If you’ve been following the late-night situation at NBC like I have, you’ll find yesterday’s news that Conan O’Brien will not move “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m. Eastern Time to be an interesting, if not unexpected, development. In a statement, O’Brien said shifting “The Tonight Show” to a later time slot would “seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting.”
Here’s what David Letterman, who’s no stranger to late-night drama involving “The Tonight Show” had to say about NBC’s late-night debacle:
Funny and entertaining as well. Seems Dave still harbors a bit of a grudge against Jay (not that you can really blame him). As a distant observer, it’s just sort of fun to sit back & watch the whole mess. Sort of funny that you don’t hear any reference to Kimmel in all of this. Does the half hour later really mean he’s not competing for the same eyeballs on the back half of the hour? Does Nighline really hold it’s own on the font half?
I think his anger is still pointed at NBC, and rightfully so. If you read the book “The Late Shift”, it went on to say that Letterman was originally the heir-apparent to Carson’s Tonight Show. But as we all know, NBC decided to take another path with Leno. And in the TV world – especially late night, if Letterman starts at 10:30 and Conan at 11:05, Letterman will pick up those late night viewers since he’ll really be the only steady game in town.
Yeah, I can’t blame Letterman for enjoying what’s transpiring on NBC, especially given his own experiences with NBC after Johnny Carson announced he was leaving.