|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
NBC just called a press conference for Monday concerning "Late Night." Presumbly it's the formal announcement of the plan to have Jimmy Fallon of "SNL" replace Conan O'Brien when Conan takes over for Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show." The only problem for NBC is grumbling from the Leno camp that maybe he doesn't want to go - or that he'll be happy to start a show on ABC or Fox once he leaves.
Conan O'Brien had both Larry The Cable Guy and "Project Runway" host Tim Gunn on set at the same time last night, and Tim was absolutely charming. First he complimented Larry on "owning his look" and then talked to Conan about fashion and how to dress, praising age-appropriate clothing and dissing the "grandma Jezebels" who dress like teens. He also insulted Hillary Clinton's look, which was kind of irritating: Yes, she dresses conservatively, but if you recall, she got insulted in the tabloids for weeks when she wore an outfit that suggested she had breasts. Finally, Conan brought out a photo of George W. Bush wearing shorts, Crocs, and socks with the presidential seal on them. That really set poor Tim Gunn off.
How many bad jokes have you heard so far about Conan getting stalked by some priest? Bostonist probably has the best coverage of the story, since both figures are from the area. The story is that this guy, like Conan, went to Harvard. And that he's allegedly sent a bunch of creepy and semi-threatening letters to Conan. And that he got nabbed trying to get into a taping of Conan's show. Oops.
The Boston angle of course is that the Archdiocese still hasn't managed to figure out how to handle a scandal. You'd think that after last time, they'd have procedures in place for dealing with unstable employees who get in trouble with the law. Apparently not.
Looks like NBC might be walking into a "Tonight Show" buzz saw for the second time. NBC honcho Jeff Zucker insisted Monday in New York that Jay Leno is going to leave the late-night institution in 2009 as planned, making way for Conan O'Brien to take over the desk. But he spoke out because Leno hasn't. Leno has maintained radio silence since an L.A. Times report a couple of weeks ago claiming that he doesn't want to leave after all. Sources told the Times that Leno has changed his mind and feels NBC twisted his arm to make the deal a couple of years ago. And Leno didn't deny it after the Times story ran; he didn't say anything at all.
So if this deal falls apart, there are two scenarios. One, Leno stays and Conan goes free from NBC with a lovely parting gift of a reported $40 million penalty payment from the network. Or two, Leno goes, and Conan takes over "Tonight," but ratings king Leno is free to take his act to ABC or Fox. Either scenario would be a nightmare for NBC executives who thought they'd managed their way into an orderly transition unlike the Leno-Letterman nightmare of the early 1990s.
With David Letterman likely to retire from his CBS perch sometime in the next decade, NBC had to be thinking about sewing up late-night with the next generation of viewers with Conan at 11:30 and someone like Jon Stewart in Conan's current 12:30 slot. Zucker says he's hoping to convince Leno, a notorious workaholic, to become a primetime player, but that presumably would not involve a nightly show. But if Leno is pissed - and he may have been quietly carrying a chip since NBC almost dumped him for critical favorite Letterman all those years ago - then NBC could be watching one of its two late-night stars on another network before the end of the decade. And for the peacock that would be bad news indeed.
