The latest on Conan, Leno and NBC - Page 19

As before, I'll watch Leno (and any late night show) when the guests interest me. Jamie Foxx and the Olympic lady didn't interest me.

I stumbled across Leno last night while flipping around, early in the Sarah Palin interview.  Her standup routine was a riot!

She makes my skin crawl, and I can't get past that. But you have to appreciate someone who's willing to have a laugh at their own expense like she did.

Yeah, I saw that too.  She was great. 

Looks like the Conan/Fox deal is imminent.  Fox is putting pressure on the affiliates for clearance.  It may be delayed until January and Fox may lease the same studio from NBC.


http://www.tmz.com/2010/03/18/conan-obrien-fox-affiliates-the-tonight-show/

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/17/fox-exec-on-conan-a-deal-we-can-live-with-outlined/45285

The latest numbers:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/17/leno-wins-again-in-tuesday-preliminary-numbers/45301

I ran across this article concerning the Tonight Show ratings since Leno came back.

www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Dayparts_update_51/In_late_night_Jay_leaves_Dave_in_the_dust.asp

I'm not really surprised he has been able to get better ratings then Conan but I really didn't think he would be consistently beating Dave week after week so soon after coming back. I guess he wasn't the "damaged goods" so many thought he would be.

I never understood it.
He's crass and has taken just about every bit from someone else.

Wow, Conan's heading to TBS.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/04/conan-obrien-going-to-tbs.html

I'm a bit surprised that this is where he has landed.  I didn't think Fox was going to happen after all of the recent stories about the affiliates not wanting him.  But I was expecting HBO, Showtime, or maybe syndication like Arsenio.  TBS seems like a bad fit to me.

I think it might work out pretty well. Since it's cable, the ratings won't need to be as high as they would on a network and TBS will probably spend a bundle on promotion since they're presumably trying to build their original programming.

This news is the funniest thing Conan's been involved with since he wrote for The Simpsons.

Something tells me that if Conan had stayed at NBC and Leno had left, then Leno wound up on TBS, there would already be 50 posts here saying what a loser Leno is because he couldn't get a network gig, and how this just shows how great Conan is, blah blah blah.

Interesting that Conan is going to bump George Lopez an hour, but refused to let his NBC show be bumped half an hour. Sounds like hypocrisy, since what did George do to him?

If Conan didn't get the Fox gig because of the affiliates, what does that tell you? They didn't think he could get better ratings than old sitcom reruns?

Can't wait for his salary to leak out- hard to imagine TBS would pay him anywhere near what NBC was.

Anyway, the lesson is if you want a network show, you have to be able to get good ratings.

Edited by Chris Lockwood - 4/12/10 at 11:16am

This is good news for Conan.

Now he can finally do what he does and wont need to worry about NBC dragging him down.

This will make ratings comparisons unfair going forward since not everybody can get TBS.

But I am sure the Leno fans will still try and compare. Sore winners that they are.

I am just happy I can get my Coco fix again in Nov.

Where are the TBS studios? Will Conan and crew have to move again?

 

Bye the way, it was Leno's poor ratings that started this whole mess. And he got rewarded with a network show. Go figure.

Actually it was Conan's poor ratings that caused this. If he had done anywhere near what Leno did at 11:35, he'd still have the job (assuming he didn't quit). Notice how Leno's ratings are now in that same time slot. They would seem to confirm that Leno does better than others in that time slot,

Of course this is all a result of the stupid decision to remove someone who was consistently winning his time slot for years.

BTW, if Conan had gone to Fox, when Leno inevitably beat him in the ratings, I'm sure the excuse would be that Fox has fewer stations or something along those lines. It would be interesting to see what percentage of households get TBS vs NBC. I think TBS is pretty well-covered, so someone there who is truly popular should be able to compete.

I was definitely surprised when I heard the news. Network to basic cable is a pretty significant step down in prestige. I figured he'd end up on Fox, even if Fox was only able to clear 60 to 70 percent of its affiliates. Apparently TBS was attractive because its target demos track closely with the demos that Conan has traditionally done well with: predominantly younger and predominantly male.

It's not hypocritical at all; while the outcome is the same, the circumstances leading up to it were very different. TBS president Steve Koonin approached Lopez with the idea first, and only initiated talks with Conan after Lopez had given his blessing. Conan in turn refused to consider the idea until he received a call from Lopez personally confirming that he was on board with the plan.

Lopez Tonight is dead in the water right now. Whatever ratings Conan gets have to be better than what Lopez is getting now, and that translates into a much a better lead-in for his program that the crap that immediately precedes his show now.

Nothing hypocritical about it.  The show Conan was doing was The Tonight Show, not The Conan O'Brien show.  It was the late night talk show and had been since 1954 when it kicked off with Steve Allen in the host's chair.  The Tonight Show has been defined for decades as the show that starts after the late local news - at 11:30 PM eastern and pacific.  A show that starts at any other time simply wouldn't be The Tonight Show and Conan new it.  So he demanded a contract provision (which NBC agreed to) stating the the start time of the show could not be altered.  He was inheriting a broadcast institution and he didn't want anyone messing with it.

How is it hypocritical for him to now sign a deal with TBS that moves Lopez - hardly an institution - back a bit?  Conan asked for what he wanted.  TBS agreed.  If George Lopez had the ratings, the clout or the contract, he could have dug his heels in and there would have been nothing TBS could have done about it.  The business of when Lopez airs is strictly between Mr. Lopez and TBS.  Conan is not a party to their negotiations.  He stated his terms, and they met them.  How TBS went about doing so had nothing to do with Conan. 

As for why he's doing this and what may or may not have gone on with Fox...

