The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

[Ilya]

Conan has fallen from the sky. But that’s not an unexpected outcome when you shoot for the moon. NBC execs have made a big mistake 5 years ago when they placed their bet on Conan as a future replacement for Jay. And they lost! Conan is not a good fit for The Tonight Show and its time slot, which is supposed to appeal to a much broader audience than Conan ever did.

But don’t feel bad for Conan! It was his choice to leave. He could’ve stayed in his traditional spot for another couple of decades if he wanted. And falling from the sky in front of millions of viewers may not be such a bad thing, especially when you have a golden parachute.

If he can land at FOX, or some other network, the eventual outcome may not be that bad: Jay will keep his traditional spot and Conan may get a better time slot, than the one he used to have for many years – if he really wants that...

 

[dfergie]

Conan O'Brien set to exit 'Tonight Show'

$30-$40 million deal expected to be sealed this weekend

MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

CoCo will go go.Just seven months after inheriting the "Tonight Show," Conan O’Brien -- faced with a timeslot demotion -- is close to finalizing his exit from NBC.

Source & More: variety.com

 

[dfergie]

Conan O'Brien leaving NBC

By Nellie Andreeva and James Hibberd

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.

Source & More: thrfeed.com

 

[dfergie]

Conan O'Brien: Report he stiffed staff is ‘outrageous lie’

By Sharon Waxman
Published: January 16, 2010

Even as the final details are completed on the agreement for Conan O’Brien to leave NBC, the late night host’s manager has called TheWrap with a plea to reverse the whole thing while accusing the other camp of “an outrageous lie.”

Source & More: thewrap.com

 

[yaz96]

Leno had Jimmy Kimmel on his 10 at 10 segment the other night, and Kimmel just skewered Leno. It was funny as hell!
"Jay, remember we (Kimmel and Conan) have kids to feed and you only have your cars......"

Leno is the bad guy in all of this.......he's the one that should move on, his show was canceled.

 

[Peter Parker]

I think Jay was wrong to come back and take the Tonight show. He said he was retired and he should of stayed retired. To come back and Kick Conan out after he moved to L.A. with his family and all his show writers etc was just plain wrong. I never liked Jay Leno style of comedy and this will just cement my dislike of him as a person also.

When dd Leno "retire?" Back in 2004 he signed a four year deal for the Tonight Show. Shortly thereafter NBC announced that o'Brien would take over after that. For quite some time there were rumors about what Leno would do with him going to ABC, Fox and WGN all being mentioned. He finally agred to stay at NBC at 10 PM.

Sure Leno took his old job back when it was ofefred. Maybe he even asked for it but he did not set all this in motion.


The bad guy is NBC. They screwed up on this one. this little swap menat lower prime time ratings, angry affiliates because it hurt their 11 PM newscasts, and lower ratings at 11:35 and 12:35.

 

[MikeD-C05]

When dd Leno "retire?" Back in 2004 he signed a four year deal for the Tonight Show. Shortly thereafter NBC announced that o'Brien would take over after that. For quite some time there were rumors about what Leno would do with him going to ABC, Fox and WGN all being mentioned. He finally agred to stay at NBC at 10 PM.

Sure Leno took his old job back when it was ofefred. Maybe he even asked for it but he did not set all this in motion.


The bad guy is NBC. They screwed up on this one. this little swap menat lower prime time ratings, angry affiliates because it hurt their 11 PM newscasts, and lower ratings at 11:35 and 12:35.

Doesn't matter who caused it , Jay should of been the bigger man and should of done the right thing. He could of easily said to NBC : NO! I will not go back on my word to Conan. I watched it myself when Leno said on live tv that he was leaving and giving the Tonight show time slot to Conan. Instead the multi-millionaire himself had no problem going back to his old time slot because of his gigantic EGO! Conan got screwed! I only hope in a year he can start over on FOX and run right up against Leno on suck ass NBC and beat him in ratings.

 

[dfergie]

Conan quit, who else does NBC have that could take the Job that he (Jay) never should have left...

 

[MikeD-C05]

Conan quit because NBC wanted to push him back to after 12:05/11:05 at night. Like he wasn't good enough for the 11:30/10:30. That was an insult to Conan and I don't blame him for quitting. Now he can take his $40 million for buying out what's left of his contract and he can go to another network in a year and start over. I like Conan and I think he has been really very adult about this. After all if Jay had been a success at the 10:00/9:00 time slot , no one would of had to quit and everything would of been fine. So Jay bombing at his earlier time slot and causing the local news lead ins to drop , has caused this whole thing to happen.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

When dd Leno "retire?" Back in 2004 he signed a four year deal for the Tonight Show. Shortly thereafter NBC announced that o'Brien would take over after that. For quite some time there were rumors about what Leno would do with him going to ABC, Fox and WGN all being mentioned. He finally agred to stay at NBC at 10 PM.

Here's the real timeline and events that took place:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/nbc-television-network/187552-jay-leno-show-born-sept-14-2009-died-feb-12-2010-a-17.html#post2076932

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Conan quit, who else does NBC have that could take the Job that he (Jay) never should have left...

Actually Conan didn't quit, he was trying to hold firm to the contractual obligations that stipulated a minimum 2-year run. NBC decided it was in their best interest to buy him out of that obligation. Conan was the one who was "forced out" in this whole scenario...

