The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy

Title: The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy
Author: Bill Carter
Publisher: Viking, 2021

Format: PDF
Size: 7 MB
Pages: 394

A dramatic account of the politics and personalities behind NBC's calamitous attempt to reinvent late-night television.

When NBC decided to move Jay Leno into prime time to make room for Conan O'Brien to host the Tonight show-a job he had been promised five years earlier-skeptics anticipated a train wreck for the ages. It took, in fact, only a few months for the dire predictions to come true. Leno's show, panned by critics, dragged down the ratings-and the profits-of NBC's affiliates, while ratings for Conan's new Tonight show plummeted to the lowest levels in history. Conan's collapse, meanwhile, opened an unexpected door of opportunity for rival David Letterman. What followed was a boisterous, angry, frequently hilarious public battle that had millions of astonished viewers glued to their sets. In The War for Late Night, New York Times reporter Bill Carter offers a detailed behind-the-scenes account of the events of the unforgettable 2009/2010 late-night season as all of its players- performers, producers, agents, and network executives-maneuvered to find footing amid the shifting tectonic plates of television culture.

• Book Genres: Non Fiction, Media Tie In, Tv, History, Culture, Pop Culture, Biography, Humor, Comedy, Business, Film

the-war-for-late-night-when-leno-went-early-and-television-went-crazy.pdf (PDF, 7 MB)