I dont watch either one so it doesnt matter what they do. I still wont watch.
O'Brien out, Leno back in?
- Thread starter Professor Zoom
- Start date
His contract also allows them to move "The Tonight Show" to 12:05 AM Eastern, but no later.
Thanks for weighing in.
Except he isn't being forced out. The Tonight show can start as late as 12:05am without any penalties. If he choices to stay he will start The Tonight Show then, if he leaves Leno will take back The Tonight Show.
I thought that Jay had "retired" from The Tonight Show and was planning on doing some stand up and spending time with his family and NBC desperate to hang on to him in some way offered him the show with the outrageous contract? I think Conan is getting screwed, he isn't going to take over Late Night overnight, people should give him some time.
Jay was forced out because Conan was going to be bumped up to the tonight show. After that, fox and abc were showing interest in offering Jay a show to compete with the tonight show. NBC feared this so at the last min they offered Jay a sweetheart deal to come back and do the 10pm show and dumping their 10 o'clock dramas as a way to kill two birds with a single stone, to keep Jay away from those other networks and to cut expenses by dropping 7 expensive drama shows.
I always thought he was retiring as well. I wonder what NBC was thinking. Did they feel they owed it to Conan?
I think Conan was going to leave the network if he wasn't promoted to the tonight show.
Hmmm, lose Leno or lose Conan? I'm a Conan fan but as an NBC exec I know who I would champion.
Don't forget that conan had the support of Lorne Michaels. Also, Jeff Zucker, current President & CEO of NBC Universal went to harvard at the same time as Conan (Zucker was president of the school newspaper the havard crimson, how he encouraged the papers rivalry with the havard Lampoon, headed at the time by Conan), and who's wife was a long time supervisor on SNL...
I chalk this up to their Friends decision...I think Friends was originally supposed to end during it's ninth season but then during the summer time NBC decided to bring it back for a final tenth season. I could be wrong on this, I remember reading an article about it though. NBC has made a lot of stupid decisions over the last couple of years.
The thing of this is though...they essentially declared Conan the heir to Jay like three or four years ago. This wasn't exactly a surprise for anyone. Conan fans like myself were anticipating the change over, I thought Jay and everyone at NBC were all hunkie dory about their decision. The ratings disappointment I guess has changed everyone's mind...
The thing of this is though...they essentially declared Conan the heir to Jay like three or four years ago. This wasn't exactly a surprise for anyone. Conan fans like myself were anticipating the change over, I thought Jay and everyone at NBC were all hunkie dory about their decision. The ratings disappointment I guess has changed everyone's mind...
As I recall from FOX News this morning, Conan's ratings are sugnificantly lower than Leno's, and rumor has it FOX is talking to him incae NBC goes with Leno.
My gut says despite the bad ratings from Leno prime time -- NBC's fucking fault -- they'll still keep him, but Conan ... his future there is iffy.
My gut says despite the bad ratings from Leno prime time -- NBC's fucking fault -- they'll still keep him, but Conan ... his future there is iffy.
Leno has the viewers and Conan would be a much tougher commodity for other networks to take advantage of, just from a mercantile POV I would have stuck with Jay.
I think a lot of the brass at NBC don't like Jay, and haven't for some time now.
I thought this was well known.
Conan got The Tonight Show because if he didn't NBC would have to pay him something like 50 million a year, so they fired Leno and said he was going to retire. The problem was he never wanted to retire and everywhere figured he would go to Fox or ABC, so at the last minute they came up with the bullshit they have now.
Conan got The Tonight Show because if he didn't NBC would have to pay him something like 50 million a year, so they fired Leno and said he was going to retire. The problem was he never wanted to retire and everywhere figured he would go to Fox or ABC, so at the last minute they came up with the bullshit they have now.
An old joke of Leno's: Never Believe your Contract.
I've heard he's quite the asshole.
O'Brien evidently does have some say here - if he doesn't want to be moved back to 12:05 he has the option of walking, and FOX has made clear that they want him.
FOX has also apparently talked to Leno. They almost can't lose here - one of these guys is likely to be a free agent shortly, and FOX will put him on against whoever stays at NBC.
The behind-the-scenes story of the clusterfuck that is NBC management in this era has been ably chronicled by Nikki Finke over the last year or two - worth checking out. Searching on "Ben Silverman" is illuminating.
FOX has also apparently talked to Leno. They almost can't lose here - one of these guys is likely to be a free agent shortly, and FOX will put him on against whoever stays at NBC.
The behind-the-scenes story of the clusterfuck that is NBC management in this era has been ably chronicled by Nikki Finke over the last year or two - worth checking out. Searching on "Ben Silverman" is illuminating.
I don't get why they don't just bump everything back and go back to the way things were last year? Or at least why Conan would have a problem with that? I guess that would seem like a demotion to him or something?