Conan O'Brien releases statement on Late Night shakeup

[Yoda]

O'Brien just released a statement on the whole Leno/Tonight Show brouhaha (http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/conan-obrien-resigning-tonight-show/):

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

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.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,
Conan
First line made me laugh out loud. The rest is to the point and makes a very good case. It is not unnecessarily defiant nor particularly timid. It strikes a really nice balance and is, in my opinion, exactly the right move for him. I hope he gets to stay right where he is, but at this point I'll follow him to any network he goes to, at any time.

[mojofilter]

I think they should return to the original lineup they had going before May 2009.

11:35 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
12:35 The Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Get Jimmy Fallon off, that guy is not funny and his show is boring.

I like both Jay and Conan. I hope they eventually both stay at NBC. If they don't, and Conan does move to Fox, I'll make sure my DVR is set every night!

[iluv2viddyfilms]

I don't watch late night TV on a regular basis. I have in the past watched much of Conan O'Brien especially 10-15 years or so ago when my family did not have cable and that was what entertained me. Conan's self-deprecating and outrageous brand of humor, along with an aura of being down to earth makes him the best late night talk show host in my view.

In fact for me and many of my generation 20-30 year olds, he is our Johnny Carson; not Jay Leno, and not David Letterman. I've been watching Conan O'Brien from the very beginning, before the late night viewing crowd discovered how genius his comedic style is.

I have no use for Jimmy Fallon, or Carson Daly. Craig Ferguson is watchable, but none come close to Conan.

I applaud his statement and hope he stays where he is. If people aren't watching Leno, then Leno needs to get the boot or they need to give him another year. However the thing is ridiculous because the 9:00 time slot or 10:00 Eastern is traditionally filled with hour dramas not comedies. I imagine that is part of the problem.

Conan has handled the issue with class so far. I love his comment, "For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky." Very classy guy, it seems.

[jrs]

I am with Conan on this. I hope NBC does work this out with him. Jay Leno gave up the late night schtick for prime time, and if the ratings suck...then it's Jay's problem and let him go elsewhere. Leave Conan alone, he's doin fine. I wouldn't be surprised if Conan just got up and left late night due to this bullcrap.

[will.15]

I'm an old fart. but I don't think that changes my assessment. O'Brien sucked as the Tonight Show host. Like Letterman before him, he was edgier amd funnier in the 12:30 slot (but not as good as Letterman). He tried to become more mainstream and lost his edge. The difference is Letterman was originally fine, but gradually sold out because many younger stars wouldn't book on his show in fear they would be ridiculed. O'Brien immediately sold out. O'Brien was an obvious mistake for the 11:30 slot. He was starting to come in second to the much more talented Craig Ferguson, despite the fact O'Brien's lead-in was beating Letterman. If O'Brien was losing ground to Ferguson, how was he suppose to beat Letterman? NBC did this to themselves. They were forcing Leno to give up The Tonight Show before he wanted to, then realized he would sign up with a rival network if they let him go, then tried to devise a way to keep both of them. Originally, they made a calculated decision they could afford to give up Leno because the network at the time was still in first place and Letterman and O'Brien were handidly beating the competition. They were arrogant and now they're paying the price for it with no successor for Leno, certainly not the truly horrible Jimmy Fallon.

[Yoda]

Everyone worried that Conan would become "more mainstream" when he moved to 11:30, but I watched him for years before the switch, and I've probably watched 90-95% of his shows since the switch, and I don't see it. I don't think he's dumbed things down at all, really, and I'd be pretty curious to hear some examples of this.

Regardless, catering a show to a slightly different audience is hardly "selling out." Whatever one thinks of his 7 months hosting The Tonight Show so far, it's clearly still the same brand of humor. Just minus one Masturbating Bear.

[FILMFREAK087]

The real surprise is that somehow Fallon is untouched. I'll just lay my cards on the table, Jimmy Fallon was never funny, not on SNL, and especially not on latenight. I thought they couldn't do any worse than Carson Daly, but wow. When I first heard he was taking over I seriously thought it was a joke.

