Six Late-Night Talk Show Hosts: Winners and Losers

Countdown to Festivus on Dec. 23: On the sixth day of Festivus, TV gave us to ... six late-night talk show hosts battling.

Hard to remember, but at this time a year ago, David Letterman was facing one of the biggest crises of his career in the wake of his sex-and-blackmail scandal, Conan O'Brien was just settling into his job at 'The Tonight Show,' Jay Leno was tanking in primetime and Jimmy Fallon was still finding his voice as a late-late-night host.

The late night landscape has changed a bit since then.

It was clear a year ago that there was trouble on the horizon, but few (save, perhaps, for Andy Richter) anticipated the earthquake to come. Most of the cataclysm occurred in January, when NBC decided to bring Leno back to 11:35, and O'Brien decided to take a golden parachute after just seven months on the job rather than follow Leno at 12:05.

The aftershocks from that event, which continue to this day, affected not just the two of them, but also Letterman, Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Craig Ferguson. (Not to mention a supporting cast of millions, including network bigwigs, obstinate local stations, and angry fans nationwide.)

Miraculously, all six night owls are still working -- though maybe not for much longer. How did the rollercoaster year shake out for each of them? Let's see ...

Conan O'Brien: Winner. Sure, the year started with the humiliation of him losing 'The Tonight Show,' the gig he'd been promised for five years, after just seven months on the job, only to be replaced by his predecessor. And it ended with the diminished prestige and pay of hosting a show on basic cable.

But Conan won the PR war. Despite his ratings woes at 'Tonight' and the fact that the decision to leave NBC was his, he was widely seen as the wronged party. And despite a gag order that forbade him from badmouthing NBC for several months, he still got to make his case on a successful barnstorming live tour of the country.

For a time this summer, his every Tweet seemed to make news. He was portrayed as the hero in 'The War for Late Night,' Bill Carter's book about the whole fiasco, which is likely to be the definitive history of the whole mess. He even managed not to look like a mini-Leno when his hiring pushed George Lopez' TBS show back an hour to start at midnight. Plus, O'Brien got a massive buyout from NBC ($45 million, including a generous severance for his entire staff, many of whom had moved from New York to Los Angeles for what turned out to be a far-from-permanent job.)

His new cable audience is no bigger than his network audience was, but expectations are lower, and so are the benchmarks for ratings success. Best of all, he's finally free from the content shackles that made him seem stiff while he was trying to placate the less edgy 'Tonight' audience. Now he can be his sharp, loose, goofball self -- new beard and all.

---

Jay Leno: Loser. Like Conan, Jay tried to spin himself as the wronged man. Not without justification; after all, NBC had promised him a year-long tryout for the 10PM 'Jay Leno Show,' but it only gave him five months. He took heaps of abuse from TV critics and other comics and talk show hosts. He portrayed himself as he always had, a loyal soldier who didn't deserve scorn for making the best of what were poor decisions by NBC management.

Still, his eagerness to return to 11:35 and displace Conan (which he expressed well before anyone at the network asked him to do so) made him seem like a usurper. His refusal to bow out gracefully also made the 60-year-old look like an old journeyman unwilling to do the classy thing and cede the spotlight to an apprentice who'd earned his stripes.

When Leno returned to 'Tonight' in March, he didn't change his show one iota (which was why comedy aficionados had criticized him as being safe, tired and unadventurous, unlike the other five network late-night hosts, who were all more experimental). But the stench of his primetime failure stuck to him; by year's end, Leno's 'Tonight Show' was doing as poorly in the ratings as O'Brien's had been 12 months earlier.

He was also running more or less even with Letterman, whom he'd routinely beaten for 14 years. O'Brien left because he said it would destroy 'The Tonight Show,' a franchise with an illustrious 50-year history, if he had to start the show at 12:05, but Leno has managed to destroy it without changing a thing.

Back in Johnny Carson's day, 'Tonight' may have been NBC's biggest moneymaker. This year, for the first time, it's going to lose money. At some point, the costly comic is going to have to take some of the blame for that.

---

David Letterman: Winner. Dave took perverse glee in NBC's troubles. It gave him a chance to poke merciless fun at his longtime nemesis Leno, and it pushed his own sex-and-blackmail imbroglio off the front pages. (Months later, by the time Letterman's extortionist pleaded guilty, the scandal that had threatened to derail Letterman's career had been all but forgotten.)

Plus, Letterman scored the casting coup of the decade when he got Leno and Oprah Winfrey to make a secret trip to New York to film a tongue-in-cheek ad for his 'Late Show' that aired during the Super Bowl. (And then, after Jay's hatchet-burying gesture, Letterman went right on making fun of him.)

None of this helped Letterman's ratings much, but by October, Leno's ratings had fallen so far that Dave was finally beating or tying him regularly for the first time in a decade and a half. His show isn't as innovative as it once was (indeed, it's pretty much settled into a comfortable rut), but Dave's cranky, skeptical persona helps it maintain some edge.

Besides, after nearly 29 years in late night, he's an unassailable institution and the model for all the other late-night hosts who have followed (except, of course, for Jay).

---

Jimmy Fallon: Winner. A year ago, he was still a shaky newbie; today, he's the heir apparent to 'The Tonight Show.' He didn't take sides in the Jay-Conan battle; he seemed happy just to have a job.

Now that his job is secure, he seems to have found his footing. His 'Late Night' is now the freshest and most youthful of all the wee-hours talk shows, thanks to Fallon's willingness to experiment, his creation of some irreverent signature bits (playing beer pong with famous guests, writing snarky thank-you notes), and his ability to craft short sketches that play well as viral videos. More than any other host, he seems to grasp the power of social media to increase fan involvement in his show (he even keeps a Macbook laptop on his desk).