 

[jayn_j]

Here's the real timeline and events that took place:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/nbc-television-network/187552-jay-leno-show-born-sept-14-2009-died-feb-12-2010-a-17.html#post2076932

Well, that's another spin. Do you really think that Leno would come out in an interview back then and say "Yep, those folks are really screwing me"? He would use it as leverage to try and work something else, like maybe a prime time slot.

I agree with those that say both Leno and Conan are pawns in a much larger game. We don't gain anything by making either of them villains.

 

[dfergie]

Actually Conan didn't quit, he was trying to hold firm to the contractual obligations that stipulated a minimum 2-year run. NBC decided it was in their best interest to buy him out of that obligation. Conan was the one who was "forced out" in this whole scenario...

Have you read the contract?

 

[dfergie]

Well, that's another spin. Do you really think that Leno would come out in an interview back then and say "Yep, those folks are really screwing me"? He would use it as leverage to try and work something else, like maybe a prime time slot.

I agree with those that say both Leno and Conan are pawns in a much larger game. We don't gain anything by making either of them villains.

Exactly...

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Have you read the contract?

Nope, just going by statements made by Leno, NBC, and Jeff Zucker in 2004. If you and others want to convieniently claim they were lying or scheming for the future when those statements were made, I'd call that a reach. Whatever it takes to try to make your point, I guess....

 

[yaz96]

Doesn't matter who caused it , Jay should of been the bigger man and should of done the right thing. He could of easily said to NBC : NO! I will not go back on my word to Conan. I watched it myself when Leno said on live tv that he was leaving and giving the Tonight show time slot to Conan. Instead the multi-millionaire himself had no problem going back to his old time slot because of his gigantic EGO! Conan got screwed! I only hope in a year he can start over on FOX and run right up against Leno on suck ass NBC and beat him in ratings.

Here is that handover speech that Leno himself gave back in the day.

Jay's 2004 Announcement from sustainabletips - Video

 

[TNGTony]

I keep hearing all this Crying about how "Conan got screwed" and should keep his show. I'm sorry to Say, Conan lost this show on his very own!!!

The way the TV industry works is, if you get enough viewers, you get to stay. If you take a giant dump on your desk (off camera) and have a half hour show of a steaming turd just sitting on the desk and more people watch it than any other show on TV, you are a hit and you get to keep your show. If you are God's gift to TV and have a show with unbeleivable stunts, comedy and unmatched quality and more people watch other TV channels than you, you are out! PERIOD.

It's all about viewership. I liked Conan at 12:30. But at 11:30 I prefer Dave. I, like 7 out of 10 people who used to watch Leno at 11:30 started watching something else. This is why Conan "got screwed". If Leno would have just left NBC, Conan would STILL be out at 11:30 within the next few months because his numbers were continuing their downward slide. Had his numbers stabalized, NBC may have lived with it since they were getting the younger demo they wanted. But as I said before, that audience is too small and fickel. His numbers just never stabalized at 11:30pm

I know his numbers are up now, but that is a false spike. People are now tuning in to watch the car crash. They want to see the disaster in progress. People want to watch Conan's last few shows on NBC.

See ya
Tony

 

[kb7oeb]

I didn't like Conan after he moved, he seemed to be trying to be like Leno was. This past week was the Conan I remember from Late Night. Leno also failed, his new show was supposed to be different than the Tonight show but it was pretty much the same. I hope Conan does go to Fox, then Leno fans get Leno and Conan fans get Conan.

I've been won over by Ferguson, its the only show where I can enjoy an interview of someone I don't know or don't care about.

 

[yaz96]

I keep hearing all this Crying about how "Conan got screwed" and should keep his show. I'm sorry to Say, Conan lost this show on his very own!!!

The way the TV industry works is, if you get enough viewers, you get to stay. If you take a giant dump on your desk (off camera) and have a half hour show of a steaming turd just sitting on the desk and more people watch it than any other show on TV, you are a hit and you get to keep your show. If you are God's gift to TV and have a show with unbeleivable stunts, comedy and unmatched quality and more people watch other TV channels than you, you are out! PERIOD.

It's all about viewership. I liked Conan at 12:30. But at 11:30 I prefer Dave. I, like 7 out of 10 people who used to watch Leno at 11:30 started watching something else. This is why Conan "got screwed". If Leno would have just left NBC, Conan would STILL be out at 11:30 within the next few months because his numbers were continuing their downward slide. Had his numbers stabalized, NBC may have lived with it since they were getting the younger demo they wanted. But as I said before, that audience is too small and fickel. His numbers just never stabalized at 11:30pm

I know his numbers are up now, but that is a false spike. People are now tuning in to watch the car crash. They want to see the disaster in progress. People want to watch Conan's last few shows on NBC.

See ya
Tony

Conan did not lose his show, Jay did. Jays show is the one that tanked, and that's why NBC is canceling it. It did not get enough viewers, so he doesn't get to stay (your words). If Jay had any integrity he would just walk away and come back another day.

BTW - Conan would not be out after a few months as you say, he had a 2 year contract. It took Leno 3 years to finally get his show together and beat Letterman in the ratings.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Here is that handover speech that Leno himself gave back in the day.

Jay's 2004 Announcement from sustainabletips - Video

Waiting for the spin claims....