Ditto PGage's reply
On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 7:24 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On Mon, Jan 27, 2014 at 12:40 PM, Diner <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> On Monday, January 27, 2014 12:21:02 PM UTC-5, Joe Hass wrote: >>>> >>>> From Steve Kroft's VO: "Leno’s ten o’clock show tanked and so did the >>>> ratings of “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien, which dropped out of >>>> first place. NBC panicked when the network’s affiliates began clamoring for >>>> Leno’s return to his 11:30 time slot, and NBC agreed." >>>> >>>> Yeah: you didn't miss anything. >>>> >>>> >>> I've finally gotten around to reading Bill Carter's "The War for Late >>> Night," and even though I'm not finished, it seems the "lies" Kroft told >>> match pretty well with the "truth" Carter told. Not sure what the problem >>> is. >>> >> >> I would call the line I quoted is a lie because it says that both >> programs "tanked". O'Brien's ratings dipped, but that was understandable >> given the situation. It was Leno's show that had ratings so low that >> affiliates were about to preempt him. No one was talking about putting >> "Everybody Loves Raymond" reruns on at 11:35. >> > > The main inaccuracy in Croft's quote is this; the affiliates were not > clamoring for Leno's return to 11:35, they were clamoring for Leno's exit > from 10:00 pm. > > For me, the Big Lie behind all of this (and there are lots of other > smaller lies, or exaggerations, or spins) is that NBC had to bring back > Leno to 11:35 to save their late night ratings. That is simply not true. If > Leno had never been given the prime-time show, and was in semi-retirement > doing stand-up tours, would NBC have called him back to 11:35? Absolutely > not. Its not even a remote possibility. Because Leno failed so miserably at > 10:00, NBC was stuck with two late night hosts under contract. They first > tried a half-assed plan to keep both of them in late night; when Conan > refused, NBC decided that they would be better off with Leno instead of > Conan, partly because of Leno's contract. They had every right to do that. > But the really dick move, which Zucker and Leno both conspired in, was > putting out the cover story that Conan had failed at 11:35, was about to > ruin the Tonight Show, and Leno was being brought back in to save the > franchise. That is bull shit. > > Leno failed at 10:00, and was still able to parlay his contract and other > factors into taking Conan's job. NBC went along because they judged there > was less downside for them that way. > > -- > -- > 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 > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
