Zach Galifianakis hosted Saturday Night Live last night, which made for an odd and yet mostly funny show. In this skit, Gus crashes a number of NBC shows, from The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams to Law and Order. Take a look:
Comcast is in the process of rebranding its cable, voice and internet services as Xfinity. The move was announced here in a blog post.
Today on Comcast's earnings call Brian Roberts and Steve Burke talked about XFINITY, the new brand for our technology platform and products. Simply put, XFINITY is about offering our customers more - more HD, more speed, more choice and more control over their services. XFINITY is the culmination of years of work to transition Comcast’s network and products to a platform that will now offer 100+ HD channels, 50 to 70 foreign-language channels, approaching 20,000+ VOD choices, incredibly fast Internet speeds (50 Mbps growing to 100+ Mbps) and thousands of TV shows and movies online for our customers to watch whenever and wherever they want.
XFINITY represents the future of our company and it's a promise to customers that we'll keep innovating. When we launch XFINITY in a market, we’ll rebrand our products: XFINITY TV, XFINITY Voice and XFINITY Internet (our company, of course, remains Comcast). This transition is already well underway across the country. Next week, XFINITY will roll out in 11 markets including: Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, Seattle, Hartford, Augusta, Chattanooga, parts of the Bay Area and San Francisco, with more markets to come later this year.
Internetnews.com says the new name is meant to reflect Comcast's enormous growth in its services and product offerings. Some blogs - see here and here - are poking fun at the new name. Some are also asking if this means NBC could become the Xfinity Network.
Martha Stewart is moving
to The Hallmark Channel. Martha will move her show to the channel and she will have control over a block of programming. The move gives Martha a specific time for her show nationwide and gives her the chance to produce new shows.
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., the company Ms. Stewart founded, doesn't make money on "The Martha Stewart Show," but uses it to promote the company's magazines, merchandise and other brands. The show has pulled in lackluster ratings, and Martha Stewart Living has warned it may have to discontinue production of the show in its current form.
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Unlike its existing arrangement where TV channels decide when to broadcast "The Martha Stewart Show," Hallmark Channel will air the show at 10 a.m. each day, and rerun it multiple times, giving extra opportunity to sell commercial spots.
Hallmark Channel, owned by Crown Media Holdings Inc., will start airing "The Martha Stewart Show" beginning in September, after the current NBC Universal distribution deal winds down. The companies said Tuesday they also expect to create other shows together, including an extra daily show featuring personalities other than Ms. Stewart, and holiday specials.
Martha Stewart Living expects to make more money from the new arrangement than it does from its current deal with NBC Universal.
For Conan O'Brien's last night as the host of The Tonight Show many of Conan's famous friends stopped by to bid him farewell. In this clip Robin Williams tries to cheer Conan up, and suggests that he run for governor of California. Take a look:
Pee Wee Herman appeared on The Tonight Show to help Conan O'Brien's audience understand the battle between Conan and NBC. He used a giraffe with a red wig, a peacock and two robots in his demonstration, which was a pretty fair analysis. Take a look:
Saturday Night Live took aim at the NBC light night mess in its opening skit. The impressions of Leno, Conan and Letterman aren't bad, but what in the world has happened to the writing on this show? This should have been a hilarious skit, but it's not. Take a look:
As the NBC late night drama drags on, things have started to get a little testy between Conan O'Brien and old frenemy Jeff Zucker (they knew each other at Harvard years ago) and between Conan and Jay Leno. Conan started taking shots at Leno, blaming him for his NBC problems.
Some people may have forgotten that years ago Conan is the one who told NBC that he would quit if they didn't promise him The Tonight Show, although Jay was #1 in the ratings in his timeslot and did not want to retire. In any event, Jay finally responded to all the "blame Leno" bits on late night lately with a funny monologue, in which he commented: "In other TV news, Sarah Palin has signed with Fox News to be a correspondent. Fox says if she does a good job, they'll sign her to a long-term contract. And if it doesn't work out, they'll just blame Leno...With all the controversy going on here at NBC, actually, The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien's ratings have gone up. So, you're welcome!" Take a look:
Conan O'Brien took aim at NBC and Jay Leno once again in his monologue last night. Conan referred to Jeff Zucker's threat to keep Conan off the air for three and a half years: "Hi, I'm Conan O'Brien, NBC's 'Employee of the Month'. There's a rumor that NBC is so upset with me, they want to keep me off the air for 3 years. My response to that is, if NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC....No matter what happens, it's been a real honor to sit in the same chair as Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jay Leno."
Conan then said that he has an offer from a porn company to do porno films. So he's taken the time to think up some titles for his big porn debut. Take a look:
Conan's Last Show May Be January 22, Ratings Up Since NBC Debacle
Peoplereports
that Conan O'Brien's last show is likely to be January 22. A hiatus for the show has been planned for that time period for a very long time.
