The Tonight Show: Difference between revisions
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Johnny Carson made a career of ''The Tonight Show'', acting as host from 1962-92. During that time, Carson created many memorable characters, including Art Fern, Floyd R. Turbo, and Carnac the Magnificent, while bringing fame to his announcer Ed McMahon and his bandleader Skitch Henderson. Henderson was later replaced by Carl "Doc" Severinsen. |
Johnny Carson made a career of ''The Tonight Show'', acting as host from 1962-92. During that time, Carson created many memorable characters, including Art Fern, Floyd R. Turbo, and Carnac the Magnificent, while bringing fame to his announcer Ed McMahon and his bandleader Skitch Henderson. Henderson was later replaced by Carl "Doc" Severinsen. |
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After Carson left the series, Jay Leno took over as host. Thus began the "talk show wars" of 1993; it had been expected that [[David Letterman]], who hosted the lead-out show ''[[Late Night]] with...'' since the early 1980s, would get the gig. When that didn't happen, CBS hired him as a direct competitor, ''The Late Show With David Letterman'', launched in 1993. While Letterman initially was the stronger ratings draw, Leno eventually overtook him. ''The Tonight Show'' and ''The Late Show'' remain fierce competitors. |
After Carson left the series, Jay Leno took over as host. Thus began the "talk show wars" of 1993; it had been expected that [[David Letterman]], who hosted the lead-out show ''[[Late Night]] with...'' since the early 1980s, would get the gig. When that didn't happen, CBS hired him as a direct competitor, ''The Late Show With David Letterman'', launched in 1993. While Letterman initially was the stronger ratings draw, Leno eventually overtook him. ''The Tonight Show'' and ''The Late Show'' remain fierce competitors. |
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Leno's format wouldn't settle for a few months, until Kevin Eubanks signed on as bandleader. Jay Leno's most enduring skits are "Headlines" a bit previously used by Letterman who called it "Small Town News" on the original ''Late Night'' in the 1980s. "Jaywalking", is a man-on-the-streets skit with real people that highlights American stupidity. He also did film clips with [[Special Effects Failure|Special Effects Failures]] with great frequency. He played a few characters, most notably Iron Jay (a dumb weightlifter), Mr. Brain (a condescending smart-aleck), and Beyondo (a "ghost" whose punchline-"first" schtick was almost identical to Carson's Carnac). |
Leno's format wouldn't settle for a few months, until Kevin Eubanks signed on as bandleader. Jay Leno's most enduring skits are "Headlines" a bit previously used by Letterman who called it "Small Town News" on the original ''Late Night'' in the 1980s. "Jaywalking", is a man-on-the-streets skit with real people that highlights American stupidity. He also did film clips with [[Special Effects Failure|Special Effects Failures]] with great frequency. He played a few characters, most notably Iron Jay (a dumb weightlifter), Mr. Brain (a condescending smart-aleck), and Beyondo (a "ghost" whose punchline-"first" schtick was almost identical to Carson's Carnac). |
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In 2004, Leno signed a contract to continue the show until 2009 and Conan O'Brien signed up to replace him when he left- but when the time grew near Leno's ratings were still strong. NBC decided it didn't want to risk him going to another network like Letterman, so they [[Kicked Upstairs|kicked Leno upstairs]] to make room for [[Conan O'Brien]], who had hosted ''[[Late Night]]'' since 1993. They gave Leno a similar show in late [[Prime Time]] five nights a week starting that Fall, the "five nights a week" part being a first-ever for American network prime time (''The Jay Leno Show''). For the first time, there was no "interregnum" of temporary hosts (as in 1957 and 1962) or reruns (as in 1992); Leno's last show was May 29, 2009 and O'Brien's first was June 1. |
In 2004, Leno signed a contract to continue the show until 2009 and Conan O'Brien signed up to replace him when he left- but when the time grew near Leno's ratings were still strong. NBC decided it didn't want to risk him going to another network like Letterman, so they [[Kicked Upstairs|kicked Leno upstairs]] to make room for [[Conan O'Brien]], who had hosted ''[[Late Night]]'' since 1993. They gave Leno a similar show in late [[Prime Time]] five nights a week starting that Fall, the "five nights a week" part being a first-ever for American network prime time (''The Jay Leno Show''). For the first time, there was no "interregnum" of temporary hosts (as in 1957 and 1962) or reruns (as in 1992); Leno's last show was May 29, 2009 and O'Brien's first was June 1. |
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NBC attempted to fix this by moving Leno's show to ''The Tonight Show'''s time slot and bumping O'Brien's critically-acclaimed but ratings-poor run back a half-hour to 12:05 AM. This wasn't received well. Leno was upset about it, he had agreed to the arrangement by insisting the network promise both his and O'Brien's shows a full year before making any further decisions. The network agreed, but within less than four months they reneged. [http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/conan-obrien-says-he-wont-do-tonight-show-following-leno/ O'Brien threatened to quit], Leno had as well, and both routinely savaged NBC in their nightly opening monologues. |
NBC attempted to fix this by moving Leno's show to ''The Tonight Show'''s time slot and bumping O'Brien's critically-acclaimed but ratings-poor run back a half-hour to 12:05 AM. This wasn't received well. Leno was upset about it, he had agreed to the arrangement by insisting the network promise both his and O'Brien's shows a full year before making any further decisions. The network agreed, but within less than four months they reneged. [http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/conan-obrien-says-he-wont-do-tonight-show-following-leno/ O'Brien threatened to quit], Leno had as well, and both routinely savaged NBC in their nightly opening monologues. |
