What a train wreck.

Good for Conan. Leno – retire.

Now this is interesting!

Sh*t just got real!

He’s a class act. I’m glad he stood up for himself, and he did it in a way that really makes him look like the bigger person in the whole situation.

He could care less about Fallon.

Bye Conan. Please let the door hit you on the way out. Yours was the worst version of the Tonight Show. We all know that.

NBC should pay him a lump sum and let him leave. That’s what they want anyway.

“Yours, Conan”

I respect his decision to preserve the Tonight Show’s legacy. It’s only been out for what, fifteen minutes, and I’ve already heard/read the word “classy” more times than I ever have in my life.

Fox, there’s your chance you’ve been waiting for. Another way to kick NBC’s ass.

Sounds like a bargaining statement to me….

I thought that if they offered him a show no later than 12:05 called the Tonight Show then they were honoring his contract. If he turns it down then he is walking away from his contract.

Am I right in this???

I would hate to be in his shoes right now and have to make this decision as it affects the livelihood of so many!

I would love to see him start an 11pm show on fox just to see what happens.

NBC can now gear up the PR campaign during the Olympics for Leno’s return to the “Tonight Show” and enjoy all the media buzz going forward as the spin further blames the NBC affiliates!

Sorry but NBC made the wrong decision 5 years ago in announcing that Conan would take over the show, thus forcing Leno’s initial retirement, and then putting Leno in Prime Time to avoid losing him to another network. Trying to please everyone, NBC pleased no one!

Yeah I dont watch any of them, but Leno is just a douche and I’ve always like Conan. For a network with only one or two good shows anyway to screw over two people (Conan and Jimmy) to make some jerk with crappy ratings happy is stupid. Hopefully another network will give Conan an offer.

Team Conan!

The Future:
NBC:
10:00 – 11:00: Failing 10PM dramas/news programs
11:00 – 11:35: Late local news
11:35 – 12:35: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
12:35 – 1:35: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
1:35 – 2:05: Last Call with Carson Daly

FOX
10:00 – 11:00: Late local news
11:00 – 12:00: Conan O’Brien’s new show
12:00 + : Syndicated shows

Stay classy, Conan.

Conan is managing to have some class and humor while being sorely mistreated by NBC. Good for him. Too bad Leno is still too classless to admit his failure and move on without destroying everyone else’s careers.

Conan takes a huge risk with a new show. I don’t even think Conan’s ratings are that bad. NBC has to be mulling its options. Jay is dangerous but how much longer will he be around? That’s the real problem here; if Jay is really only going to stick around for 2 years they should keep Conan and ditch Jay. If Jay were to stay around for 10 years NBC would have an easier time.

I think the most likely scenario is Jay at 11:30 and Conan at 12 still with a huge salary bump and an absolute promise that he gets the rest of the time slot when Jay leaves.

Are last night’s late-night ratings out yet?

I find it interesting that nowhere is anyone mentioning the fact that Conan ratings were less than Leno’s. He had his chance and it did not work. He is just blaming NBC. It was his job to keep the ratings where they were and improve the 18-49 demographic.

for those of you that didnt watch the tonight show last night, he really looked upset about everything. i expected this to come down.

Conan is screwed now.

If he takes 12:05 after this letter, he will look like a weak fool.

If he goes to Fox…up against, Jay and Dave, he will get Chevy Chase ratings (he couldn’t beat Craig F at 12:30 remember)

He should have been happy with 12:05 – now he’ll get nothing in the long run…..unless he’ll come back as the 12:30 at CBS after Craig takes over for Dave in 5 years

we only see preliminary local People Meter ratings for individual days (not # of viewers, just 18-49 rating). Last night Conan edged Dave 1.2 to 1.0 by that measure.

I love this statement. It’s definitely straight from Conan and he put a lot of thought into it. Of course it’s a bargaining chip.

And as far as I can tell, if he leaves, he is not “walking away from his contract”. The contract language may be in NBC’s favor, but the precedent is on Conan’s side… the network has publicly embarassed him and isn’t providing what Conan was “expecting”, it doesn’t matter whether time slot was specifically in the contract or not… an abritator will side with him. At least if the negotiations go down in California.

