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.

Here's Johnny, digitized

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-0811-carson-20100811,0,272413.story

Here's Johnny, digitized: A searchable database created for Carson's 'Tonight Show'
The search tool for existing footage will be available for professional use, but many clips will also be posted for public viewing.
Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times
August 11, 2010

Johnny Carson is getting an upgrade for the YouTube era.

Carson Entertainment Group, which owns the archive of the late-night host's 30 years on "The Tonight Show," is set to announce Wednesday that it has digitized all 3,300 hours of existing footage from the program and created a searchable online database for producers and researchers.

The library will initially be available just for professional clip-licensing purposes, but the company also plans to release 50 full-format shows on DVD and post a rotating series of historic clips for public viewing on http://www.johnnycarson.com.

The project was spurred by Jeff Sotzing, Carson's nephew and president of Carson Entertainment, who said the continuing high demand for "Tonight Show" clips prompted him to seek a way to make the footage more accessible for both historic and commercial purposes.

"It's amazing to me that even being off the air for 18 years, there's still so much interest in this material," he said.

Carson remains a singular figure because he served as a cultural touchstone during his three decades on the air, said Rick Ludwin, NBC's executive vice president in charge of late-night series.

"That desk and that chair and the couch and the monologue and the band became as familiar as furniture in your own living room," he said. "When any motion picture or documentary wants to put something in historical perspective, they often want to have a Johnny Carson joke from that era."

That's in part because Carson's "Tonight Show" logged more than 22,000 guests during his tenure. "Everybody who was involved in public life seems to have appeared on that show," said David Bushman, television curator at the Paley Center for the Media.

And the wry host, who died in 2005 at age 79, was viewed as a bellwether of public opinion: His jokes about Watergate marked a turning point for President Nixon.

Carson did not originally own the rights to his show, but was eventually able to negotiate full ownership in 1980 during a protracted contract dispute with NBC. At the time, "The Tonight Show" generated almost a fifth of the network's profit from advertising revenue.

Before the digitization project, Carson Entertainment already had compiled a database listing the guests on each show and outlines of the topics of Carson's daily monologue. But if producers wanted to find a mention of a subject or a person, they often had to screen hours of footage, hoping to stumble upon the right reference.

Now a searchable transcript of each show will allow researchers to instantly pull up the corresponding clip by typing a name, key word or date.

"I think it's an extraordinary advancement in terms of using digital media in order to facilitate access of all different sorts," said Bushman, who recently searched the museum's Carson archives for a project on the late New York Mayor John Lindsay. "We had to do it the old-fashioned way. If we had had access to this, it would have been spectacular."

Modern-day television shows are routinely converted to digital now and posted online, but the ease of search varies. Most networks keep internal transcripts of interview programs and newscasts, indexed with the corresponding time code of the footage. Some go further: On MSNBC.com, visitors can view searchable transcripts alongside individual clips, synced to the video. But the comprehensiveness of the Carson library exceeds that of most archives, including that of the current "Tonight Show," which keeps transcripts of Jay Leno's monologues, but not guest appearances.

The digitization process took about nine months and was done by Deluxe Archive Solutions, which works with many Hollywood studios to preserve their film and television libraries.

The video footage was trucked securely from where it had been stored in an underground salt mine in Kansas to a facility in Burbank, where a high-speed "tape robot" transferred each tape to a digital format. Then a team of transcribers logged more than 1 million words of dialogue and tagged each show by key word, guest and musical number.

"We feel we're evangelists out there telling people this is what you are going to need to do in this new era of content consumption," said Tyler Leshney, vice president of Deluxe Archive Solutions. "People don't want to sift through two hours to find five minutes they're searching for."

The more searchable content, the more valuable it becomes, Leshney noted. Though researchers will have access to the Carson library for free, Carson Entertainment will charge a licensing fee to use each clip based on the type of project.

Not every moment of Carson's reign on "The Tonight Show" is available. The original videos from 1962 to 1972 were recorded over by NBC at the time, a common practice then because tape was so expensive, Ludwin said. All that is left from that era are some grainy black-and-white kinescope clips, taken by a film camera pointed at a television set.

But the digitization process helped unearth some original footage thought to be lost, including a famous 1973 clip of Carson pretending to eat dog food during a live Alpo commercial after the dog refused the meal, before thought to exist only in grainy kinescope.

Such moments have the makings of instant viral videos, but Deluxe Archive Solutions took several security measures to ensure that the clips can't be disseminated without permission, including embedding each with a large, yellow "Carson" watermark.

