Lessons Learned from the Late Night TV Wars
Hang in here with me. Even if you don’t give a rat’s behind about late night television, the lessons here will be applicable to your life in general and your business, if you have one. So, hang in there…
As I write this, it appears that Jay Leno will be returning to The Tonight Show. This is not yet confirmed, but it strongly appears to be the case. While the situation remains “fluid”, the lessons here will (probably) still be applicable even if things ultimately don’t pan out this way.
While some continue to paint this as a Jay vs. Conan deal, with people online organizing as “Team Leno” or “Team Conan” and so on, that’s not really the case. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this all stems from NBC’s lack of leadership. So, that Jay vs. Conan stuff is largely juvenile.
The first thing I want to address is whether “The Jay Leno Show” at 10:00 was a mistake. Not that anyone cares about my opinion, but this is my blog so I’m free to share my opinion, but in my opinion it was something worth trying. This may seem to conflict with my post about NBC executives needing to make a tough decision and to an extent that may be true but, to another extent, it’s somewhat of a different animal.
A variety show is something that’s not really been done steadily on TV for years, and I don’t believe it’s a format that audiences do not want to see again. Some have made the argument that perhaps “The Jay Leno Show” would have done better if it had been on fewer nights per week. I think that’s a fair argument. As I said, it’s not something that’s been done steadily on TV for years, and it may be that people just aren’t ready to watch such a thing five days a week.
It reminds me of shows like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and “Deal or No Deal”. At first, they ran once a week. Then, they became popular and then the networks tried to squeeze every ounce of audience out of them by packing them in their schedules. And people got bored quickly and ratings went down.
Too much of a good thing can become tiresome.
Maybe “The Jay Leno Show” had a similar reception.
Again, for those that think this is a Jay vs. Conan thing, remember that NBC didn’t treat either one of them fairly. I think that Jay had something like a two-year guarantee, and public statements from NBC indicated they were going to try out the show for at least a year. I don’t know what type of guarantees Conan may have had, but I would think they would have been along the same lines.
Conan had seven months as host of The Tonight Show, while Jay Leno only had four months for “The Jay Leno Show.” So, really, neither one of them were given a chance.
Some people feel that Jay should have been the one to go and they should have kept Conan. The argument has been made that low ratings for “The Jay Leno Show” hurt Conan’s ratings. But, it’s important to bear in mind that Conan’s ratings were already in a downward spiral before “The Jay Leno Show” went on the air. So, that argument falls apart. Maybe Conan could have done better with a higher rated show at 10:00, but would it have been enough? If his ratings were already down before “The Jay Leno Show”, why expect anything to change significantly?
Plus, it’s not like Jay Leno had highly popular shows funneling crowds to him either.
I already made my points on why NBC might choose Leno over Conan the other day. The bottom line is that it’s a business decision.
Some people seem to have difficulty grasping that. Here’s the thing: The world does not owe you a living. You have to earn it. Some people still think they are entitled to certain things just because they show up. That’s not true. Things have to be earned. Even then, there are only so many slots available, so not everyone is going to get what they want.
The world also does not owe you a talk show. It certainly doesn’t owe you a certain talk show to be aired on national TV at a certain hour.
Things have to be earned. It’s not like school where you pass the fifth grade and get to go on to the sixth grade. You don’t host one talk show for a while and get to “graduate” to another.
That’s not the way the world works.
Sure, life is unfair and hard and not everyone can get what they want.
Deal with it.
So, the first lesson to be learned is that the world doesn’t owe you a living. You have to contribute. You have to do something in exchange for something. You have to earn the things you want in life. They’re not just there for the taking. They don’t hand out late night talk show hosting gigs like they hand out Nobel Peace Prizes.
The second lesson is that if you want something, go for it. Jay Leno made no secret that he would have preferred to stay on at 11:35. He made statements that he would be willing to return if asked.
The initial plan was that Jay would be moved to 11:35 and Conan O’Brien would be moved to 12:05. Earlier this week, Conan released a letter that essentially stated his refusal to do that.
Apparently, that was his undoing. When you don’t listen to your boss, your job is not so stable as it once was. Apparently, by releasing that letter, which his people advised him not to, he, as I understand it, effectively breached his contract, which meant that NBC would need a new host for The Tonight Show.
And, since Jay had done well there in the past and was open to going back, NBC made him a deal.
Had Jay been quiet and not stated his desire, things could have turned out differently. Sometimes, you don’t get what you want out of life if you don’t tell anyone what you want. That also means that you have to decide for yourself what you want. Jay knew what he wanted and did not keep it a secret.
There’s also another lesson to be learned in this. You have to invest in what you want. Sometimes, you invest with time. Sometimes with money. Sometimes with hard work. A lot of times it’s all three of those.
There has been some criticism of Jay that he still does standup routines out in Vegas. Some critics–the pro-Conan group–think he should just stick to that. But, keep in mind what kind of passion that shows for what he does. Some people just clock in, clock out, five days a week, then take the weekend off.
Jay, on the other hand, is constantly honing his craft. He gets out there in front of regular people on a consistent basis and performs in front of them.