In the ratings, he's usually about even with timeslot rival Craig Ferguson, who was beating him handily a year ago. He scored a coup a few weeks ago by landing a full hour with Bruce Springsteen, who even did a comedy bit with him. It was nice payback for Fallon's triumphant gig as host of the Emmys, where he opened the show by leading an all-star group of TV personalities in a rousing, 'Glee'-style rendition of Bruce's 'Born to Run.'

Jimmy has joked that the one thing he's learned from Dave and Conan is that being host of 'Late Night' is a sure way not to get to host 'The Tonight Show,' but really, who else is NBC going to select? And that selection will come sooner with Leno hosting than it would have if the younger O'Brien were still on the job.

---

Craig Ferguson: Loser. Craig started the year with a classy gesture, laying off the Jay-vs.-Conan jokes because the battle between two multimillionaires seemed so trivial in light of the recent Haitian earthquake.

Indeed, Craig may be the brainiest host in late-night, he writes novels and screenplays, he's capable of holding thoughtful discussions with literate guests (like Stephen Fry, whom he had on for a full hour) and he spins dazzling, seemingly stream-of-consciousness monologues that go on for 10 minutes or more, essentially writing nearly an hour's worth of new jokes each week.

Yet he's also the silliest host, never too proud to do bathroom humor and happy to experiment with seemingly juvenile gambits (the all-puppet show, the robot-skeleton sidekick, the opening song-and-dance numbers, the 'Doctor Who' tribute episode). 'The Late Late Show' is becoming the most innovative children's show that's on too late for actual children to watch.

Ferguson may have felt comfortable trying these shenanigans because he had a solid ratings lead over Jimmy Fallon, but now, they tend to tie. Still, Craig did enjoy some milestones in 2010: he had a big part in the hit cartoon feature 'How to Train Your Dragon,' and he got to host the Discovery Channel's Shark Week.

---

Jimmy Kimmel: Winner. Kimmel used to be that smirky guy ABC had inexplicably imported from Comedy Central's crass 'The Man Show.' He was the whoopie cushion following the sober gravity of 'Nightline.'

Now, however, he's the sharpest, most fearless of the late-night hosts. He was harsher even than Letterman in his lampooning of Jay Leno, first doing an entire show in character as a squeaky-voiced Leno (complete with prosthetic chin), then appearing on 'The Jay Leno Show' and criticizing the host to his face. Kimmel managed to keep smiling the whole time, as he does on his own show when challenging his interview guests (as Letterman used to do).

For all his attitude, however, he's still clearly a fan, which is why it doesn't seem like he's shilling when he goes out of his way to help ABC promote its other shows, as with his post-Oscar special, his 'Lost' series finale special and his post-show debriefings of whoever just got booted off 'Dancing With the Stars.'

ABC can count on him even in extreme situations, like the show he did this year during a power outage, an episode the resourceful Kimmel filmed with his webcam. For all intents and purposes, Kimmel has become the solid, reliable face of ABC.

---

The great late-night wars of 2010 inflicted a lot of collateral damage. Here's how some other major players came out of it:

• Jeff Zucker. The NBC chief helped create this debacle with dubious decisions, starting with the one he made in 2004 when, out of fear that O'Brien would defect, Zucker strongarmed Leno into agreeing to retire in five years. When that time came, it was the still-popular Leno whom Zucker didn't want to lose, so he moved Leno to 10PM and eliminated five hours of costly drama programming, alienating NBC's local affiliates and every TV drama scriptwriter in Hollywood. When that failed, he backed the decision to move Leno back to 11:35, with the 'Tonight' show to follow ... which led to O'Brien doing what Zucker feared he'd do six years ago -- quit. Twelve months ago, as Zucker was pushing O'Brien out of his job, he was in line for a three-year contract extension. Who'd have guessed that, after this public relations disaster for the network, it's O'Brien who still has a job (albeit elsewhere) and Zucker who's unemployed?

• Lorne Michaels. O'Brien was Michaels' protégé, but the 'Late Night' producer sat out the battle between Conan and Jay. So he remained untarnished and emerged a kingmaker, since his current host, Fallon, is now next in line to inherit 'Tonight.'

• TBS. Once the place for reruns of 'The Office' and 'Sex and the City,' now a major player in late-night, with both O'Brien and George Lopez.

• Fox. The network could have become a late-night player (after a quarter-century of stalled attempts) if it had scooped up O'Brien after he left NBC. But local Fox affiliates didn't want to lose lucrative sitcom reruns at 11PM. So maybe Fox missed out -- or maybe it dodged a bullet by staying clear of this whole mess.

• 10PM dramas. A year ago, 'The Jay Leno Show' was thought to spell the death knell for scripted, grown-up dramas. And the show's quick demise could have led NBC to find cheap, quick replacements like reality shows or extra episodes of 'Dateline.' Instead, to the network's credit, it returned to such dramatic fare as 'Parenthood,' 'Chase,' Law & Order: Los Angeles,' and 'Outlaw.' They didn't all work, but at least NBC (along with CBS and ABC) now seems committed to 10PM dramas.

• Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Having made basic cable safe for late-night comedy years ago, the Comedy Central hosts took on bigger challenges and gained greater stature. Their Washington, D.C. rally making fun of Glenn Beck started out as a lark and evolved into a genuine political event. Suddenly, Stewart was seen as a power broker, reminding us all that, whatever else late-night comedy is, it's always been about defining political consensus by letting us know which issues and powerful personalities deserve mockery. 'The Daily Show' host also reminded us that, whatever the stakes of late-night once were (money, for the most part), they are changing in ways we may not recognize even a year from now.


•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.



Yesterday on Festivus: 7 Reasons the 'Lost' Finale Was Satisfying/Disappointing
Tomorrow on Festivus: 5 Shows for the Bad Economy