I have never understood the lettermen appeal.
Conan is the best, then kimmel, Fallon is the worst.
I enjoy Craig Ferguson the most of all the Late Night shows. 
ThomasJefferson - Like arguing over who gets to takeover Chris Leben's estate if that makes sense. The Tonight Show has been dead for 15 fucking years.Still the top rated actually.
Probably should have research that a bit before making yourself look stupid.
I thought Leno wasn't directly responsible for Conan having to leave? I remember it being more of a situation that Conan's early ratings were tanking and NBC went into panic mode and wanted Leno back. I guess Leno should have said no but NBC might have just gotten someone else to replace Conan then.
Surly - I enjoy Craig Ferguson the most of all the Late Night shows.I love Craig's show but he wouldn't fit as the tonight show guy. He's funnier than Kimmel and Fallon combined.
Kimmel was awesome last night with their Matt Damon bit.
Switched to Dave though at times to see captain Patrick Stewart. Love that guy. 
Fallen sucks balls
going to be watching Letterman now
Soup and Beer -That's right. Conans ratings kept going down and nbc thought letting jay do his show would stop bleeding while Conan kept tonight show and built audience.
I thought Leno wasn't directly responsible for Conan having to leave? I remember it being more of a situation that Conan's early ratings were tanking and NBC went into panic mode and wanted Leno back. I guess Leno should have said no but NBC might have just gotten someone else to replace Conan then.
TexasBadAss -Soup and Beer -That's right. Conans ratings kept going down and nbc thought letting jay do his show would stop bleeding while Conan kept tonight show and built audience.
I thought Leno wasn't directly responsible for Conan having to leave? I remember it being more of a situation that Conan's early ratings were tanking and NBC went into panic mode and wanted Leno back. I guess Leno should have said no but NBC might have just gotten someone else to replace Conan then.
That whole thing was an unmitigated disaster.
I'm a huge, 'Since Day 1" Conan fan, still watch him but the Tonight Show isn't a 'youth humor' show which is precisely why Fallon is a much, much worse choice than Kimmel.
It's not like our society is going to magically revert back to the days of class and dignity, and the Tonight Show having drum-offs between Ed Shaughnessy and Buddy Rich, we're a much more degenerate culture, but I think Kimmel is the WAY more intelligent voice in that mix.
I'm with you on that. NBC could not have handled this worse and are setting themselves up for another debacle. It's kind of like a politician relying on the youth vote when the people in their 40-60s are the ones who determine elections
Mr. Wright -
Leno was basically fired when Conan was given the Tonight show. he was #1 in the ratings and basically had no say in whether or not he could stay with the Tonight Show. NBC was deathly afraid of him going to fox and taking the Tonight Show crowd with him so they gave him the 10pm slot. Leno at 10pm wasn't doing very well, Conan wasn't doing shit (like 50% of the #s Leno got in the same time slot) and the local affiliates were telling NBC they were going to drop the tonight show unless Jay was brought back.
so NBC approached Jay about coming back. what was he supposed to do? turn them down?
fuck that. if Conan was as good as his fans say he wouldn't have been in the position he was in due to his poor ratings. on top of that, Leno has consistantly beat Conan and everyone else in late night since he came back.
This.
Conan more or less approached NBC and gave them an ultimatum- give me The Tonight Show or I leave for another network.
Jay's 10pm show wasn't his idea- he was approached by NBC and they begged him to do it. What, he's supposed to say no?
That being said, I think Fallon is going to beat Kimmel.
People are already buzzing about him. In some markets, his numbers beat Kimmel even though it's a later timeslot (granted, he doesn't have the same competition in that timeslot).
Kimmel is non-existent in some markets, which is not good. For a while, his numbers were so shitty in Chicago that they put Oprah re-runs in his time slot and ran his show later
I like JK better
Should have been Conans. Fuck Leno for screwing Conan like he foods.
JustPeed - Should have been Conans. Fuck Leno for screwing Conan like he foods.Like he *did.
I used to despise Fallon, for the same reason as most - his smug laughing at his own skits bullshit on SNL.
And when he started out on late night, he was flat out awful. Awkward, not funny whatsoever, cringe-worthy really.
But I feel like Jimmy has grown into the role and has been doing some solid work the past few years. The Roots and their musical guests elevate the show, and the skits are funny. Great repertoire with celebrities like Timberlake, Rashida Jones etc.
Not a fan of JK's show, loved him with Carolla but he is too vanilla. Conan was the king for a long time, but his shtick got old for me.
NBC are idiots. We're going to see a repeat of what happened when Conan debuted. Fallon will have a strong first week, but lose lots of viewers quickly. I think by two months in, Letterman will be the top late night ratings grabber.
There is a really good book on the Conan Leno story. I want to say its called late show. Sequel to the first book.
I was huge Conan fan but he turned me off by overplaying the victim card. It was funny at first but it kind of labeled him as a loser which I think really hurt his career. His joke last night about passing the torch was funny but also had element of move on.
Harlem Savoy -Yeah I definitely agree, Ferguson doesn't have the right style for the prime time slot.Surly - I enjoy Craig Ferguson the most of all the Late Night shows.I love Craig's show but he wouldn't fit as the tonight show guy. He's funnier than Kimmel and Fallon combined.
Fallon is ok, but I never would have picked him for the Tonight Show. He must have mainstream appeal, but I just don't see it personally.
Mr. Wright -JustPeed -JustPeed - Should have been Conans. Fuck Leno for screwing Conan like he foods.Like he *did.
nobody fucked conan except for conan and maybe nbc. if he had put up even decent #s the affiliates wouldn't have complained and he'd still be the host. instead, he put up shit numbers, the affiliates freaked, nbc freaked and nbc went back to leno. nbc is in the business of making money, not catering to a ginger that can't deliver.like others have said, leno was forced out by conan, took the nbc job to help build conans #s instead of going to fox and getting fucking PAID then took his fucking job back once conan straight tanked. Leno is like the least at fault here.
Leno's 10pm show provided such a dogshit lead-in that nobody was going to succeed on the Tonight Show. Jay's viewership was shit at 10pm, and his demographic was the same as "The Tonight Show" with Jay at the helm: old fuckers. That 10pm lead-in is hugely important for promoting that night's guests and recurring skits.
Johnny Carson reborn couldn't have succeeded with Jay at 10pm. That's not Jay's fault, either. NBC was afraid Jay was going to jump to another network and overpaid him to produce a "Tonight Show Lite" at 10pm with his old skits (Jaywalking, for example) leaving zero rollover audience for Conan. People were going to change the channel no matter what.
NBC fucked up the whole situation. That's why they're forcing Jay out even though Jay is number one: his demographics suck. ABC is killing NBC in advertising revenue at that hour, despite losing the ratings battle. Imagine Fallon appearing on FOX the way Conan was rumored to, making a fourth major-network late night show. Fallon and Jimmy taking the younger demographic, Jay and Letterman dividing up what's left. Jay would still be number one, and the network would have no money to show for it. They probably feel like they HAVE to make the switch to JFal.
NBC is run by idiots, and it shows. They are dead last in primetime ratings across the board, and just fired the host of their only number one show.
BTW: For people questioning the appeal of Letterman, it's simple: He is the best interviewer in the business. People go on Leno to get softball questions and canned answers. Letterman could get a good interview out of a vegetable. Second best is probably that boring-ass Carson Daly.