The Apiary

Every blogger dreams of writing The Tonight Show Insider , and for 7 months, Aaron Bleyaert got to do it. Last night he published his final blog entry and mentioned that everyone needs to get their last clicks in before the site is gone 4ever:

As for this site, I feel bummed to be leaving it... Me and the excellent digital team over at NBC.com put so much hard work into making it sweet, but what can you do? I don't know how long this site will be up; I've been lobbying for it to remain up as long as possible, but it's not my decision. My point: If you've got posts you wanna go back and read, or videos you wanna go back and watch, I'd do it sooner rather than later. Our show will be in repeats through the Olympics, and after that, what happens to this place is anyone's guess. It could be left up forever (which would be really awesome), or it could get taken down tomorrow (which would be the opposite of really awesome). That's just life, I guess.

• One for the Road | The Tonight Show Insider

Photo: Joel Aron Photography Conan O'Brien released a statement moments ago saying he refuses to follow Leno at 12:05, thus refusing the hosting job on The Sometime at Night Show with Some White Guy . Via the statement:

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.

• Conan O’Brien Says He Won't Host 'Tonight Show' Following Leno | NY Times
• Christina Applegate Refusing to Take Sides | (via WSJ.com)
• Remember This Latenight TV Flare-Up? | CNN.com (March 27, 2002)
• "I'm With Coco" Traveling the Web at Light Speed | Mike Mitchell
  

It's about time Conan started playing hardball. Faced with the prospect of another huge programming blunder and with everything on the line, it's critical for him to go all-in.

The stunning Leno reshuffle sent the AST message board into a tizzy , with users almost unanimously banding together to create virtual puffy paint Team Conan signs .  A few unique insights from the boarders stood out:

They are actually taking another very big and unprecedented gamble with a 30 minute show that starts off after 11:30. You would think they learned their lesson after Jay's current show. Unfortunately, when they look at what they perceive as a lack of success with Jay and Conan's shows, they probably see it as Conan being the one fucking things up. Things were great before when Jay started at 11:30 and Conan started at 12:30. Why did Conan have to go and ruin everything? I guess they may even be right, if all you care about is numbers. --Berliner

And this one:

If you look at it from Conan's side, he's the boss. His decision affects an entire staff of people who are relying on him for their jobs. (Of course they can find other work, but still). If he walks, he's essentially laid off a staff of talented and devoted people who uprooted themselves from New York to ride this train to hell.

I think Conan will take the new time slot just to keep the show going. The media is stating that Fox is not interested in taking him on anymore, nor is ABC. --Trikywu

Noticeably absent so far from the fiery online discussion are the usually chatty Tonight Show staffers who can be seen lurking on the board but not commenting.  All eyes will be on the monologues tonight.