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O'BRIEN TO REPLACE LENO By Vanessa E. Jones -- The Boston Globe -- September 28, 2004 -- Section: Living , p. E1 The celebration of its 50th anniversary wasn't the only reason to tune in to "The Tonight Show" on NBC last night: Program host Jay Leno announced he'll step down when his contract expires in 2009. Conan O'Brien, host of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," will take his place. Leno, a New Rochelle, N.Y., native who was raised in Andover, explained why he decided to leave in a press release issued yesterday: "In 2009, I'll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years. When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan." In many ways, the only surprise about the announcement was how early it became public. In interview after interview, O'Brien, 41, had expressed concern about where his career with NBC was going. Last year, he told TV critics he had his eye on the much-coveted 11:30 p.m. talk-show slot. Earlier this year, The New York Times quoted him as saying: "A big question is looming. It's the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. What's next?" O'Brien, who hails from Brookline, is slated to talk about his new gig on his own 12:30 a.m. show tonight. Leno and O'Brien could not be reached for comment yesterday. Mike Carson, station manager at local NBC affiliate, WHDH-TV (Channel 7), said nailing down Leno's successor - and holding onto O'Brien - were necessary for the network. "If they had not had a firm plan for Conan," Carson said, "they would lose him. This locks him in." The transition should be far less cantankerous than the one that left Leno the host of "Tonight" in 1992. That dust-up made former NBC "Late Night" host David Letterman, who thought he would replace Johnny Carson, defect to CBS. After inheriting Letterman's slot, O'Brien barely missed getting a pink slip for his early, tentative performances in 1993. But O'Brien soon thrived, building a young, hip following with the help of a plethora of cheeky characters including Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Will an 11:30 p.m. audience accustomed to Leno's mainstream style be ready for that kind of wit in 2009? Some say yes. "What's mainstream now," said Steve Sweeney, a local comedian, "five years ago was outside the mainstream." Still, "The Tonight Show" audience is more than twice the size of O'Brien's, which means more viewers to satisfy. During its most recent season, "The Tonight Show" drew an average of 5.8 million viewers a night, up 2 percent over the previous season. Meanwhile, "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" pulled in an average of 2.5 million. Local TV historian Alex McNeil thinks O'Brien is fast enough in the chair to adapt to whatever an 11:30 p.m. audience demands. "He's very intelligent," McNeil said. "And he's quick. Those are the things that all successful hosts have had in common." Still, questions linger about the soundness of making a decision about Leno's replacement this early. The late-night talk-show landscape is in flux. In August, Craig Kilborn stepped down from "The Late Late Show," which airs at 12:30 a.m. on CBS. The host of Comedy Central's 11 p.m. broadcast, "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," is a rising star in the late-night universe. And no one knows how long Letterman, who became a father last November at age 56, will want to stay behind the desk. And in five years, a number of comics even hotter than O'Brien could arrive. "Right now," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television, "there are only so many pieces you could put in this puzzle that makes sense. Things could be very different in 2009." PHOTO Caption: 1. With "The Tonight Show," Conan O'Brien inherits a much bigger audience. 2. "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno will leave 17-year "dream job" in 2009. Memo: Material from the Associated Press is included in this report. |