One big difference between Jay and Dave: Dave owns 100% of his show and 100% of "The Late Late Show," just like Carson did after 1980 with "Tonight" and, of course, part of Letterman. NBC still owns at least half of the show (the copyright is in the name of NBC Studios, not Big Dog Productions or a dummy corporation). So Jay has less control over his show than NBC.
In fact, only one other late-night host has 100% ownership of his/her show: Conan. NBC has partial ownership of Fallon and Carson the Tool, ABC owns part of Kimmel (the "An ABC Studios Production" credit runs in the opening titles, just like all of the prime time shows they own), Comedy Central owns all of "TDS" and part of Colbert and E! owns part of Chelsea. On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 11:31 AM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 1:19 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > There are several irritating things about this article. Just to point out > > two: > > > > 1. "Leno has said publicly that he’s able to bank his entire Tonight Show > > salary and live on the hefty fees he makes from his hectic personal > > appearance schedule." This makes it sound like he said it once in an > obscure > > french language news magazine interview, instead of what he actually > does, > > which is say almost every freaking time he is interviewed. > > > > 2. "When his ratings dipped, O’Brien was asked to move The Tonight Show‘s > > time slot later to make room for Leno’s return at 11:30 PM. O’Brien > refused. > > NBC gave Conan a $40M payoff (including salaries for his staff) to leave > The > > Tonight Show hosting job which Leno resumed in 2010." I have sworn a > blood > > oath to call bullshit on this whenever I see it for the rest of the 21st > > century. Bullshit. O'Brien was asked to move the Tonight Show to 12:01 am > > when *Leno's* primetime ratings "dipped" (read, "tanked"). Conan's > Tonight > > Show ratings were not off track for where he was in his trajectory, and > not > > worse than ratings Leno had when he returned. The idea that Conan got > fired > > (or "relocated") because of his bad ratings is the cover story that > assholes > > at NBC concocted to save face, and that has been perpetuated be Leno > every > > chance he gets. > > I'll point out that when I first posted the link to the article, which > is about an hour before you posted, that paragraph was not part of the > article. I don't know why they felt they needed to add it. Maybe they > thought people would find the link through Google, read the first > paragraph, and be confused because they do not know who Jay Leno is. > It irritates me more that they had to add the paragraph than the truth > of what they reported. > > One thing we have no grasp of is late night show economics. Each host, > since Johnny, has a production company and a deal with his network. I > think Donz knows the breakdown better for the Late Show and I remember > him posting back in the day on usenet a.f.l. about one of Dave's > contracts, that the amount they say Dave is getting actually goes to > his production company and pays Worldwide Pants staff and not all into > his pocket. I assume Leno has a similar deal as agents usually push > for them whether a client needs them or not. The fact that NBC could > lay off so much staff hints that Jay might have given the network more > power than Dave does. > > I also cannot be sure that late night is a cash cow any more. In The > War for Late Night, Bill Carter wrote that over the years late night > had become a less valuable daypart and morning news had become the > cash cow. It was one sentence and he did not elaborate or support it > with numbers or even say when the change happened. Whoever wrote in > Deadline that late night is a cash cow may be making an assumption > based on obsolete information. > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > 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 > -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! 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
