| The War for Late Night | |
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Book cover |
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| Author(s) | Bill Carter |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Viking |
| Publication date | November 4, 2010 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 384 |
| ISBN | 9780670022083 |
| Preceded by | The Late Shift |
The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy is a 2010 non-fiction book written by The New York Times media reporter Bill Carter. It chronicles the 2010 conflict surrounding the American late-night talk show The Tonight Show involving Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno. It is a sequel to the 1994 book The Late Shift, which detailed the first uproar in the early 1990s for the hosting spot on The Tonight Show between David Letterman and Jay Leno, following the retirement of Johnny Carson. The book was first published on November 4, 2010, by Viking Press.
Contents |
Author Bill Carter previously wrote a book about the 1992 conflict between Jay Leno and David Letterman on who would succeed Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show.[1] Titled The Late Shift, the book was well-received, with positive reviews from publications including The New York Times Book Review,[2] and The Christian Science Monitor.[3]
A film adaptation of the book was produced in 1996 by HBO, directed by Betty Thomas, and starring John Michael Higgins as Letterman and Daniel Roebuck as Leno. The film received seven Emmy Award nominations in categories including "Outstanding Made for Television Movie",[4] makeup,[5] casting,[5] writing,[6] directing,[4] and acting.[4] For her role in the film as Helen Kushnick, actress Kathy Bates won awards from the American Comedy Awards,[7] the Golden Globe Awards,[8] the Satellite Awards,[9] and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.[10] The film was also recognized with an award for "Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials" from the Directors Guild of America Awards.[11]
Carter engaged in research for the book during 2010.[12] By January 2010, he had obtained a deal to publish the book.[13] Carter confirmed to Business Insider that in his research for the book, he attempted to gather input from multiple viewpoints, stating, "I'm reaching out to everyone I possibly can to get every side of the story."[14] He said that he is not adopting a perspective himself regarding the 2010 Tonight Show conflict, and noted, "I obviously have to reach out to all sides. For the longest time, I personally tried to watch as many episodes of all the shows as I could to get sense of each show, and what each guy does. I don't just pick one and stick with that guy."[14] He observed of the writing process on the subject matter after having authored The Late Shift, "It's fun to have something to write about again."[14] Carter attempted to research the impact of financial decision-making on events of the controversy.[15] He commented on the readiness of the various parties involved to speak to him, "I think a lot of them wanted to tell their part of the story. I've known Jay for a long time, so that was convenient, and I've known Conan since the day he started at NBC.... I had an advantage going in that I had connections. I wasn't going in cold."[16]
The War for Late Night chronicles the 2010 conflict surrounding the American late-night talk show The Tonight Show involving Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno.[17] Carter gives biographical description of other late-night television personalities, including David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.[18] As host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, O'Brien had decided to remain with NBC after generous attempts by ABC and Fox to woo him to their networks – as NBC executives had instructed him that he would be installed as host of The Tonight Show after the retirement of Leno.[19] While hosting The Tonight Show and analyzing ratings results, O'Brien shared with his manager Gavin Polone he had a fear that Leno might be moved back to the program.[20] Carter provides the reader with informative material regarding O'Brien's and Leno's contracts, and describes the former's emotional state during the 2010 conflict.[21] He reveals that Leno had the upper-hand during negotiations because of a stronger legal contract agreement with NBC.[22] Due to the strength of Leno's contract as opposed to O'Brien's, he had the option to sue NBC if his program was removed from television broadcast.[23]
NBC executives attempted to create a solution where both late night television hosts would remain employed by the company.[24] Jeff Gaspin, the chairman of NBC Universal Television, instructed both parties that he did not wish to make a difficult decision but felt that the most appropriate solution for the situation was to move Leno back to his previous timeslot and push O'Brien to 12:05.[25] Carter details an exchange between NBC executive Jeff Zucker and Rick Rosen, O'Brien's agent, where Zucker pressured O'Brien's representatives with his belief that they were leaking information about the conflict to the media.[26] The author cites O'Brien's disappointment with the perceived unfairness of the situation, and quotes comments made by O'Brien in a meeting with NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios chairman Marc Graboff and Jeff Gaspin, "I know how hard I worked for this. It was promised to me. I had a shitty lead-in."[27] Carter recounts how affiliates of NBC complained to the network regarding the poor performance of Leno's program The Jay Leno Show.[28] O'Brien questioned the two NBC executives, "What does Jay have on you? What does this guy have on you people? What the hell is it about Jay?"[27][29]
Carter comments about how the "Team Coco" movement and fans impacted O'Brien following the controversy, "The outpouring of support made Conan feel as if he was starring in his own version of the movie It's a Wonderful Life, both because he was allowed to see a 'Tonight Show' where he never existed and because the support made him realize he really was 'the richest man in town.'"[30] O'Brien was hurt by the fact that Leno did not attempt to communicate directly with him during the fiasco.[31] The author writes that as compared to the eventual payout to O'Brien of $45 million, NBC would have suffered a financial loss of $235 million if O'Brien had left the company in 2004 in order to form a talk show for another network.[32] O'Brien moved from NBC to host his own late night program on network TBS.[33] Carter's work concludes with an interview from comic Jerry Seinfeld, a celebrity in Leno's camp; Seinfeld argues O'Brien should have remained at NBC.[34]
Writing for the New York Post, Larry Getlen observed, "Veteran journalist Bill Carter details the vicious recent battle over 'The Tonight Show,' showing how Leno was hardly the devious schemer he was made out to be, and how O’Brien was not always the angelic innocent the media portrayed, as he and his team aggressively pursued the show at every opportunity."[35] Jon Bershad of Mediaite commented, "It’s as tense and exciting as expected."[17] Writing for TV Squad, Joel Keller analyzed Carter's description of Leno's legal contract versus O'Brien's, observing that the author "paints a picture of Leno and his producer, Debbie Vickers, as pragmatists and Conan as a cockeyed idealist".[23] Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times commented about changes in the media industry since Carter's prior book The Late Shift, "The only difference is that the media world has changed a lot then, and while "The Late Shift" had a lot of inside dirt and drama that was news to everyone but the most hardcore industry insiders, this time around the soap opera played out on TV and in the media."[36] James Poniewozik of Time magazine observed, "There are lots of juicy bits, but the big takeaway: the guy with the best contract, wins."[37] Poniewozik called the book, "Bill Carter's Jaypocalypse dirt-disher".[38] Writing for ABC News, journalist Sheila Marikar commented, "Bill Carter's new book, 'The War for Late Night,' reveals what happened behind the scenes, the expletives that were hurled during closed-door discussions, the roller coaster that O'Brien, Leno, and their cohorts rode during that tumultuous time."[30]
"The War for Late Night ... offers an exhaustive, eye-opening, how-could-he-possibly-know-that look at the late-night feud that ultimately was a muddled victory for Leno: He won back 'The Tonight Show,' but his ratings have fallen below O'Brien's."