Sotzing said that Carson would have found the digitization project fascinating.

"He was a guy who loved technology and was always interested in watching old shows," he said. "And the ability to get this stuff immediately, he'd love that."

Jay Leno on 'Oprah'

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/01/28/jay-leno-oprah-winfrey

Jan 28, 2010
Jay Leno on 'Oprah': Admits to lying, ridicules Conan's 'Tonight Show': This is damage control?
by Ken Tucker

In a fascinating display of self-pity and hubris, Jay Leno went on Oprah today and really let loose: He said that the plan to return him to The Tonight Show was “a huge mess,” that he’d been “sucker-punched” by Jimmy Kimmel, that he’d lied when he told the public in 2004 he would retire when he left The Tonight Show in 2009, and that there’s “a lot of damage control that has to be done now.” Believe me: There’ll be even more to be done after this Oprah interview.

Jay Leno admitted to Oprah Winfrey that “I told a white lie on the air” when he said in 2004 he’d retire after he left the Tonight Show in 2009. “It was just maybe easier that way.” He said he “assumed” he’d just get a job at another network.

Oprah observed: “Conan said he thought it would be destructive to the franchise” for him to agree to the plan for The Tonight Show appear at 12:05, after an 11:35 Leno show. “Well, if you look at where [Conan's Tonight Show] ratings were” — and here he paused for comic-sarcastic effect — “it was already destructive to the franchise… This was the first time in the 60-year history of The Tonight Show that The Tonight Show would have lost money.” Leno also said, “I hope Conan gets a job somewhere.” Whatta competitor, that Jay!

There were some fascinating exchanges between Oprah and Jay, who sounded as though he thought Winfrey was going to be more sympathetic than she proved to be. Winfrey said, “David Letterman called you, I think, the ‘Big Jaw’ Leno… and you hit back by talking about his infidelity.” Leno said, “Well, I did a joke about that, yes.” ”Even the audience went, ‘Ooo!’” noted Winfrey. ”But it was a good joke,” squeaked Leno. “Did you laugh when you heard it?”

“No,” said Oprah firmly, “I did not. I did not laugh. You know what, I thought that was beneath you.” Leno tried to defend himself. “But how many jokes like that have I done? I did one joke in the middle of the week and I never did another one. I had a cheap shot thrown at me, I threw one cheap shot back and I moved on.” Oprah asked, “So you thought one cheap shot deserves another?” Leno said, “Yeah, it’s OK.” Then Oprah asked, “Do you feel you’re being unfairly portrayed by the media?” Leno said, “Yeah, I think so.”

Amazing figure: A poll conducted on Oprah.com found that 96% of Winfrey’s audience was on Conan’s side in this “mess.”

Leno continues to make much of the idea that he didn’t turn down the 10 p.m. Jay Leno Show offer because he didn’t want to put his staff out of work: “You say to the 170 people who work here, ‘Listen, I don’t want to get my reputation ruined, I don’t want anyone talking bad about me. I’ve got enough money. You people can all fend for yourself.’ That’s… the selfish thing to do.” Yet when Winfrey brought up the number of people who were put out of work on the 10 p.m. scripted shows that were either cancelled or never put into production by NBC because the Leno Show took up a prime-time slot five nights a week, he said feebly, “I wasn’t thinking about that at the time.” Come on. This was a point being brought up in the media almost as soon as the Leno Show was announced.

One thing that didn’t ring true, or at least make sense, as we’ve all heard it: Leno said, “They only offered [The Tonight Show] to me after Conan had turned down [the 12:05 offer].” Really? Seems like O’Brien decided to leave NBC after he’d been told NBC planned to move Jay to 11:35, from most reports.

There was a darkly humorous moment when Oprah asked him if he thought NBC could have handled this better. “Anything they did would have been better than this… If they had come in and shot everybody, it would have been ‘Oh, people were murdered,’ but at least it would have been a two-day story. NBC could not have handled it worse. From 2004 onward, this whole thing was a huge mess.”

When Jimmy Kimmel came on the Leno Show Jan. 14 and used that “10 @ 10? segment to blast Leno, Jay told Winfrey he felt “sucker-punched.” He said he could have “edited it” out, but “when you get sucker-punched, you get right back up again. You don’t whine or complain.”

Still, Leno did his share of whining on Oprah. “It was really agonizing. I would spend a lot of time just thinking about it, going, ‘I think I’m a good guy. Am I a good guy?’”

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.”

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.

