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Mar 27, 2011

Kemper rated it:

A Phone Conversation in 2020

“Hello, this is Slick McGee, agent to the stars. How can I help you?”

“Slick, it’s Garfield Lawlerly, president of NBC.”

“Garfield! How are you? Why, I haven’t heard from anybody at NBC since your last scripted show Law & Order: Omaha went off the air.”

“Yes, finding new scripted programs has been challenging.”

“Really? CBS, ABC, FX, HBO, Showtime, AMC and a dozen other networks seem to find good shows to put o More...

8 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

Steven rated it:

Apparently it took only seventeen years for everyone to compose themselves, relatively speaking. No one acts particularly egregiously, maybe because Helen Kushnick is no longer around. There's nothing here on the level of a paranoid Jay Leno eavesdropping in on a meeting of NBC execs from a nearby closet; in fact, as far as facts go, there's nothing new in the book at all to anyone who paid attention during that time when late night went crazy.

So in a vanilla narrative, Bill Carter sk More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Andrew rated it:

I haven't read the original book about the Letterman/Leno clash and its ramifications, but Carter's review of the Jay/Conan debacle offers a weird vision into a late-night world that its residents take way to seriously. What's neat is the way Carter at once deconstructs the archetypes and shows their validity. Jay fashions himself as an unpretentious, anti-industry workaholic who "just wants to tell jokes at 11:30" (a mantra that he apparently repeated over and over again throughout th More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2011

John rated it:

I enjoyed Bill Carter's The Late Shift when I read it over fifteen years ago, and I wanted to read his narrative of the 2009-2010 late night fiasco. While it was a quick read and mostly moved along quickly enough to hold my attention, I did not enjoy this nearly as much.

In part, as Carter expressly recognizes at one point in The War for Late Night, the events of the early 1990s had a much more archetypical feel: Carson could be viewed as the retiring emperor, with Leno and Letterman ( More...

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Jun 28, 2011

Terrance rated it:

Bill Carter is a newspaper reporter. And a terrible writer. It's interesting to see someone who seems to have a tuned grasp of comedic craft (enough to dissect it quite well) have no grasp of writing craft. I lost count how many times he attempted to turn narrative into scene by invoking the dark grey clouds on the horizon. While I applauded his attempt at mixing the chronology to get a greater insight in to the events I mostly ended up confused. Why am I reading about Craig Ferguson's childh More...

1 comment like

Jun 06, 2011

Fred rated it:

I came into reading this book thinking Jay Leno was a meek but manipulative prick and when I finished the book I felt just about the same. I'm glad for one thing, that the author touched on the subject of the Baby Boomers having a serious affect on the issue of Conan being host of The Tonight Show. Most of the station managers for NBC affiliates were male and 55+ and every single one of them across the US wanted Leno over Conan. See, it doesn't matter if something is better, it's all about what More...

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Mar 25, 2011

Jay rated it:

"The Late Shift", the next generation. This time, instead of Leno being in a closet, he's in the basement, with awful ratings for his prime time show. This book follows Leno's moves from and back to the Tonight Show. I found this interesting for the stories behind the stories of the late night talk show hosts and network brass working to keep up with or define American tastes. As a business book, this is a story that revolves around egos and contracts. Certainly, if egos involved in th More...

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Mar 08, 2011

Kristin rated it:

Interesting insight into exactly what went down with the Leno/Conan debacle. Has a slight pro-Conan slant, but can anyone argue that he didn't get royally screwed? This book only solidified my dislike for Leno further. Leno comes across as a single-minded idiot. There is also some great background on the other big late night players like Letterman, Kimmel, Ferguson, Stewart, and Colbert. I especially liked the "inside" information on things like contract negotiations, the impact that D More...

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Jan 11, 2011

Jason rated it:

I never thought that there would be so much drama on late night tv but with this book, I found out that there is usually a ton going on behind the scenes that will never see the light of day. This book gives you a close-up view as to what went on in 2010 with the whole scandal that reeked of deja vu in late night television.

Just like Bill Carter’s other book, The Late Shift, this one involves Jay Leno and how he used his position as King of Late NIght to position himself into a job tha More...

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Dec 21, 2010

Budd rated it:

As long as there are late night shows and clumsy successions, Bill Carter will be able to make a living.

Carter wrote "The Late Shift" about 16 years ago. That was the story about the fight, if that's the right word, over who should replace Johnny Carson as host of The Tonight Show. As we know, Jay Leno was picked over David Letterman, who fled for CBS. The definitive moment of that book came when Carter revealed how Leno snuck into a closet that was adjoining a room filled More...

