Where NBC went wrong
LAWRENCE, Kansas – Who knew it would take over 15 years for the chinks in NBC’s late night armor to show? Indeed, what goes around seems to be coming around for the network that once branded itself “America’s Late Night Leader.”
It’s becoming clear that the decisions NBC made in 1991 set the stage for the giant mess currently waiting at its doorstep.
May 23, 1991 – Johnny Carson announces his retirement from The Tonight Show in May 1992
June 6, 1991 – NBC announces Jay Leno to succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show
May 22, 1992 – The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson tapes its final show
May 25, 1992 – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno premieres on NBC
January 14, 1993 – David Letterman announces move to CBS; NBC announces Leno will remain host of The Tonight Show; Lorne Michaels appointed to supervise production of post-Letterman Late Night
April 26, 1993 – NBC introduces Conan O’Brien to succeed David Letterman as host of Late Night
June 25, 1993 – Late Night with David Letterman tapes its final show for NBC
August 30, 1993 – Late Show with David Letterman premieres on CBS
September 13, 1993 – Late Night with Conan O’Brien premieres on NBC
September 27, 2004 – NBC announces Conan O’Brien to succeed Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in 2009
May 12, 2008 – NBC announces Jimmy Fallon to succeed Conan O’Brien as host of Late Night in 2009
December 8, 2008 – NBC announces Jay Leno to host a new show five times a week at 10 p.m. ET
February 20, 2009 – Late Night with Conan O’Brien tapes its final show
March 2, 2009 – Late Night with Jimmy Fallon premieres on NBC
May 29, 2009 – The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tapes its final show
June 1, 2009 – The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien premieres on NBC
September 14, 2009 – The Jay Leno Show premieres on NBC at 10 p.m. ET
So, where did NBC go wrong?
Perhaps the first place to look is Johnny Carson’s permanent decision to move The Tonight Show from New York to Burbank, Calif. in 1972. Carson never suffered as a result, but it left a gaping hole at 11:30 p.m. for a show based in the largest television market in the country.
When Letterman began his run on NBC in 1988, he naturally took up residence at NBC Studios in New York, the famed building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza that had housed everything from NBC Nightly News and The Today Show to Saturday Night Live and Match Game. Thus, a precedent was set.
Since then, no late night talk shows taped in the same city have gone head-to-head without the challenger buckling to the incumbent program. When Conan O’Brien took over Late Night, he remained in New York while Jay Leno continued doing The Tonight Show from Burbank.
Similarly, when David Letterman moved to CBS, he made the critical decision to remain in New York. Once his production company, Worldwide Pants, exercised its option – as outlined in Letterman’s original contract with CBS – to develop a show for CBS’ 12:30 a.m. time slot, they chose to tape at CBS Television City in Los Angeles.
The irony is that for as many jokes as Leno, O’Brien, Letterman and others have made about former President George W. Bush‘s lack of an “exit strategy” in Iraq, that is exactly what NBC failed to do with late night. It seems now that the network never had a plan for what to do if the O’Brien Tonight Show tanked.
Keep in mind, NBC allowed nearly five years to groom O’Brien for the transition. The move now appears to have been little more than a tactic to keep O’Brien from defecting to another network. Even more curious was the timing of NBC’s announcement to keep Leno on the network payroll by offering him a prime time show. They broke that news only six months before O’Brien’s first show.
NBC must have thought it had tied up every loose end. It was too late for O’Brien to stop the process and just early enough to prevent Leno from resurfacing on another network himself. But then came the real crap shoot – moving the pasty, lanky O’Brien out to California. Sure, Leno had been successful in L.A. despite being born in New York and raised in Massachusetts. But O’Brien could be a tougher sell.
O’Brien’s awkward yet pushy persona may have been the wrong fit for what had become Leno’s laid back version of The Tonight Show. Leno had become comfortable with California as had Carson. Letterman grew comfortable in New York. It seems as though O’Brien was comfortable in New York and then had to adapt to the West Coast.
Everything about Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show suggests it’s trying to be more like the Tonight Show of old. But he inherited Jay Leno’s show, not Johnny Carson’s. The Carson theatrics don’t mesh with the Leno mellow. Whereas O’Brien’s audience had been small and intimate in New York, it’s now large and distant in California.
Plain and simple, NBC took a New York show to L.A., and they’re paying the price. At the same time, they kept Leno in L.A., which has created a sense of overkill for the few people willing to watch him at 10 p.m. Now what will they do, move O’Brien back to New York? I doubt it.
In this age of focus groups and market research, it’s hard to believe that a major network could have been so wrong about such a big decision. And they won’t be able to save face. With Leno’s return to late night practically inevitable, O’Brien might as well get out while he still can.
CBS won’t touch him. ABC won’t move Nightline. So, it might be time for O’Brien to see what Fox is willing to offer. They might be the only ones crazy enough to give him a shot.
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