2010-01-18
Enough already with sticking it to Jay Leno! As the NBC late-night drama gets all the more melodramatic — with the prospect of Conan O'Brien jumping ship Friday (1/22) instead of waiting till the Feb. 12 beginning of the Olympics — the media and blogosphere have been full of "poor Conan" remarks, raking Leno over the coals for the unwelcome outcome of his five-nights-a-week-at-10 o'clock experiment.
It's an interesting time to look back on how the whole mess began.
About five and a half years ago, O'Brien told NBC that he would leave the network and compete against "The Tonight Show" unless it was handed to him at the end of Leno's contract in 2009. At that point, both shows were No. 1 in their respective timeslots. Indeed, Leno had been No. 1 for nearly 10 years.
Leno could have done the same kind of Letter to the People of Earth then that O'Brien chose to do last week, and tried to rally the public to his side. But when NBC gave in to O'Brien's demand, Leno basically said "Whatever." Having experienced an excruciating public battle when NBC initially gave him "The Tonight Show" instead of David Letterman — which cost him his friendship with Letterman — he had no desire to mix it up over O'Brien putting on the pressure. He was, after all, No. 1, and nobody had ever been kicked off when they were No. 1. And he remained on top till his enforced departure from "The Tonight Show" in May.
Having acceded to O'Brien's ultimatum, NBC came up with the idea, now failed, to have their O'brien and Leno, too, by doing "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 every weekday night.
Leno delivered an amiable show very much like his former show, and garnered viewer numbers that insiders say have not been unlike the network's own predictions. He also brought in profits with a show that cost a fraction — a fifth or less — of what the competing 10 p.m. shows cost to make. That should not be cause for such derision, nor should the fact that Leno's humor has more mainstream popularity than O'Brien's. So where were all those who've been taking up O'Brien's cause the last few days when "The Tonight Show" could have used their help as it slipped to second, sometimes third place?
THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: Dennis Farina sounds like he's been having the time of his life making "The Last Rites of Joe May," a labor-of-love indie from auteur filmmaker Joe Maggio. The actor, who's reliably good and rarely appreciated enough, gets to show off some major chops as the title character. "Joe may a bit of a throwback," he says. "He's kind of a quirky guy, an old-time short-money con artist; he sells phony watches, computers — anything he can get his hands on. When he gets sick and spends a few weeks in the hospital, everyone thinks he's dead, and he becomes almost like the invisible man."
His life takes another unexpected turn when he strikes up a relationship with a little girl and her mom. "It's not a sexual relationship, but it's — well, I don't want to tell you too much," says Farina, who wrapped filming on "Last Rites" in his hometown, Chicago, last month.
"Gary Cole is in our movie, and Jamie Allman from 'The Shield.' We've got a wonderful little actress, Meredith Droeger, and a couple little surprises. We actually made a little deal with Steppenwolf in Chicago," he says, referring to the renowned theater company founded in 1975 by a group including Gary Sinise, John Malkovich and Laurie Metcalf.
"Every day, everybody was saying the same thing: 'We can't believe we're here.' The crew was just fabulous. It wasn't a big crew — nobody was working for a lot of money, but everybody involved likes the movie. The city of Chicago has been wonderful to us," he adds.
The weather, not so much. It was "a challenge, believe me," admits Farina of filming in Chicago in December. These days, "I have a house in Arizona I usually go to this time of year," he says.
THEIR WAY: With "Burn Notice" returning to the USA Network lineup Thursday (1/21), star Jeffrey Donovan tells us that there are big shifts coming up on the show — ideas that neither critical comments nor audience testing had anything to do with. He enjoys the fact that the "Burn" team does it their own creative way. "We're always kind of collaborating. I talk with Matt Sell and the other writers about where this is going, not only physically but emotionally. They always ask me, 'Jeff, what do you want to portray? We want to write things that challenge you,'" says the actor, who plays disenfranchised government spy Michael Westen on the popular show. "I'm really interested in Michael's past. What did he run away from? Why did he take on so many other identities? That psychological split is a great avenue to explore."
CASTING CORNER: Forces on the feature "Mother's Little Helpers" have been looking for the young actor who'll fill the role of Sam, the attractive-yet-awkward 17-year-old son of a socialite at the center of the comedy's action. Having been moved from boarding school to boarding school by his jet-setting parent, he's delighted to finally be settling in at a prep school where he's fitting in and nurturing a crush on a beautiful local girl. But alas, Mom's fortunes have turned and suddenly tuition's an issue. Serious teenage scheming to keep her financially fit ensue. The flick boasts Jim Belushi, Kathryn Morris, Denise Richards and Sarah Hyland, so whoever winds up playing Sam will be in interesting company. Also wanted for "Helpers" is an actress to play an obsessive yoga practitioner who attends classes three times a day and is, no surprise, exceptionally fit.
With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster
To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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