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Dec 09, 2010

Kirsti rated it:

Here's what I learned from this book: Some things are more important than money . . . and sometimes that screws up everything. Because three men (Jay, Dave, and Conan) all believed that hosting The Tonight Show was more important than making tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars more money elsewhere. And three hosts can't be on one show. And the NBC people had no idea what to do about any of this, because they sincerely believed that throwing money at a problem will eventually fix More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Nov 18, 2010

Adam rated it:

While certainly prompted by the Leno/Conan debacle of 2010, The War for Late Night: When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy actually picks up in 1992, where the author's seminal The Late Shift: Letterman Leno and the Network Battle for the Night left off. It is an excellent piece of reporting by New York Times scribe Bill Carter, punctuated by obvious, candid access to every major player.

In many ways, I found this "sequel" to be a better read than the original -- pe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 31, 2010

Rincey rated it:

Disclaimer: I love Bill Carter and I find all of his books to be absolutely fascinating as I am obsessed with the television industry.

If you're looking for some surprise ending, you don't need this book. We all know the basics of the late night debacle and how it all turns out. What this book provides is background on not just Leno & Conan, but every player in the late night business... from the late night hosts [Letterman, Ferguson, Kimmel, Stewart, Colbert] to their producers to the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 01, 2011

Janne rated it:

The War for Late Night is the true story of Conan O'Brien getting to host the legendary TV show, The Tonight Show, but for only seven months. A huge amount of back stage conflict preceded, and followed, the short stint.

This book is a follow-up to The Late Shift, a book by the same author about the Leno/Letterman conflict, also about the Tonight Show, in 1993. Both books are good, but I like this one more, because I'm a Conan fan.

This book would rate three stars for any re More...

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Jan 19, 2011

Little Man rated it:

If, like me, you followed the 2009 Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno "Tonight Show" imbroglio with car-wreck watching fascination, you'll love this book.

There's no question O'Brien was terribly wronged in only being given a short time, a mere seven months, to achieve what were most likely unrealistic ratings. (Although, in the demographic advertisers most salivate over--the 18-34 year old male--he killed.) As a youngster, O'Brien really did dream of one day sitting in Carson's hallowed More...

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Jan 14, 2011

Lucas rated it:

Amazing story of what happened in 2009 and in to 2010 with Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno. The book does an amazing job of not pointing fingers as to who was to blame, who was the bad guy. It laid out all the facts of what had happened from 2004 all the way to the end. It even covers some earlier details. This book not only covers Leno and O'Brien, but also Letterman, Kimmel, Fallon, Stewart, Colbert, Ferguson, and yes...even Oprah partially, along with all the NBC executives and producers who w More...

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Apr 03, 2011

David rated it:

Really interesting look at how Conan lost The Tonight Show. The book also gives plenty of background on how Conan started in comedy and made his way to Late Night. The discoveries of Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, and Jimmy Fallon are also explained, as all three were at least considered for either Late Night or a show on a rival network. Of course, you'll read a lot about Dave and Jay as well. TV junkies will love this book. Nearly every imaginable executive, agent, lawyer, and their deputies More...

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Nov 13, 2010

Joe rated it:

So I really liked the TV adaptation of The Late Shift, about the Leno/Letterman conflict of the early 90s, and eagerly awaited this one. This was very good. It follows in the tradition of Reality Show, a similarly good book about TV stars in an internet age. This was a fantastic telling of the Leno/Conan drama that shed a lot of light on things I didn't know - Leno's pay AND play contract, why Conan didn't end up at FOX, etc. There's a lot of behind the scenes stuff, and a lot of stuff that spea More...

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Oct 25, 2011

J rated it:

I was unfamiliar with Bill Carter, but came across this book via the Giveaways on Goodreads. I have also worked in the television industry for over a decade and at times I found the decisions gut-wrenching. So much of a show's success or failure is married to the Nielsen ratings, and projections from the research group to the ad sales team. If the numbers don't look good, than there is no way to move forward, regardless of whether or not there could be benefit to the network brand if a change More...

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Jun 07, 2011

Rosemary rated it:

As a staunch member of Team Coco since long, long before the term existed, I went into this book already fully aware of many of the details and events laid out by Bill Carter. In this regard, there was nothing terribly new or shocking to be found. However, I have great admiration for the way in which Carter was able to weave the story and how all the different ends lead to the big explosion of January 2010. At times it had much the same feel as a political thriller, though ultimately no lives we More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2011

Kate rated it:

Bill Carter's writing style--though densely-packed with names, dates, numbers and factoids--is as captivating as a soap opera plotline. The War for Late Night was every bit as interesting as his earlier dissection of the Letterman/Leno brouhaha in The Late Shift, and a bit more complicated besides.