I think NBC knew that this was something that Conan never could accept. So Jay will get “Tonight” back–it will be “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” not “The Jay Leno Show” which is what Jay wanted back in the first place. I hope Leno falls on his chin and Letterman creams him at 11:35

I’ve always liked Conan. It’s too bad that he has to be stuck in the middle of this. I’ve never really been a Leno fan. I prefer O’Brien & Letterman.

A long established lead over CBS evaporated almost immediately when he took over. If he moves to FOX and Leno gets his spot hack, Conan does not stand a chance going up against both Leno and Letterman.

Conan O’Brien is a class act!

I have no skin in this game. The Tonight Show IMO was no more when Carson retired. But why are people so ready to blame Jay Leno? Did he tell NBC he wanted to retire in 5 years when they signed that contract with Conan? No he didn’t. It’s NBC f-up because they assumed by the time Conan’s time came, the ratings would have started to drop making his replacing Leno logical to some extent. They went up. NBC was then afraid of Leno going to another network so they came up with this failure. I don’t blame Jay. It’s NBC’s fault for not planning this transition 5 years ago.

I think Conan is a classy guy and got the shaft. And honestly I don’t think Leno is getting anything great out of this. But that’s JMO.

Wow! Good for Conan! I like the bit about the late show with Fallon too, very classy.

Leno sucks. If Conan doesn’t have a show, I’m selling my television.

whatever, i have more important things to do with my life than watch ANY late night television

If a talk show doesn’t work out FOX should snap up Conan to host The X Factor.

That is a really great statement from Conan. It does seem like they’re trying to just push him out and put Leno back on the tonight show…but what’s the point of that!? He’ll probably only be around for another couple of years and then what? He signed on 6 years ago to give the show up and really should just move on. UGH….

Before anyone else says Conan’s numbers weren’t that bad….here’s a refresher.

Conan Tonight Show 4th Q 2009 2,550,000 viewers
Leno Tonight Show 4th Q 2008 5,005,000 viewers

Interesting how he fails to mention that his contract six years ago was signed with out any regard to what Jay wanted. Jay was getting great ratings as the host of the tonight show and you wanted his job. Conan’s greed put him in this situation as much as NBC’s shortsightedness did. He wasn’t content with the show he had and now everybody’s screwed.

whatever, i have more important things to do with my life than comment ANY late night television

Why the Fuck doesn’t Leno just retire already? Why does NBC have to screw everything up to accommodate that hack?

whatever, i have more important things to do with my life than comment on ANY late night television

Oh, Hi Mark says:
January 12, 2010 at 1:00 pm
whatever, i have more important things to do with my life than comment ANY late night television

Then why did you comment on late night television?

We shouldn’t blame either one of them, Please blame these two, Zucker and Gaspin are the ones to blame, they should be fired ASAP. I wish I knew there secret of being the biggest douche bag of the world for being such a screw up and keep their jobs. They screwed everybody and us.

I think James’ speculation of Conan at 11 PM on FOX is a VERY realistic scenario…

…but wow, imagine a curveball where Leno actually makes the jump to FOX?

This really has all the makings for a sequel book (the made-for-HBO movie), The Late Shift II. (Loved the first one, btw.)

VeryFineNearMint.com

Jeff Adkins, remember that Leno’s ratings were so bad that it affected the news as well as Conan’s show.

