• 3 NBC execs will now have to screen Questlove’s intro song choices source

• » Questlove won’t be able to tweet about it, either: Not long after we heard about the infamous “Jimmy Fallon” incident, in which Michele Bachmann went on the stage to the not-flattering Fishbone ditty “Lying @$$ B!(&!,” we heard the band got punished over the incident, but the punishment wasn’t spelled out … until now. The Roots bandleader has previously expressed regret over the incident. It’s not all awful in Roots-world: The band just released a new album.

• This is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite. This wouldn’t be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama. It shouldn’t be tolerated if it’s a conservative woman either.
• Michele Bachmann • Expressing rage after finding out that the music that played ahead of her recent appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” was an instrumental take on the 1985 Fishbone song “Lyin’ @$$ B*@!&” — a song choice by The Roots, who haven’t hidden their political views and aren’t beyond inspired song choices when performing as Fallon’s house band. And you don’t get much more “inspired” than implicitly calling a presidential candidate a something-or-other via a clever song choice. Jimmy Fallon apologized to Bachmann via Twitter; Bachmann hopes The Roots get disciplined over the incident. We like The Roots, but we agree with Bachmann here; if The Roots wanted to get a quick rip in on Bachmann, there are plenty of other songs out there which don’t add a misogynistic element to the whole thing. We recommend “Lies” by The Knickerbockers.  source

• 
  Kimmel: Clever splicing Jimmy Kimmel has really come into his own during the whole late night saga, and this clip is no exception. It splices Jay Leno’s 1989 movie “Collision Course” into a Conan revenge fantasy. Sweet!
• 
  Fallon: Boyz II Men Probably due to the fact that he’s kind of the new kid on the block, Jimmy Fallon has kept his head low during the whole late night debacle. As a result, this clip is sweet, but fairly safe.
• 
  Letterman: A sequel?!Letterman has perhaps had the most fun with the saga, but tonight he was a bit off with the approach, which parodied the infamous 1996 HBO movie “The Late Shift,” and imagined who would play Dave.

• A lot of rumors are going around about Jay Leno’s fate today. TMZ is reporting that Jay Leno – who we think is as funny as watching Dennis Miller analyze an NFL game – could get his old time slot back, at a severe cost to Conan O’Brien, who won the gig over five years ago, only to see NBC pull the trap door from under him with their Leno antics. So, how did we get here?

2004: Conan’s early confidence bet

• what? NBC, in a show of confidence for a guy they’d shown little love to in the ’90s, gives Conan O’Brien “The Tonight Show” slot – five years in advance.
• why? Because the last time they handed out “The Tonight Show” slot, they also screwed it up. Heir apparent David Letterman went to CBS. He still hates Leno.
• later … Later, Jimmy Fallon was tapped for the “Late Night” slot vacated by Conan. “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels wanted him since ’04. source

November 2008: Uh, we’re not so sure …

• Jay’s new time Instead of ditching Leno like everyone expected, NBC announced months before the switch-over that they were keeping Leno on in a 10 p.m. slot, effectively stealing Conan O’Brien’s thunder.
• Why? Economics.A late-night talk show is cheaper to produce than a high-quality drama like “E.R.” or “Law and Order,” so NBC execs thought they could ride a wave of low ratings through the recession. source

September 2009: The reviews! The reviews!

• ‘The Jay Leno Show’ is of course not the ‘brand-new hour of comedy’ its promos claim; it is brand-old to the bone.
• Slate reviewer Troy Patterson • On Jay Leno’s first night. Like most reviewers, he disliked “The Jay Leno Show” due to the fact that it was exactly the same routine as his boring schtick on “The Tonight Show.” Leno got lucky, though, by grilling Kanye West immediately after his VMAs incident, which created pretty much the best moment on the show, ever. It was all downhill from there. source
  

Late 2009: That didn’t work out so well …

• 18 million viewers watched the first episode of “Leno”

• 53% the decline in Leno’s ratings on the fourth night – that was fast source
• 1.5 the ratings threshold Leno was given for the show to remain profitable
• 1.6 Leno’s average ratings since starting the show in September – which NBC execs expected

Late 2009: Residual effects

• D-F the grade local affiliates gave Leno as a lead-in to their local news broadcasts; it had a direct effect on their ratings source
• 47% drop in Conan’s ratings a month after Leno took over the 10 p.m. slot; he regularly gets trumped by Letterman now source

• Oh, and show-producers were pissed, too. One show in particular, “Southland,” nearly died as a result of “The Jay Leno Show,” due to the number of slots the show took up. (It later found a home on TNT, and goes back on the air this month.) Show creator John Wells, who also worked on “E.R.,” said at the time his show was canceled, “I wish NBC and Jay Leno well; personally, he’s a very nice guy, but I hope he falls flat on his face and we get five dramas back.” Ouch! (But we totally agree with him.) source

Early 2010: So, what’s next?

• olympics On February 1, the Winter Olympics hit NBC, completely blowing up their schedule and conveniently giving them a chance to give low-rated Leno a break.
• later? Word on the street is that Leno will be losing his spot and going after the local news; Conan would likely come after, then Fallon, and maybe Carson Daly at like 3 or so. source

• It was perhaps the best sketch Jimmy Fallon’s ever done. It was perhaps Horatio Sanz’s shining moment. And it’s definitely the best part of Strokes singer Julian Casablancas’ solo career thus far. So why not shake off that dusty SNL Christmas classic, “I Wish It was Christmas Today,” and share it with a whole new audience? Hells yeah. source

• Ahhhh, we needed a Zack attack. There are many awesome things about this video, but the best part was that Mark-Paul Gosselaar came up with the freaking idea himself. Beautiful. We hope the “Saved by the Bell” reunion lives up to the hype. source

• The Letterman people sent this pickle to my office in 1993. Now I’m passing it on to you. Whenever you leave, which won’t be for a long time, make sure you pass it on to the next sap.
• Conan O’Brien • In a letter to Jimmy Fallon that came with a giant three-foot plastic pickle, which has been handed down to generations of “Late Night” hosts. Fallon succeeds O’Brien on Monday. • source