[iluv2viddyfilms]

I'm an old fart. but I don't think that changes my assessment. O'Brien sucked as the Tonight Show host. Like Letterman before him, he was edgier amd funnier in the 12:30 slot (but not as good as Letterman). He tried to become more mainstream and lost his edge. The difference is Letterman was originally fine, but gradually sold out because many younger stars wouldn't book on his show in fear they would be ridiculed. O'Brien immediately sold out. O'Brien was an obvious mistake for the 11:30 slot. He was starting to come in second to the much more talented Craig Ferguson, despite the fact O'Brien's lead-in was beating Letterman. If O'Brien was losing ground to Ferguson, how was he suppose to beat Letterman? NBC did this to themselves. They were forcing Leno to give up The Tonight Show before he wanted to, then realized he would sign up with a rival network if they let him go, then tried to devise a way to keep both of them. Originally, they made a calculated decision they could afford to give up Leno because the network at the time was still in first place and Letterman and O'Brien were handidly beating the competition. They were arrogant and now they're paying the price for it with no successor for Leno, certainly not the truly horrible Jimmy Fallon.

I can't speak about Conan on the Tonight Show because I haven't watched it with him as the host. I also cannot speak of Letterman prior to where he's at now with CBS because I never watched him back in the early 90's and 80's.

I do know this. Like most anything, it depends on your view and taste of humor. I enjoy David Letterman because he can be very scathing, and that in itself is humorous, but that does not mean he is funny in general. I think his comic timing and delievery are just plain boring and he comes across as an ass, and not necessarily in a way I can always appreciate.

Conan's humor is more up my alley, because his skits are creative and he is excellent at improvising and working off a crowd and when he wants to be scathing and ridiculing, he can be every bit as much as a Letterman. Maybe not toward his guests, and honestly I don't think a host should ridicule their guests as entertaining as it may be. I think Conan has the best opening monologues of the three and he seems the most personable with all his guest. Watch some of his old shows where he had Jean Claude Van Dame or Triple H on and how he worked off of their personalities, when in all likelihood, there's nothing really about them that should necessarily click.
When Triple H joked about picking up Conan and using his head for a sledgehammer, it was golden and a rapport between guest and host you don't see with a Jay Leno or David Letterman.

As for Jimmy Fallon. He should be working at McDonalds and telling jokes with his other 30-year old 16-year old friends. Nothing about that man has ever been funny.

[will.15]

I can't speak about Conan on the Tonight Show because I haven't watched it with him as the host. I also cannot speak of Letterman prior to where he's at now with CBS because I never watched him back in the early 90's and 80's.

I do know this. Like most anything, it depends on your view and taste of humor. I enjoy David Letterman because he can be very scathing, and that in itself is humorous, but that does not mean he is funny in general. I think his comic timing and delievery are just plain boring and he comes across as an ass, and not necessarily in a way I can always appreciate.

Thr old man who currently calls himself David Letterman is a pale imitation of the one who first arrived at that time slot. This confrontational interview with Madonna shows his mastery of comic timing, which he no longer has and it wasn't long after this interview he began to go out of his way to be nice to his guests (he was losing ground to the naturally nice Leno).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRSP5ZUmxP8

[Holden Pike]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMgPPJZfsCM
"Conan O'Brien today announced that he
is leaving NBC. He released a statement
today that said, 'I won't participate in the
destruction of the Tonight Show.'
Fortunately, though, I will!"

[will.15]

He does a better Jay Leno than he does himself.

[Sexy Celebrity]

It sort of amazes me that people give these late night talk show hosts so much love and attention.

[iluv2viddyfilms]

It sort of amazes me that people give these late night talk show hosts so much love and attention.


What else are we going to give a damn about, some silly tremor in a backwoods country where a few poor minorities die?

[TheUsualSuspect]

Apparently Leno was given a new contract to host The Tonight Show.

NBC really screwed over Conan here.

[jrs]

That sucks :(
Leno can go to hell lol

[will.15]

Apparently Leno was given a new contract to host The Tonight Show.

NBC really screwed over Conan here.
I don't think they did. There was a lot of politicking and back stabbing that was going on behind the scenes. Conan is no choir boy. He wanted The Tonight Show slot sooner than later and was making a lot of noise about going to another network if he didn't get his way. The smart thing and the decent thing for him to do was just sit tight with a contractual guarantee from NBC to take over Tonight when Leno steps down, which would have happened for sure when Leno turned 65. Carson retired at 65 and Leno would have done the same. Even if he wanted to stay, other networks wouldn't bid for his services at that age. But instead the network was trying to force him out before he reached 60. At the time they made that decision they were in first place and calculated they could afford to lose Leno to another network. They were wrong and they overestimated Conan's talent. He was barely holding his own with Craig Ferguson, even though Leno, his lead-in, was handidly beating Letterman. That's a lot of people who liked Leno, but switched channels to watch the CBS guy when O'Brien came on, not a good thing. Another mistake all the networks are making is not having guest hosts. Carson had guest hosts. Letterman was a guest host for Carson before getting the slot after him. Leno was Carson's guest host. That's how you find talent instead of just throwing them into a talk show and hoping for the best like what happened with Jimmy Fallon. They no longer do it because Letterman and Leno are more insecure than Carson and won't allow it.

