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NBC's total late-night meltdown


Voltron

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So Conan's last episode will be next Friday the 22nd unless NBC boots him earlier. Looks like Leno was full of shit, and was just pretending to leave to gain some leverage for the new contract he was working on to go back to The Tonight Show.

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Yeah, I can tell you that this article is an excellent example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read. In fact, save for the possibility that Conan has specifically contracted to not use some of those ideas, much of this article is bull shit. The most interesting portion of the whole article is this:

In 1993, David Letterman got into a dustup with NBC when he departed "Late Night" for CBS' "Late Show." NBC attorneys attempted to prevent Letterman from taking intellectual property originated on "Late Night" to the comic's new home. Letterman responded by dropping certain bits and renaming other recurring segments -- "Viewer Mail" became "CBS Mailbag" and frequent guest Larry "Bud" Melman began referring to himself by his real name, Calvert DeForest. Letterman mocked the dispute on his first "Late Show" when NBC anchor Tom Brokaw interrupted the monologue and stole cue cards in the name of securing NBC's intellectual property.

This portion of the article is correct. Let me give you an example. David Letterman pioneered the idea of Stupid Human Tricks. So, Jay Leno, being the hack he is, has a skit on his show last week called "Don't try this at home," or some other lame shit similar to that. Its exactly like Stupid Human Tricks, except it goes by a different name. Is there any intellectual property issue there? Certainly nothing that would be a winner in court. Similarly, if Conan just has to have a masturbating bear on his Fox show he can just have a masturbating polar bear (that is white) instead of the brown bear he used on his old Late Night show. Issues like Triumph, etc are not as clear cut, but it only takes a little creativity to get around whatever meager rights NBC has.

Fuck NBC. I hope they all die of ass cancer.

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Anyone remember this? LMAO, so queer especially putting the music together with Bob Costas:D, but still the catchiest theme song ever. This was quality NBC. At least for me, I was born in 88'.

Yeah the NBC anthem destroys the TNT one easily. The only thing I liked about NBA on NBC, back in the day, was that during the regular season that network would show 3-4 games in a row every Sunday :) Now I gotta switch between 2-4 channels to get at best 2-3 games. Woah is life

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Oh, that would suck so hard. Triumph was always one the greatest bits to get a full on uncontrolled laugh out of me. (whimper)

I miss the masturbating bear most of all. For me, that was the real problem with Conan on the Tonight Show; he was too polished and polite, and always seemed obsessed with making sure his guests didn't curse or do anything offensive. In short, it was trying too hard to not offend folks, and, the entertainment value of his show suffered as a result. I hope he does go to Fox. Surely, if there is a broadcast network that won't give a damn what Conan does to get laughs, then it is Fox.

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I did read the article after -- that really sucks that he can't bring some of his intellectual capital with him -- however lowbrow some of it might be, it should be his, and they should give it to him as part of the deal, in exchange for not having given him enough time to develop -- but I think he's up to the challenge. A lot of those repeat bits I never understood the repetition factor (well, the Chuck Norris lever I understood, but since NBC was providing him those clips, that one I understand him having to leave), but Triumph was always fresh and entertaining. Here's to hoping that Smigel gets involved for a legal win. I'm sure Conan can come up with other bits that will be even more hilarious and more cutting-edge than he was before, and I agree that he should just let loose -- that would rock. I would love to see him completely uncensored.

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