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On January 15, 2010 Conan, tired of the whole fiasco, [http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2010/01/15/nbc-agrees-to-pay-conan-30-million-to-leave-reports.aspx settled on a $30 million payout from NBC] (later upped to $45 million to accommodate his staff) to leave ''The Tonight Show''. O'Brien came out of the debacle with most of the public and TV writers on his side, Leno ended up taking a severe PR beating. |
On January 15, 2010 Conan, tired of the whole fiasco, [http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2010/01/15/nbc-agrees-to-pay-conan-30-million-to-leave-reports.aspx settled on a $30 million payout from NBC] (later upped to $45 million to accommodate his staff) to leave ''The Tonight Show''. O'Brien came out of the debacle with most of the public and TV writers on his side, Leno ended up taking a severe PR beating. |
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And then there's the series regular who didn't expect to be one — Lillian Miller (aka "Miss Miller") was an audience member on so many episodes of the Allen/Kovacs, Parr, and Carson versions that she was forced to join AFTRA. She also frequented [[Game Show|Game Shows]] (including ''[[Match Game]]'' and ''[[What's My Line?|What's My Line]]''), ''The Merv Griffin Show'', ''The Carol Burnett Show'', and even appeared on ''The Jack Paar Program'' in November 1962 as a guest alongside Liberace and Cassius Clay. |
And then there's the series regular who didn't expect to be one — Lillian Miller (aka "Miss Miller") was an audience member on so many episodes of the Allen/Kovacs, Parr, and Carson versions that she was forced to join AFTRA. She also frequented [[Game Show|Game Shows]] (including ''[[Match Game]]'' and ''[[What's My Line?|What's My Line]]''), ''The Merv Griffin Show'', ''The Carol Burnett Show'', and even appeared on ''The Jack Paar Program'' in November 1962 as a guest alongside Liberace and Cassius Clay. |
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* [[Precious Puppies]]: On his last night, after saying his [[Final Speech]], Paar ended the show by calling to his dog sitting in the audience area. "Come on, Lika. We're going home". |
* [[Precious Puppies]]: On his last night, after saying his [[Final Speech]], Paar ended the show by calling to his dog sitting in the audience area. "Come on, Lika. We're going home". |
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* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Back in the day where smoking was not only the norm, it was expected of celebrity guests. Paar and many (not all) of his celebrity guests regularly caused the set to be fogged over with smoke, thanks to five (or more) smoking guests on the set at any one time. |
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Back in the day where smoking was not only the norm, it was expected of celebrity guests. Paar and many (not all) of his celebrity guests regularly caused the set to be fogged over with smoke, thanks to five (or more) smoking guests on the set at any one time. |
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* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]] : See Below |
* [[Ten-Minute Retirement]] : See Below |
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* [[Writer Revolt]]: Jack walked off during the February 11, 1960 show after discovering that NBC censored a joke the previous night regarding a lady looking for the "water closet" who was directed to a wedding chapel due to her only using the initials "W.C." (the network cut into a news report over the joke). His sidekick, Hugh Downs, took over for the remainder of that telecast. Leading to a [[Funny Moment]] when he returned for his next show a few weeks later with the words "...Now as I was saying..." |
* [[Writer Revolt]]: Jack walked off during the February 11, 1960 show after discovering that NBC censored a joke the previous night regarding a lady looking for the "water closet" who was directed to a wedding chapel due to her only using the initials "W.C." (the network cut into a news report over the joke). His sidekick, Hugh Downs, took over for the remainder of that telecast. Leading to a [[Funny Moment]] when he returned for his next show a few weeks later with the words "...Now as I was saying..." |
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** [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] mocked NBC's dishonesty, later accusing Zucker of wanting to burn the network down for the insurance money. |
** [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] mocked NBC's dishonesty, later accusing Zucker of wanting to burn the network down for the insurance money. |
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** George Lopez asked "What does NBC stand for, [[Fun with Acronyms|Nobody Backs Conan]]?" |
** George Lopez asked "What does NBC stand for, [[Fun with Acronyms|Nobody Backs Conan]]?" |
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** To complete the circle, Leno ended the week by swiping at Conan's ratings and hitting Letterman's sex scandal again. At one point, he said that "[[ |
** To complete the circle, Leno ended the week by swiping at Conan's ratings and hitting Letterman's sex scandal again. At one point, he said that "[[FOX]] is looking pretty good this time of year". |
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** NBC sent executive Dick Ebersol out to the New York Times to call Conan "gutless" and "chicken-hearted". |
** NBC sent executive Dick Ebersol out to the New York Times to call Conan "gutless" and "chicken-hearted". |
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** [[Howard Stern]] weighed-in with the suggestion that Leno intended to screw Conan out of ''Tonight'' all along. |
** [[Howard Stern]] weighed-in with the suggestion that Leno intended to screw Conan out of ''Tonight'' all along. |
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