The latest on Conan, Leno and NBC (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins

I think the big loser in all of this is going to be Letterman.

I think Jimmy Kimmel may be the hardest hit since he and Conan seem to appeal to similar age groups.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Originally Posted by TravisR



I think Jimmy Kimmel may be the hardest hit since he and Conan seem to appeal to similar age groups.

Maybe. Although they probably won't compete head-to-head since Kimmel doesn't air until 12:05.

The NY Post has an interesting article about a $150 million payoff if they cancelled Leno. Being the NY Post, you have to take it with a grain of salt, but very interesting if it's true:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/20/conan-obrien-40-million-cheaper-to-boot-than-jay-leno-150-million/39434

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins ">[/url]

Maybe. Although they probably won't compete head-to-head since Kimmel doesn't air until 12:05.

[/QUOTE]
Duh, I forgot that Kimmel is on later.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Jeff Adkins

Being the NY Post, you have to take it with a grain of salt, but very interesting if it's true:

Ouch. That's kinda rough, Jeff.

HERE'S the NYP's piece on the details now filtering out on the NBC/O'Brien agreement.

 

[Greg.K]

Originally Posted by Robbie R

I fail to see how any of this mess is Jays fault. Here is a guy that had the highest rated late night talk show on television and had it pulled out from under him by a moronic decision in 2004, by NBC execs who where being squeezed by Conan & his agent to guarantee him "The Tonight Show" in 2009 or he would quit and go to another network.

HOW IS THIS JAYS FAULT???? If anyone is to blame here it's CONAN!

Conan had an offer from ABC in 2004. NBC didn't want him to go, so they promised him the Tonight Show. He accepted that in good faith, and waited around for 5 years to get it, only to have it first sabotaged by putting Leno on at 10, and then pulling it out from under him after only 7 months by demanding that he make an unacceptable time slot move. The only thing Conan is to blame for is taking NBC (and Leno) at their word.

 

[Hanson]

The whole story, about the precious show that turned one man into an obsessed shell of his former self and his quest to get back what he feels was rightfully his from it's new owner has a certain familiar ring:

 

[Sam Davatchi]

O’Brien seals $45 million deal to quit ‘Tonight’ Host walks away with $33 million payoff, staff splits $12 million
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34970662/ns/entertainment-television

 

[Brandon Conway]

Some notable parts of the article:

“In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket,” his manager, Gavin Polone, told The Wall Street Journal.

I guess that means that some of Conan's $33 million will be added to the $12 million his staff is getting.

“Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible.”

He's definitely at Fox if they want him.

And according to TMZ:

Network sources tell TMZ the "mitigation" clause was taken off the table. Translation -- Conan will get a severance of $32.5 million, regardless of whether he gets another hosting gig.
http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/21/conan-obrien-nbc-settlement-tonight-show-severance-deal/#ixzz0dHb3LCyD

That's pretty notable.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Good article on the top moments of Conan's brief Tonight Show:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34882511/ns/entertainment-television/

 

[Sam Davatchi]

You know what? I think Conan made a mistake leaving. He should have stayed even at 12:05. It's NBC's problem. let them worry about that. He should have continued until they fired him. He shouldn't have walked away. That's what they wanted.

 

[Matt_Vaudrin]

Look at it this way. Conan spends 16? years following leno's show. Then when he finally gets the chance to be top dog, he still has to follow leno(even though there was a half hour inbtween. Then with the whole thing about moving leno's show to after the news, conan is basically back in the same spot he was in while hosting late night. The only difference, a little earlier, and a different show name. But still the same lineup. I watched a little of leno's show and to me it felt like the tonight show, no big difference in my opinion. Conan was never given the chance to shine on his own without leno being on before him.

 

[MilesH]

Originally Posted by Matt_Vaudrin

Conan was never given the chance to shine on his own without leno being on before him.

Wrong. Conan was doing poor in the ratings long before Leno started his 10:00 show.

 

[Pete-D]

These clips are rather enlightening:

Leno's announcement in 2004 that he would hand the show over to Conan:

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6d1caacad1/jay-s-2004-announcement

Howard Stern warning Conan about Leno in 2006:

 

[Matt_Vaudrin]

Originally Posted by MilesH 




Wrong. Conan was doing poor in the ratings long before Leno started his 10:00 show.

that's true, but I think that was partially due to the fact that everyone knew thar leno would be coming to primetime not long after. Why bother giving the new host a chance when the late night king is coming to primetime? I think more people would have given conan a chance if it had not been for that.

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by MilesH




Wrong. Conan was doing poor in the ratings long before Leno started his 10:00 show.

He started on NBC this summer, right? Where he hoped to have a chance to build a new audience from scratch.

NBC offered this for summer programming:

Kings (which again, as I pointed out a few pages ago, came out with a .5 Nielson and sunk to a 0.0 by the end...)
The Listener, which was dead like a doornail
The Philanthropist, Ditto

Uh, yes, NBC gave Conan the greatest prime time support ever. Even Jay has acknowledged that people thought his show would be a ratings bump over those losers.

When Jay came on, 1994, you had NBC really suffering it out with shows littering the top 10 and keeping him booked with guests.

Jay's first year on the air, NBC's schedule was:
Monday: Movie
Tuesday: Dateline
Wednesday: Law & Order
Thursday: LA Law
Friday: I'll Fly Away

He suffered with that.. but the ratings then were higher then anything NBC had.
Year 2:

Movie Night
Dateline
Law & Order
ER (First Year, which was a hit right out of the gates)
Homicide: Life on the Streets

Year 3 - 5 had the exact same schedule of rating winners; and earlier in the evening NBC was killing with Sitcoms "Mad About You" "Frasier" "Sienfield" "Wings" "Friends"
NBC had a stacked lineup.
So, let's not kid and compare Conan's start to Jay's start. I'm sure if Conan had a chance to trade say, any show on NBC's schedule for just one of the ratings anchors Leno had, he would light candles and pray. Because nothing on NBCs schedule is even remotely comparable. Not even close.

 

[mattCR]

Most expensive joke ever:

 

[TravisR]

^ That's a great gag!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

At least the story has a happy ending. Jay will be back on Tonight where he belongs, and Conan is gone after this week. Too bad he was able to extort so much money by quitting the show- glad I'm not a shareholder.

Shouldn't some executives be sacked, too?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

"Extort?" Give it a rest.

At least we can all agree on one thing -- we're glad we're not shareholders! (Apologies to any GE owners hereabouts. . .)

 

[Hanson]

NBC pushed Conan out of the guaranteed timeslot, thereby triggering a $40 million payout.

How is that extortion? What leverage did Conan use to "extort" NBC?

That is a bizarre and wholly inaccurate interpretation of the events. It sounds like the kind of propaganda statement you'd find in a totalitarian regime -- like a North Korean press release or something.