[Yoda]

It would have been "the decent thing" for him to sight tight? :skeptical: I don't know why. He was in that position for a very long time, saw no end in sight, and dared to actually consider leaving, and that's what prompted NBC's guarantee. He didn't back them into a corner or put them in an impossible situation.

I also don't think they "overestimated Conan's talent" at all, nor do I think anyone could possibly judge such a thing based on just 7 months of shows. Leno got his butt whooped for a year and a half before he started taking Letterman down.

[Holden Pike]

The smart thing and the decent thing for him to do was just sit tight with a contractual guarantee from NBC to take over Tonight when Leno steps down, which would have happened for sure when Leno turned 65. Carson retired at 65 and Leno would have done the same. Even if he wanted to stay, other networks wouldn't bid for his services at that age. But instead the network was trying to force him out before he reached 60.

Ummm, you do know that's not at all true, yes? There is no age mandate for when one must retire from showbiz. Johnny Carson was in fact sixty-six when he left "The Tonight Show", and his birthday had absolutely nothing to do with his contract. Regis Philbin, who is still on TV most weekdays, is seventy-eight. Andy Rooney, who still appears on "60 Minutes" most every Sunday, just turned ninety-one today. So I don't know why you think the TV end of show business is like The United States Post Office when it comes to age-based mandatory retirement, but it ain't.

I truly don't know where you're getting your info from, but it's false and you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

[will.15]

Even if Leno wanted to stay past 65, the other networks are demographic conscious and would not have bid for his services. I am certain NBC could have negotiated a commitment from Leno to retire at that age. With regard to O'Brien, I said he should have stayed put if he received a contractual obligation to take over Tonight when Leno hit 65. Regis is on daytime television, with a much younger co-host and the audience skews older. The problem for NBC when Leno took over, they were in first place and, yes, they could afford to wait to see if Leno's ratings would improve. But they also had no choice. They had no obvious replacement for Leno. O'Brien's ratings are worse than Leno's ever was (not entirely his fault, the network's prime time schedule is a graveyard) and with the pressure they're receiving from the affiliates, they can't sit tight. O'Brien knew what the situation was, so, no, I don't feel sorry for him. I don't feel sorry for any of them.

[Yoda]

Even if Leno wanted to stay past 65, the other networks are demographic conscious and would not have bid for his services.
I don't see how anyone can really say this. There's no magic line at 65 where people suddenly see Leno as "old," and demographics are changing all the time. 65 used to be a lot older than it is now.

I am certain NBC could have negotiated a commitment from Leno to retire at that age.
You're certain? How can you be certain?

With regard to O'Brien, I said he should have stayed put if he received a contractual obligation to take over Tonight when Leno hit 65.
I'm not sure I follow what your point is, then. He obviously didn't receive such an obligation, but a different one, instead. So what did you mean about him not doing the "decent" thing?

O'Brien's ratings are worse than Leno's ever was (not entirely his fault, the network's prime time schedule is a graveyard) and with the pressure they're receiving from the affiliates, they can't sit tight.
That's fine, but these are all reasons they shouldn't have committed to O'Brien in the first place. None of it excuses them making guarantees, and then trying to slip out of them.

O'Brien knew what the situation was, so, no, I don't feel sorry for him. I don't feel sorry for any of them.
I don't think any of us feel sorry for any of them, but with that caveat, we can still feel certain people were treated better or worse. NBC made Conan a guarantee to keep him around, and he accepted it. They made good on it for 7 months, then backed out and put him in an untenable situation, professionally. The fact that everyone involved is extremely rich doesn't change that.

[TheUsualSuspect]

From what I understand Leno decided he wanted to leave the show 6 years ago in 04, as soon as O'Brien's contract with NBC was about to expire. Conan O'Brien told NBC that he was going to talk to other stations to get on the air at 11:30 PM and refused to stay on pass 12:30 for more than 11 years.

Since NBC didn't want to lose O'Brien, since he would be in competition with Leno, NBC promised him The Tonight Show in 09, to keep him with the network. Leno was fine with this, and said he would leave the show in 2009 before he turned 60. I also remember he mentioned he promised his wife he wouldn't host the show pass a certain age and 'retire'.

A year before it was suppose to go down, Leno changed his mind and wanted to stay on, but had to leave due to promises made to O'Brien.

Thus NBC gave Leno his own show at 10, which failed.

