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Paul Reiser Speaks Out About NBC on ‘The Tonight Show’

Kevin Yeoman — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:19:08 +0000

After getting the news that his new sitcom The Paul Reiser Show had been cancelled after just two episodes, comedian Paul Reiser had some choice words for NBC’s decision makers during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Reiser’s appearance on The Tonight Show was originally intended to promote his new sitcom, but after epically bad ratings, the comedian’s triumphant return to television became just another notch in NBC’s troubled line-up. Despite the professional setback, Reiser kept his appointment with Leno and in doing so, gave back a little of what he’d been getting.

Much can be said of Reiser’s appearance. He was sarcastic, witty and, not surprisingly, more than a little disgruntled. At first, Reiser appeared to be addressing the events that led to The Paul Reiser Show’s demise, but he quickly took ...

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Jay Leno Reclaims Conan O’Brien’s Lock on Young Viewers

Michael Essany — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 05:16:09 +0000

The pendulum of favor in late night may have swung back in the direction of Tonight Show host Jay Leno, who just last year fell out of grace with some viewers – for the first time in his career.

When Conan O’Brien was unceremoniously dumped by NBC as host of Tonight after only six months on the job, many were quick to criticize Leno for being the apparent catalyst for O’Brien’s departure and his own return to the venerable program he had already hosted for seventeen years.

On November 8th, Conan O’Brien triumphantly returned to late night – albeit on basic cable – with the TBS incarnation of his act simply dubbed Conan – airing weeknights at 11:00pm EST. The premiere of Conan drew a massive audience (4.2 million viewers) and towered over its direct competition The Daily ...

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Eubanks Sets Date To Exit ‘Tonight Show’

Anthony Ocasio — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:28:52 +0000

This past Monday, Kevin Eubanks, Jay Leno’s band leader for the past fifteen years, confirmed that he would be leaving The Tonight Show on May 28 in order to pursue other musical opportunities.

“After 18 years, I just need a change of pace and see what else is going on, but it’s a really difficult decision because this has become my second home, as it has been for the band, and I love the audience and the American people really love the show and it’s been a wonderful experience to be here.”

Following the announcement, Leno told Eubanks that working with him had been “a pleasure,” and that he has been “…a great friend and really supportive.” Leno then continued by saying, “When those jokes die, I gotta look to you man.”

While Eubanks has been the ...

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The Superbowl Ads That Scored With Viewers

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:38:00 +0000

There are certain trends in TV that I always look forward to: people complaining that the Oscars sucked; people mocking (but still watching) MTV award shows; and, of course, people complaining about the ads that played during the Super Bowl.

It seems that every year, despite one or two exceptions, I hear people saying that the latest Superbowl ads are the “Worst. Commercials. Ever.” Of course this criticism is always more of a time-honored tradition than it is a factual observation, so this year we at Screen Rant thought that we would highlight some of the best Super Bowl ads of 2010.

BUD LITE T-PAIN PARTY

Want to know why Jay-Z was calling for the “Death of Auto-Tune” last year? This funny little commercial for Bud Lite shows you what happens when would-be party planners start going all “T-Pain” on us. Speaking ...

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Leno vs. Conan: It’s Officially Over

Anthony Ocasio — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:11:11 +0000

After two weeks, it’s finally over. The last proverbial nail has been put in the coffin of everyone’s favorite ginger-haired talk show host, as NBC and Conan O’Brien have released a “joint statement” showing you that no matter who you are, NBC has no problem screwing you over… unless you’re the one that pushed Johnny Carson out, stole The Tonight Show from David Letterman, gave it away and then stole it back again from Conan O’Brien.

All while never spending a penny of the money you’ve earned… (Keep bragging about that, Jay, there’s no way that statement won’t make people resent you.)

STATEMENT FROM NBC AND CONAN O’BRIEN:

NBC and Conan O’Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O’Brien’s contract to host “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.”

Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O’Brien will settle ...

