However, I have to commend Jay Leno for the way he handled the announcement last night that he would be turning the show over to Conan in five years. He started off by praising Conan as a person and a TV host and acknowledged NBC’s concerns that he would jump to another network. Then he acknowledged the dispute over who would take over “The Tonight Show,” Leno or Letterman, and said that some good friendships were permanently damaged (remember, Jay used to be a frequent guest on Dave’s show). Leno said he’d hate to see anyone go through that again, which is why he’s glad it’s determined now that Conan will be his successor.
In 1994, Bill Carter – a writer for the New York Times – wrote an excellent book called “The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno and the Network Battle for the Night.” Don’t bother watching the awful made-for-HBO movie. Just read the book. It describes every gory detail of what was going on behind the scenes, from both Dave and Jay’s perspective, from the time Carson announced his retirement to the time Dave moved to CBS. It’s a great read.
Carter was on the “Today” show this morning. He predicted that Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” will eventually take over for Letterman and that the next generation of late night TV will be all about Stewart vs. O’Brien, instead of Letterman vs. Leno.
So who do you prefer? Letterman or Leno?
And who would you prefer in the future? Jon Stewart or Conan O’Brien?
i'm not a big fan of conan and i would hope that a john stewart late night show would beat conan. it's also intriguing that letterman could go up against his successor each night if he doesn't retire. unfortunately, CBS rarely if ever is a "Destination" hot spot, so NBC may win the matchup by default. -btc
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