And now we are here.

[mojofilter]

I can't understand why most people are bashing Jay Leno. The guy is classy, and hasn't been running his mouth about Conan at all. This entire thing is NBC's fault, and not Conan's nor Jay's.

[TheUsualSuspect]

I think people are bashing Jay because when Carson was host, who wanted Letterman to be his successor, Leno and his lawyer went behind his back and made a deal with NBC. So Leno took over the tonight show and 4 months later fired his lawyer.

He said he was done at the Tonight Show when he hit 60, then decided to have his own show in prime time. Now instead of doing the 'classy' thing and stepping aside to let another have their turn in the spotlight, he's taking over the Tonight Show again. (his show won't be moving to 11:35, he'll be hosting the Tonight Show again, watch).

So the guy is hard working yes, but he's also a jerk. Kimmel destroyed him to his face on leno's show last night. It was both awkward and hilarious.

I'm not a Leno hater, but I do support Conan here.

As for who's to blame, you're right in saying NBC.

[Holden Pike]

I think people are bashing Jay because when Carson was host, who wanted Letterman to be his successor, Leno and his lawyer went behind his back and made a deal with NBC. So Leno took over the tonight show and 4 months later fired his lawyer.

http://content.moviecentral.ca/themes/MovieCentral/images/Header/TheLateShift.jpg

It wasn't his lawyer, it was his manager, Helen Kushnick, who was played brilliantly by Kathy Bates in the HBO docudrama "The Late Shift", which is a faithful and very entertaining adaptation of Bill Carter's non-fiction book of the same name. How "innocent" Jay was in all of that one can decide for themselves, but there was definitely some major league backstabbing and underhandedness going on in that first version of the Late Night Wars, and all of it was on Leno's side, none from Carson or Letterman's camps.

And yes, of course the executives at NBC in both versions of these messes are the root problem. Even so, how one handles themselves in such situations, publicly and privately, says a lot about their character, yeah?

[will.15]

I agree Leno isn't the completely nice guy he appears to be. Are you talking about his lawyer or agent who became his producer who he fired because she was making a mess of producing The Tonight Show? It is my understanding it was NBC, not Leno, who decided when he would step down from The Tonight Show, but you know something? He did agree to it at the time and publicly said he would do it. So I am going to change a little what I said and say it's Leno who is the prick here and NBC and screwed Conan big time, but Conan stil sucks on the Tonight Show. Leno was going against Letterman in his prime and beat him in the ratings after he and his show improved. O'Brien is going against a very tired Letterman and it appears neither he or his show is going to get any better. And he was barely holding his own with Ferguson before moving up an hour. It's too late now, but maybe they should have split the week:three nights for Leno, two for O'Brien. I think that would have worked. It's called the Tonight Show. Monday through Wednesday for Leno, and the remaning two for O'Brien. Makes more sense to me than a half hour show for Leno.

[jrs]

I think people are bashing Jay because when Carson was host, who wanted Letterman to be his successor, Leno and his lawyer went behind his back and made a deal with NBC.


http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/nbc.jpg

According to TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/14/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-the-tonight-show/), Jay Leno has made a new deal with NBC, which gives him "The Tonight Show" from 11:35 - 12:35 ...under the contract Jay had been working under, he was guaranteed the 10 PM hour. By moving him to 11:35, NBC was in breach of his contract and needed to negotiate a new deal.

According to Screenrant (http://screenrant.com/leno-deal-tonight-show-conan-scottm-41551/), within SECONDS of that news breaking, NBC officially denied any such thing.

[jrs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FNmWFD4oWg

[jrs]

Conan O'Brien leaving NBC

Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show” dream is over.Conan O Brien

After only seven months hosting NBC’s iconic late-night show, O'Brien is leaving NBC.

The teams of representatives for NBC and O’Brien on Friday night were still finalizing a financial settlement that would end the network and the late-night host’s 21-year relationship.

Details about a settlement are still fuzzy, but sources estimated that the payoff to O’Brien could reach $40 million.

The deal looks on track to close over the weekend.

One of the sticking issues has been on whether O’Brien’s contract guarantees him the 11:35 p.m. time slot, with sources close to the host insisting that it does, and sources at the network being adamant that I doesn’t. Once source portrayed the issue as all being a matter of NBC's intent rather than the contract spelling out the exact time: Did promising O'Brien "The Tonight Show" inherently indicate an 11:35 p.m. slot?

Either way, a quick settlement prevents NBC from having to go to court over "The Tonight Show," a non-acceptable option to the network which could have publicly dragged out its struggle with O'Brien for months or even years.

