Commenter on DATELINE.com re Jay Leno.

It's another deja vu moment as Jay Leno is being persuaded to step away from THE TONIGHT SHOW to make room for a younger successor.  My prediction is that NBCUniversal will make another attempt to pacify Jay--maybe by offering him a late-night JAY LENO SHOW on the USA cable network.

Turning the floor over to commenter "ed" who said this on the Deadline.com site:
Leno knows his time is almost up, and he doesn’t care what he says about NBC at this point. And I’ve come to understand that the feeling is mutual from the new NBC brass. I once read a statement from Comcast CEO Brian Roberts that had he been running the show in January 2010, he would have paid Leno off and let Conan keep hosting the Tonight Show. Now they’ve got to deal with either putting Jimmy Fallon on at 11:30, which really, he’s still somewhat green to the whole thing. Or they’ll have to take a big risk and find someone completely fresh; new blood entirely. Conan at least was well tested for a good sixteen years as a late night host, and they could have avoided that entire mess (which in my opinion, completely tainted the legacy of the Tonight Show).
And say what you want on who you think sucks, or who’s really funny (it’s all a matter of opinion), but Leno has only himself to blame. Had he gone quietly into the night in 2009, like he was supposed to; now he’s going to be making a big stink about NBC firing him yet again. The guy can’t take a hint… The Tonight Show is NOT HIS SHOW. He had no problem forcing Johnny Carson into an early retirement or stealing it from Letterman, then pissing on Conan’s parade. He deserves to get his ass kicked to the curb. And when he does, he sure as hell better not have some big goodbye finale when the time comes. He already had that once. No one feels sorry for you Jay.
I encourage everyone to read Bill Carter’s books ‘The Late Shift’ and ‘The War for Late Night.’ Form your own opinions, but Leno is an absolute assbag of a human being. Why wouldn’t Johnny Carson ever do The Tonight Show after he took over? He certainly had no problem appearing on Letterman and writing the occasional jokes for him. Get the hint Jay, even Carson thought you were a douche-bag. Howard Stern is completely right about him, he’s egomaniacal and has absolutely no morals or consideration for his peers. At least the sharks and backstabbers in Hollywood are honest about what they do. Leno blames everyone else, and acts all Bart Simpson all the time… “I didn’t do it.”

Suggesting possible series that CNN head Jeff Zucker might consider

http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/jeff-zuckers-first-memo-to-cnn-staff/ …

Jeff Zucker's NBC career spanned the heights of the Matt-and-Katie era of THE TODAY SHOW to the depths of THE JAY LENO SHOW/throwing Conan O'Brien into the Siberia of basic cable.

Given that CNN pre-Zucker was planning to manage for margins by giving series deals to edgy gourmand Anthony Bourdain and pop-documentarian Morgan Spurlock, one can easily imagine the kind of programming that Jeff might greenlight:
WHERE ON WALL STREET IS ERIN BURNETT?
PARKER BLITZER (teaming conservative columnist Kathleen Parker with Wolf Blitzer)
WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS IN AFGHANISTAN WITH LARA LOGAN
THE KATIE COURIC INTERVIEWS (goodbye, Piers Morgan)
and, of course,
THE NEW JAY LENO SHOW.

Full Mitt Romney Fundraiser Video Part 2

JAY LENO (inspired by The Beach Boys' Johnny Carson)

Doubting we've seen the last of Rick Perry as Presidential candidate.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/rick-perry-commits-suicide-on-stage-at-debate.html

Perhaps Rick Perry may be both pundit toast and even voter toast after last night's GOP debate performance.

But I'm guessing Perry will go on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO and do his best to humorously spin lead into at least brass--making himself safe for 2016.

This reminds me of a Democrat who gaffed by making a too-long convention speech in 1988, appeared on Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW and ran for President in 1992.

The Democrat's name was Bill Clinton.

[UPDATE 11/11/11] I was wrong; Perry appeared on LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN--now, by default, Dave's the new Johnny Carson and will probably stay a few years past Carson's retirement age.

Kate Walsh, Lady Gaga and a distant memory.

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/09/17/kate-walshs-sushi-dress-homage-to-lady-gaga/

Although Kate Walsh's hauteur can be fun in small doses (I'll forget about her apparent support of the actor-producers in the last SAG/AMPTP contract negotiation for now), the "sushi dress" gag on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO stirs up distant memories of the late Bert Convy making fun of Joe Cocker on a long-ago CBS game show (TATTLETALES, perhaps?) in the 70s.

