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May 24, 2013

Leno's Head Replaces Conan's Head on NBC Mural

by Bob Sassone, posted Feb 3rd 2010 4:00PM

NBC muralThe NBC/Jay/Conan news has certainly died down in the past week or two. NBC and Conan made a deal, Jay went on 'Oprah,' and 'The Tonight Show' is in reruns. Seems like we're in a bit of a lull until the Olympics are over and Jay returns to the 11:35 slot.

But there is some news, and if it hasn't already hit you that Conan is indeed completely gone from the NBC lineup, you'll realize it now. NBC has replaced Conan's head on their wall mural with Jay's head. Deals are one thing. When you see your face taken down at the office you know it's permanent.

Of course, it's completely natural that NBC would replace Conan's face on the wall. Let's just hope that NBC, when they talk about the history of 'The Tonight Show,' remembers that the red-haired guy did indeed host the show, even if it was for only 7 months.

[via Pop Candy]

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Joyce N.

Conan isn't trying to reclaim late night because it isn't being offered. And Duh! Ratings are what the game is all about. If Conan's fans watched TV instead of online, his ratings would have been better. Leno didn't have great lead-ins every night for 15 years, yet he reigned supreme all those years. I believe most people realize that they can turn on any news channel they prefer. I do.

Give it up. Conan sucked.

February 08 2010 at 12:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
intheyear2000

All of you people supporting Leno need to get your facts straight. He wasn't asked to step down from The Tonight Show. He made the decision to retire. When the decision was made to give TTS to Conan, Leno announced that he was retiring (on air, nonetheless) and told Conan that the spot would be his. If Leno really didn't want to retire, he could've put on his big boy pants by saying something about it, instead of being NBC's pawn. I have no sympathy for him. And anyway, he hasn't been funny since the '80s.

And as far as ratings go, you are all giving Conan a hard time. So his ratings weren't as high as Leno's? Guess what? He only got to host for seven months. Leno started hosting TTS in 1992. His ratings didn't surpass Letterman's until... 1995! He had Hugh Grant's appearance to thank for that. And ratings for The Jay Leno Show have been dismal, which severely affected Conan's ratings. People were turning off their televisions during Leno and it's highly unlikely that they'd turn them back on again to watch the local news or The Tonight Show. Even NBC's affiliates have been complaining about the ratings decline for their news programming.

All in all, this fiasco shows bad form and a lack of class on both NBC and Leno's part. Leno didn't have to reclaim The Tonight Show, but he did. He doesn't care about anyone else but himself. Conan stuck to his guns and refused to tarnish The Tonight Show, nor did he want to affect Jimmy Fallon or Carson Daly. You don't see Conan trying to reclaim Late Night.

And kudos to Kelly for being to only other person who seems to realize the ratings correlation.

February 08 2010 at 1:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joyce N.

Jay will be back no matter how much sniveling you do and lots of us will be there watching him make the Tonight Show funny again. There are millions of us who read all the stories and see what the real facts are no matter how you twist them. Jay will not only survive, but his #1 ratings will come back.

Let's wait and see what happens with Conan. Hopefully all of you Conanites will find your remotes and watch him this time. I'm guessing Leno fans will continue to be the more loyal ones.

February 04 2010 at 5:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Joyce N.'s comment
intheyear2000

Do you know ANYTHING about how television ratings work?

February 08 2010 at 1:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
maggie

Conan is the greatest. He needs a New York crowd! He is funnier and brighter than Jay.

February 04 2010 at 6:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
C C RYDER 39

I WORK 8 HRS =I SLEEP 8 HRS =THAT LEAVES ME 8 HRS OF FUN =I WOULDN,T WASTE ANY OF THESE LATE NITE CLOWNS

February 04 2010 at 4:19 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
justmeok

NBC SUCKS! They rid themselves of the great shows for cheap reality crap and Leno! He ruined the primetime evenings and couldn't hack it because......drum roll......HE ISN"T FUNNY!!! He insisted on his own show and NBC kissed his big cry baby butt! His show tanked and he took away a job that Conan was offered and moved his life and family to another state across the country to host.
Leno is a washed up, tired, non-funny, cry baby. They cancelled Trauma, they cancelled Southland and they had to sell off Friday Night Lights first rights to another station. I don't watch NBC anymore. No one should. Maybe then....they would just go away.