Frazier Moore wrote for Associated Press, "He plays this latest late-night conflagration right down the middle. He keeps the story moving almost cinematically, crosscutting from one personality to another, deftly and revealingly presenting different points of view."[18] Writing for BusinessWeek, Jim Windolf gave the book a rating of three stars out of a possible five, and commented, "Bill Carter has become the Bob Woodward of the 11:35 time slot."[32] Paula Duffy of HULIQ News described the book as "a juicy tell-all".[26] Dylan Stableford of TheWrap characterized the book as "a must-read" for fans of Conan O'Brien.[20] Jeff Simon of The Buffalo News called the book a "definitive history" of the 2010 Tonight Show conflict.[40] Willa Paskin wrote for New York Magazine that Carter, "spoke with enough people involved in the situation to provide an account so detailed, it even includes re-created conversations and dialogue".[21] Neal Justin of Star Tribune commented on the author's neutrality in his writing style, "The next time network TV executives stumble into an ugly behind-the-scenes battle, they should consider hiring Bill Carter to negotiate. The veteran New York Times media reporter has a way of sharing juicy stories without painting anyone as a complete saint or sinner, a feat he pulls off again in his latest book, 'The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy'".[24]
Nate Jones commented for Time magazine, "There are no landmark surprises — Jay Leno comes off as affably opportunistic, Conan O'Brien as a tragic self-dramatist with a little bit of a martyrdom complex — but it's a worthwhile look at the procedural negotiations that led to last winter's messy divorce."[22] The Hollywood Reporter observed, "Bill Carter's book reveals explosive new details about the Jay Leno-O'Brien debacle."[27] Kyle Anderson of MTV.com wrote, "the story takes an amazingly candid look at the conversations and arguments that went on behind the scenes. It even takes you to the moment when O'Brien decides that he has to walk away from 'The Tonight Show.'"[41] Paul Schwartzman of The Washington Post wrote that it "is a great read and an example of narrative journalism's power when practiced by a reporter steeped in his subject matter."[29] Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly reviewed Carter's book and gave it a rating of "B-", concluding, "In the end, Carter presents a pretty compelling argument that while the fourth-place network lost the public relations war, it probably won the late-night battle."[34] Speaking on his program The Howard Stern Show, host Howard Stern commented of the author's writing style, "It is just endlessly fascinating the way he paints this picture."[42] Writing for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, journalist Christopher Lawrence observed, "Bill Carter's 'The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy,' ... offers an exhaustive, eye-opening, how-could-he-possibly-know-that look at the late-night feud that ultimately was a muddled victory for Leno: He won back 'The Tonight Show,' but his ratings have fallen below O'Brien's."[39]
The Toronto Star reported in February 2010 that a sequel to The Late Shift film was in planning stages.[43] On January 19, 2010, during O'Brien's last week of shows, guest Quentin Tarantino jokingly suggested that he direct a sequel to The Late Shift, cast O'Brien as himself and make it a revenge movie in the style of his film Kill Bill with the title Late Shift 2: The Rolling Thunder of Revenge.[44][45][46] In the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, O'Brien stated he wished that actress Tilda Swinton could portray him in a film version about The Tonight Show conflict.[47] Swinton subsequently expressed interest in being cast as Conan O'Brien in a sequel to The Late Shift.[48] When asked in a June 2010 interview with Movieline if there was going to be film adaptation of the book, Carter responded that plans were not serious at that point in time, stating, "Not really. Nothing serious. Let’s put it this way: There have always been people kicking it around because they think it’s funny.... Letterman made a ... joke saying that Max von Sydow should play him. So, you know, people are just kicking it around like that."[15] Actor Bob Balaban, who portrayed NBC executive Warren Littlefield in the film The Late Shift said he would like to portray Jeff Zucker, and stated actor Jason Alexander would also be a good choice to play Zucker.[49] Andy Richter told Movieline that he would want Justin Bieber to portray him in a film adaptation of the book.[50]
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