11/10 Bill Carter (“The War for Late Night”)
7 Leno’s 10pm show had a “Pay & Play” contract, which was peculiar. NBC had to pay him and air his show, instead of “Pay or Play” which could pay him and not air his show.
9 BS: ABC is geared more towards women
1130 Median age of Conan’s Tonight Show: 36. Median age of Leno’s Tonight Show: 56
12 The myth of the Tonight Show as an institution. As Seinfeld said, it’s more about the host. I’m watching Carson. I’m watching Letterman. Letterman rightfully held onto it strongly because Carson wanted to personally hand it to him, but Conan on the other hand..
1330 Letterman’s energy, he’s hard to work for, he doesn’t rehearse or hold head writer’s meetings, he’s a recluse with a lot of demons
15 Dave used to tape his Friday show on Thursdays. For the past 3 or 5 years he’s taped his Friday show on Monday, by the time this thing airs, the show is four days old. He can’t do topical humor. Audiences have abandoned him on Friday because they can tell it’s a canned show! Can’t believe this.
18 “I don’t think Letterman wants to do it anymore, but he can’t imagine not doing it. He watched Carson after he left, floating away at sea, not knowing what to do.”
21 the sad thing is Letterman’s best show is still better than anybody else’s best
25 We’re using the same model for late night shows as we did in the 1970’s
30 Conan’s TBS show median age is 30
TBS is associated with repeats. Overpaying for Conan (whether they did or not) was a good idea because it gives the network a face.
Overlooked in the 2010 debacle is Conan’s agents for not guaranteeing 11:35 time slot
45 Letterman’s Hershey bar sugar rush right before shows WOW
53 Les Moonves kept CBS in profit, with no cable networks (hm, interesting)
55 NBC and it’s poor performance might become FOX in three years, losing control of the 10pm hour to affiliates (hm, interesting)
