O'Brien out, Leno back in?

[ALF]

NBC's plan for emerging from the Late Night Show War:

“The two weeks the Olympics are on are going to be a cleansing moment for NBC.”​

The 2010 Winter Olympics: One enormous colon blow for NBC.

So they say. I can only speak for myself, but long after the olympics are over I'll be noticing Conan still isn't on TV (new shows, anyway).

Read as:
"NBC hopes people will forget the assfucking of a three ring circus that took place between comedy hosts for two weeks while the olympics are on."

After all, everyone forgets everything after two weeks, right?

 

[Squiggy]

Let's hope Dave keeps the torch burning long after it's been extinguished in Vancouver.

"Do you think your image is starting to get tarnished because of this whole war?" a reporter asked.
"You know what's good for tarnish? A mixture of vinegar and ammonia," Leno cracked.

God damn you Jay Leno.

 

[T'Baio]

Jay Leno opened up about his relationship with Conan O'Brien, speaking out to reporters for the first time since O'Brien's big Tonight Show finale.

"Do you think your image is starting to get tarnished because of this whole war?" a reporter asked.
"You know what's good for tarnish? A mixture of vinegar and ammonia," Leno cracked. He did say he hoped he and O'Brien are still friends.

The funnyman seemed unscathed by the hard-fought late night wars, grinning and cracking jokes as he strode into a comedy club where he was performing stand-up.

See, two things wrong with this article.

First, they refer to Leno as a "funnyman."

Two, they say he strode into a comedy club to perform stand up. Don't they mean "strode into a comedy club to steal from performing stand ups?"

 

[cardinal biggles]

^You're funnier than Jay Leno. NBC should give YOU The Tonight Show.

 

[JacksonArcher]

So in a weird bit of news Conan O'Brien is back in business with NBC but not in the way you would expect. They just picked up his one-hour pilot entitled Justice, in which he will executive produce under his production company, Conaco.

The untitled project, known as "Justice," was written by John Eisendrath and is a new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center. It follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the Court to start his own legal practice.

The premise sounds vaguely familiar. And how much do you wanna bet this show might take place during the 10pm timeslot now vacant thanks to the cancellation of The Jay Leno Show? Ah, the irony.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=62717

 

[Squiggy]

^You're funnier than Jay Leno. NBC should give YOU The Tonight Show.

Why? Leno would just take it back after a few months.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Hell, most of us are funnier than Leno. They can just rotate through various TrekBBS members on seven-month stints. By the time they've blown through all of us, Leno will hopefully be so old he'll have given up.

 

[Snaploud]

The untitled project, known as "Justice," was written by John Eisendrath and is a new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center. It follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the Court to start his own legal practice.

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

 

[FreezeC77]

The untitled project, known as "Justice," was written by John Eisendrath and is a new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center. It follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the Court to start his own legal practice.

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

 

[John Picard]

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

Burnout, desire for a change, no desire for a lifetime appointment -- people are different and all have different desires in life.

 

[Timby]

This entire situation could have been avoided if NBC had grown a spine last year, and when Leno started making noise about going to another network, said, "Cool, see you later."

I really don't see Jay landing at any other network had he done that, which is probably why he did whatever he had to do to stay at NBC. ABC has already said they're happy with what they have. CBS isn't going to touch Letterman. FOX? Jay doesn't fit and the execs wouldn't have messed with their affiliates for him.

Oh, really?

 

[ManOnTheWave]

^You're funnier than Jay Leno. NBC should give YOU The Tonight Show.

Why? Leno would just take it back after a few months.

 

[Squiggy]

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

Burnout, desire for a change, no desire for a lifetime appointment -- people are different and all have different desires in life.

There's a twist. The Justice then takes his old job back and causes nothing but misery.

 

[Checkmate]

This entire situation could have been avoided if NBC had grown a spine last year, and when Leno started making noise about going to another network, said, "Cool, see you later."

I really don't see Jay landing at any other network had he done that, which is probably why he did whatever he had to do to stay at NBC. ABC has already said they're happy with what they have. CBS isn't going to touch Letterman. FOX? Jay doesn't fit and the execs wouldn't have messed with their affiliates for him.

Oh, really?

It's always neat to see how people change their stories after the fact. Funny how that was never the excuse until after this decable, huh? Spin doctoring to the rescue! (With people like Timby eating it up wholesale!)

 

[JacksonArcher]

I really don't see Jay landing at any other network had he done that, which is probably why he did whatever he had to do to stay at NBC. ABC has already said they're happy with what they have. CBS isn't going to touch Letterman. FOX? Jay doesn't fit and the execs wouldn't have messed with their affiliates for him.

Oh, really?

It's always neat to see how people change their stories after the fact. Funny how that was never the excuse until after this decable, huh? Spin doctoring to the rescue! (With people like Timby eating it up wholesale!)

The fact that NBC didn't want to lose Leno has been known for a long while. This isn't anything new.

 

[Snaploud]

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

Even a Supreme Court dissenting opinion can have a huge influence on the future... It would be one thing if he changed professions, but it makes zero sense to start a law practice after resigning from the Supreme Court. It's like resigning as president to run for congress. It doesn't make sense.

 

[Sci]

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

Even a Supreme Court dissenting opinion can have a huge influence on the future... It would be one thing if he changed professions, but it makes zero sense to start a law practice after resigning from the Supreme Court. It's like resigning as president to run for congress. It doesn't make sense.

What if it just makes him happier?

 

[TemporalFlux]

I get the "Ed" vibe from this "Justice" idea. However, I think it's a mistake to think that "Justice" is going to be a totally serious drama.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Seriously...? What idiot would give up a Supreme Court position to start a legal practice?

I wondered that as well. My only guess would be some hugely controversial case goes before the Supreme Court and because of the court being slanted too much to the right/left it goes the opposite way he wants so he quits the Supreme Court over it.

Even a Supreme Court dissenting opinion can have a huge influence on the future... It would be one thing if he changed professions, but it makes zero sense to start a law practice after resigning from the Supreme Court. It's like resigning as president to run for congress. It doesn't make sense.

I think that's going to be a part of the humor and the general approach to the show. After all, the description did say that the main character was going to be "larger-than-life".

 

[CoveTom]

The fact that NBC didn't want to lose Leno has been known for a long while. This isn't anything new.

NBC preferred to lose Conan over losing Leno for two simple reasons:

* Leno's Tonight Show got better ratings than Conan's.
* Leno's payout for leaving was much higher than Conan's.

Now, we can argue all day about the reason Leno got better ratings. And alot of the arguments that have been presented about how the deck was stacked against Conan's ratings are quite valid. But programming execs don't care. They just look at the numbers and nothing else.

With higher ratings and a much higher payout if they let him go, it was a no-brainer that NBC would opt to keep Leno. What's amazing is that they made such a public debacle of it.