him to 11:35, that's a jumbo-size, extra-cream pie square in the face of a network that over the last few years hasn't gotten much of anything right.

Moreover, while NBC has had some bad luck in that stretch, this pie is 100% self-delivered.

For months last year, NBC confidently declared that moving Leno to 10, and wiping out all scripted drama in that prime-time hour, was not foolhardy but visionary.

It would give NBC cheaper, proven alternative prime-time programming, network executives said. Bumping Conan O'Brien into Leno's old 11:35 p.m. "Tonight" slot would bring a new generation of hip, young folks to NBC.

It was sold as a win-win, and NBC did everything short of asserting that rival network execs who laughed at this plan were just jealous they hadn't thought of it first.

To be fair, on paper it didn't necessarily look like the worst idea ever. It's just that on paper, NBC wasn't counting on Leno averaging 29% fewer viewers than last season, which was pretty anemic itself.

NBC wasn't counting on its affiliates getting rebellious over having a much smaller pool of viewers delivered to the late-night local newscasts.

Finally, NBC wasn't counting on Conan losing 2 million of Leno's viewers, wiping out the lead Leno held for years over CBS' David Letterman.

Yet as late as this week, NBC valiantly insisted the center was holding.

The network had only promised advertisers a little over 5 million viewers a night, and Leno was delivering that.

So even though an Ad Age survey showed that spots on Leno's show were going for $54,000 - about half what the network charged last year for the dreadful, quickly canceled drama "My Own Worst Enemy" - NBC made money because Leno's show was so much cheaper to produce.

Now even NBC seems to be admitting that wasn't enough.

Leno, interestingly, is the least damaged party here. His audience is intact and he'll land somewhere comfortable. It will be a harder landing for Conan because he's now tarnished goods, a cult hero who tanked when he got closer to prime time.

NBC, meanwhile, has to glue Humpty Dumpty back together, hoping Leno can rehook his old late-night viewers while it figures out what to do with five vacant hours of prime time.

A number of dominoes led to The Leno Shuffle, starting way back with NBC's fear that Conan would follow Letterman and leave if he didn't get a more prominent spot.

The last clinching domino, however, was NBC looking at its 10 p.m. schedule last year and saying, "Hey, why not put Leno there? How could things get worse?" Now we know.

dhinckley@nydailynews.com

Helped by a Big Name, Letterman Bounces Back

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/business/media/17late.html

Helped by a Big Name, Letterman Bounces Back
By BILL CARTER
July 16, 2009

Is David Letterman back?

If not all the way, he certainly seems to be getting there. Mr. Letterman, CBS’s late-night star, scored an impressive win last week as his audience topped that of NBC’s “Tonight Show” and its new host, Conan O’Brien, during that show’s least-viewed week since total viewers have been measured.

And Mr. Letterman trumped his win with a show that became a television event Wednesday night as Paul McCartney returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater 45 years after the Beatles’ American TV debut and performed a concert on the marquee in front of a crowd of about 4,000.

On Wednesday, Mr. Letterman had 4.4 million viewers, to 2.5 million for Mr. O’Brien. ABC’s late-night entry, “Nightline,” also experiencing a resurgence, drew four million.

Mr. O’Brien continues to have the strongest of the shows among younger viewers that many advertisers prefer, though his margins in that area have shrunk in recent weeks. He has dropped to third place more regularly in total viewers, not a place where “Tonight” has often landed.

Last week, Mr. O’Brien attracted 2.8 million viewers, below the previous low for “Tonight,” 3.3 million, which Mr. O’Brien set in his third week. Mr. Letterman had 3.7 million. “Nightline,” helped by coverage of the Michael Jackson memorial, was the winner with 3.8 million. (“Nightline” benefits by being measured for half an hour versus an hour for the other shows.)

The “Tonight” numbers represented a steep drop from those scored by Jay Leno a year ago in the same week. Mr. Leno’s “Tonight” show had 4.6 million viewers, meaning Mr. O’Brien’s show has fallen by 38 percent.

The story among younger viewers, especially those 18 to 34, continues to be much better for Mr. O’Brien. He was up 26 percent in that group from Mr. Leno last year, though down 7 percent among viewers 18 to 49.

