On Sat, May 30, 2009 at 11:03 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have not seen more than 3 or 4 episodes of the Leno Tonight Show in > the last 10 years, but I decided to record his last one and I am glad > I did; not so much because it was a landmark show (it wasn't really) > but it gave me a less negative view of Leno than I normally have. As > always, the more he is his real self, the more likable he is. The > ending, which I won't spoil for people who have not seen it yet, was > not a tear-jerker, but was nice. It did not make me wish I had seen > more of his Tonight Shows, though it did make me more likely to check > out his new show (if only he was leaving that awful, awful > "Jaywalking" segment behind). > > A couple of questions: > > 1. At the end Leno thanked Debbie Vickers, who he said had been the > executive producer since the beginning. We all know the story of the > beginning of Leno's run at the Tonight Show, and I always thought > Helen Kushnick had the title of executive producer then. Was she > really still just his agent in title, while maybe functioning as the > executive producer? Or did Leno just mean that Vickers had been with > the show from the beginning, but not always as EP. > > 2. Why was the audience so unruly - they were practically heckling > Leno and Obrien, and stepped on several of their lines. Is that > typical for Leno's audience? I used to watch Carson's Tonight Show > fairly frequently in the mid 80s, and my memory is that they always > made a huge deal about not shouting anything out during the taping, > emphasizing that if anyone did anything like that they would be asked > to leave. I only ever saw one person yell something out from the > audience, Johnny was clearly pissed, and sure enough that person was > escorted from the studio.
I recorded all five Leno shows wince Letterman was off and I've watched three of them so far, the Monday, Thursday and Friday shows. I'd saw the week has lessened my opinion of Leno. And remember, I'm the guy who took a lot of crap for defending Leno in alt.fan.letterman a decade ago. They've been showing "highlights" of Leno's time on the air, and all I"ve got to say is, "This is the best you've got?" Almost all the comedy bits seem so middle brow. Very safe. And predictable. You get the hot actress in the tight dress and then you have the creepy guy offer a bug the size of toy poodle to her and yes she goes scampering off the set. They show clips from Joan Embry and animals. That goes back to Carson. Even Leno's interview with Mel Gibson on Monday was so predictable. Here's the set up as Leno asks Gibson about his marital problems and here's Gibon's rehearse response delivered like a line. And don't get me started on Jaywalking. What it shows is that Leno delivers a good, solid monologue every night and that's what the audience wants. That's what Carson used to build the franchise. And that's what Conan better deliver. Outside of the monologue, I don't think Leno left much of a legacy at The Tonight Show. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