Conan O'Brien's last night as host of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien will likely be next Friday, a source close to O'Brien tells People.
"Conan does not currently plan on doing any more new shows after next week," says the source.
According to NBC, a pre-scheduled hiatus for the program starting on Jan. 25 has been on the calendar for months.
"Everyone is working as usual in getting the show on," says a source at the Tonight Show.
According to Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily, the situation is far from resolved. NBC's Jeff Zucker reportedly threatened to keep Conan off the air for 3 1/2 years (the rest of Conan's contract period), which seems unlikely. Conan's reps are threatening to sue, which will make the whole mess even more public than it already is. But it gets weirder.
Amid unconfirmed Internet reports that NBC's Leno-Conan switcharoo for hosting The Tonight Show at 11:35 PM is now a done deal for Jay (but not Conan), the network just sent out a news release noting that "NBC's The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has topped all broadcast and cable competition in the key late-night demographic of adults 18-49 for the week of January 4-8. At 12:35 a.m. ET. Last week also saw Conan deliver bigger audiences than CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and the ABC lineup of Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel Live in adults, men and women 18-34, men 18-49 and men 25-54. Conan has finished #1 or tied for #1 among broadcast networks in adult 18-49 rating for nine of the last 11 weeks. The median age of Conan's audience last week was 45.6, nine years younger than Nightline's 55.0 and 11 years younger than Letterman's 57.3."
Conan has had terrible ratings for the seven months he's hosted The Tonight Show. Now that he may leave, his ratings are way up and the PR department dutifully cranked out the press release saying so, blissfully unaware of the battle being waged in the NBC executive suites.
Video: Leno Jokes NBC Offered Him Gig on The Biggest Loser
Jay Leno addressed the NBC shakeup in his monologue last night. He opened with joke about Harry Reid. He then said that NBC really has no tact. After firing him, they offered him a gig on The Biggest Loser. Take a look:
Jimmy Kimmel came out dressed as Jay Leno last night, including a huge prosthetic chin. He said he'd taken over Jimmy Kimmel's show and his new home ABC stood for "Always Bump Conan." Take a look:
Before he issued his statement today about refusing to move The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m., Conan O'Brien let fly with this monologue in which he rips NBC for it's proposed late night shakeup. He's truly angry at the way he's been treated by Jeff Zucker and the boys at NBC -- and it makes for a great opening monologue. Take a look:
Conan O'Brien is not playing by NBC's rulebook. The network is pressing Conan for an answer: either move The Tonight Show thirty minutes later or leave the network. But Conan took a totally unexpected third option: in an open statement to NBC (well, it's actually addressed to "People of the Earth") Conan said he refuses to move The Tonight Show because it will destroy a show that's been on the air 60 years, right after the local news. He also says it wouldn't be fair to Jimmy Fallon, whose show airs after Conan's. Here's the statement:
People of Earth:
In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.
Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.
But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.
Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.
So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.
There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.
Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.
Yours,
Conan
Now the ball is in NBC's court. What will the network do? The rumor is that Conan's contract does not have a clause requiring his show air at 11:35 p.m. so NBC can move the show without triggering the massive penalty clause for breaking the contract. But The Tonight Show has aired at the same time for 60 years so an argument could be made that it's implied in the contract (again, assuming that the contract doesn't already have a timeslot provision). Will NBC fire
Conan? Will NBC change the timeslot without Conan's agreement and force him to quit? Nothing like this has ever happened before, so no one knows what's going to happen next.
Video: Jimmy Kimmel Explains the NBC Late Night Shakeup
Jimmy Kimmel decided to give his take on the late night shakeup going on over at NBC with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. First he opened his monologue by saying "Welcome to the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. You didn't hear? They moved things around again." Then he uses a pumpkin pie as a visual aid to explain what's really going on. Take a look:
In his monologue last night
Conan O'Brien took aim at some of the wild rumors going around this week about the future of his and Jay Leno's talk shows. NBC's unbelievably stupid handling of this issue has hurt two well-liked entertainers and called into question the judgment of certain executives. Here's a clip from Conan's monologue:
Jay Leno has been joking all week about who's going to get fired and what will happen. Jay said about the rumor he will be fired from NBC:
"You know what that means? I didn't sleep with any of my staff for nothing!" Jay said that he's not worried because he knows that "NBC is working on a solution in which all parties will be screwed equally." Comcast execs have been touring the West Coast all week in preparation for its takeover of NBC Universal, at the same time that all this brouhaha started. Coincidence? We think not. Next on the agenda for Comcast? Destroy Hulu by making it pay-only.
Comcast is in the process of rebranding its cable, voice and internet services as Xfinity. The move was announced 
Martha Stewart is 