Mr. Letterman has been closing the gap a bit among younger viewers and last week managed a virtual tie with Mr. O’Brien among viewers 25 to 54, the first time he has done that since Mr. O’Brien’s arrival.

Guests have played a hand; Mr. O’Brien could hardly match Mr. McCartney (his guest was Dana Carvey) and ratings for NBC’s 10 p.m. time period, which can help or hurt late-night shows, were especially weak Wednesday night.

But one NBC late-night executive, who asked not to be identified when analyzing the network’s competitive situation, said of Mr. Letterman, “Dave is definitely on his game; Conan has to respond.”

In the Emmy nominations announced Wednesday, Mr. Letterman’s show secured five nominations. Mr. O’Brien’s show had one. (Mr. Leno’s had none.)

Wednesday’s show with Mr. McCartney was exciting even for the host. Mr. Letterman said in an e-mail comment: “Given the history of the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater, it’s humbling just to have him on the show. And for him to play in front of thousands in front of our theater was beyond generous and very special for us.”

Mr. McCartney made the suggestion to perform outdoors, an executive from the Letterman show said.

Mr. Letterman had leaned toward having Mr. McCartney sing on the same stage where the Beatles first appeared in America in 1964. But the singer said he would perform only if he could make it an event.

A version of this article appeared in print on July 17, 2009, on page B7 of the New York edition.

Felix Pole Dancing

Miss Pole Dance World 2009

Tonight, on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, check out Felix Cane, the world's greatest pole-dancer. Her act is incredible. And if you are a woman out there, don't be turned off by the fact she's pole-dancing, it's such amazing art to watch you don't have to be a horny guy to appreciate. Of course, it doesn't hurt either...

http://www.felixpoledancing.com.au

And here's a YouTube link to her winning routine at the Miss Pole Dance World 2009. It's so great, I'm ready to give GnR's Chinese Democracy another chance. Sadly, Ms. Cane no longer works at strip clubs, but she is part of the Zumanity show in Las Vegas...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9bFHGyhm7I

And here's some more YouTube clips of Felix:

http://www.youtube.com/user/felixpoledancing
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=felixpoledancing&view=favorites

Message from Felix:

Felix Pole Dancing on the Tonight Show Thurs 25th June

That’s right boys and girls, I will be doing a Zumanity (Cirque du Soleil) performance with all my boys on Thursday 25th June on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brian. I was originally told I would have an interview as well, but talk on that seems to have quietened down. The show is confirmed though, be sure to keep an eye out. If anyone can record TV on their computer, I would love to have a copy! For all my fans back in Australia, I’m not sure if/when this will air on Australian TV. They do have a Full Episode section and Short Video Clip section on the Tonight Show website though, so hopefully it will be put on there as well. I’ll update this post with the link if it appears on their website anyhow.

Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G & Borat) will also be on the show as his new charachter, Bruno. I wonder if he’s going to end up on my pole?! I can just see something rediculous happening.

Love,

Felix xo

Richter, O'Brien to reunite on 'Tonight Show'

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-02-24-obrien-richter_N.htm

Richter, O'Brien to reunite on 'Tonight Show'
2-24-9
Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter are teaming up again when O'Brien replaces Jay Leno.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC says Andy Richter and Conan O'Brien will be back together again on late-night TV.

Richter, who worked with O'Brien for seven years on NBC's Late Night, will become the Tonight show announcer when O'Brien takes over from Jay Leno as host in June. NBC said Richter also will take part in comedy bits.

O'Brien called Richter a friend and one of the funniest people he knows, but couldn't resist a joke: O'Brien said he's looking forward to their reunion because Richter owes him $300.

After leaving Late Night in 2000, Richter starred in the TV series Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Andy Barker, P.I., and appeared in Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory and other movies.

Jay Leno given new NBC show

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iea59cb79796a9dff2b9e255988bf682e

Jay Leno given new NBC show
Zucker: Significant programming changes on the way
By Paul J. Gough and James Hibberd
Dec 8, 2008

Jay Leno is staying at NBC with a show at 10 p.m. weeknights.The network has signed the "Tonight Show" host to a new agreement that will allow NBC to keep him from going to a rival broadcaster without breaking the network's agreement with Conan O'Brien to take over "Tonight" next year. The new deal is expected to be announced at a news conference Tuesday.

NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker signaled that significant changes were afoot at the network earlier Monday at the annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. Later in the day, the network announced an executive reorganization that merged the network and the studio and sent veteran Peacock players packing.

"Can we continue to broadcast 22 hours in primetime? Three of our competitors don't," Zucker told the annual gathering. "Can we continue to broadcast seven days a week? One of our competitors doesn't."

The Big Three program 22 hours a week over seven days, but they don't program originals on Saturday, and only CBS runs all-original scripted programming on Fridays. Fox programs 15 hours a week over seven days. The CW and MyNetworkTV do less and program only six nights a week.

While broadcasters have been looking at the possibility of cutting back on the hours they program, NBC's moves are the most dramatic response to the changing realities of the TV business since the WB and UPN merged in 2006.

But in addition to adapting to the diminishing returns in primetime ratings, the Leno move also keeps him from jumping ship to rival networks where he could have been tough competition for his O'Brien.

NBC notified O'Brien of its plans for a Leno-fronted 10 p.m. show some time ago, and he got on board.

"It's great for us," a source close to O'Brien said. "We're really excited because the alternative is him leaving angry and going to another network, competing against Conan. What it means to the drama business is another story."

Keeping both men in place, however, could be a tricky balancing act as the network seeks to hype O'Brien's ascension without allowing him to be upstaged by Leno's return -- presumably in the fall.

"This is a win-win for everyone," said Shari Anne Brill, a programming expert and executive with New York-based ad buyer Carat. "Why would you want to lose a talent like Leno to the other guys? Why would you want to give ABC an opportunity like that?"

Horizon Media research chief Brad Adgate said that the move will have the added benefit of not being as expensive as a drama, which typically cost millions of dollars to produce. Adgate wasn't bothered by the format, rumored to be a talk show and/or variety program.

"Talk shows work in daytime, and they work in late-night, and they work in cable at that hour and in primetime," Adgate said. "The question is not so much about the size of the audience as it is about can they make a profit out of it."

While programming primetime should cost NBC significantly less with Leno than with five hourlong series, the network essentially is wiping out any long-term windfall a hit series could achieve in domestic syndication and foreign; a talk format has limited backend possibilities beyond a time-shifted second window on cable.

As host of "Tonight," Leno has averaged 4.8 million viewers and a 1.3 rating this season. NBC may be able to grow that number given the new show's earlier time period but not to a degree that will make a talk show competitive with most dramas airing at 10 p.m.

"Maybe he'll bring in some other viewers who may not be able to stay up late for 'The Tonight Show,' " Adgate said.

The move will take pressure off NBC's struggling entertainment department and impacts the competitive field in significant ways. Although rivals might be disappointed that Leno will not be on the market next year, CBS and ABC will benefit by no longer having to compete with NBC's 10 p.m. dramas like "Law & Order: SVU."

The announcement also will come as a relief to at least one program that had slugged it out with "Tonight" since well before Leno took over for Johnny Carson in 1992. ABC's "Nightline," which has seen a new lease on life at 11:35 p.m. since Ted Koppel left, was widely seen as a possible casualty if Leno was to move to ABC when his contract with NBC ended.

Although the industry guessing game over Leno's fate is now over, the move triggers a fresh round of question marks as to which of NBC's series -- both current and in development -- will make the cut for a reduced primetime schedule. Producers such as Dick Wolf or Reveille that provide the Peacock with multiple hours could find their businesses under pressure.

Other networks said they aren't considering schedule cutbacks. A broadcast insider said that NBC's reasoning could be construed as counterproductive because "it's like the automakers shutting down plants: It saves some money short-term, but it also prevents an opportunity to make any."

After the UBS event, Zucker told THR that NBC intends to remain competitive. "It's not giving up," he said. "It's not retrenching. It's not throwing in the towel."

Paul J. Gough reported from New York; James Hibberd reported from Los Angeles.

