David's Reviews > The War For Late Night

In what amounts to a follow-up to The Late Shift (a brilliant history of the battle for Johnny Carson’s seat on the tonight show) comes The War For Late Night. It is sixteen years later and many of the same players are involved. Jay Leno, having won the coveted Tonight Show gig, beating out David Letterman, has been told to keep the seat warm for his successor, Conan O’Brien: in five years. Cut to 2009 and…Jay Leno is still there. And spoiler: he doesn’t go away.

Conan takes the Tonight Show but NBC cooks up a way to keep both stars around by inventing a ten o’clock show for Jay Leno.
What ensues is nothing short of a complete disaster.

Conan was a victim of the broad, bland, boring appeal that made Jay Leno so popular. Jay Leno offered a safe product, but he was never cutting edge or even particularly original. But like that bland food at the buffet, the old folks don’t care.

The machinations behind the scene are riveting and also extraordinarily sad to realize the irrelevance that talent has on the bottom line. In what may have been a precursor to the division we see in this country today, lines were drawn between the Leno crowd and the Coco supporters. But Bill Carter does an excellent job representing the many sides to the issues between them. It is a little shocking to realize how much hinged upon start times and people not wanting to give up time in their show.

I might be slightly more inclined to favor this book over The Late Shift simply because I remember the events better. I even went to see Conan on his road show when he wasn’t allowed to be on TV. I remember it. It was extremely personal. Many of us watched this Baby Boomer refuse to make way for a younger generation and felt Conan’s pain. Yes, he was making a lot more money to not work…but he was still being pushed around.

This is a terrific book with some great background on all the major late-night performers in a snapshot of a world that was changing right before our eyes.