In essence, mainstream showbiz choosing not to get real artistry.

A wreath on the grave of THE JAY LENO SHOW.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jay_Leno_Show

Two notes to add to the Wikipedia article:
1. I'm assuming that David Letterman was possessed by a malign form of glee in proposing the Super Bowl commercial for LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN to Jay Leno--knowing that Leno's shaky hold on a "good guy" persona would take a further hit with a "can't laugh at
myself" turndown.

2. Last week, Bill Maher made his final guest appearance on THE JAY LENO SHOW.
When Maher brought up the topic of Jay's "vulnerability" (see Note #1),
Leno cut Maher off and rushed to a commercial break.

One final prediction: The Jay/Dave ratings war may be a bit more unpredictable from March onwards. Yes, Leno will be Number One some nights--and Letterman will beat him on other occasions.

And more than a few of us will opt for Coco if he finds himself on Fox or Comedy Central.

Letting Vic Richie have the last word on the Jay/Conan talk-show turf-fest.

Take a look at Nikki Finke's DEADLINE story from Thursday about NBC plotting to move Jay Leno back to 11:35 p.m. and Conan O'Brien to 12:05 a.m.
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood

And scroll down quite a long way in the Comments section to read what Vic Richie says about the whole mess.

Paraphrasing Vic: He's quite right to complain about overpaid execs who make stupid, shortsighted decisions and then go home to their elegant big houses (which they're not likely to lose).

Except he says it so much better than I (or a hundred other legitimate TV "critics") can.

Tiger Woods--when private becomes public.

Awhile back (think it might have been on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT), Kevin Bacon said something like: "My private life is none of America's business."

But then again, he's merely a well-paid actor and not a supremely-well-paid, taught-by-dad-to-be-golf-machine-more-than-actual-person athlete like Tiger Woods.

It looks like Tiger successfully put a lid on conjecture about what exactly happened re the late-night SUV accident.

But the leak of a voicemail message allegedly by Tiger to one of his alleged mistresses (of the "my wife's looking for evidence I'm seeing other people" variety) seems to have prompted little more than a crisis-management-shaped "apology" on the Tiger Woods website.

It may be time for Tiger to speak actual human sentences instead of save-my-commercial-endorsements-make-it-go-away-euphemisms; i.e. be honest with his fans in order to redirect public attention towards more pertinent matters (i.e. the escalation of the Afghanistan War).

Jay Leno needs ratings. Perhaps it's time for Tiger to endure Jay hauling out his old "What the hell were you thinking?" line once more. [Rumors are that Tiger will do the mea culpa thing for Oprah.]

[UPDATE: 12/9/09--Here's an article about Tiger's alleged marriage counseling: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/tiger-woods-tries-intensive-therapy-to-save-marriage/19269773]

THE JAY LENO SHOW: insert your punchline here.

At this point, I'm wondering if NBCUniversal still thinks the continuing spectacle of THE JAY LENO SHOW (which now seems so hamstrung due to apparent restrictions on booking guests, it's turning to members of the George Butch Jr. family and the lame-duck California Governator) is worth the effort because it keeps Leno from being a competitive late-night force on some other network.

A modest proposal: do away with guests altogether and cut the show to a half-hour--giving network affiliates some slight relief and an earlier start on late news.

This way, Jay can merely do his monologue--plus all the hoary, fan-pleasing old bits (Jaywalking, Headlines, etc.). And maybe someone at NBCUniversal can strongly insist that he dump the sour "smirking about being gay" schtick that seems left over from, say, the latter years of THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW--yes, that may mean getting rid of the demeaning, ridiculously stereotyped "Ross The Intern."

Or, if NBCUniversal really wanted to save money, they can turn the new soundstage over to another tenant and just tape Jay doing his Sunday evening joke tryouts at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. Five half-hour timeslots filled just like that.

[UPDATE 11/9/09: A better proposal might be to move Conan O'Brien to 10:00 (where his younger-skewing demographic may be more compatible with some of NBC's primetime lineup) and call Conan's show EARLY TONIGHT. This can allow Jay to return to 11:35 and keep doing the same old stuff; it could even be rebranded as TONIGHT SHOW CLASSIC.]

NBC's Ben Silverman steps down.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006519.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/07/the-long-wait-is-over-ben-silverman-finally-out-at-nbc.html

Ben Silverman, as NBC exec and Reveille majordomo, will probably be best known for making the American version of THE OFFICE a reality. Otherwise, Silverman's track record is mixed, with a lot of aim-really-low reality-show junk on his watch.

