Monthly Archives: September 2004

My pal Aaron Barnhart has a story in his paper, The Kansas City Star, all about the Leno/O'Brien announcement today. Here it is.

Another pal, Paul Harris, is covering the story on his newly-relocated (different channel) radio show. Here's some of what he and his guests have to say.

I don't really know Sam Johnson but I enjoy his weblog. In this post, he tells why he never cared for Leno. I, of course, do…but there are certain things I've learned never to try to change folks' minds about. These include religion, life on other planets, where to get the best pizza, who killed John F. Kennedy and, most of all, Favorite Late Night Host. But you might find Sam's viewpoint interesting.

Someone has invented a ringtone for cellphones which they claim will cause a woman's breasts to get bigger.

I will post that again, just so you don't think it's a typo.

Someone has invented a ringtone for cellphones which they claim will cause a woman's breasts to get bigger.

Here are the details.

I haven't seen a copy yet but I'm told that today's Daily Variety has a story about the Groo movie deal I mentioned here last week, complete with a drawing of the stupid barbarian. The press release is up over at Ain't It Cool News.

Here's the text of an e-mail sent out today by Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment. It was addressed to the staff but was obviously intended for public dissemination…

Today, we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of our late night franchise "The Tonight Show."

Today also marks another important milestone in our great late night history. In a few moments, we will be issuing a press release announcing our succession plan for this important television institution.

Jay Leno will continue to be at the helm of "The Tonight Show" for another five years, well into 2009, after which time Conan O'Brien will become the host of "The Tonight Show." Jay will officially make the announcement on his show tonight.

After that, it's back to work as usual for Jay, Conan and their teams, who will continue to provide us laughs for many more years.

I can't say enough about this late night team and these two men – especially Jay Leno – who worked tirelessly with us to help us find the appropriate time to make this announcement.

Thanks to both men we have a very bright future in late night!

This is quite amazing, especially when one remembers that Conan O'Brien is the guy NBC renewed in 13-week increments (and actually cancelled at one point) during his rocky first year or two. Now, the network has given him an unprecedented long-range commitment even if, as one expects, NBC has left themselves some sort of "out" clause…say, if O'Brien's Late Night ratings plunge before 2009. Even leaving aside however they may feel about Leno, they had to be pretty scared of O'Brien leaving NBC, either to replace Letterman or to compete in another venue.

Most outward signs suggest that Letterman isn't going anywhere for the forseeable future. Then again, a few hours ago, everyone would have said that of Mr. Leno. This change may prompt some response on the CBS front. Letterman may commit to staying until 2010, just so he can say he out-lasted Jay.

There are all sorts of questions here, and we may or may not get answers to them soon. Is Leno receiving a huge payoff and some sort of long-term deal to do other things for NBC?  The folks I'm talking to this morning over at NBC are still triple-checking that today isn't April 1.

Tonight's episode of The Tonight Show marks the 50th anniversary of that venerable franchise. There will be clips and surprise guests…and also a very surprising announcement. Everyone had figured that Jay Leno, workhorse that he is, would stay in that job forever, or at least until he'd beaten Mr. Carson's record of a little over 30 years behind the desk. Not so. Jay will announce that he will host the show five more years — until 2009 — at which time, he will step aside and Conan O'Brien will take over. This is obviously some negotiated compromise having to do with NBC not wanting to lose O'Brien, and it's quite unprecedented in television. I can't recall when any network ever locked themselves into something five years in advance. They're always aware that trends can change, stars can fade or emerge, etc.

More on this as it develops. But you heard it here first.

Hey, wasn't this about the time the Bush Administration was supposed to be rigging oil prices to bring them way down? Well, they'd better get busy.

I was so swamped last week that I forgot to mention that I dropped by the gala signing last Wednesday evening for the new Gary Owens book…which, despite what I said here, is not his autobiography. It's a book about how to build a career in the voiceover and announcing business and while it contains many amusing anecdotes, Gary's actual autobiography is actually planned for release some time next year. Anyway, Gary had an overflow crowd of devout fans and friends turn out to buy this book and get it signed, the "friends" including Ruth Buzzi, Jonathan Winters, Fred Travalena, Chuck McCann, Howie Morris, John Rappaport, Steve Landesberg, Thom Sharp, Ronnie Schell, Jo Anne Worley, Jack Riley and quite a few others I'm forgetting.

The formal event was held in the parking lot of Dutton's bookstore in the Valley, which is right next to a Popeye's Fried Chicken stand. For about a half hour there, if you'd gone through the drive-thru at Popeye's, you could have been entertained by those folks as you waited for your jambalaya and biscuits. (Mr. Winters and Mr. Travalena were especially in top form.)

Once again, you can order Gary's new book, which will tell you all about the voice business, by clicking here. Ignore all that humble stuff he put in there about being fortunate and getting lucky breaks and all. I understand why he says such things, him being such a nice, modest guy and all. But the honest truth is that Gary Owens has worked incessantly for more than four decades because he's so good at what he does. This is not to say one cannot learn from him…but it's like if you took putting lessons from Tiger Woods. It helps to remember that much of his success is because he's better at it than just about everyone else.

Also: While I was there, I got to chat with Fred Wostbrock, a top Hollywood agent who represents some of the above-named stars. That impresses me but not as much as his uncanny expertise on the topic of game and quiz shows. Fred was a co-author of The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, which is one of those must-have volumes…and he has a new book about to debut, The Ultimate TV Game Show Book. This is a compendium of trivia that I've already ordered. If you've found your way to this website, you're probably the kind of person who'd be interested in this kind of stuff, too.