Stephen Colbert is a swinger for Marvel

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/09/stephen-colbert.html

Stephen Colbert is a swinger for Marvel
Sep 29 2008
Geoff Boucher

Plenty of television comedy stars have hung with Spider-Man, but Stephen Colbert may be the first to swing with him.

Colbert, the master parodist of Comedy Central, shares an eight-page adventure with the world-famous web-slinger in issue No. 573 of "The Amazing Spider-Man," on sale Oct. 15. The folks at Marvel sent over a page from the story and while I can't quite tell what's going on, it's pretty clear that Colbert actually takes to the rooftops of Manhattan with the arachnid hero.

Colbert and his name have been popping up a lot in Marvel pages lately (perhaps too much, actually), following the January announcement by the company's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada that Colbert's faux campaign for president in our world would be mirrored by a genuine bid for the White House within the Marvel universe. The references have been scattered in different issues (a cameo here, a campaign poster there, some T-shirts, etc.) but nothing quite as dramatic as this.

Marvel has always been open to daffy gimmicks like this -- hey this is the company built by Stan Lee, after all.

For instance, 30 years ago, "Saturday Night Live" was all the rage so, in the October 1978 issue of "Marvel Team-Up," Spider-Man met up with John Belushi and six other Not Ready for Prime-Time Players (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner) for a deliriously cheesy adventure. On the cover, Belushi is in samurai mode, but he looks vaguely like Anne Ramsey from "Throw Momma from the Train."

The "plot" has Peter Parker attending an "SNL" broadcast on the same night the evil Silver Samurai comes looking for a ring of great value that has accidentally ended up in the possession of Belushi (yes, that's right, he's basically Ringo Starr in "Help!").

The best moments in the story: Morris dressed up as Thor and the late Radner wondering to herself at one point, "Hm, what's that noise from Belushi's dressing room?" And I'm guessing that on most Saturday nights on the real set, that was a loaded question...

In 1984, it was David Letterman's turn to rub elbows with heroes in the pages of "The Avengers," and the results were even cheesier, with Al Milgrom's art rendering Letterman as an Alfred E. Neuman look-alike beneath a Gary Hart hair helmet. (I've never been a fan of Milgrom, sorry.) Paul Shaffer wore a Captain America T-shirt and Dave help beat the bad guys with the use of a giant door knob.

Has Letterman ever had a lamer career moment? I doubt it.

Oh wait, I forgot "Cabin Boy." Sorry.

It was much more subtle back in the Summer of Love, 1967, when Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon popped in a true classic, "The Amazing Spider-Man" issue No. 50.

That book had J. Jonah Jameson on the couch of "The Tonight Show" discussing the apparent disappearance of Spider-Man. It was a fleeting cameo with a totally different purpose; instead of trying to pull celebrities into a comics adventure, it felt like it was pulling the Marvel characters into a real world that added energy to the story arc.

So, of course, classy old Carson doesn't tussle with any villains (that issue, by the way, happened to have the first appearance of the Kingpin), he doesn't swing through the sky with Spidey or even try on the clothes of a Norse god for yucks.

And then there's that gorgeous John Romita Sr. cover, which must have jumped off the newsstand next to so many of the staid DC Comics issues of the day.

I'm just guessing that, no matter what Colbert pulls off next month with the modern web-head, Carson and the 1960s Spidey will still be the ones who age best.

Mortgage turmoil snares Ed McMahon

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mcmahon4-2008jun04,0,7909098.story

Mortgage turmoil snares Ed McMahon
Johnny Carson's sidekick has defaulted on millions in home loans.
By Peter Y. Hong
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2008

Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show," is fighting to avoid foreclosure on his multimillion-dollar Beverly Hills estate.

McMahon defaulted on $4.8 million in mortgage loans with a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp., which filed a notice of default in March, according to ForeclosureRadar, a company that sells default data pulled from public records.

The 85-year-old pitchman for various products, including American Family Publishers, is the highest-profile person to be caught up in the nationwide real estate downturn and mortgage crunch.

"He's not alone. There are plenty of people affected by the weak economy, bad housing market or bad health," McMahon's spokesman, Howard Bragman, said late Tuesday.

Bragman said McMahon fell and broke his neck about 18 months ago and has been unable to work since.

"The ideal situation would be that he would be healthy and able to earn a living to pay for his house," Bragman said.

The six-bedroom, five-bath home on Crest Court is listed for sale at $6.25 million, said real estate agent Alex Davis of Alex Davis Estates, who has the listing. It's been on the market for two years, he said.

