Due to some technical difficulties, it's a tripleheader weekend of posts here at The mj15 Blog, featuring the final two inductees into the site's inaugural Hall of Fame class and this week's installment of "End of the Week". First up, we're honoring our fourth and second to last inductee of the Hall of Fame class. Ladies and gentleman, I give you...The "Tonight Show" conflict back in January 2010.
You knew what was the weirdest thing about all of this? All of that madness back in January last only a short time, nearly fifteen days. That's all it took for all of this to take place. From the moment it was first rumored that NBC wanted to move "The Jay Leno Show" back to 10:35 p.m. and "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" to 11:05 p.m. to Conan saying farewell to television (at least until November) by playing Lynryd Skynyrd's lengthened version of "Free Bird" with his band, ZZ Top, Will Ferell and a few others, fifteen days. But as we saw, fifteen days was all we to give us the biggest must-see moment in late night TV history since the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert-Conan O'Brien "fight" during the '07-'08 writers strike as well as one of the year's most talked about stories of the year. Consider the following:
1. Besides Leno and O'Brien, almost all late night comedy shows and hosts in America had some involvement in the situation. Jimmy Kimmel used the opportunity to spend an entire show impersonating Jay Leno, then (as a follow up) going on "The Jay Leno Show"'s "10 on 10" segment to personally mock Leno while bashing the show and him for what he was doing. Jimmy Fallon, following each of Conan's show on "Late Night," played the conservative rout and followed Conan's very last show by singing "It's Hard to Say Goodbye" where Conan's stint on"Late Night" was taped. Craig Ferguson used it to express disgust in the whole situation. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and "Saturday Night Live" among others also were involved.
Yet no one had more of an opinion on the topic than David Letterman. Every night during those two weeks, he used it to bash Leno and NBC for the whole situation while showing his support to O'Brien. Like Conan, Letterman was also pushed out of "The Tonight Show" hosting gig by Leno way back in 1992, and he used all that anger for this situation. So it wasn't just an issue discussed on two late night talk show, but EVERY late night talk show.
2. Conan O'Brien's final show was watched by 10.3 million and earned a 7.0 rating. Not only was this one of the highest late night show ratings all year, but it was also better ratings than any primetime programming that night and the night before. This is really ironic, considering that the show's low ratings was the reason this whole controversy began.
3. Was heavily influenced in me deciding two "Person of the Week" winners, one "Story of the Week," one "Video of the Week," and three awards in January 2010's "End of the Month."
4. This story, along with the earthquake in Haiti, were arguably the biggest story in January. Every major news network and TV station across the country reported the event. Nationally televised morning shows like "The Today Show" and "Good Morn ing America" had it as one of their top stories. It was one of Twitter's hottest topics. Basically, you couldn't go a day without hearing or reading at least one update on the story.
5. It made people so enraged at NBC and Jay Leno that fans and supporters of Conan O'Brien actually had rallies across the country from cities like Chicago, LA and even New York to show their support of O'Brien. This support also was the inspiration behind the now famous "Team Coco" or "I'm With Coco" campaign of which millions took part of.
6. This controversy was the last thing NBC needed. They were already a fourth place network, the last thing they needed were to be embarrassed by this bad public relations moment. So what did the Peacock network do to get revenge on O'Brien? Eliminate as much episodes, clips or evidence of the show on the network's website and all over the Internet as they possibly could. Just search the show or even "Conan O'Brien" on NBC.com if you don't believe me. All you will get is a blank page with "No matches were found" written all over it. "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" Hulu videos? Nowhere to be found (although you can find full episodes of "Lipstick Jungle" and "Knight Rider" anytime you like). And just like the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction clip, it should be harder to find as time passes. Now that's a counterattack!
Now, we are approaching August, over six months past those glorious fifteen days, and a lot has changed since then. Jay Leno finally got his hosting gig back, but with a price since it's now losing ratings to "Nightline" and at times has had lower ratings than O'Brien had hosting "The Tonight Show." NBC president at the time of this controversy, Jeff Zucker, is reported to leave the network once Comcast acquires its 51 percent ownership of the network. As for Conan O'Brien, he has been pretty much all over the place since leaving the show. In February, he started his first Twitter account which is now followed by millions. This spring, he starred in his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, a variety show featuring several member of his staff. Then, in April he announced that starting this November he will return to late night television as the host of his new show on TBS. But no matter what happens from this point on to Leno, O'Brien, Zucker or anyone else in this Late Night War, we will always have those awesome fifteen days of late night TV madness in our memories for a long time.
Four down, only one more to go. Who or what will it be? Check back either tonight or tomorrow to see. Otherwise, enjoy your Saturday!
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you want to suggest anything to mj15 for his next blog entry (tips, perhaps?), e-mail him at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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