After a week of tense negotiations, exacerbated by O’Brien’s Tuesday open letter defying NBC’s plan to move his ”Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m. to make room for a Jay Leno-hosted half-hour show at 11:35 p.m. as well as by NBC’s sports chief Dick Ebersol’s harsh words for O’Brien, the two sides moved closer to an agreement ay the end of the week.

Key people in the negotiations have included NBC Uni Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin and NBC Entertainment chairman Marc Graboff, O’Brien’s long-time reps, WME’s Rick Rosen and manager Gavin Polone as well as Universal Studios' president Ron Meyer, who was brought in earlier this week to break the impasse.

The news is the latest twist in a dramatic series of events that led to an overhaul of a major chunk of NBC’s schedule in the middle of the broadcast season following an outcry by the network’s affiliate stations whose late newscasts were hit hard by the anemic ratings for “The Jay Leno Show” at 10 p.m.

O'Brien is expected to continue hosting "Tonight" through the end of next week when the show was previously scheduled to go dark for a week.

On the Friday “Tonight,” O’Brien treated his imminent departure as a fait accompli, spending the opening half-hour taking jabs at NBC ("In the press this week, NBC has been calling me every name in the book. In fact, they think I'm such an idiot they now want me to run the network"), auctioning off “Tonight” memorabilia as well as the show itself, as well as running “Best of” retrospective of his short run on the show.

In light of O’Brien’s departure, Jay Leno, who will wrap the primetime “Leno Show” Feb.12, would resume command of "Tonight Show," the late-night post he previously held for 17 years, March 1.

That’s when NBC also will roll out its revised midseason schedule that features scripted dramas, reality and newsmagazines 10 p.m.

With his exit almost finalized, the big question is where O'Brien will land, and when will his presumed next show launch. Fox, which has expressed interest in launching a weeknight late-night franchise fronted by O’Brien, is the most obvious option.

However, the network’s toppers have made it clear they are not in any rush to jump in as a decision to do so would involve a financial hit to the affiliates, the same problem that ultimately led to the latenight turmoil at NBC.

Shedding O’Brien and putting Leno back in charge of “Tonight” will give NBC the opportunity to get its schedule back on track, but at a very high cost. The network’s pilot development last year was derailed with the vanishing of its 10 p.m. dramas.

The network also spent millions on new sets and the launch of both “Tonight” and “Jay Leno” and then had to face ratings down spiral both at 10p.m. and 11:35 p.m., which led to revenue loss.

(Leno is expected, at least for the time being,” to stay put in the studio that housed his primetime show.)

Additionally, the NBC and “Tonight Show” brands have arguably been tarnished. The network having been painted as clumsy at best and villainous at worst in its handling of the issue

Also taking a hit is the reputation of Leno, who has been roundly criticized for his relatively passive role in the shakeup.

Also there is, of course, NBC’s loss of O’Brien -- a star at the network whose passionate fans are planning a support rally outside NBC Universal studios on Monday — with an excellent chance of him becoming a competitor to boot.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/01/conan-obrien-leaving-nbc.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+live_feed+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+The+Live+Feed%29)

[will.15]

What did Dick Ebersol say about O'Brien?

[jrs]

What did Dick Ebersol say about O'Brien?

Referring to Conan's jabs at Jay Leno, Ebersol said that it was “chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn’t beat in the rating" and that “what this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan.”

Ebersol said he also met with Conan about making the show more accessible to the whole country saying, “I like Conan enormously personally. He was just stubborn about not being willing to broaden the appeal of his show.”

He also said that the other late-night hosts and comedians blaming Jay is inappropriate:

“Jeff [Zucker] and I are big boys. When we do something big in the public forum and it doesn’t succeed, we know we’ll be the butt of criticism. But you don’t personally attack someone who hasn’t done anything. We bet on the wrong guy.”

Source: PerezHilton.com (http://perezhilton.com/2010-01-15-nbc-exec-dick-ebersol-lashes-out-at-conan?utm_medium=twitter)

[will.15]

Thanks, jrs.



Blame it all on Conan. It's his fault Leno was a bomb at the 10:PM slot and there was pressure from the affiliates to get him out of there and back to his old slot. If Leno was successful at 10, Conan would have stayed put. I'm not a big fan of O'Brien, and thought he was weak on The Tonight Show, but it was NBC's disasterous decision to schedule Leno at 10 that caused this problem.


Ebersol said he also met with Conan about making the show more accessible to the whole country saying, “I like Conan enormously personally. He was just stubborn about not being willing to broaden the appeal of his show."