And, with the 10-11 p.m. hour ceded to the low-cost THE JAY LENO SHOW, it will be interesting to watch the results of NBC's prime time schedule for 09/10.

Post-mortem for Jay Leno's TONIGHT SHOW tenure.

It's been a long time since 1991-92--a period immortalized in Bill Carter's THE LATE SHOW. Jay Leno, with the aid of Helen Kushnick (his then-manager), received NBC's blessing to host THE TONIGHT SHOW over the shattered ego of perceived successor David Letterman.

Leno started his tenure wanting to retain a few facets of the Smart Comic persona on display through his 80s career (most notably when he was a favored guest on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN). Smart Comic Paula Poundstone was a semi-regular and Leno, desiring some continuity with the Johnny Carson-era jazz-based TONIGHT SHOW band, anointed Branford Marsalis as bandleader. And authors were even welcome on the show.

But Leno eventually decided to dumb down. Marsalis was shown the door and guitarist Kevin Eubanks took the bandleader job--no more of that alienating jazz stuff. Leno asked Hugh Grant "what the hell were you thinking" re a prostitution encounter--and THE TONIGHT SHOW's ratings soared ahead of Letterman's on CBS. And there was the hand-over-handshaking with young front-row fans. Not to mention the increasing coarseness of the jokes, with only occasional flickers of the Smart Comic Leno of old--like a lightbulb filament just before burning out.

Now, Leno gets to continue a prime-time version of his show in a 10:00 p.m. nightslot Monday-Friday. Conan O'Brien will now get the "is he too smart for 11:35" treatment that Letterman received upon moving to CBS in 1993.

And one of the last commercials on the last episode of the Jay Leno TONIGHT SHOW was a thinly-veiled plea for viewers to buy General Electric stock in these less-than-robust economic times.

When movie actors declare they're quitting movies.

From what I've been reading, Casey Affleck and allegedly-retiring-from-acting Joaquin Phoenix are filming a Sacha Baron Cohen/Andy Kaufman put-on documentary that includes, among other things, Phoenix' less-than-acclaimed Las Vegas debut as a hip-hop artist. And apparently towards that end, Phoenix appeared on LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN last night to plug his allegedly-final film TWO LOVERS: http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/02/why_did_he_come.php

The appearance (or at least the clips I watched on THE VIEW this morning) contained a giant dollop of bored, monotonal "I hate doing talk shows" attitude a la Kristen Stewart's drop-by on LETTERMAN to plug TWILIGHT (which can be found here at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVjoXMJ7j3E).

And, since the media attention span is quite small, no one recalls Phoenix's discomfort on THE TONIGHT SHOW in 2000 around the release of GLADIATOR--and the peevish response from Jay Leno. No documentary film crew on the set then.

About a decade ago, Liam Neeson (suffering burnout from doing back-to-back escapist, CGI-dependent fare such as STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE and the now semi-forgotten remake of THE HAUNTING) made similar threats to retire from film acting.

Thankfully, Neeson changed his mind (and may be on the verge of giving a potential career-highpoint performance as Abraham Lincoln for Steven Spielberg). And maybe Phoenix, after a year or two away from the inanities of mainstream show business, will consider doing the same.

Jay Leno going to prime time: everything old is new again.

Jay Leno, who will now get to take his play-down-to-the-proles version of THE TONIGHT SHOW to prime time, isn't the first host of the show to score a prime-time gig on NBC. Both Steve Allen and Jack Paar went the same route in the 50s and 60s--and if I recall correctly, Paar's prime-time show was much the same as his late-night one.

But neither Parr nor Allen were asked to do an hour show for five nights a week in prime time.

Obviously, Ben Silverman (who for every OFFICE or 30 ROCK comes up with nongenius ideas for "edgy" retoolings of KNIGHT RIDER and THE BIONIC WOMAN) isn't going to walk the plank. So, one can expect NBC to gut their prime-time schedule as much as possible (even past the 16 hours remaining when Leno debuts next year) with more superstupid reality shows and extra helpings of DATELINE NBC.

Perhaps the silver lining in this cloud will be possessed by Conan O'Brien. Free of the spectre of Jay being direct competition on either Fox or ABC, maybe Conan can develop an 11:35 p.m. talk show that can be truly Conanesque [i.e. incorporate more of the LATE NIGHT WITH...show than he thought possible, say, a week ago] and move the tired late-night format into a new era.

At least until Viacom sends David Letterman to early retirement and likely blesses Jon Stewart with the CBS 11:35 p.m. slot.