Geeze, I kinda have to fall on the side of Craig Ferguson and say 'who really cares?' but it is interesting to watch how each play it.

Conan is a million times better than Jay. What the hell....

Weasel words.

this is nothing more than a ratings stunt. if the network is so eager to fire someone they wouldve done it already. quit watching.

I like the hell out of you, Jay, but you know that's not how it works.

Ratings are inextricably tied to time slots.

Probably a good thing.

I like you, Jay.

Surely you can see that there has to be a passing of the guard.

Interesting. Talking about it openly like that seems like an honorable thing for Jay to do.

I have had a feeling for a long time that networks are way, way, way too tied to short term ratings when they make long-term decisions. Couple of examples, remember these are just my opinions:

Seinfeld is probably on the top of the list of my favorite shows I have watched during my life. However, the first season sucked. It definitely sucked in comparison to later seasons, and honestly I think that it wasn't really even good in comparison to standard TV dreck/fare that first season. It didn't get particularly good ratings, but it got picked up for a 2nd season. It then started to get better. Not extremely rapidly, but pretty quickly. It rose fast enough to get the slot after "Cheers", which introduced it to enough more of an audience that it exploded. One of the few examples of a network being nice and patient with a show that was struggling to a certain extent, and it payed off *huge*.

Lets go with Firefly specifically, but basically anything Joss Whedon has ever done fits to a certain extent. Firely comes out, and it isn't advertised very much. Fox thinks it is too cerebral and deep, it needs more things blowing up and less talky-talky. So, they cut his original pilot, rearrange episodes, and don't even provide the show with a stable timeslot, let alone a good one. It gets less than a full season to try the waters and build an audience before it is canceled. In the meantime, we've got umpteen versions of Law and Order, CSI, etc., and a very conservative guess of 2 hours of "reality" TV on in primetime per day per network. They had a show that was great and different, and at the very least could have captured a niche market of people who wanted something else beyond watching vacuous morons kick each other onto/off of "the island" etc.

It seems to me that a network that was willing to take some risks, go with their actual opinions instead of instantaneous market research ratings, and give any new show at least 1-2 seasons to catch its balance would quite possibly make for some great shows with dedicated audiences.

How about a more recent example. The Beautiful Life. A scripted show that some genius thought would do well after a reality show. (Ok, they're both about models, but come on. People who watch reality TV have no respect for scripted shows.) So the first episode is watched by almost a million and a half people. The second is watched by over a million. And then the show is canceled. TWO EPISODES. I had no great love for the show, but seriously? Two? And a MILLION watchers is not enough?

I really wish I could run a network for just two years. Guarantee each show 13 episodes in a stable time slot whether it sinks or swims. Let the viewers know they can trust new shows to be around a while. Group shows by common viewership tendencies. Monday is the super-predictable workhorse shows like House. Tuesday, maybe a couple reality shows (yuck). Mid-week is procedurals, Thursday is light-hearted comedies, Friday nights are sci-fi. Shows at 8 are light and family friendly, and they get more adult themed and/or raunchy as it gets later. Simple enough.

Ugh, it makes me so frustrated that they cannot get their shit together. Year after year after year, the same stupid bonehead mistakes, and everybody who puts their lives into those shows get tossed out like three day old fish. It's enough to make people give up on television completely.

It feels like the new Coke of late night, the sooner they restore it to how it was, the better it will be for them.

Can anyone please explain to me the whole 11:35 ... 12:05 thing (as opposed to 11:30 / 12:30)?
What is the deal with those 5 minutes?

Something about local news at 11pm. I have no idea why it runs over by five minutes. Local ad revenues maybe?

*dead

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