The Morning Fix: Conan’s conclusion! Comcast taps new cable boss. Air America out of oxygen. Pee-wee Herman’s back!
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After the coffee. Before deciding whether to drive or swim to work.
Conan conclusion. Now it’s over. NBC and Conan O’Brien officially parted ways. O’Brien’s last show as host of ‘The Tonight Show’ will be tonight. Jay Leno will take over after the Olympics. O’Brien is free to go somewhere else in September. As part of the deal, O’Brien is not supposed to bad-mouth NBC, but, frankly, what can’t he say that he hasn’t already said? Next up for the media? Wild speculation about where he will go next. In the meantime, here’s the coverage from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, Variety, Wrap and the Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, the White House Correspondents Dinner has made up its mind about who’s king of late night and has tapped Leno for its big shindig. More on that from the Washington Post.
What happened to quiet dignity? Think Johnny Carson would’ve have been as public or nasty about all this as Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno and David Letterman? New York Times critic Alessandra Stanley on what this whole public debacle says about the business and our culture. The Wall Street Journal uses O’Brien’s recent NBC bashing as a hook to explore the broader issue of media taking on media.
Comcast taps Smit. With cable giant Comcast Corp. trying to acquire control of NBC Universal, it has brought in former Charter Communications CEO Neil Smit as president of its cable system operations. The move will free up Comcast COO Steve Burke to focus on NBC Universal. More from PaidContent.
Football tackles NBC. NBC’s profits dropped 30%, parent General Electric Co. reported this morning. The culprits include sports contracts such as the NFL. A few details from Bloomberg.
Sundance wheeling and dealing. The latest from the not-so-little film festival/garage sale from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. Also, Dave Poland on what is and isn’t a Sundance deal.
Air America out of oxygen. Air America, the liberal radio service that hoped to do for the left what Rush Limbaugh does for the right, is no more. Air America, which always struggled financially, said Thursday that it was filing for bankruptcy and would be off the air by Monday. We’re guessing the election in Massachusetts probably wasn’t going to help matters. Details from the Washington Post.
A star is reborn? Nick Cassavetes wants to remake ‘A Star is Born.’ It’d only be the fourth time the movie has been made. More on that and possible casting (think Beyonce) from Mike Fleming at Deadline Hollywood.
In the Los Angeles Times: John Horn on John Wells’ new movie, ‘The Company Men,’ which is at Sundance. Pee-wee Herman’s back!
-- Joe Flint
