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Leno won't have a desk; NBC exec calls Conan promos "premature" - TCA Report
by Joel Keller, posted Aug 5th 2009 9:33PM
As you'd expect from a low-rated network with a lot of shows to promote, NBC held the critics captive at their TCA session by waiting until the end of the day before unleashing Jay Leno on the crowd of cranky critics. But first, in order to address some the questions Angela Bromstad and Paul Telegdy couldn't answer, late-night chief Rick Ludwin took questions for fifteen minutes.Ludwin, for his part, was ready to answer those questions, even admitting that putting out a press release calling Conan O'Brien "The King of Late Night" after the first week of his Tonight Show reign was "premature." That's an understatement, but an admission, which is sometimes hard to get out of people in the Zucker regime. (Dan Fienberg of HitFix theorized to me afterwords that Bromstad and Telegdy briefed Ludwin on what we want to know based on their disastrous exec session. Very logical thought.)
Jay snuck up behind Ludwin as the exec was wrapping up, then took to center stage to take our questions. Nothing that he said about the program hasn't been said already: There will be no desk; he wants to get the guests out of the interview chair; he's going to conduct a "Green Car Challenge," where guests race fast electric cars; he will be going into the local news with one of his tried-and-true comedy bits, like "Jaywalking" and "Headlines."
That's the executive summary. More detailed tidbits are after the jump.
First, the salient points from Ludwin's Q&A:
- Ludwin restated the assertion that the Leno show is DVR-proof because of its topicality.
- "The audience doesn't want Jay to change." They want him to be the same blue collar guy that people want to have beers with, according to Ludwin (isn't that how we elected... and re-elected a President? How did that work out for us? "We don't want us to make him into the Captain or Tenille," meaning it won't be the Tonight Showa big splashy 70s-style variety show, either.
- According to Ludwin, Conan has won every single night he's been on in 18 to 49. "That's how we keep score."
- He doesn't expect talk-show fatigue: "We don't expect people to go from 10:00 to 2:05."
- Ludwin expects Conan and Leno to compete for guests, but will do some negotiating because the "shows have a great working relationship with each other."
- There will be musical performances twice a week, says Ludwin. And there will be combos of artists that viewers may never have seen before, like on the Grammys.
Now onto Jay:
- "I'd rather be doing this than the Tonight Show. It's a challenge. It's fun."
- "NBC thinks you hand off the tonight show when you're #1. Do you feel a little twinge? Yes." But he understands.
- "Will there be booking wars between me and Conan? No. Will we fight like cats and dogs to get a guest? Yes."
- One critic asks Jay where his confidence comes from: "I'm rich now," which generated a huge laugh. "If the network screws you at least you have something left."
- "If it goes down in flames, at least we'll be laughing."
- Jay on if he thinks he's the network's savior: "The network is on its own! Screw them!"
- When asked about how he feels about his show replacing hours of drama on NBC, he shot back: "Let's look at all the fine scripted drama (I'm replacing): Dateline? The Biggest Loser?" He feels that best scripted drama is on cable now.
- In defense of his show perhaps taking jobs from writers, Jay says that he pays his writers in the top 5% of those in the WGA. One thing, Jay: that's one group of writers getting work and not five different groups of writers. Epic fail on that argument.
- Jay claimed they don't make fun of anyone on Jaywalking. Not sure I believe him.
- I asked Leno if he's going to switch the format from day to day if needed, citing George Lopez's assertion that if he had U2 on, he'd put them first. He tried to sidestep the answer by saying U2 (I could swear he kept saying "YouTube") doesn't bring the ratings because you can see them anywhere. But he finally conceded that certain bits will air at certain times.
- The show will start almost immediately, with 10 seconds or so of theme music. It'll also go directly into the local news without a commercial break.
- "Do I expect to beat CSI: Miami? No. Do I expect to beat the reruns? Sure."
- He cites TV's immediacy as its saving grace, talking about the great ratings all late night shows got after Captain Sullenberger landed the plane in the Hudson.
- "To me, 10 is the new 11:30" - a line Jay's used before.
- He hopes he can make some stars in the comedy world. DL Hughely will report on politics. Mikey Day and Rachel Harris will also be correspondents.
- Brian Williams would love to contribute on a regular basis.
- No first show guests booked yet. Set is bigger. No desk (except for maybe for last 15 mins when he does stuff like "Headlines").
- Someone asks Jay on thoughts on Michael Jackson and Sarah Pailin. Jay shot back,: "And those two go hand in hand." MJ's death was sad, said Jay, but Palin "cheered me right up."
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