I always got the impression that Carson owned his show outright, and that Late Night was a co-production (Carson/NBC), with WWP added into the mix around '91 or so. NBC had to have some claim to ownership of Dave's Late Night, otherwise the whole IP issue following his move to CBS ("Viewer Mail"=="CBS Mailbag", "Larry 'Bud' Melman"==Calvert DeForest, etc.) would have been a non-issue.
Also, IIRC, it was after Carson retired and Jay took over that an "NBC Studios" trademark started appearing on Tonight and Late Night (along with the Big Dog & Broadway Video vanity cards, of course), so NBC was asserting greater control over those properties, in an effort to reinforce their lock on the 'franchise'. By contrast, CBS has no franchise. They have Dave and Craig. If WWP continues to produce CBS late night, I would expect the naming conventions to stick for continuity reasons, but also because I'm sure Dave sees value in building a franchise in the spirit (if not the shadow) of the original Tonight Show legacy. On Wednesday, June 12, 2013 3:38:56 AM UTC-4, JW wrote: > > > Correct me if I'm mistaken, but doesn't SCG get first dibs/right of > first > > refusal at 11:35 per his most recent contract? (I know Craig has said he > > doesn't WANT 11:35, but technically he's got the right to it.) > > My recollection is that's in case Dave is suddenly unable to do The > Late Show, not the orderly ascension we're discussing. > > Carson Productions produced The Tonight Show and Late Night right up > until Johnny retired. After that, Worldwide Pants (which had become a > co-producer) got Late Night, while NBC and Big Dog always produced > Jay's Tonight Show. I can't imagine The Late Show (and LLS) post-Dave > would be any different > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.