How about NBC puts local news at 10
leno at 11
conan 11:35
Fallon 12:35

Making fun of this guy’s comment:

whatever, i have more important things to do with my life than watch ANY late night television

My first reaction is that these two men (who I believe are gentlemen and deserve to be slightly (ONLY SLIGHTLY)disgruntled, should be counting their blessings to be on primetime or latenight on a major network. My second reaction is that they are victims of believing their own publicity. NOBODY deserves what these guys make for doing what they do. With an economy sending record numbers to the unemployment offices, why should TV ‘stars’ be surprised when they, too, have to sacrifice to keep their employers financially stable? It’s not like one of them were told…’Sorry, we have to make a cut, and it’s you!’.
NBC is being quite honorable in keeping these men happy (all three), when they could say “don’t let the door hit you on the way out”.
As far as Fox goes, no audience of consequence is going to change their viewing habits to that extreme. If Conan and Leno are out, Dave is always there to garner the channel serfers, and Craig Fergussen is a multi-talented clean-up batter.
NBC…think long and hard about what is truly best for your network and preserving the jobs of ALL your employees, with some respect towards your reputation and brand, and then ACT. Just do what you have to do, and don’t waste time feeling sorry for these millionaires. I like them both, but they’ll be just fine either way.

Craig wasn’t this really Zucker’s brainchild. Gaspin strikes me as a pretty astute guy. But heck yeah. I really don’t get why Zucker is still employed, transition or not. He created this nightmare IMO.

I predicted this from the beginning, and Conan has no one to blame but himself – and here’s why. Conan’s humor is based on the East Coast vibe which is much more raunchy, liberal, and slap stick. The West Coast crowd (though liberal) is much more posh, and Conan is anything but posh. I remember watching the first couple of weeks of Conan on the Tonight Show and he would make a joke or comment which had me and I’m sure the East Coast crowd roaring with laughter, but the Tonight Show audience just mildly applauded just to do their part. The entire show since Conan’s taking over has been a disaster. Plus, I miss the East Coast flavor that is missing in stale Hollywood. It was a poor choice on Conan’s part and I’m glad it failed because it now gives Conan the opportunity to go to another network – and if he’s smart he will return to the East Coast where he and his brand of humor belong !

I too think Leno and Conan should go to Fox to teach NBC a lesson, they knew what they were getting into though, shouldn’t feel sorry for them, NBC has royally screwed people before.

Conan is fantastic. And I have to say I lost A LOT of respect for Jerry Seinfeld after that “what did NBC do to Conan?” statement. He must have forgotten, that, many moons ago, a far better placed NBC gave him the better part of 4 years to get his struggling show up and running. They’re bailing on Conan after only 7 months. I guess Seinfeld had a bigger bat back then….

Bravo Ohiogirl – well said!!!!!

“How about NBC puts local news at 10
leno at 11
conan 11:35
Fallon 12:35″

Joe, Conan is not hosting a show after Leno. End of story.

Always good for a laugh when somebody posts on an internet message board about all the important things they have to do with their time…..

Part of me wishes that NBC had planned all of this from day one because as a marketing tool this is genius, you can barely move without a reference to the NBC late night schedule and its shedding some light on the 10PM slot as well (and more will likely come when the ‘Leno replacements’ are announced/confirmed) and more to the point its working – whilst this doesn’t appear to have done much (if anything) for Leno’s numbers, Conan’s do appear to be up and as Leno proved back in ’95 all you need is that initial sampling to hook people in. Of course if this was a planned PR move then Leno would ultimately end up being squeezed out as NBC decided to stand behind Conan, unfortunately that doesn’t look likely…

It’ll be interesting to see if Conan will follow through on not wanting to move to 12:05 and whether NBC will follow through on their move or leave ultimatum. It seems fairly obvious from the media and subsequent public reaction that very few people are siding with NBC or Leno on this and that Conan’s winning the good PR war but in truth that would likely be the case regardless of the situation – Leno & NBC = the devil after all.

There’s a couple of interesting hypothetical’s here though, firstly what happens if Conan retains his lead over Letterman for the coming weeks? Would NBC get cold feet on moving him back and could he sustain a lead over Letterman without all this Leno hysteria? The much more interesting hypothetical would be what would NBC have done if Letterman and Conan were in a dead heat during late night or Conan was ahead in the 18-49, would they have still contemplated moving Leno back to 11:35?

“NOBODY deserves what these guys make for doing what they do.”

Yes they do. Do the math.

“As far as Fox goes, no audience of consequence is going to change their viewing habits to that extreme.”

You mean like when the NFL moved to Fox and was never heard from again?