What the hell is Ebersol talking about? O'Brien did water down his show and even made public comments about the need to do so. And the show was less funny because of it. As far as I can tell, his show had the same stale crap formula humor bits we get from Leno amd Letterman. What was he suppose to do to broaden his show more?

Ebersol is an *******. If NBC didn't turn their prime time schedule into nuclear winter, O'Brien would still probably have lost some ground to Letterman, but at more tolerable levels and maintained a decent lead in the target demographics.

[Dog Star Man]

Personally, I'm less frustrated with Leno about this issue and more frustrated at NBC. They are making extremely poor business decisions all in the name of keeping Leno on. I can understand the standpoint that they want to keep him on because he is a hard, reliable, worker/entertainer for the network. But ultimately the torch was passed to O'Brien, that's a decision they should live with. I completely agree with Conan, The Tonight Show at 12:05 isn't the same and its going to come at the cost of others careers. Where I'm frustrated at Leno is that he should have the foresight to walk. If he maintains a slot where The Tonight Show, (since Steve Allen), has always been, he should at least see the fact that many viewers would hold a strong resentment toward him and not watch his show. He's had a marvelous career, however nothing lasts forever, such is life. It's time for him to walk, NBC should respect and realize this as well. Whatever happens the only victor here will be Conan. He may not have The Tonight Show anymore, but it seems other networks are willing to pad this fall. This is just going to end poorly for The Tonight Show itself and it's 60 year run, (and who could blame it, any host now would be wary to take it on if these strings came attached). Whatever the result its going to come at the cost of NBC, Leno, and The Tonight Show; not O'Brien.

[TheUsualSuspect]

http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/nbc.jpg

According to TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/14/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-the-tonight-show/), Jay Leno has made a new deal with NBC, which gives him "The Tonight Show" from 11:35 - 12:35 ...under the contract Jay had been working under, he was guaranteed the 10 PM hour. By moving him to 11:35, NBC was in breach of his contract and needed to negotiate a new deal.

According to Screenrant (http://screenrant.com/leno-deal-tonight-show-conan-scottm-41551/), within SECONDS of that news breaking, NBC officially denied any such thing.


Which is what I said on the first page. :p

This whole thing is a mess, NBC is at fault, but Leno should really step down.

And thank you Holds, for the correction.

[tramp]

Jay Leno is a jerk. I'm hoping his ratings drop bigtime.

[will.15]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-leno-backlash16-2010jan16,0,4645138.story

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/01/conan-obriens-postnbc-options.html

The top link discusses if this hit Jay Leno's reputation has taken will affect his popularity.

The second about O'Brien's late night options.

[mojofilter]

Jay Leno is a jerk. I'm hoping his ratings drop bigtime.

I honestly don't see how Jay Leno is at fault with all this mess.

It's NBC who runs the show, not Jay nor Conan.

Someone's got to be a target, and since the NBC executives cannot be seen, everyone is taking aim at Jay.

Let's not forget that both Conan and Jay have been plagued with low ratings since their new shows' debuts. If the ratings were high for both of them, none of this mess would be happening. NBC wants high ratings and money. They're not getting any of them with both these guys' current time slots and positions. So as executives, they made this decision.

I love both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O'Brien were my favorite back-to-back talk shows I would watch every night. It's sad things unfolded the way they did. But at least now, I'm gonna get to see at least one of them at their original time slot and show. I'll follow Conan to wherever he goes!

[TheUsualSuspect]

Like I mentioned before people are picking on Jay because he doesn't "do the right thing". That's how I see it.

If he did, he wouldn't agree to move his show to 11:35. If he cared about The Tonight Show, he simply wouldn't do it. But no, he immediately got a new contract to move to 11:35, pushing the show that made him who he is, the be a second rate behind him and the next day. NBC is behind all of it, yes, but Jay Leno is the one who is getting all the benefits and to thew viewers at home, it looks like he doesn't give a crap about what happens to other people.

A smart move he did was get Kimmel on his show for the Ten@Ten segment, for two reasons. One, he would hope that since Kimmel would be on his show, he wouldn't make fun of Leno and it would seem to the audience that everything is okay between them, it was all 'in good fun'. Or two, what actually did happen and Leno looks to be the victim of a harsh beating.

It came out neither though, it was a gamble. Everything that Leno deserved it.

As for NBC execs saying Conan is heartless? Why can't they look in the mirror. The job of the Late Night hosts is to make fun of current events. Why the hell wouldn't he poke fun at Leno, who is going to take over again. Look at the situation they put him in, clearly anyone would have done it. PLus Zucker wanted to keep Conan off the air for 3 years, who's the chicken hearted one now?

