Leno leaves for ABC

Jeremy Lin

Banned
In the fall of 2009, Jay Leno's show at 10 pm was a complete disaster and was on the way to getting cancelled. Meanwhile Conan O'Brien was not doing so hot taking over the Tonight Show, getting clobbered in the ratings nightly by Letterman. NBC CEO Jeff Zucker ultimately decided on a convaluted formula that would move Leno's show to 11:35 PM and have The Tonight Show start at midnight. However there were many high ranking execs who were just as adamant about paying off Leno and pulling the plug on his show. Ultimately Conan decided The Tonight Show would have no meaning if it started the next day so he left for TBS. But what if Leno had been the one to leave, could he have bounced back on another network, say FOX or ABC? and if Conan's numbers continued to slide who ends up replacing him?
 
Conan's numbers slid because Leno was a shitty lead in. Bad lead in=bad ratings. Leno remaining also stole Conan's thunder, which was another problem.

Leno won't bow out. He's a succubus. He stole the Tonight Show the first time from Carson and Letterman through the most devious tactics, and pulled the same things on Conan years and years later. They'd have to force him out, like they should have done to begin with. Don't offer him a show. Tell him to go somewhere else.
 

Jeremy Lin

Banned
Then who wins a 3 headed matchup of Leno at ABC, Letterman at CBS and Conan at NBC? And my memory is bit foggy but wasn't Leno always the favorite to get The Tonight Show after Carson?
 
Then who wins a 3 headed matchup of Leno at ABC, Letterman at CBS and Conan at NBC? And my memory is bit foggy but wasn't Leno always the favorite to get The Tonight Show after Carson?

In a 3-way match up with Conan as host of the Tonight Show, I think Letterman wins in a squeaker against Leno. Letterman gets his usual audience, Conan gets his loyal viewers and pulls some old Leno viewers who are just used to watching the Tonight Show after their local news, and the loyal Leno viewers jump to his new show.

As for the back story of Leno/Letterman and the Tonight Show, there's a book and movie that detail what happened. Leno became the regular guest host for Carson near the end of his run. Letterman and Carson were friends, and Dave was considered the next in line for the job. The bosses were worried that Leno was more popular than Letterman, and he would get a show on another network that could beat them in the ratings. So they went with Leno, and thought they could match any other networks offer on Letterman to keep him at 12:35 am. CBS put in a clause in Letterman's contract that would pay out some ridiculous bonus if he didn't have a show before midnight. NBC couldn't afford it so they let Dave go.
 
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