Jeff Adkins,
Don’t forget that 2008 was an election year, so he had more tuning into him for the latest political news and jokes. (I’m assuming. Any idea what the numbers for Q4 of ’07, ’06, etc. were?)

People are always blaming the Jay Leno show at 10pm for the late news problems – does anyone think that the lead out may also be a factor. People aren’t watching the late news because they aren’t interested in sticking around for the Tonight Show with Conan? Maybe a factor?

Conan has is own type of people that watched him and Jay had his own people watch him it didn’t bother anybody, they really frack things up, wish can set the way back machine and stop this from happening.

“I find it interesting that nowhere is anyone mentioning the fact that Conan ratings were less than Leno’s. He had his chance and it did not work. He is just blaming NBC. It was his job to keep the ratings where they were and improve the 18-49 demographic.”

Uhhh, did you read Conan’s statement? Leno’s lead-in were dramas. Conan’s lead-in was a Leno show doing about half that.

It didn’t matter who was at 11:35…moving Leno to 10pm killed NBC’s audience at 10…killed it at 11 for the news….and killed it at 11:35. They basically took their 10pm audience and sliced it in half. The same reason affliates are pissed is basically the same reason Conan lost his ratings.

ITS ALL LENO’S FAULT! And NBC’s for going along with such a horrible, horrible plan.

I’ve been watching Both Leno, O’Brian and Letterman for a long time now. I never appreciated CoCo until he did his trip To SF a few year back and thought it was hilarious. I’ve been Religiously watching CoCO since then and have thought his skits were funnier than Leno and Letterman up until he moved to the Tonight show and seemed like the skits have been toned down. I still like watching his tonight show over the Jay Leno show. Leno show to me was boring I even got to catch it live with Terrance Howard and was on TV during his Car Race. Leno should stick with NBC and pursue the Top Gear USA Show!!! It would be awesome to see him at 10pm Thursdays and reviewing cars and doing car skits. TOP GEAR USA with JAY LENO!!!!! ANYBODY WITH ME?!?!?!?!!? TOP GEAR USA HELL YEA!!!!

I’m not sure about any of this, but FOX would be foolish not to consider having a late night show after the local news. CBS has it. NBC has it. Even ABC entered into the late night fray with Jimmy Kimmel. That being said, either Jay or Conan should jump ship to FOX. I think late night needs all the competition it can muster.

So the big question is: Is Bill Carter negotiating his book advance as we speak??

Can’t wait to read this one!

TOP GEAR USA WITH JAY LENO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s start the Revolution!!!!!!!!

How much was it this site said he got if the contact was breached? 50 million?

Nice payment for saying NO

I find it ironic that I’m reading this while my playlist, which is on random and playing the Glee soundtracks, just finished playing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and “I Am Telling You I’m Not Going?”

Heh, actually, Ry, I wish someone would have done that rather than the terrible Jay Leno Show. Why wouldnt he host a Top Gear? It’s perfect.

I feel bad for Conan, and he really is a class act. The response shows it. Say what you want about the Tonight Show, but Conan gave it his all and deserves so much better

Yay for Conan on sticking his ground! He got screwed:(

i don’t see how comparing Leno’s numbers to Conan’s are fair in this case. Leno’s Tonight Show didn’t have the crappy lead-in’s Conan now has.

I don’t think Conan would be very successful at Fox. While he would have a half hour jump start he would have to face both Dave and Jay (as well as pretty firmly entrenched local newscasts).

I think he best shot is to go syndicated ala Arsenio Hall, or to do something altogether different.

I, for one, would like to see hime pitch a weekend show to CBS or ABC something thats a cross between a talk show and SNL.

Right now, he has the same advantage Dave had in ’93 – people think he was given a raw deal.

To those who think Jay should jump ship – Jay the backstabber got exactly what he wanted. Don’t think those B&C comments a few months back were anything but politicing for this exact scenario. Tome Shales just suggested he may have even tanked the 10 o’clock spot on purpose.