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SR Pick (Video): Kimmel Blasts Leno & Conan Sells The Tonight Show

Anthony Ocasio — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:36:22 +0000

Earlier this week, Jimmy Kimmel hosted his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, costumed as Jay Leno. He donned some Leno makeup (big chin, skunk hair) and proceeded to mock Jay Leno, his show, his jokes and his ability as a talk show host to last for an entire hour. While most would expect Leno to stay mum about such events, the geniuses at The Jay Leno Show thought that they’d made a “bit” out of it and invited Kimmel on (via satellite) for a 10@10 (10 questions at 10 o’clock). With Kimmel being up for anything, he quickly agreed and it’s safe to say… NBC had no idea it would turn out the way it did.

After the first three questions, “What’s the secret to doing a good Jay Leno impression?,” “What is the worst idea your writers have ever pitched you?” and ...

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Conan Says “No Way” to Tonight Show Time Change

Rob Frappier — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:18:33 +0000

Last week, we reported that NBC was considering royally screwing up changing their late night programming schedule by returning Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35pm and moving Conan O’Brien to midnight. In his coverage of the story, Screen Rant writer Anthony Ocasio mused that if he were Conan, he’d be pretty upset (a sentiment echoed by the majority of our readers as well).

Still, we hadn’t heard any official statement from Conan regarding the rumors, other than a pretty hilarious bit during his opening monologue on last night’s show. That all changed today, when Conan released a long and thoughtful statement that addresses the issue head on.

In the statement, which is humorously addressed to the “People of Earth,” Conan says that he “cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [The Tonight Show's] destruction” and that ...

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NBC Tells Conan To Move Over For Leno

Anthony Ocasio — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:04:48 +0000

For the past 24-hours I have been reading so many different stories relating to The Jay Leno Show and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and NBC. After sifting through all the rumors, gossip and alien conspiracies (I told you I read many different stories) I think I finally understand what’s going on and since it’s coming from NBC, I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s another horrible decision.

It appears that The Jay Leno Show’s ratings having been so mediocre that NBC is going to shorten the show to 30min and move Leno back to his previous 11:30PM time slot. Conan (and The Tonight Show) in turn will be pushed back to the midnight to 1AM time slot.

I can tell you that if I was Conan I wouldn’t be happy at all. In fact, I’d be so mad that I probably would ...

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How’s the Jay Leno Show Faring These Days?

Bruce Simmons — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:12:58 +0000

Despite all the hoopla and what appeared to be NBC directives of enforced support for The Jay Leno Show, and pulling scripted dramas en masse, The Jay Leno Show is not faring as well as could be expected.

NBC made a reasonable pitch, declaring how different the show would be… if you count pulling the desk off the set and rearranging the same routines as different, then fine, it’s different. Otherwise, I’m not sure what the change is. And to boot, viewers aren’t impressed.

At least it doesn’t look good from last Monday night where The Jay Leno Show pulled in 4.6 million viewers… and was bested by everything on the air except One Tree Hill on The CW, Gossip Girl, again from The CW and, well… huh. That’s it.

Dancing with the Stars, at its peak, had 18.4 million viewers ...

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Jay Leno: First Week Ratings

Bruce Simmons — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:30:45 +0000

I thought I’d give our faithful Screen Rant readers the run down on the ratings for the first week of the Jay Leno show… despite the fact I’m a bit averse to actually covering talk shows and most comedies. I felt it a worthy sacrifice if I ventured into hostile territory for you guys.

With the previous week being the first one for the new Jay Leno Show on NBC, I wasn’t sure what to expect. NBC marketed the living heck out of it and I was curious if people who watched Jay in his old time slot were willing to give up some other existing TV show in order to continue seeing him on TV.

I tuned in one night last week and to be honest, for all the hype about how different the show was going to be, ...

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TV News & Notes: Medium, Jay Leno & More

Bruce Simmons — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:17:55 +0000

Today we have some news and more for the show Medium and the big late night talk shows. We’ll talk about Medium’s new network and the issues it has caused as well as which talk shows are doing well, which are not, and what Jay Leno’s up to with his new program that will be exploring a different format.

Medium

When NBC canceled Medium, CBS picked it up and that deserves a big thank you for the ratings king..

When I started seeing repeats of Medium on CBS from last season, I just thought they were building up to the new season they were going to air.

Apparently that’s a no-no because NBC still has exclusive rights to air the show until September. And now they want to be reimbursed for episodes aired.

Odd. My thought would be that ...

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