Jay Leno moving back to the Tonight Show?

[Sylph]

Yes, yes, of course. I forgot to put agreed in quotation marks. It was really all so stupid and I was always whenever I read something about the situation.

Such signature Zucker decision, there are no words really.

[Juliajms]

I wonder. People can be very fickle and have short memories. I don't even know why I care about this since I haven't watched late night TV in ages. Still this situation has rubbed me the wrong way and I'm wishing Leno all the worst as I have since he moved into the 10pm slot.

[Juliajms]

IA. It's obvious in hindsight that they should have made Conan wait and if he wouldn't wait, than so be it. But as things stand now, I'm on team Conan.

[JaneAusten]

This is the problem with conglomeration. If NBC was still its own company, shareholders would be revolting after the effects of the last few years and calling for Zucker’s head. Because NBC is a part of GE, it is insulated from market pressures since GE’s problems are manifold.

Zucker is a fool making a short term move to increase the value of NBC in the short run to make GE more money in its sales to Comcast, while detroying the long-term brand value of the company by diluting its future ratings (what will happen when Jay retires?). This is AOL-Time warner on a smaller scale.

Screw all these short-sighted executives. They keep destroying the economy with their stupidity.

[Sylph]

I'm hoping this really is a temporary situation for Comcast. Just until they find someone else. However, I'm not getting my hopes up that high — I was expecting them to sack him right away. Look what happened.

[Sylph]

But wait. It wasn't his decision to sell. But he did contribute to the sale being inevitable with his stupid decisions. The GE people are also to blame for keeping Zucker.

[JaneAusten]

And mark my words, he'll end up somewhere else. I read an article about Zucker's reign of terror and how all the affiliates predicted this would happen years back when Zucker was promoted.

[Toups]

NBC is denying TMZ's report: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia62d19a7acb838db6035b952fde09415

I'm just gonna wait until Nikki Finke's report.

[DRW50]

Yes, we hear the media say it doesn't matter, because other parts of the NBC family, like USA, are doing well, but this type of blunder is still pathetic and easily avoidable, and for all the "no such thing as bad publicity," I think this makes NBC look awful and just reinforces for viewers that they cannot ever trust NBC to do anything right.

I do agree with you, julijams, that Leno's ratings will probably have a good increase over Conan when he goes back to the Tonight Show. He's just an easy option for a lot of people. I just hope we aren't going to see the media and the pseudo-journalists at places like Time or EW say gee, look, it worked out all along.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Both Leno and NBC look so bad in this situation, Conan comes off as the wronged party.

This is a PR disaster for NBC and Leno, and I doubt Leno will be able to recover his audience if he goes back to being the host of The Tonight Show. But it might be higher than Conan's ratings.

NBC needs to stop screwing itself over, that network and Zucker are just really pathetic.

[Sylph]

1. What doesn't matter?

2. Jay/Conan mess?

What? Jay back at The Tonight Show?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Leno has always rubbed me the wrong way, I don't care with how many staff members Letterman bangs, he's always been funnier to me, and apparently to Johnny Carson as well.

Though, there's something more welcoming about Leno, I guess, he seems to have a wider appeal than his competitors.

[Sylph]

I think what people hate about Leno is this fishy/opportunistic, faithful servant thing who always tries to suck up to the higher ups. And that's why people are transferring a lot of blame on him even though all he did was do as he was told, follow orders. Which is, of course, a lot (of wrong stuff to do).

[Sylph]

And if I'm wrong, and also if I'm not, tell me what else rubbed you the wrong way about Leno here (and elsewhere)?

[Toups]

Latest Ratings: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/14/conan-obrien-and-jimmy-fallon-top-all-cable-and-broadcast-competition-in-18-49-viewers-for-the-week-of-jan-4-8/38961

For the week Jan 4-8:

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m. ET

NBC “Tonight,” 1.0 rating, 4 share

CBS “Late Show,” 0.9/3

ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m. ET

NBC “Tonight,” 2.5 million viewers

CBS “Late Show,” 4.0 million viewers

ABC “Nightline,” 3.7 million viewers

SEASON TO DATE

ADULTS 18-49

11:35 p.m. ET

NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 1.0/4 CBS “Late Show,” 1.0/4 ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m. ET

NBC “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” 2.5 million viewers CBS “Late Show,” 4.2 million viewers ABC “Nightline,” 4.0 million viewers