The Problem with "The Tonight Show"
Problem #1 :
NBC corporate executives.
These guys did not know their market and their product.
A product that really " set it and forget it" thanks to Johnny Carson's talents.
A product that generated and held its own "subscribers".
The "format" was THE TONIGHT SHOW.
THE PRODUCT was always JOHNNY CARSON "himself".
THE PRODUCT was unique, in that he was entertaining enough for the "old school", RAT PACK, John Wayne, old Hollywood, Bob Hope type audience AND could smoothly be entertaining and topical SIMULTANEOUSLY for the new, younger crowd.
NBC executives were much too smart to account for that tidbit as being the key.
Jay has more ties to the early 80's crowd up until present. Conan may be the same , maybe more late 80's , early 90's crowd.
Mistake #1.
Problem #2:
a) If ain't broke, don't fix it.
b) Trying to reinvent the wheel.
Since they assumed THE TONIGHT SHOW "is" the product, for whatever reason, they thought they would simply get "more" viewership IN ADDITION to the loyal viewers by trying to get the "younger" crowd.....which means replacing Johnny , whom they deemed as expiring like milk or will need to retire in the future, anyhow, so to get the jump on it by getting someone they think can "hook" and "keep" younger viewers that will be loyal like the already loyal following.
Guess these corporate "geniuses" never heard of "testing" the validity of their failed hypothesis.
They should have kept Johnny in that chair until either an Ambulance or Coroner had to carry him out or until he walked away when he felt like it, which would probably have been never, baring any health problems that would make the quality and standards he set for the show suffer.
Now that I think about, a stiff, lifeless, decaying corpse of Johnny Carson still seated at that chair would probably still give both Jay and Conan a run for their money, and might even be funnier.
Just the band playing here and there, Ed McMahon laughing at nothing ( as usual ), and the camera panning between the corpse, Ed, the band and the studio audience who applauds on cue would still be as entertaining a show, compared to the competition.
They should have rode that horse until it dropped dead and collapsed under the weight of its own death.
Problem #3 :
When Johnny left, the market/product took a dip.
Although it was still #1 late night, the numbers were not the same.
As an example, if I watched Carson 3 days a week, I only watched Jay 1-2 days a week, and Conan, maybe 1 day, and this is from an occasional viewer, not the loyal viewer, which would probably be worse.
Problem #4 :
Since they see Conan's numbers rising , they make the SAME DUMB MISTAKE, with the "added" complication that Conan was getting the numbers to make demands for a better time slot either on NBC or consider offers from other stations, so they could'nt just let him go along with those rising numbers to the potential competition.
These NBC executives are just too smart for us to comprehend their market mastery.
So they conclude if they move Conan to THE TONIGHT SHOW, its a win-win.
"HIS" loyal viewers would follow him to THE TONIGHT SHOW in addition to Jay's average viewership numbers could possibly recapture some of the lost numbers when Johnny was at the helm......."back" to getting more closer than ever to Johnny Carson type numbers and viewership than they have before.
AND they don't lose either Jay or Conan.
" W-R-O-N-G ",.., AGAIN, talented ones.
A number of Jay's loyal following dropped out on Conan as a number of Carson"s loyal following did on Jay.
AND a number of Conan's loyal viewers did not follow him to his new spot.
AND they lose Conan's "viewership", gone, and possibly Conan, himself.
But NBC executives, Jay, Conan and all make 7-8 figured salaries, so I guess they know somethin.
Only the audience loses, some jobs are going to be lost, consumers "R.I.P.", same corporate song.
Nice going.
The 13th Warrior
NBC corporate executives.
These guys did not know their market and their product.
A product that really " set it and forget it" thanks to Johnny Carson's talents.
A product that generated and held its own "subscribers".
The "format" was THE TONIGHT SHOW.
THE PRODUCT was always JOHNNY CARSON "himself".
THE PRODUCT was unique, in that he was entertaining enough for the "old school", RAT PACK, John Wayne, old Hollywood, Bob Hope type audience AND could smoothly be entertaining and topical SIMULTANEOUSLY for the new, younger crowd.
NBC executives were much too smart to account for that tidbit as being the key.
Jay has more ties to the early 80's crowd up until present. Conan may be the same , maybe more late 80's , early 90's crowd.
Mistake #1.
Problem #2:
a) If ain't broke, don't fix it.
b) Trying to reinvent the wheel.
Since they assumed THE TONIGHT SHOW "is" the product, for whatever reason, they thought they would simply get "more" viewership IN ADDITION to the loyal viewers by trying to get the "younger" crowd.....which means replacing Johnny , whom they deemed as expiring like milk or will need to retire in the future, anyhow, so to get the jump on it by getting someone they think can "hook" and "keep" younger viewers that will be loyal like the already loyal following.
Guess these corporate "geniuses" never heard of "testing" the validity of their failed hypothesis.
They should have kept Johnny in that chair until either an Ambulance or Coroner had to carry him out or until he walked away when he felt like it, which would probably have been never, baring any health problems that would make the quality and standards he set for the show suffer.
Now that I think about, a stiff, lifeless, decaying corpse of Johnny Carson still seated at that chair would probably still give both Jay and Conan a run for their money, and might even be funnier.
Just the band playing here and there, Ed McMahon laughing at nothing ( as usual ), and the camera panning between the corpse, Ed, the band and the studio audience who applauds on cue would still be as entertaining a show, compared to the competition.
They should have rode that horse until it dropped dead and collapsed under the weight of its own death.
Problem #3 :
When Johnny left, the market/product took a dip.
Although it was still #1 late night, the numbers were not the same.
As an example, if I watched Carson 3 days a week, I only watched Jay 1-2 days a week, and Conan, maybe 1 day, and this is from an occasional viewer, not the loyal viewer, which would probably be worse.
Problem #4 :
Since they see Conan's numbers rising , they make the SAME DUMB MISTAKE, with the "added" complication that Conan was getting the numbers to make demands for a better time slot either on NBC or consider offers from other stations, so they could'nt just let him go along with those rising numbers to the potential competition.
These NBC executives are just too smart for us to comprehend their market mastery.
So they conclude if they move Conan to THE TONIGHT SHOW, its a win-win.
"HIS" loyal viewers would follow him to THE TONIGHT SHOW in addition to Jay's average viewership numbers could possibly recapture some of the lost numbers when Johnny was at the helm......."back" to getting more closer than ever to Johnny Carson type numbers and viewership than they have before.
AND they don't lose either Jay or Conan.
" W-R-O-N-G ",.., AGAIN, talented ones.
A number of Jay's loyal following dropped out on Conan as a number of Carson"s loyal following did on Jay.
AND a number of Conan's loyal viewers did not follow him to his new spot.
AND they lose Conan's "viewership", gone, and possibly Conan, himself.
But NBC executives, Jay, Conan and all make 7-8 figured salaries, so I guess they know somethin.
Only the audience loses, some jobs are going to be lost, consumers "R.I.P.", same corporate song.
Nice going.
The 13th Warrior
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