The Late Shift by Bill Carter

[Old Guy]

Has anyone read this book? It's about the late night wars of the early 1990s. With so much change happening this year in late night TV it's probably the best time to read or re-read it.

It's amazing how one mistake can create so much drama. I blame both David Letterman and NBC for what happened. I blame Letterman because he should have had in his contract that he would be the one to replace Johnny Carson. I also blame NBC because 1) they overlooked Letterman and 2) they never consulted Carson. Jay Leno didn't do anything wrong. He saw an opportunity and took it. There's nothing wrong with that.

At the end it all worked out for the best. We got Conan and now in June he'll be the Tonight show host.

[Wonderwall]

I remember back when they announced Conan as the new host that Leno took time out of the show to address the situation. He mentioned stuff about people being hurt when he took over in the early 90s and I never understood the situation( mostly cuz I never really knew there was one until around that time ). He then proceeded to more or less give Conan his blessings which I thought was a class act.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Sounds like a fascinating book. I'll have to put it on my list.

I remember watching Dave around this time and there was a lot of bad blood that seemed to be boiling over from the show from his conflict with GE. His GE-based segments seemed a lot more angry than funny to me.

[Old Guy]

I remember watching Dave around this time and there was a lot of bad blood that seemed to be boiling over from the show from his conflict with GE. His GE-based segments seemed a lot more angry than funny to me.

Letterman pissing off his bosses didn't help matters. When Letterman said he was leaving to CBS, NBC, told him to wait and that maybe they could work something out. Leno's first year as host was a mess. NBC was seriously considering dumping Leno and replacing him with Letterman. Ultimately what led to NBC sticking to Leno was that Letterman was an a-hole. If you want a promotion the last thing you wanna do is piss off the boss. At the end of the day Letterman only has himself to blame for not getting the job.

[Burgundy Ranger]

There was a really good HBO movie made from it. The actors who played Jay and Dave weren't anything special but Kathy Bates as Helen Kushnick (Leno's agent) was real good and it had the obligatory Rich Little portrayal of Carson.

[Old Guy]

There was a really good HBO movie made from it. The actors who played Jay and Dave weren't anything special but Kathy Bates as Helen Kushnick (Leno's agent) was real good and it had the obligatory Rich Little portrayal of Carson.

lol. Yea. I saw that movie a few years ago. Although the book gets into more details, of course.