[will.15]

NBC is currently being run by imbeciles. You could pick a bum off the street and put him in charge and he couldn't have done any worse.

[iluv2viddyfilms]

I honestly don't see how Jay Leno is at fault with all this mess.

It's NBC who runs the show, not Jay nor Conan.



Yes Jay Leno has no control over whether Jay Leno accepts his old position at the Tonight Show. It's NBC that was stupid for putting a comedy show at the 9:00 time slot and it's Jay who was stupid for "stepping down" when he clearly wasn't ready to step down.

You didn't see Johnny Carson have his mini show after it was handed over to Leno.

[TheUsualSuspect]

It was at 10:00 PM, not 9:00.

Either way, his image has been tarnished. He's seen as a jerk now and when he takes over The Tonight Show, he'll be seen as an even bigger one.

[will.15]

Yes Jay Leno has no control over whether Jay Leno accepts his old position at the Tonight Show. It's NBC that was stupid for putting a comedy show at the 9:00 time slot and it's Jay who was stupid for "stepping down" when he clearly wasn't ready to step down.

You didn't see Johnny Carson have his mini show after it was handed over to Leno.
I agree with that, except the problem wasn't a comedy show, but doing the same old boring talk show format. It may have been more interesting if they went back to the Tonight Show when Steve Allen was there and it was really loose (and, no, I'm not that old and remember the show first hand, from what I've read and seen in clips).

[jrs]

Yes Jay Leno has no control over whether Jay Leno accepts his old position at the Tonight Show....

He could have just said "no".

It was at 10:00 PM, not 9:00.

It was on at 9:00 PM here, and the local news aired at 10:00 PM. All depends on where you live.

[honeykid]

NSFW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWB-kd09GXY&NR=1

Thought some of you might get a kick out of this.

[jrs]

NBC Confirms Conan O'Brien's Late Night Exit

http://i47.tinypic.com/neymfq.jpg

According to Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60K30N20100121), NBC has reached a deal with The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien host Conan O'Brien to leave the show with Jay Leno to resume hosting duties on March 1.

While NBC wouldn't reveal details on the deal, but two sources close to the deal said that O'Brien would receive $32.5 million and his staff would receive $12 million. O'Brien will end his run on Friday and will be "free to pursue other opportunities after September 1."

The deal brings to an end the turmoil between the network, O'Brien and Leno that started when the network announced it was ending its primetime experiment of The Jay Leno Show after affiliates were reporting significant decreases in local news programs.

Here are the official statements from the network and Conan O'Brien.

NBC and Conan O'Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.

O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on January 22.

NBC's statement on Jay Leno's return to :

NBC confirmed today that popular late-night host Jay Leno will return to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. (ET) beginning March 1, 2010 and that Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will continue to be broadcast from 12:35-1:35 a.m. (ET). The announcements were made by Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment.

"We're pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years," said Gaspin. "He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television."

Leno previously hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from May 1992-May 2009. The program will continue to showcase many of the features that made Leno America's late-night leader for more than a dozen years.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is from Big Dog Productions in association with Universal Media Studios. Debbie Vickers is the executive producer.

Source: Movieweb (http://www.movieweb.com/news/NEvAECwznTFezy)

[will.15]

Now they don't have anyone to be heir apparent. Not a big O'Brien fan, or Leno, but he was the logical successor at some point, but it would have made more sense if they shared The Tonight Show slot, with Leno taking three days to O'Brien's two. Leno is only there four days anyway, and O'Brien could have three days in the summer. This way O'Brien could have had more time to get settled at the slot and could attract and hold on to a larger audience when the time came.

[Yoda]

Switching hosts in the middle of every week? :skeptical: That's crazy talk. Aside from the weird rivalry it would spark (and resentment from whoever gets only two of the five days), it would be downright bizarre to have the show's tone shift so significantly so often. I also doubt all the band members and various people working behind the scenes would take a correlative pay cut. Neither comedian would get a fair chance to establish any kind of devoted audience, either, and it's pretty evident that when it comes to late night, people's devotion is primarily to the core personality of the host.

There's also the obvious fact that neither Leno nor Conan would ever, ever agree to anything like that. Nobody of their stature is going to accept half-a-show.

[will.15]

Monday through Wednesday for Leno, Thursday and Friday for O'Brien. Wouldn't have been much different when Leno was regularly doing one day a week to Carson's three or four first run shows. Carson didn't rerun shows that much and had a lot of guest hosts until Leno became the regular one. Carson took a lot of time off, unlike Leno and Letterman, and it didn't hurt the ratings.