I particularly enjoyed the deadpan, third-person recitations of various players' thoughts and feelings, in what must surely have been slight rewrites of tape-recorded interviews. Carter tak More...

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Jan 23, 2012

Rachel rated it:

In The War For Late Night, Bill Carter covers the second war for late night, between Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien for The Tonight Show (the first being between Jay and David Letterman in the early 90s, the subject of Carter's The Late Shift). No journalist has had more access to all the major players involved, and he covers all of the events of the ham-fisted transition of Jay to Conan and back to Jay as host of Tonight during a seven-month period in 2009-2010.

Unlike in The Late Shift More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 14, 2011

Garth rated it:

The thing keeping me from giving this a 5-star rating is that Carter doesn't tell us what he thinks. That said, if I had to guess, he had other people say what he thinks: that Conan took it overboard by looking at The Tonight Show as a calling & dream, rather than a job.

This is a great piece of reporting; I plan to try to read more of what Bill Carter writes. And anyone who reads this book should definitely be aware of who he talks about in the acknowledgments. Unlike the vast majority More...

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Jan 02, 2011

Alyx rated it:

If you followed the story as it unfolded (or heard Carter talk about the book on Bill Simmons' show), this won't provide a ton more insight. If you break it down, this is really a book about the neuroses of tremendously wealthy white guys, so it makes sense if some people just don't care at all . . . especially if the legacy of the Tonight Show holds no interest for you. However, Carter is great at walking us through the players, networks, business jargon, and legalese while remaining fairly obj More...

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Nov 21, 2010

Morgan rated it:

A really interesting take on the whole late night debacle, with consideration given to both sides. As I'm purely on Team Coco forever and always myself, it was still interesting to see what went on at the network and with Leno that lead to the huge cluster*&% that became the Leno/Conan situation. It honestly just seemed like crazy mismanagement all the way down the line.

I also really loved all the anecdotes about Conan, especially the one about him and Jeff Garlin and "Wild Blu More...

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Dec 07, 2010

Gus rated it:

When the decision was made to broadcast Jay Leno in primetime, it solved 3 problems for NBC: one, it kept Leno at NBC, away from the lure of ABC; two, since Leno brought in big bucks for NBC, surely his show at 10PM weeknights would do the same, and, three, Conan O'Brien would still retain The Tonight Show. Simple, right?

In a decision that sent shockwaves throughout all of television, The Jay Leno Show went on to become one of the biggest flops in television history. To satisfy the a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 08, 2011

Tim rated it:

I've been a fan of Conan O'Brien since he was a writer on the Simpsons and SNL, so I found the whole Tonight Show debacle to be a captivating subject. Bill Carter's book documenting the The War for Late Night does an excellent job of showing what was going on behind the scenes during the NBC late night crisis, along with what led up to it.

I think Bill Carter did a good job presenting everyone involved fairly. No one really comes over as being a "bad guy." Poor decisions were More...

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May 06, 2011

Keith rated it:

Except for a time way back in grad school I have never been a consumer of late night TV. For a while I was amused enough by the antics of Dave Letterman to watch the show on a fairly regular basis. That enthusiasm waned and was replaced by other things more conducive to a good night's sleep, however, like many others I was caught up in the drama that was the unraveling of the NBC plan to replace Jay Leno with Conan O'Brian. When it was over I couldn't say I really understood what had happened. More...

1 comment like

Jun 08, 2011

Ian rated it:

I couldn't get enough of the Tonight Show saga when it was going on and this is an excellent narrative of the whole affair. Researched almost entirely through interviews by the author, it reads almost like a novel in places. You learn a great deal about the process and the thought behind the initial deal which kept Conan at NBC in 2004 and the later disastrous decision to move Jay Leno into primetime, but also about the main players both in front of the camera and behind the scenes: what the More...

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Nov 16, 2010

Linda rated it:

This book is really, really good -- and I say that as someone who has already heard more than a human being should about the late-night wars over the last year and a half. Carter has access that most journalists can only dream of, and it's not the most hard-nosed book you'll ever read (if it were, that access might dry up). But he does a great job, nevertheless, of illuminating what made this such a fascinating story, which is that everyone wound up being SO UNHAPPY in a situation in which every More...

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