The War for Late Night

So, if you can't tell from this latest rash of books - I've always enjoyed the "behind the scenes" of tv shows or movies. I'm one who always likes to watch the "Making of the Movie" features on DVD's (my wife always makes fun of me for that - or usually falls asleep in the middle of it). It's just always been a fascination.

A few years back, there was a big brew-ha-ha (did I even spell that right?!), about the shake-up in late-night television. For those in the know, it dealt with Jay Leno vs. Conan O'brien vs. David Letterman (sort of). All of a sudden (for those who didn't watch the shows religiously), Conan was taking over The Tonight Show, and Jay Leno moved to a 9 o'clock (MST) slot. "Interesting..." was my first reaction. I'd always enjoyed watching the late night shows (when I could stay awake long enough). I'd already noticed that Jay's opening monologue was much better than David Letterman's - but that Letterman had lots more funny skits on his show (mostly outside his theater - I loved when he would drop stuff off the roof of his building!). I had watched Conan a few times, and got his humor as well. So, I was interested to see how this new experiment with Jay at 9 was going to work. Yeah - it didn't. Colossal failure. Then, all of a sudden, Jay was back with The Tonight Show, and Conan was out of the picture (only to reappear later on TBS). I remember some news coverage at the time, with Conan being indignant that he was forced out, and never really given a chance.

So - this book gives you the background behind the whole deal - why Conan took over for Jay, why it didn't work, how the other late-show hosts (Letterman, Kimmel, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon) all dealt with the whole thing, and how they played small roles in the whole process as well. There's a lot in here about the negotiations that went on between Jay and NBC, Conan and NBC, and a little about Dave and CBS. As a lawyer, I found the negotiations interesting.

Overall, the entire book was good. There wasn't any part where I felt like it was "plodding", or including information solely for the sake of expanding the length (as sometimes I feel). It was a good "behind the scenes" look at the various players. If anything, it could have used a little bit more - maybe in the form of an update on how the new time slots have really worked out for everyone. But, a good read, nonetheless.