On October 17, John Cleese is hosting a show called John Cleese's Wine for the Confused which, in this online video, he says is on The Food Channel. Mr. Cleese is himself confused since his program is actually on The Food Network…but I intend to watch, anyway. I've never had a drop of wine in my life but I'll watch anything John Cleese does. Even if he is in men's clothing.

It's amusing to see all the Kerry and Bush partisans running around, trying to lower expectations for their guy in the coming debates. As I understand it, the idea here is to say, over and over, that your candidate's opponent is a master orator and that it will be a major victory for your candidate to just hold his own. Of course, immediately following the debate, you'll be out there declaring that your boy hit a grand-slam and utterly humiliated the loser at the other podium.

The thing I like least about debates is…well, there are two things. One are those post-debate interviews where — surprise, surprise — the Democratic party spokesperson comes to the unbiased conclusion that the Democrat won handily, while the G.O.P. spokesperson declares without prejudice that the Republican was the big winner. I'd give major props to anyone with the candor to say, "Well, of course, even though my guy lied his butt off, contradicted all his past statements and accidentally confessed to several sex crimes, I have to stand here and insist that he won in a walk."

The other thing I can't stand is during the debate and it's the stark, pointless insistence on rules. Two grown men who seek to lead the country ought to be able to stand or sit there and just talk and ask each other questions and rebut points on any subject without someone saying, "You have 42.5 seconds to address only this one narrow topic and no other." The only reason they have rules is because one or both debaters wants to hamper his opponent's ability to confront him head-on. I'd have a lot of respect for any candidate in any race who said, "I'm in favor of none of us who are on the ballot having any say in how the debates are run. Let's just let some non-partisan organization decide how many there are, where they're held and how they're conducted…and I'll be there and do it their way." Anything less is a sign of cowardice.

Michael Kinsley discusses whether Osama bin Laden favors Bush or Kerry.

You oughta check out Jim Hill Media often because they're always posting some neat article, usually Disney-related. Today, I was interested to read this unofficial review of the new Mary Poppins stage musical that's previewing in the U.K. But I also like all of Floyd Norman's columns on the animation business and Jackson King's pop culture pieces and…oh, heck. Just go there and read everything.

I've written hundreds of comic books, some of which I can barely bring myself to look at. You can tell because I signed the misfires with my pseudonym, "Tony Isabella." But if only by sheer luck, some comics turned out well, and the ones that people most often tell me they liked were in the Crossfire series, published back in the eighties. Well, there's now a new paperback that reprints the first six issues in black-and-white. It's not that big a gamble. Even if you don't care for my Hollywood-based crime tales, you can savor the artistry of Dan Spiegle, one of the true greats of comic book illustration. It should be in most comic book shops by now or you can order from Amazon via this link. Hope you like it. And I hope even more that you buy it.

We recommend reading Nancy A. Youssef on the topic of civilian casualties in Iraq. Assuming the numbers quoted are accurate, or even close to accurate, we're sure killing a lot of innocent people, including children in this country we're supposedly liberating. But of course, that couldn't possibly increase any hatred of America among the kind of people who plan terrorist activities, right?

The Directors Guild of America has signed a new three-year deal with the AMPTP This dashes the hopes of some that the three "above-the-line" Hollywood labor organizations would negotiate, at more or less the same time and in support of one another, deals that addressed a number of neglected areas, including but not limited to increased home video fees. It was a foolish hope. The DGA especially likes to engage in quick, non-confrontational negotiations. As often as not, they make their gains by accepting some new precedent which is good for them and bad for the other crafts. One of the nastier Writers Guild strikes of my life (there have been many) came about when someone figured out a formula for pay TV compensation that benefitted directors but screwed the writers when it was applied to them. The WGA was in the middle of its own negotiations that year when the DGA suddenly swooped in and made a deal based on that director-friendly configuration.

We have this thing in Hollywood called "pattern bargaining," which essentially means that if one union accepts something, the onus is on the others to accept it. In this case, once the directors had settled, the producers took the position of "The DGA took this pay TV formula so the WGA has to take it," and we wound up in a messy strike, trying to resist taking that rotten (for us) deal. Not long ago, the Screen Actors Guild was forced to accept a DGA-accepted clause that had little impact on directors but which lowered overtime pay for day players and extras.

I guess it sounds like I'm slamming the DGA, but I'm really not. Unions have to do what's best for them at that moment, not what may benefit others in the long run. In a couple of cases, including the just-signed deal, there have been other considerations. The directors' Health Plan Fund is in very bad shape and was in dire need of a quick infusion of cash, which their new deal seems to supply. I just think some of us need to turn loose of the notion that the three guilds will ever link arms, sing a few choruses of "Together, Wherever We Go" and march in lockstep to an across-the-industry revolution. It'll never happen.

At the same time, the Writers Guild — which is still working without a contract — has just come through another in a long series of bitter elections. As usually happens, we had two slates of candidates, one representing the approximate status quo in leadership; the other, dissatisfied with that and determined to march off in new, bolder directions. I found myself in the odd position of agreeing with a lot of the complaints of the rebels, but feeling they lacked the pragmatism or leadership to bring them about. So I voted with the stay-the-course crowd, as did most of the Guild. I think we're probably in trouble, no matter what. Sometimes, it's just a matter of deciding which captain you trust more to be in command when the ship hits the iceberg.

Boy, CBS is really getting no respect these days. The above is a screen capture I just did of an item on Google News. Maybe they oughta just rename the whole network that way.