[Yoda]

That was a stop gap, not the status quo. Guest hosting is a completely different animal; it's the same staff and the same set, and it's not something they had to do, not something they would have ever chosen. There's no way Conan and Leno would ever share a set, or a staff, and there's no chance of convincing everyone who works for them to work part-time all of a sudden, either.

And this is all assuming that the two of them would have gone for it, and there's just no way they would have.

[will.15]

What you say is true, but I was thinking of them co-operating and sharing one set and staff up to a point (obviously different writers), but if Leno's attitude was I'm not going anywhere when I hit 65, it wouldn't have worked. If the proposal was on the table, they might have worked something out and makes more sense than that half hour for Leno.

[Yoda]

Interesting updates:



Bill Carter's writing a book about the situation (http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-carters-new-book-will-focus-on-conan-obrien-jay-leno-debacle-2010-2)
Conan talking to Fox (http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/02/03/2010-02-03_conan_obrien_has_had_conversations_with_fox_but_network_not_sure_they_can_make_a.html), but it sounds like the execution and economics are iffy
And, perhaps most interesting: there's a report that Conan's deal did include a timeslot (http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/02/10/conan-timeslot-restrictions/) in that it referenced a previous agreement where the time was specified

There's also word that Conan was invited to participate (http://www.examiner.com/x-11363-TV-Examiner%7Ey2010m2d9-Conan-OBrien-was-asked-by-David-Letterman-to-be-in-Super-Bowl-commercial) in the Leno/Letterman/Oprah ad, as well, but "politely [declined]."

Interesting stuff. Sounds like the chances of Conan winding up on Fox are a coin-flip at best, which is troublesome, because I can't think of too many other plausible options that Conan would likely find acceptable. Here's hoping that, if he has to, he takes a step down in terms of budget and audience size to keep going, though I doubt he will.

[will.15]

I think he would be better off at Comedy Central, but not a talk show.

[Yoda]

I dunno. The thinking behind a move to Comedy Central is that he could be "edgier," or something of the sort (I'll leave aside my general disagreement with people who think he was heavily toning things down before all this happened). But the tradeoff would be a much smaller staff and budget, too.

Anyway, I don't see him abandoning the talk show format, and I don't really want him to. He was good at exactly what he was doing, and I hope he finds a place that will let him continue to do it in more or less the same way.

"Si, Conando!"

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fRRa-giJfzE/SiXHJ7il7pI/AAAAAAAACTE/Qtyc99zIjfA/s400/conando.jpg

[Yoda]

Wow. Apparently Conan's signed on with TBS; the new show starts in November. A lot of people weren't sure if he was willing to abandon the larger broadcast audiences, but apparently, he is. All reports were that Fox was a great fit in some ways, but not in others, and that the whole thing was quite a chore to try to get done with affiliates and the like.

Even more surprising than the move to cable: apparently he's getting the same budget he had on the NBC show. I'm surprised the numbers work there, though I wonder if maybe he's getting less salary as a result. No idea, but for a cable show, that's certainly unexpected.

Obviously, I'm quite glad. Audience aside, I just want to see his show. And though I still don't think he was ever really toning it down much, any fear about that should be eradicated now that he's on cable. Still, he leaves a lot of intellectual property at NBC. Whether or not he starts fresh or works around the issue with technicalities is hard to say; I hope it's the latter.

Anyway, great news, and probably not too bad for the big man himself. Though broadcast still commands more eyeballs, it commands less of them pretty much every day, and the kinds of people who still differentiate significantly between broadcast and cable probably aren't the kind of people that would enjoy Conan, anyway. With more options comes more specialization, and more fragmented audiences, so this kind of thing is going to happen more and more, anyway.

[jrs]

Wow. Apparently Conan's signed on with TBS; the new show starts in November.

Yup. The currently untitled one-hour show will debut at 11/10c after the World Series, and will air Monday through Thursday. It will be followed by "George Lopez's Lopez Tonight". You can read the full report here (http://www.tvguide.com/News/Conan-OBrien-TBS-1017183.aspx).

[will.15]

I 'm no big fan, but I'm sure he'll do well over there. It sounds like a good fit. Leno is not the nice guy he pretends to be. If these two had a better relationship, I think they could have worked something out. By the way, I think O'Brien is marginally better than Leno, but trying to take over a time slot when the network is in the toilet was a no-win proposition. I've been looking lately at Carson clips on youtube and he really makes all the late night show hosts on now look like little leaguers.