Following last week’s announcement that NBC would be abandoning its catastrophic decision to strip “The Jay Leno Show” in primetime after only a few months due to overwhelming pressure from its affiliates and the subsequent decision to move Leno back to 11:35, the big question mark has been what will Conan O’Brien do?  NBC seemed to make it clear that they wanted to move “The Tonight Show w/ Conan O’Brien” to 12:05, following Leno’s half hour show which would now air at 11:35.  Whether that is true or a load of peacock crap, we may never know.  Perhaps NBC did want this overcrowded late night menu.  Or, more likely, they wanted to push Conan aside and put Leno back in place on “The Tonight Show.”  Either way, the whole thing stinks.  As a fan of Conan, Jay, and Dave, I just think the whole thing stinks and it was yet another lose-lose situation created by the wrath of Jeff Zucker

Here is the official statement released from Conan O’Brien:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

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Looks like it! He was already ‘killed’ off last season but came back in Sylar’s body (though he has been MIA the past few weeks save for a small glimpse).Reports are coming in he is the HERO who will be leaving the show come early January. How many more people can the show dump before the show becomes cheap enough to head over to cable?

Bye-bye ‘flying man’.

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And its probably about time. The show has once again come to a grinding halt with stories going no where, plot lines left dangling, characters disappearing for several episodes and Sylar trying to figure out if he is good or evil. Sigh.

Since NBC already ordered a shortened 19 episode Season, perhaps they will give Producers the final 3 to let them wrap up everything? Looks like Gaspin is serious about trying to fix the Network. (And ordering 6 more episodes of CHUCK is a good sign he is serious about keeping the show).

NBC will stick with TRAUMA through the end of the year though because they have not a single thing to replace it with. Pathetic.

And according to THRFeed its a done deal! And with Warner shifting the Season 2 DVD and Blu-rays to January 5th it makes even more sense. Looks like it’ll still be on Monday nights though.

How do you guys feel about that?

TNT is very close to signing a deal to get at least the first 7 episodes of Season One and the 6 un-aired episodes from Season Two to make a ‘full’ season. At this point, its unknown if TNT will produce more episode but rumor has it the crew has been notified to be back on set November 2nd. Could it be for new episodes (scripts/outlines were obviously planned since NBC ordered 13 episodes for Season Two) or to do re-shoots to ‘cap’ the series out leaving no strings?

Yep, it sure (almost) did. The Vampire Diaries got 1 .7 and SNL Weekend Update/Parks and Recreation combo scored a 1.8 in the all important 18-49 rating share. What is going on with NBC? Does anyone remember the powerhouse that was Friends several years ago? No other network could touch them. Now, with one fell swoop, the network (CW) that is essentially catering almost exclusively to young women is on the verge of beating NBC.

Sweety, you're as shocked as I am.

What once was the 8pm hour home to The Cosby Show, Mad About You, Wings, Friends, Will and Grace is now the dumping place for a horrific SNL Weekend Update (does it really need to be 30 minutes?) and the ratings disaster called Parks and Recreation. Thankfully, in October Community will be moving into the 8pm hour which should boost the ratings a bit, but what NBC needs to do is completely restructure their Thursday night lineup.

Open with The Office followed by Community and for the 9pm hour go with 30 Rock and close out the night with Parks and Recreation. With Fringes ratings slumping (and Supernatural kicking serious butt for the CW) move the Emmy-winning 30 Rock to the 9pm hour and let Parks and Recreation follow and slowly kill itself off. I bet a fifth season of My Name is Earl is looking pretty good right now eh NBC?

If you enjoy Brad’s opinions you might just like his Blu-ray reviews at Blu-Views

It grabbed in over 6 million viewers and finished at 8th place.  I really enjoyed the story and where it’s going.  It has something last season didn’t have.  It is going back to what made the show the phenom that it once was,it has character mystery and it seems a bit scaled down!  Now, I DO NOT think 6 million viewers are going to save the already doomed show but at least it still has a fan base, interest and finished in the TOP 10. The CW would be so grateful for ratings like this, too bad they can’t afford this show.

Source: TV By The Numbers

HEROES moving to 7/8pm.  The move up by an hour places HEROES up against HOUSE, DANCING WITH THE STARS, The CBS comedy block of BIG BANG THEORY and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, and GOSSIP GIRL.  They also gave us the information that HEROES would run 19 consecutive episodes off (and I’m guessing 2 weeks off during the Holiday Season).  Bryan Fuller is going to have to work a miracle.  This will be a fun ratings fight to witness, and I’m convinced HEROES fans will be blaming the move on their likely ratings drop.  I’d also take the over on Tim Kring making another stupid comment about the people who watch his show.

CHUCK getting 10 months off.  Every one’s favorite Nerd Herder quit his job and learned Kung Fu.  We know Subway is going to be playing a big part in the new season.  I think Josh and Chris will actually improve upon this series if they keep Chuck out of the Buy More.  I also suggest more Scott Bakula.  However will it survive the 10 month hiatus?

Sure.  CHUCK fans need to keep the hype alive.  TV BY THE NUMBERS commentor Rick Holy suggests giving friends and family a CHUCK Christmas.  Buy them DVD sets of Season 1 and Season 2.  This will give your friends and family plenty of time to get hooked.  The Olympics are likely to make a big bruha about CHUCK season 3 and CHUCK is lucky that it will be the first scripted show to air on NBC after the Olympics ends.  Subway, NBC, and CHUCK fans can help make this work.  I’m going to bet on CHUCK making it and…

CHUCK getting a summer run in 2010.  BS said he’d like to air new CHUCK over the summer if they could pull it off and combine it with FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.  I really like this idea.  I really like this idea if they take FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS off of Friday.  This is NBC’s top critically acclaimed show after THE OFFICE and 30 ROCK but they keep it on Friday where it goes to wilt away every season.  Just because the show has the name Friday in it doesn’t mean it has to air on Friday.  A CHUCK/FNL combo would be an entertaining package and might actually help both grow new viewers.  Viewers don’t have summer viewing habits and there for CHUCK could actually grow over the summer.  This has worked in the past for FOX and 90210 in the 90s.

The biggest change seems to be that NBC is going to “seasonal programming.”  The new shows premiering in the Fall are not scheduled for the Spring with the exception of the comedy COMMUNITY.  You also have a new 90 minute version of THE BIGGEST LOSER which is being used as a launching pad for 100 QUESTIONS.  I like the idea of seasonal programming it has worked for Cable now for years.  If shows like TRAUMA make it and only air in the Fall, that’s not a bad thing.  I also believe this is going to open up some more programming for the summer.

We all knew about LENO.  LENO will rule the airwaves from 9/10pm five nights a week!  ABC is celebrating and I think the Mouse might just send BS a thank you gift for giving them 2nd place guaranteed for the 9/10pm time slot.

I like a lot of what NBC is doing, but I also shake my head at their line up.  The pilots aren’t as good as the pilots that FOX, ABC, and CBS have.  They are better than what the CW has, but then again PBS has a better line up than the CW.

Check out TV BY THE NUMBERS and their take on the schedule plus commentary.