I don’t watch late night TV. The best I do is Tivo John Stewart and watch him when I get a chance. I don’t watch because I don’t stay up late, but more than that, I don’t watch because the shows don’t interest me. One of the big reason why they don’t interest me is because late night is still a bastion of testosterone and men swinging their dicks around.
This week’s insanity just brought it out into the open more.
I really don’t feel bad for any of them. It was a stupid, yet at the same time bold idea to try Jay out at 10. I was pissed because I like scripted shows and have missed NBC’s 10pm shows which not too long ago were really good. Jay’s move has damaged Law & Order SVU which suffered in the 9pm Wednesday slot against Glee and ABC’s great new comedies Modern Family and Cougar Town and CBS’ Criminal Minds.
Please tell me what is it about late night that brings out the insanity in people? This has been going on for a long time since David Letterman was passed over for The Tonight Show and moved to CBS.
I know it’s all about money. These shows are easy to produce and make money for the networks. They also provide a great venue for upteen amount of stars wanting to promote their new shows, films, books etc. Also,now in the age of You Tube you don’t even need to see the show when it’s on, you can watch you favorite actor’s appearance whenever you want.
But I can’t help but think that because the late night business is still such a male business (with all due respect to Chelsea Handler on E! and Wanda Sykes on Saturday nights) that it is made into much a bigger deal than it should be. My god it’s been on the front page of papers everywhere! Anyone who watches gender issues in TV knows, late night TV shows have virtually NO female writers as Lynn Harris reminded us just last week in Salon. I would imagine that David Letterman is not complaining too loudly about NBC’s late night implosion, it puts all his sexual harassment and affairs in the rear view mirror.
I’m sorry but I just can’t get my pity potty out for any of these guys.
haha, yeah. Late night TV show hosts have always been boring to me, I’d rather watch a scripted drama or sitcom or reality show.
I have no interest in watching a random celebrity sitting down to have a tedious, safe conversation with a show host for 30 minutes. BORING!
who cares about Leno or Conan? I don’t.
Thanks for addressing this issue! I’ve been wondering what the ladies think about all this hub-bub. How about trying out Ellen or Julia-Louis Dreyfuss for one of these slots? Now THAT would be news. I’ve also been surprised that there has not been alot of coverage LINKING Conan’s poor ratings to Jay’s 10pm slot, in that it did not show NBC’s full support as Conan as the new head of late night, etc…But I digress.
Thanks for pointing out the salon article and the issue about diverting from David Letterman’s sex scandal…all very relevant!
Tara
I have no doubt that if it were two women in this spot that there would be more of a meme of “they should be grateful to have a job…” And there would be cat fight metaphors. Headlines would have claw metaphors.
But I kind of look at it in a different way than ignoring it. I WISH that two women fighting for a show and a fight with integrity issues would get the same coverage. I WISH there were two women with the same ability to “swing their dicks” and be openly competitive.
And I really want there to be more women writers.
But I do wish for power for women. Remember, each of these guys have their own ego, but it is about integrity issues also which is more universal (no pun intended.) Clearly people can see there is a screwing going on. I tend to fall in Camp Conan on this one.
Ironically, since this blog just had an entry on children preventing success, I have to point out Jimmy K’s hit on Jay last night as reported in the LA Times:
“A few minutes later, when Leno suggested he might make the jump to ABC, Kimmel stuck the knife in deeper: “Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children….You’ve got $800 million. For God’s sake, leave our shows alone!”
There’s that meme that a guy with kids deserves professional opportunties. Sure it’s a joke, but hey, us ladies get hit with that too – like a guy deserves a job over a woman for this reason, especially if she doesn’t have kids. Then, there’s the meme that if you have kids, you have shanked your chances at success. So you’ll always be left to wonder “if only I didn’t have kids, I’d be CEO.” Or worse, you demonize other women without kids to raise in some socialistic view of success. Like you give the childless woman at work the side-eye if you are a mother. Example: you think that if only Roberts hadn’t had kids, her career would not have cooled. And she would have had Sandra’s year of success. Please. Quit giving women the side-eye and face the patriarchy head on.
This women giving each other the side-eye for how they are mothers or not or the kind of mothers they are is falling for the bait. Quit hating on people’s personal lives outside of work. It’s one of the biggest reasons why fighting racial discrimination is easier to unite than sexual discrimination.
I beenm half interested in this for two reasons. First it highlights just how caddy men are. This has been going on with Carson, leno, letterman and all the rest for year. Refernce the stuff with Joan Rivers and Carson. Don’t tell me women are caddy.Second is how fucked up NBC is thanks to inxompetent Jeff Zucker
I find the whole thing extremely irritating, because if everyone was fired tomorrow night, they’d all be replaced with men. (I’m happy to have Monique, Wanda Sykes, and Chelsea Handler in the evening, but would it kill one of the basic networks to bring in a woman? This is a little irrelevant I guess, but it’s been weighing on me a long time.)
Unrelated: Thanks for finding me today! I’ve been waiting for Fish Tank to open where I live since you first posted about it. :)
I like Conan and think NBC screwed him over. They didn’t give him enough time (only seven months) to build his show. Yes, his ratings were so-so, but part of that may be that Leno was put on at 10PM instead of a scripted show.
It seems cable is a little bit ahead of the networks. TBS has George Lopez and E! has Chelsea Handler, while the networks still continue their tradition of white guys. Come on! A little more diversity, please!
If you’re looking for network television for diversity forget it. I think there was more diversity years ago than there is today.
Network television is handicapped by relying strictly on advertisers for money and every year the ratings on network television drop lower and lower. Cable has more diversity and more latitude with their programming because they aren’t solely reliant on advertising revenue. And more and more people watch cable. Let the dying networks keep the Leno’s and Lettermans’s of the world. To me they represent the venue they are showcased on, network television – old and outdated.
I just want all these rich whiners to donate money to Haiti.
I’m on team Conan, but….they’ve made a big to-do about his last week’s guests and you’d think it reflects his thinking on the bigger “gets” he can book.
So…there’s no talking women. One singing woman. But no women to sit and chat with. Like he could find no women he wants to chat with. It could change. Let’s hope it does.