Apropos of Nothing

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/02/jay_leno.html

Apropos of Nothing
2/27/08
Jay Leno Is About to Get Paid

Today Bill Carter reports in the Times that networks and TV studios are already lining up to snatch Jay Leno away when his Tonight Show contract concludes at the end of 2009. Leno, who has been slated to be replaced by Conan O'Brien at that time, can contractually begin to negotiate in November 2009; nevertheless, plenty of money and perks are already on the table, including a reported $40 million a year from Sony — who also plan to build Leno his own theater on the studio's lot. (For Jay Leno!!) Given that the competition in 2009 should be fast and furious — Leno is free to return to TV just two months after the negotiation period begins — how exorbitant might the offers get? Vulture looks into its crystal ball to find out.

November 1, 2009 ABC pledges to kick Nightline off the air to make room for Jay Leno, offering him $50 million a year.

November 5, 2009 Sony raises its offer to $60 million a year, plus a gold-plated motorcycle.

November 8, 2009 ABC counters with a promise to explain to Leno the secrets of Lost.

November 11, 2009 When Leno expresses dissatisfaction with Sony Television's plans for the Jay Leno Theater, executives offer to let him design it himself. The resulting structure is a pale imitation of plans designed first by other, edgier architects.

November 13, 2009 Desperate ABC executives raise their offer to $75 million and promise that Kevin Eubanks will replace Charles Gibson as anchor of World News Tonight.

November 21, 2009 Getting in on the action, Fox renegotiates its affiliate deals to become a round-the-clock network in hopes of attracting Leno, who is offered not just the 11:30 to 12:30 slot but the entire overnight shift, from 11:30 to dawn.

November 30, 2009 Sony Television annexes the picturesque Sea of Japan island of Niijima and renames it LenoLand, replacing its distinctive local statuary with busts of Jay Leno.

December 5, 2009 NBC wunderkind Ben Silverman, driven mad at being left out of the fun, offers Leno $100 million a year to continue as host of the Tonight Show. "That doesn't mean we're giving up on Conan," Silverman tells reporters. "We'll run Jay's and Conan's shows simultaneously, in split-screen."

December 7, 2009 Fox's Kevin Reilly hints to Leno that he can't make any promises, but he's "pretty sure" he can get Leno into the Hollywood Round of American Idol.

December 13, 2009 Holding unprecedented power over every network, Leno demands that the Tonight Show run on all of them at once. All four network chiefs accept, and further agree to run Sony Television's syndicated The Jay Leno Show the other 23 hours of every day.

Carson Daly About to Defy Writers Strike

Carson Daly, Entertainment Douchebag of the Month

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T6F7HO0&show_article=1

Carson Daly About to Defy Writers Strike
Nov 28, 2007
By FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly" is about to become the first late- night talk show to defy the writers strike and resume production.

Daly, who is not a member of the Writers Guild, will begin taping new episodes of his Burbank-based show this week for airing next week, an NBC spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

The half-hour "Last Call" airs at 1:35 a.m. EST weeknights, but whether Daly's first new episode would air next Monday or Tuesday was initially unclear. No guests were disclosed.

"The Writers Guild of America, East joins our colleagues of the Writers Guild of America, West in expressing our profound disappointment with Carson Daly's decision to return to work," the guild said in a statement that also commended other late-night talk show hosts for showing solidarity with their writers. "We thank them and hope that Mr. Daly will reconsider his decision, including the soliciting of scab writers to provide material for his program."

Daly is not the first talk-show host to go back into production. Ellen DeGeneres, who is a member of the union, has continued taping her daytime syndicated talk show after shutting down the first day of the strike. But "Last Call" becomes the first to break ranks among the late-night shows, which all had chosen to air repeats rather than tape new shows without their striking writers.

It was unclear what effect, if any, the return of "Last Call" would have on other late-night talk shows, which include NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Comedy Central's late-night news-and- commentary spoofs, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" with Stephen Colbert, have also been in reruns.

There was no immediate word on when any of those shows might follow suit and return with new episodes.

On Monday, contract talks with the studios resumed for the first time since movie and TV writers went on strike Nov. 5. The Writers Guild is seeking more money for material distributed over the Internet and cell phones.
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NBC is owned by General Electric Co.
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On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com/