Leno’s Star-Studded Lineup Impressive for Tonight Show Return
Jay Leno takes on The Tonight Show’s hosting duties again on March 1st. NBC is pushing top name stars and atheletes to kick-start the show with Leno to combat bad publicity. The cancellation of Leno’s primetime show, The Jay Leno Show, and subsequent disaster moving The Tonight Show’s timeslot in order to keep both Leno and Conan O’Brien on the roster, only to lose O’Brien in the process, had long time viewers complaining and fans of O’Brien protesting NBC’s actions.
Leno’s guests for the premiere week of The Tonight Show include former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, gold medal Olympians Apolo Anton Ohno, Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn, American Idol singer Adam Lambert, the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore, country singer Brad Paisley and American Idol judge Simon Cowell. Leno’s upcoming guests in the following weeks include Morgan Freeman, Kim Kardashian, Jamie Foxx and Dakota Fanning.
The controversy surrounding the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore and recent comments by American Idol judge Simon Cowell should intrigue viewers and provide some colorful moments during the first week of the show. The combination of Sarah Palin and Adam Lambert booked on the same night, along with the fact that Palin’s first interview on a late-night talk show is the rival to David Letterman’s show, with whom Palin has feuded with in the past, might pique viewer interest. This could be good programming or clever fanning of the flames to gain viewership from bad PR that might result in lower ratings than competitor Letterman’s show.
The campaign to have Betty White host SNL is raging on, with 406,756 fans signed up as of today, urging SNL to have her as a host for the show. Fresh off receiving the lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actor’s Guild award, White is busy as ever. 
NBC appears to be in damage control after the Leno/O’Brien Tonight Show controversy. Leno provided an hour long interview Thursday on his side of the story regarding the changes at The Tonight Show and cancellation of his primetime one hour show on NBC. Winfrey had a long list of pointed questions to ask Leno, some apparently not easy for him to answer. Leno made it clear NBC screwed up and that he must take some time to improve his image since signing on to replace Conan O’Brien as host of The Tonight Show. Much of the interview centered around Leno’s side of the story, making him appear at times to be an uninvolved party in the NBC decision. At other times Leno’s focus seemed to be on the business and ratings side of television, giving the impression, emotions aside, it’s just business and this happens all the time in the television industry. Winfrey mentioned polls on the Tonight Show controversy on the Oprah Winfrey website skewed in favor of O’Brien approximately 80% to 20%.
Conan O’Brien issued an official press release statement today saying he will not accept the move of the Tonight Show to a 12:05 p.m. slot NBC planned in order to bring back Jay Leno as the Tonight Show’s lead in at 11:35 p.m. after the cancellation of Leno’s prime time show.
Fans of Ugly Betty will be glad to hear the Golden Globe-winning show is moving to Wednesday nights at 10:00 p.m. ABC moved Ugly Betty from its weak Friday night position, taking over the slot of the recently cancelled Eastwick. Friday nights are often a death nell for shows, proving lower viewership and eventually the cancellation of the series. Originally Ugly Betty aired on Thursdays for its first three seasons where the show had a loyal following. ABC moved Ugly Betty from its longtime slot on Thursdays to Fridays at 9 p.m., where the series has languished. Ugly Betty’s talented cast certainly deserved a better time slot. Fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as new episodes begin for the series. 
Ricky Gervais will star in a new animated series for HBO entitled “The Ricky Gervais Show”. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, along with their friend Karl Pilkington, will serve as producers of the new animated TV comedy. Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington will also star as the voice talent for the new animated series. HBO stated that The Ricky Gervais Show is based on Gervais’ popular podcasts with Pilkington’s musings, similar to the podcasts, inspiring storylines for the series episodes. “Ricky Gervais is one of the most original comic voices working today,” noted Carolyn Strauss, president, HBO Entertainment.
The 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced today. SAG President Ken Howard introduced Michelle Monaghan and Chris O’Donnell to announce the nominations. The nominations cover excellence in 2009 performances in five film and eight primetime television categories. The Screen Actors Guild Awards are the only awards show where the winners are chosen by fellow actors and peers of the nominees. The membership of the Screen Actors Guild numbers approximately 100,000 actors. Actress Betty White (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “Boston Legal” ) will be honored with the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. 
Wednesday the Hollywood Foreign Press announced the 2010 Golden Globe nominations for television and movie awards. John Krasinski, Diane Kruger and Justin Timberlake announced the nominations December 15, 2009. The Golden Globes are known to be a favorite of Hollywood stars during the awards season for the events relaxed atmosphere. Movie icon Martin Scorsese will be receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment field. This years Golden Globes will be hosted by Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Ricky Gervais (“The Office,” “The Invention of Lying,” “Extras”). 
TV Guide and TV Land have joined forces to acquire the rights to HBO’s popular series “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, starring Larry David, series creator and star, and co-creator of “Seinfeld”. The cable networks plan to acquire rights for wireless, broadband and video-on-demand versions of the show. The cost per episode in syndication is projected to be $600,000 per episode. 
Scripps Networks is buying a 65% stake in Cox Communications Inc.’s (COX) Travel Channel as of January 2010. This is a joint venture between Scripps and Travel Channel, with the value of the venture estimated at $975 million.