... they may just have put it off until next year when they have more time to prepare and line up the affiliates.  (And maybe trying to avoid a mini-war with Wanda Sykes.  Don't know how long her contract is set to run.)  That makes TBS a sensible way-station for Conan to keep in "shape", develop new routines and - most important - keep his key staff employed.  Part of the reason for his current stage tour is pricely to keep his core group together and working while running out the clock on his NBC non-compete clause.  He's been paying some of these folks out of his own pocket (and a big part of the delay in finalizing his exit deal was getting a better severance package for his people.)  Yeah, NBC still has to pay him $32 million over "X" number of years, but that's a lot less than it sounds like if you're also covering the staff overhead of a TV talk show out of your after tax income.  Better to have a basic cable channel do that for six months or a year while you're considering your options. 

Regards,

Joe

There are lots of variables here, but moving the George Lopez show is nothing even approachable to putting someone in a show and then bumping them back out of it, so I don't understand that comparison.  Lopez was consulted, and he, according to all reports, is one that viewed this as a major "get".  Having a stronger talk prescence before him helps him get guests.  TBS is thinking "it worked for Stephen Colbert to follow John Stewart"  etc.

But, the nature of the deal here is an incredible no-brainer for Conan once you look at it:


(deadlinehollywooddaily.com)

The fact that Conan was offered ownership of his program is a HUGE financial uptick.  HUGE.  Dave has the same deal with CBS, and the value makes this absolutely worth while.  Conan can run whatever show he wants, he owns the content and all control, which is a huge potential benefit.

Him owning the show is indeed the biggest factor. That's a great move, despite the step down in prestige.

Personally, I'm just glad to have my host back.

In detail, here's how I see it:

Positives:

1. Conan back on the air
2. He owns the show
3. Same staff
4. Basic cable can be looser with censorship restrictions
5. Even if show budget is less, no big deal in regards to sketches - his comedy works better as "low budget" because he's so self-deprecating
6. If he's successful over several years he will be able to possibly make the move back to network if he so desires.
7. His ratings will be compared to other cable shows, not network, so he can avoid the appearance of failure that low ratings on Fox would have possibly brought.

Negatives:

1. It's basic cable
2. Only 4 nights a week
3. Still competing with Daily Show/Colbert and their similar demographics.
4. For the time being not competing with the big boys (Leno / Letterman) (also a positive)
5. Lower budget and cable means less high profile guests. (For those who watch for Conan this is not much of an issue).

In other news, tbs.com is down right now. You know its big news for a company when their online server can't handle the increased traffic.

I guess we are back to that "beating a dead horse" situation:  Leno's ratings at 10pm were killing the ratings of the NBC affiliates' 11pm news broadcasts.  Had Leno NOT gotten that five nights a week show, but simply left NBC when Conan got Tonight, it might have been a different story.  And remember, Jay said several years ago that he would VOLUNTARILY leave the show in 2009.  Then he changed his mind.

 

In the end, NBC did the right thing, no matter what your feelings are about Jay.  The numbers prove it.  They are making a lot more money again with Leno.  Leno has managed to do very well, even on nights with a bad lead-in.  They'll make back that $40 million they spent to send Conan packing in no time.  Jeff Zucker is coming out of this looking pretty good.

I'll certainly check-out Conan's new show.  I just think TBS wasn't the best place for him to go.  But maybe I'll be proven wrong.

Jeff Zucker is coming out of this looking good? This comment blows my mind. This entire mess is Jeff Zucker's fault. He came up with the scheme to try and have his cake and eat it too by attempting this phased transition between Jay and Conan. Sure, Jay should have spoken up if he wasn't comfortable with the deal, but in the end the buck stops with Zucker. The right thing would have been to tell Conan that Jay was still a more valuable asset and that if he was no longer comfortable at "Late Night" he is free to pursue other opportunities.

Clearly, Jay has proven that he is a more valuable asset than Conan. The right man ended up back on the Tonight Show, from any audience perspective. But everything in between was a complete catastrophe which did significant damage to the NBC brand.

Conan on cable TV only four nights a week? Can he possibly make that work?

Oh yeah! The Daily Show and The Colbert Report!

Plus, it was no different than what he was doing just a few years ago. He was only doing Tuesdays through Fridays with reruns on Mondays so he would have time to film bits on the streets and stuff like that.

does anyone watch castle? interesting show last night about a older late night host being pushed aside for a younger generation and the following show to get his time slot. I wont spoil it, but the host gets killed because of all of it. Just made me think of all this stuff.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/conan-obrien-back-on-stage-away-from-tv/?no_interstitial

^ First article on the live show.

They better sell a DVD of the tour when it's all done.

EDIT: Footage! http://tv.gawker.com/5516321/conan-sings-i-will-survive-in-oregon

Leno is making more money at The Tonight Show (at least for the next few years) than Conan was doing (for his run of a few months, with all the caveats about that, which shouldn't have to be repeated, but are). But is NBC making more money now overall, than with both Jay and Conan on, since the 10pm show was so much cheaper to produce than five separate weekly dramas? Or was that just a cover because Zucker and his goons were incompetent developing shows? Why bother with the "experiment" in the first place? Because Zucker and his goons were incompetent managing talent?

Because the basement bottom ad revenues for Leno's cheap, low-ratings-threshold show were slaughtering the affiliates' bottom lines. Dramas cost NBC more, but they perform much better for affiliates and provide continuing revenue streams through DVD/BD season sets etc.

I'm just glad Conan will be back on tv. In 2010, being on cable is not a bad thing. Everybody gets the late night funnyman of their choice, and all is right with the world.

If NBC doesn't have a heir apparent for Leno when he decides to retire many years from now, their troubles will begin all over again.