February 04 2010 at 4:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to justmeok's comment
rebalol

You have no idea what you are talking about. Jay was given the 10 pm show becasue NBC knew they had screwed up and they didn't want him to go to another network and take even more of the ratings that Conan couldn't hold. Everyone talks about it's Jay's fault that Conan failed. Give me a break...Conan had a head start on Jay and he was losing big time. And you people act like we don't have remotes now...it's not like it was 30 years ago...how many people channel surf? Do you watch the same channel all night long? BS!

And BTW, Friday Night Lights was "cancelled" long before this debacle. Directv stepped up and offered to share the show - it shows there first but it will be back on NBC later in the spring, just like it did last year! And Trauma was cancelled becasue it couldn't hold ratings but that had nothing to do with Jay since it's been on this same tv season. As for Southland, you'll find it on TNT, a station that is owned by the same corporation that owns NBC!

February 04 2010 at 5:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rebalol

One more thing. Everyone is complaining about poor Conan having to move across country. Awwe, poor baby. You know he kept his homes in NY and NBC paid to move him and all his staff! That's the way it works!!

But let's look at this situation another way.

You have a job that you are excelling at but your boss comes and says the guy beneath you wants your job so he can have it in 5 years. You don't like it but what can you do...his is your boss, after all. Time comes for you to go but your boss decides that you are a valuable employee and he doesn't really want to lose you so he offers you a new job...different floor, different office but still a job with the same company. You take it...they are offering you good money, you don't have to job hunt, etc.
The new guy takes over YOUR job and he fails...he loses 50% of the revenue you were producing and he just can't cut it like you could. It's been 7 months, much longer than the normal 90 days that happens in the real world..they try to compromise with the new guy who took over your job but he says no, I dont' want to, I want it my way. So they say okay, bye, to the new guy but they pay him a hell of a lot of $$ to go and they ask you to take back over your old job where you were successful and that you loved.

WOULD YOU TURN IT DOWN????

February 04 2010 at 6:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Scott

Conan failed 1st because Jay failed at 10pm. Leno had a lead in to the local news of great programming. Leno's numbers at 10pm were atrocious, and complained about from every local NBC news affiliate accross the country. The 2nd handicap O'Brien had to deal with was you now had two host's on the same network, in the same market, trying to book guests. And that doesn't include the lesser host's like Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Fergeson, Carson Daily and George Lopez.

February 04 2010 at 3:15 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike Q

I'll never watch conan. Couldn't stand him in the past and can't stand him now!

February 04 2010 at 3:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marco19

Since it appears that most of you are not smart enough to understand what people are saying. People are saying that they are looking forward to seeing Jay fail again is because his 10PM show failed. Regardless if he left the Tonight Show at number one, he was far from number one at 10PM and in my opinion, it's hard for Conan to build up a good fan base when his show is preceded by some sucky show!

I think that Jay will not do as well as he once did because in doing this to Conan he has lost some fans and potential future viewers. I personally don't care for Jay Leno anymore after what he did and I have a difficult time thinking about watching that show now because of all of the drama that has been caused--by him--during this whole ordeal.b

February 04 2010 at 3:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Marco19's comment
Todd LeBaron

It wasn';t Jay that did this to Conan...it was NBC that screwed EVERYTHING up. They had two late night shows that were doing just fine until they steped in and moved everything around. Jay asked them TWICE to let him out of his contract. they said no both times and gave him the 10pm slot, thinking it would work. When Conan's numbers slid by HALF, all anyone was talking about was Jay's 14% slide in the ratings. Don't you get it at all? NBC screwed up. Zucker is the one that needs to go. I'll be glad to see Jay at v11:35 again and I hope Fox makes an offer to Conan where he can really be as edgy and crazy as he wants to be. That'd be a perfect fit for his show. But as long as you feel it was all jay's fault, he doesn't need viewers like YOU.

February 04 2010 at 8:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
italo babini

OUR COUNTRY APPEARS SUFFERING FROM A SHORT SUPLY OF INTELLIGENTE AND CULTURED MINDS>HOW CAN ANY ONE WASTE SUCH TIME WATCHING THESE IMBECILIC AND MEDIOCRE LATE SHOWS ??With a few exeptions they are NOT FUNNY, they offer NOTHING EXEPT TRASH, AND TO THINK THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO PAYS TO SEE THESE MONSTRUOSITIES>>GOD HELP OUR COUTRY FAST.

February 04 2010 at 2:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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