It would seem to be an ideal home. The Hilton & Hyland luxury real estate website described the home as a celebrity Mediterranean estate in the prestigious Beverly Hills gated community of The Summit, which overlooks Coldwater Canyon and Mulholland Drive.
"This once-in-a-lifetime offering is full of charm and character. The foreign imported doors and meticulously chosen fireplaces are unlike any other," the website boasts. It also has a master suite with his-and-hers baths and closets overlooking the yard and a sweeping canyon.

But Davis said The Summit has been a difficult area to sell.

"In the midst of trying to sell this property, there were a lot of distractions," Davis said, citing paparazzi who have converged around the nearby home of Britney Spears.

"When we were trying to sell the house one time, there were about 100 paparazzi there," he said.

Another difficulty for the area has been a mold contamination that has plagued a number of homes, including McMahon's and one purchased for the director of the Getty Museum.

McMahon won a $7.2-million insurance settlement after claiming that mold in his house killed his dog Muffin and sickened him and his wife.

According to a lawsuit he filed, the trouble began when a pipe broke and water flooded a den. Mold was later discovered throughout the house. McMahon and his wife, Pamela, blamed faulty cleanup.

"When your family loses its health and your home is a wasteland, that's a colossal disaster," McMahon said at the time.

Both the Hyland website and ChristiesGreatestEstates.com list the property, built in 1989, at $5.75 million. Davis said it was still priced at $6.25 million.

McMahon took out two loans on the property totaling $4.5 million and later borrowed an additional $300,000 against the house, according to ForeclosureRadar. The loans were obtained through Countrywide Home Loans Inc.

A Countrywide spokesman declined to comment, citing privacy concerns.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the story. Though McMahon was in negotiations with Countrywide, the paper said it wasn't clear whether McMahon and his wife would be able to remain in the home.

McMahon was about $644,000 in arrears on the loan when the notice of default was filed, the paper said.

Federal regulators have been urging lenders to ease loan terms, but it wasn't clear if that would happen in McMahon's case.

peter.hong@latimes.com

Times staff writer E. Scott Reckard contributed to this report.

Leno Writes His Monologue

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aE2JxFhq9SwA&refer=us

Leno, Ignoring Union's Protest, Writes His Monologue
By Andy Fixmer

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Jay Leno, host of NBC's ``The Tonight Show,'' ignored protests from the Writers Guild of America, to which he belongs, and for a second night performed a monologue on the program that he wrote himself.

The guild said it met with Leno yesterday following his Jan. 2 show reiterating rules issued before the two-month-old strike that forbid members to perform writing duties, even for themselves. NBC said Leno is abiding by union regulations.

The union and Hollywood studios are split over writers' demands to be paid for use of their work on the Web and mobile devices. Since the collective bargaining agreement with the studios and broadcasters expired Oct. 31, the guild can legally issue more restrictive policies, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment attorney at Troy Gould in Los Angeles.

``Can the guild discipline Leno and fine him?,'' Handel said. ``If their interpretation of the rules is correct, then yes, they can. They probably have the right, if they want, to a more severe punishment'' than what is outlined in the bargaining agreement, he said.

WGA spokesman Neal Sacharow said the guild is confident that its meeting with Leno will clear up any misunderstanding about what is and isn't a violation of the strike rules.

``Leno has always been employed as a writer on the show,'' Sacharow said in an interview yesterday. ``He can't perform his own material.''

WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell declined to comment on whether the union would take any further action with the comedian.

No Outside Help

The guild may have a tough time when it comes to disciplining Leno, who supports the strike. He walked picket lines and paid non-writing staff with his own money when NBC laid off employees after the strike shut down production.

Guild officials ``have to be seen doing something and talking with him is about the most they can do,'' Handel said.

Leno told his Jan. 2 audience that it's OK to write his own material and that he didn't use outside writers to help write any of his jokes. He performed another self-written monologue on last night's program.

``The WGA agreement permits Jay Leno to write his own monologue for `The Tonight Show,''' NBC spokeswoman Tracy St. Pierre said in an e-mail yesterday. ``The WGA is not permitted to implement rules that conflict with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the studios and the WGA.''

Negotiations between the guild and the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, broke down a second time Dec. 7 and haven't resumed.

`Late Show'

David Letterman, Leno's late-night rival on CBS, reached agreement with the union last week that allows comedy writers to work on his ``Late Show'' and Craig Ferguson's ``Late Late Show,'' which he also owns.

