ABC CHIEF CONSIDERING SIGNING LENO -- BUT WHAT ABOUT KIMMEL?
Thursday, July 17 2008
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ABC's late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel pretended to be a journalist as he "interviewed" ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson Wednesday at the TV Critics Association's meeting with network brass. As reported by the Associated Press, the topic was the possibility of Jay Leno moving to ABC when Conan O'Brien takes over NBC's Tonight show in 2009. McPherson: "I can't believe they're going to let this guy go at the top of his game. ... If that happens, we'll look at it at the time and Jimmy will be involved in those discussions." Kimmel: "If anything were, God forbid, to happen ... would Ted Koppel get fired, or how would that work?" (Koppel left Nightline, the news program that airs opposite Leno's in 2005.) McPherson: "It would be doomsday for Ted." Kimmel: "If you were even to talk to Jay Leno, wouldn't that be like contract tampering? Wouldn't that be illegal? Couldn't you go to jail for that?" A moment later: "Are you at all afraid that if you do replace Jimmy Kimmel he might do something crazy to you or your car?" The interview over, McPherson praised Kimmel and said that his "show creatively is firing on all cylinders and we're hugely supportive of it."
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