Goodbye Jay Leno (Take 2)- Page 2

[Jon]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 12:50pm

"Headlines" was a blatant rip-off of Letterman's "Small Town News", which he started doing on his daytime talk show in the 1980's.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 12:59pm

"Headlines" was still one of my favorite things of all time. I hope Fallon keeps that.

[Jim Colyer]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 2:07pm

Craig Ferguson's the man! He's got the women!

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 2:36pm

I watch Jimmy Kimmel, so I don't care.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 2:51pm

Letterman's good at his job (and he has learned and grown since the '80s and the homophobia is gone), Ferguson's good at his job, Fallon's good at his job, Kimmel's good at his job, Meyer's will probably get good at his job.

Bye, Jay! "Look at that! Right there! It says 'funeral pardour'! Hee hee heeee!"

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 3:55pm

"People didn't want to see Leno in primetime and Conan's quirky, cerebral outsider humor was an comfortable fit for The Tonight Show and its demo. He's clearly a much better fit for TBS where he can be himself and he seems much happier there, too."

You think he's happy? He's not the same. I say that as a long-time Conan fan. I also can't believe you find Conan not as sincere. He came from a writer's background which I think had more of a different approach as a presenter whereas Fallon's whole persona is off the cuff, but I wouldn't necessarily say more sincere. I think the moment he hears Letterman consider retirement he is calling in Les Moonves direct.

Leno pretending that he was not foretold Conan was going to replace him 4 years in advance is a remarkable rewrite of history. I think had NBC had the strength it did in the 90s, what transpired would've never happened. Leno would've competed on a different station. Maybe. But I get it. Jay had his fans but I am always surprised to meet and talk with people who liked him the most. That possibly speaks more of my age demographic but I know twenty-somethings who grew up on Letterman, but most people are more into Stewart/Conan/Colbert/Kimmel.

I've never been a fan of Seth Meyers but good luck to him and whatever. I do think he is in a much better point of entry than Fallon was at the beginning. All hosts don't immediately hit but Fallon in the early days was rough viewing. I don't think he knew the difference between backstage conversations vs. official interviews for a good year.

Family always preferred Letterman but my Dad, which is often joked about as the moment he really got 'old', started watching Leno more. But he likes Fallon a good deal. Mother has also grown out of Letterman and been more about Kimmel. Kimmel has a better balance of knowing and getting along with enough celebrities but never being so eager to please on a sycophantic level like Fallon, who can occasionally feel like we are witnessing his Celebrity Fantasy Camp. But I can't completely hate him because he has The Roots.

Updated On: 2/7/14 at 03:55 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 4:10pm

Yeah, Conan's show on TBS is just not good. It seems a lot more awkward and just not as funny. The guests aren't great, either, which probably doesn't help.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 5:06pm

Different strokes for different folks. I think Conan's show is fabulous, if only for Conan himself. I also love Andy Richter, though...

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 5:54pm

I think my main problem is that for reasons Jay noted, no way the TBS guests quite match up to what even his Late Show at NBC used to get. Plus, a lot of stuff got held back from the NBC to TBS move. Many of the bits I loved are under NBC control.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/7/14 at 7:41pm

The only evidence of homophobia I've eve seen in Letterman is his dislike of the annoying antics of Richard Simmons. I can't fault him for that. Meanwhile, one of his producers, Barbara Gaines, is openly gay, as is his cue card guy and frequent comic foil, Tony "Inky" Mendez.