Even without writers, Leno extended his streak of ratings victories over Letterman on Jan. 2. ``The Tonight Show'' averaged 7.2 million viewers, compared with 5.5 million for Letterman's ``Late Show,'' CBS said yesterday, citing data from Nielsen Media Research.

General Electric Co., the parent of NBC, fell 37 cents to $36.43 at 9:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. CBS Corp., owner of the most-watched television network, fell 40 cents to $25.49.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

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.
___
NBC is owned by General Electric Co.
___
On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com/

Fred Thompson announces candidacy for president

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/06/thompson/?iref=mpstoryview

Fred Thompson announces candidacy for president

Story Highlights
Thompson tells Jay Leno he's running for president
Official announcement comes in a webcast posted early Thursday
Republican candidate dismisses suggestions he may be late entering the race
Thompson is an actor and a former senator

(CNN) -- After months of not-so-coy will-he-or-won't-he political flirtation, Fred Thompson has finally and officially announced that he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

"I am running for president of the United States," he said during a taping of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" Wednesday evening, drawing applause and cheers from the audience.

It's the same venue that helped launch the electoral career of another celebrity-turned-politician, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Thompson also talked about his decision to join the race in a webcast that went online early Thursday.

"I'm going to give this campaign all that I have to give, and I hope that you'll join me," Thompson said in the video announcement posted on his campaign Web site. "Our country needs us to win next year, and I'm ready to lead that effort."

Thompson, 65, who has had a multifaceted career as a prosecutor, lobbyist, actor and U.S. senator from Tennessee, is angling for a conservative base that has yet to coalesce around a favorite.

His decision to run was widely expected, after he formed an exploratory committee in June to begin raising money.

But political observers say Thompson may be late by entering the race months after his GOP rivals.

The first voting is only four months away and the other candidates have been in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond for months.

But Thompson dismissed suggestions that he took too long to make the decision.

"I don't think people are going to say, 'You know, that guy would make a very good president, but he just didn't get in soon enough,"' Thompson told Leno. "If you can't get your message out in a few months, you're probably not ever going to get it out." Watch Thompson tell Leno that he's running »

Thompson's Republican rivals poked fun at his absence from a debate in New Hampshire on Thursday night shortly before his announcement.

Arizona Sen. John McCain said, "I think that's a decision that Fred should make and maybe we're up past his bed time."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said, "I was scheduled to be on Jay Leno tonight, but I gave up my spot to somebody else because I'd rather be in New Hampshire with these fine people."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poked fun at Thompson's delayed entry into the presidential race.

"[The] only question I have: Why the hurry, why not take some more time off?" "Maybe January or Febuary might be a better time to make a decision about getting into this race."

In his video announcement, Thompson touted his support for what he termed common-sense conservative principles, including low taxes, free markets, balanced budgets and the "sanctity of life."

"These principles made our country great, and we should re-dedicate ourselves to them, not abandon them," he said.

On the Iraq war, Thompson also challenged Democrats pushing for a withdrawal of U.S. forces, embracing President Bush's view that the U.S. effort in Iraq is a central front in the war on terror.

"Our courage as a people must match that of the brave men and women in uniform fighting for us," he said. "They know if we abandon our efforts, or appear weak and divided, we'll pay a heavy price for it in the future."

Even before he became a candidate, Thompson showed well in recent national poll averages, trailing only the front-runner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

His acting role on NBC's popular "Law and Order" TV shows has buoyed his name recognition and prompted comparisons to another actor-turned-president beloved by conservatives, Ronald Reagan.

Thursday morning, Thompson will begin a two-day tour across Iowa, whose precinct caucuses traditionally kick off the nominating season in January. See Thompson's new presidential campaign buses

He will travel from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Mason City, Cedar Rapids and Davenport on a brown, yellow and red bus festooned with the slogan "United By Our Core Beliefs."

After his Iowa tour, Thompson will take his campaign to three other states with early primary contests -- New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina.

"Expectations are sky high, which means he'd better perform flawlessly out of the box or a lot of people are going to start grumbling that he's not the great savior we thought he was," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres.

Thompson's virtual campaign kickoff came just hours after his GOP rivals held their latest campaign debate Wednesday night in New Hampshire -- an event he skipped to unveil his political plans on the set of "The Tonight Show."

Thompson joked that while he meant no disrespect to the organizers of Wednesday's Granite State event, "It's a lot more difficult to get on 'The Tonight Show' than it is to get into a presidential debate."

