With Stephen Colbert gone, the future of late-night talk show TV looks bleak. But Jay Leno once went out in the best way. No not that time, the first time.
It had been announced in the mid-2000s that Leno would leave with Conan O’Brien taking over as host of The Tonight Show.
For a week or so before the May 29, 2009 show, Leno had been telling people to tune in for a special surprise. But what could it be? A special celebrity, maybe? Maybe he was going to patch things up with David Letterman.
No. Leno began talking about his crew and how they had become a family. And then crew members began dating other crew members or family relatives of crew members.
It had been 17 years and in those years, 68 children had been born. Some were still babies held by their parents as the curtain pulled back and they got the final curtain call. Leno stepped out of camera frame as the camera carefully panned showing everyone. Leno only appeared in the final shot off to the right of the screen playing with a little toddler. Leno and his wife, Mavis, never had children but you could tell they were Uncle Jay and Aunt Mavis.
Leno may have not been the best choice over Letterman. He went through all the criticism and taunts if for anything else that his crew members could have a better slice of the pie and build their own families.
It was a subtle and sweet way of saying “Thank you” to everyone.
It should’ve been the way to go out.
But it wasn’t.
NBC in a bold and crazy move decided to give Leno his only show The Jay Leno Show airing at 10 p.m. EST, 9 p.m. CMT. It was a disaster mostly because it began in mid-September of 2009 and was kind of a way for NBC to keep Leno on without him moving to another network. The only problem was O’Brien was screwed over in every which way. Imagine someone gets a promotion after someone retires but the retiree is brought back and given more attention and pull as well as better treatment. It was a slap in the face to O’Brien.
But The Jay Leno Show bombed in the primetime slot. Then they were going to move the show to the 11:30 slot bumping O’Brien back again. Needless to say, a lot of people were Team Coco. Americans were recovering from The Great Recession and this felt like something that had been done to them. The company where I worked during this time hired a consultant during 2008-2009 while saying we weren’t getting bonuses and having to take furloughs.
Leno came back but the damage was already done. He hurt his legacy especially having fans rush up to him as he walked on stage. There’s no way they would allow that unsupervised.
Four years later Leno left for good but his final final show was horrible. It featured so many celebrities kissing his ass, it felt like canned and unoriginal. For shame, Carol Burnett. Yes, Colbert had celebrities making cameos but he was canceled for political reasons over a business merger. So, it’s different.
You only get one chance to make a first impression but Leno ruined his career by coming back not once but twice. And neither time did most want him back.
Zane Says 