Have you seen the new issue (January 29) of Entertainment Weekly? It has a "photo illustration" by "R Mutt Studios" of an exploded Jay Leno.


Reminds me of a cover from October that just happened to feature Jay's once-and-future competition - Dave Letterman:


I'm not sure if I like these "photo illustrations". It's one thing for a personality to pose for a photo doing something shocking and have it end up on the cover of a magazine, it's something else completely for someone to make it look like Leno blew up or Letterman lost his drawers.

For example, I thought that Sarah Palin's Newsweek cover from last November might have been poor taste but certainly not sexist. I mean, she posed for it!


Palin knew that she was folding the American flag over a chair, she knew how much leg she was showing. It's not like they superimposed her head on a bikini-wearing, machine-gun toting chick.

I mean, on the cover.

My point is, she posed for this photo (apparently for some running magazine?) and Newsweek might have been ill-advised into picking it for their magazine, but they didn't alter it.

Unlike Time back in 1994 when they altered OJ Simpson's mug shot to make him darker and (supposedly) more foreign and scary:


That's just racist.

So why can't magazines stick to unaltered photos, or, if they want to show us a pantsless celebrity, why not hire an illustrator and draw us one. Because that never goes wrong.


Oh, wait ...

Labels: David Letterman, Jay Leno, Newsweek, OJ Simpson, Sarah Palin, Time

Tonight marks the end of Conan O'Brien's wasted 7 months as host of The Tonight Show.

I'm a little overdosed on articles and video clips of this whole brouhaha, but I imagine we haven't seen the last of this saga.

While I'm not usually a betting man, I'd wager good money that sooner-rather-than-later we'll have a made-for-TV movie about this mess.

Although it might not be The Late Shift 2: The Rolling Thunder of Revenge that Quentin Tarantino suggested the other night on Conan's couch.

Anyway, at this point it's official, Leno to Return as ‘Tonight’ Host on March 1 and until then NBC Will Fill ‘Tonight’ Slot With O’Brien Repeats.

Those, and about 9,158 related articles on Google News, all say the same thing.

I did find this one article interesting, though: "O’Brien’s ‘Tonight' Era Ends With Some Jabs, and a Lot of Dollars".

Key quote:

"In one glaring coincidence being noticed throughout the television business, the total amount that NBC is paying - just about $45 million - is precisely the amount that NBC had promised to Mr. O’Brien as a penalty payment if he did not get the “Tonight” show when it was first promised to him in 2004. In that case he himself would have received that entire amount, however, not him and his entire staff."

Huh.

And this answers a question I first thought of last week when the writing appeared on the wall - where will Leno tape his new Tonight Show?

"Nothing has been officially announced but NBC expects Mr. Leno will remain in the studio that was built for his 10 p.m. show. It will be reconfigured as a “Tonight Show” set, Mr. Gaspin said, though some details - like the return of the host desk - have not been worked out yet."

You might recall with Conan's show NBC moved the set from Burbank (where it had taped since the early 1970s) to a $25 million dollar set in Stage 1 of the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. (NBC owns Universal now). I had choice words about the move from Burbank back then (see Tonight Show Tonight).

I have a little Burbank Pride from my 3 years living in the town.

See, Leno's first Tonight Show set was in Studio 3 of the NBC Burbank lot, then his new Jay Leno Show moved Studio 11 in the same complex.

So the one positive I have from this? The Tonight Show is back in Burbank!

Either way, The Tonight Show's new era ends tonight. Be there.

Labels: Burbank, California, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, NBC, Tonight Show