Contrast that with others that stick within the relative isolation of Hollywood.
With that constant contact with regular people, with the type of people that would watch him at home on weeknights, is it any wonder that he was able to retain the top spot in late night for an astounding 15 years? Plus, a lot of that time, it was by a wide margin.
So, while critics may criticize him for not being edgy (which too often means “mean-spirited”), he knows what people want. He knows what works.
As such, he was a safe bet for NBC. He’s the consummate performer, always honing and practicing his craft.
Think of any popular person. They all have their fans and critics. A lot of times, they are polarizing figures. But, they know what they want and they go for it.
So, go for what you want out of life, but remember that there’s no guarantee you will get it.
Continuing on the vein of investing in what you want, that applies to other things as well, even something so minor as your favorite television program.
For example, yesterday I saw a comment on an article about the late night TV show situation. One of the “I’m with CoCo” fans (those are the Conan supporters) said something like this: I don’t watch Conan now, but I’ll watch him if he moves to FOX just to stick it to NBC. I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the essence of his comment.
And, from bouncing around different parts of the online world, that’s not a single incident. It certainly appears that a lot of Conan’s “fans” haven’t actually been watching The Tonight Show since he’s been on. But, they talk big talk about how they’ll watch him if he goes to FOX.
Here’s the thing: If they had been watching, and if they were as numerous as they make themselves to be, Conan might still be hosting The Tonight Show. If Conan had been getting better numbers than what he had been, if he had been more competitive against Letterman and Nightline, NBC might very well have bought out Jay’s contract, wished him well, and kept Conan at The Tonight Show.
Actions speak louder than words. Really. The chorus of voices clamoring for NBC to keep Conan don’t really mesh with what his ratings have been. If they were such big fans, if they wanted Conan to keep his job, they should have been watching his show.
But they weren’t. So, it’s easy for the network executives to brush off the chorus of the “I’m with CoCo” crowd. Because they weren’t watching. They weren’t invested in the show. They just heard that Conan was being given the boot, and they rose up.
Too little, too late.
As I mentioned, they talk the big talk. They’ll boycott NBC. They’ll watch Conan at FOX to stick it to NBC and so on.
But, here’s the thing. They weren’t watching Conan before. Whatever kept them from watching Conan at NBC will likely be the same thing that will keep them from watching Conan at FOX. Sure, at first, they may tune in. But, after a while, whatever it was in their lives that kept them from watching before will take precedence once again.
TV is not the most important thing in most people’s lives. If their kids need to be put to bed, if they need to change diapers, if they have to pack lunches, vacuum, finish a presentation, etc., that’s going to take precedence over watching TV at a certain hour.
Who’s hosting what show isn’t as important as paying the bills or whatnot.
Now, for those that have been watching, maybe they have a little more room to complain, but they haven’t been watching in as large a numbers as watched Jay. So, it’s business and, to an extent, it’s democratic. And here ratings democracy and business has dictated Jay be the host of The Tonight Show again.
But, if you don’t watch your “favorite” program, you don’t have much of a leg to stand on when it goes away. You didn’t invest in it, so why should NBC?
Another thing that’s interesting is how the “creative community” was upset about Jay being on five nights a week at ten, instead of there being scripted shows. That was putting people out of work and all that jazz.
To me, that’s a bit of a childish argument. Again, no one is guaranteed a living. No one is guaranteed their own comedy series or their own drama. On top of that, if you’re going to complain about “The Jay Leno Show” being on five hours a week, how about complaining about all the other unscripted shows that get aired? How many hours do those occupy? Count ‘em up: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, America’s Funniest Videos, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Biggest Loser, The Amazing Race, and Survivor. And some of those shows regularly run for two hours rather than just one. And that doesn’t count news magazine programs, like Dateline, 60 Minutes and 20/20, none of which are comedies or dramas.
On top of that, Saturday nights used to have original programming but now it seems to just be used for reruns of other shows and not new episodes of anything.
So, complaining about “The Jay Leno Show” being on five nights a week seemed to be more like sour grapes than a legitimate gripe. Plus, with all the shows now on cable that weren’t there before, there’s a whole lot less room for complaining.
But, these days, it seems a sense of entitlement runs through everything.
So, lessons learned? Pursue your passion and jump in full-force. Realize that the world does not owe you a living and go out there and earn it.
And, the big lesson of the week? Think of the tragedy in Haiti. There’s the big lesson. There’s no power there. Communications are down. Who knows how many are dead. They need aid, and it’s not easy getting it there. People know people in Haiti, whether friends or relatives, and have no one of getting in touch and don’t know if their friends and relatives are alive or dead. Many Haitians are staying outdoors, either because their homes are gone or they don’t feel safe inside because of the aftershocks. We have a customer in Haiti. He was beaten up in the riots a couple years ago, and survived that. (He was left for dead, I think.) He’s survived the hurricanes and such. We have no idea how he fared this time.
Most of you reading this are probably doing so in the comfort of your own home. You have a roof over your head. You have power. Running water.
Who hosts what at 11:35 p.m. isn’t really the most important thing in your life.
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