(10-20-2018, 05:49 AM)dicappatore Wrote: For me, personally, growing up watching Carson, he was one of a kind and un-replaceable. Leno was in no way able to fill his shoes and one of the reasons NBC lost some of its audience to Letterman. Still, if Letterman had taken over, to me, his own show proved, he would had done a lousier job that Leno. Sure, he took away some viewers from Leno but like you said, Leno was still #1.
I still favor Leno's humor over Conan but what I particular found Conan side kick obnoxious. What happened to him? Didn't he leave Conan but then I saw him back with him?
Whom I preferred was inconsequential. It was the viewing public that decided to put Leno back not me but by then the damage was done. So much for some suggesting how these media heads know what they are doing.
On a personal note. I find it very refreshing debating opinions with you, Face and a few others. I hate it when I have to debate created facts based opinions instead.
We've probably discussed the Tonight Show enough to have its own thread so this will be my last post about it. I'm sure people are getting annoyed and some that live outside the U.S. probably have no idea what we're talking about.
I remember a lot of other hosts, such as Jimmy Kimmel and David Letterman, were taking Conan's side in the matter. Throw Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in there as well. I think it was Artie Lange who I heard speaking on why Leno didn't have the best reputation. He said Leno was thought of as more of a corporate brown-noser or company guy as time went on. I do remember Leno saying he would return to hosting the Tonight Show before Conan's dismassal was officially announced. Conan still had the job when he said this so that was a big no-no.
Weirdly enough, Conan was actually offered to keep hosting the show but it would be moved to midnight so it could air after Leno's show which would be reduced to half an hour and moved to 11:30 after the news. Conan rejected that offer because he felt like he would still be following Leno like before and the Tonight Show is no longer the Tonight Show if it's not airing after the news and following another show, which made perfect sense. I think Fox offered him a show as well but he went to TBS because he knew he would have more control of the content there.
In hindsight, the Leno/Conan thing was a disaster but I thought they made the right move at time. Leno was #1 but he would leave sooner rather than later and they thought Conan was the future. I don't know how much longer Leno had left and Conan would host the show for a couple of decades if he was a success. I think of it like replacing a franchise quarterback a year early instead of a year late. I've seen the latter stagnate franchise for years. But yeah, the damage was already done when Leno returned.
Ironically, I thought Conan's last two weeks of hosting the show was the best it's been in a really long time and I couldn't go back to Leno even though I liked him and watched regularly before.
Oh yeah, Conan's sidekick is Andy Richter. He did leave for a few years but returned when Conan got the Tonight Show. I remember not knowing he returned when I started watching the show.