It’s not enough to talk politics at the office. We have to talk about late night talk show hosts, too.
I’m old enough to have watched Johnny Carson, and I remember how poorly NBC treated David Letterman in 1993. Now that Jay Leno is nearing the end of his contract, NBC is giving him the bum rush and paving the way for the future: Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon.
I’m all for succession planning and talent development, but if I were Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon, I’d watch my back. Corporate America is tough, and NBC — which is owned by GE — is known for managing employees like commodities.
I thought David Letterman’s observations on the situation at NBC was classy and honest.
- “Unless I’m misunderstanding something, I don’t know why, after the job Jay has done for them, why they would relinquish that,” the CBS Late Show host, 61, tells Rolling Stone in excerpts made available to the Associated Press and The New York Times.”I guess they thought it was a less messy way to handle what happened to me at NBC. I don’t know.”
Asked what he feels for the 58-year-old Leno
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Conan O’Brien? Eww. Well, NBC will get what it deserves, and hasn’t Letterman been laughing at them ever since?
I don’t mind seeing Conan as the Tonight Show host, but it’s going to be hard to reach a broad audience with his his style of comedy, although it’s very funny. Jimmy Fallon will be a walking nightmare if he continues to laugh on camera for 5 minutes.
After Brandon Tartikoff left the NBC, the network was never the same again and now they’re the network who thought Knight Rider the Series will be a hit. Fools.
@almost I think Jay beats Dave in the ratings, but I think Dave has a more loyal audience. I love Jimmy Fallon and Conan is fine, but I think NBC needs to rethink its talent management process.
@tracy I love that IN THE YEAR 2000 will get a bigger audience. Jimmy Fallon was a great anchor on SNL because of Tina Fey, so it will be interesting to see him go solo. Also, you are right about Tartikoff.