Over the summer, Thompson's nascent non-campaign campaign ran into turbulence with the departure of several staffers, including veteran Republican campaign adviser Tom Collamore, who left after disagreements with the candidate's wife, Jeri, over organization and staffing decisions, according to Republican sources familiar with Collamore's decision.

Jeri Thompson, 40, was a GOP media consultant before marrying Thompson in 2002.

The political world was also roundly unimpressed with the $3.4 million Thompson's exploratory committee raised during its first month of operation in June -- a fundraising pace far weaker than his GOP competitors.

Despite those bumps and his late start, Thompson has said he believes his campaign is still well-positioned to win the nomination.

Thompson's government service goes back to 1969, when he became a federal prosecutor in Nashville.

His profile went national in 1973, when he was appointed as the Republican counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee investigating misdeeds by President Richard Nixon and members of his staff.

During televised hearings that riveted the nation, it was Thompson who famously and dramatically asked White House aide Alexander Butterfield about the existence of tapes made of Oval Office conversations, which would eventually turn out to be Nixon's undoing.

After Watergate, Thompson returned to Tennessee to practice law. He fell into a career as an actor when he was asked to play himself in the 1985 movie "Marie," which was based on a real-life case in which he represented a whistleblower who exposed corruption. His performance in the film led to other film and TV roles.

In 1994, Thompson sought political office for the first time, running for the remaining two years of the Senate term that Democrat Al Gore gave up when he was elected vice president in 1992.

After barnstorming the Volunteer State in a red pickup truck while wearing cowboy boots, Thompson won in a landslide, and, in 1996, easily won re-election to a full six-year term.

In 2002, however, Thompson decided not to seek re-election and left the Senate. He worked as a lawyer-lobbyist in Washington and also took on the role of the gruff, conservative New York District Attorney Arthur Branch on "Law and Order."

Thompson left the show earlier this year when he began considering a presidential bid.

In April, Thompson disclosed that in 2004, he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. However, he said the cancer was in remission and he was suffering no symptoms.

CNN's John King, Bethany Swain and Doug Schantz contributed to this report.

BUSHIES WANT TO HEAR FROM MOORE

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/2007/07/bushies_want_to_hear_from_moor.html

Mouth of the Potomac
BUSHIES WANT TO HEAR FROM MOORE ON CUBA TRIP

This just in from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," where Michael Moore is a guest this evening:

The Bush administration has subpoenaed Moore over his trip to Cuba with 9/11 rescue workers, which he included in his new documentary film, "Sicko."

- Ken Bazinet

MICHAEL MOORE ANNOUNCES THAT HE’S BEEN SUBPOENAED BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ON “THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO”

BURBANK-July 26, 2007 – Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced that the Bush Administration has subpoenaed him in the wake of his recent trip to Cuba on the July 26 episode of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (Monday-Friday, 11:35 p.m. - 12:37 a.m. ET). "I haven't even told my own family yet." Moore began, "I was just informed when I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me."


The trip was part of his new film "Sicko" which tackles the question of affordable health care in the United States. Moore, who brought 9/11 rescue workers with him on his excursion, explains the reason for his trip, saying: "Took them to Guantanamo Bay because I heard the Al Qaeda Terrorists we have in the camps there, detained, are receiving free dental, medical, eye care, the whole deal, and our own 9/11 rescue workers can't get that in New York City."

In a continued effort to help the 9/11 rescue workers, Moore stated that on August 11, the Weinstein Company will be donating 11 percent of the box office receipts from "Sicko" to "help these workers and the other workers who need help," said Moore.

Also Moore told Leno on the show how his studio asked him to cut a certain segment out of his film. "I just tell the truth in our film. (Hillary Clinton) did something very courageous 14-years ago, saying all American's should be covered. She got beat up badly for it. Now she's the second-largest recipient of health care industry money in the U.S. Senate."

Moore continued: "In fact, I don't know if I should really talk about this on national television, but you know the head of the studio that's releasing this film...Harvey Weinstein is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. For the months leading up to the release of the film, he kept calling me every day saying, 'I want you to take that scene out of the film, attacking Hillary.' I said, 'I'm no attacking her, I'm just telling the truth.'"

Moore explained, "I'm going to go after whoever is in power, doesn't matter if they are Democrat or Republican I'm going to try to be a voice for people that don't have a voice."

The segment remains in the film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2007.

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" is from Big Dog Productions in association with Universal Media Studios. Debbie Vickers is the executive producer.