The worst-case scenario for Conan is he walks from NBC with millions in his pocket over to a new job at ABC or Fox to pick up millions more. The best-case scenario for NBC is that he stays at 12:05 to reduced ratings and permanent damage to all three shows.

Good job NBC. I don’t blame Jay – he didn’t want to leave in the first place. I don’t blame Conan – he played it straight up the whole time. Don’t blame Fallon, he’s doing what he has to do.

NBC could have “The Tonight Show” be 90 minutes like it used to be and let Jay & Conan be rotating hosts and keep the show virtually re-run free (except maybe the week of Christmas/New Years).

That way NBC could keep both hosts.

I don’t quite understand the “taking the high road” posturing of Conan’s. Exactly what leverage does he have? The latest manifestation of his show is a failure. It’s cringe-inducingly bad. The move to California has stripped the emperor of his cloak.

Yes, the guy is talented and very likeable but all that is buried under all the flaws of his current show.

Of the three, only Fallon still was managing to ignite at least some sparks of entertainment value. Even if only on a fleeting basis.

I’ve been driven away from late night by the stunning awfulness of the monologues. And that includes Jay, Conan and Jimmy.

You know there has got to be talent on their writing staffs. And I would hope a representation of different political points of view. The late night monologues should be hitting hard at both sides of the political spectrum. If so, they would be appointment tv.

Instead, those monologues before I stopped watching altogether were beyond pathetic. Such tiptoeing. Such out and out butt kissing of the current administration.

It’s almost scary. Here you’ve got 3 different hosts. Three different age groups. Three different backgrounds and yet they and their writing staffs all march in lockstep. The implications are not pretty. Nor do they indicate much integrity.

Jay, Conan and Jimmy. NBC’s late night apparatchiks.

JMO.

I said it before…
Offer Conan a long term development deal including a prime time show,
specials, sitcom creator/producer. Move Leno back to his original 11:35 slot for an hour.
If Conan still isn’t satisfied, your choice is to release him or Jay.

End of story

Time for Leno to man-up and retire

Wow, Conan threatens to leave NBC ?

I’ll bet Zucker NBC’s programming boss will also threaten to leave NBC.

Conan is way behind Letterman in the ratings and Zuckerman has directed NBC’s destruction since he took over.

Conan is inane and Zuckerman is insane.

Both should have been fired years ago but apparently incompetence has it’s rewards of longevity at NBC.

go for fox!

Conan has worst ratings than Leno had, but he does not have the same support. Who knows what Conan could do with some time and some prime time ratings support.

I think NBC should ditch Jay and keep Conan and Fallon. Jay is the one with bigger ratings but Conan is an investment in the future.

NBC is a mess.

Here’s Conan’s take on his ratings: the show before Tonight Show isn’t pulling enough viewers to support him. Second, he wasn’t given enough time on his time slot to gather viewers. Personally, I want to give him a chance. What I’ve liked about Conan from the beginning is his genuine passion for what he does. Yes, he definitely has a hundred million dollars and can retire happily. If only he didn’t care so much for his show.

If Fox offers him a contract to get an earlier time slot, I hope he takes it. That’s the only way we’ll see if he can really make a great show.

#TEAMCONAN

Sorry, but anyone who doesn’t have any respect for this man, especially after this incredibly well-written statement, is a moron. Conan’s class surpasses Leno’s into infinity.

For those saying that Jay was not consulted before Conan was named as his successor in 2004, here is Jay’s statement at the time it was announced Conan would eventually replace him:

“‘In 2009, I’ll be 59 years-old and will have had this dream job for 17 years,” Leno said in a statement. ”When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised [my wife] Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60.”

In other words, Jay agreed to being replaced by Conan back then, and changed his mind at the last minute, leading to his prime time debacle.

I am sure Conan can take some solace in the fact that the NBC executives responsible for this mess will be out of a job by the time he is hosting his show on a new network.

The unfunny Leno should pack up his spare diapers and retire once and for all. Really…Does he have pictures of Nothing-But-Crap Execs to use for bribes or what?. NBC needs to let a few heads roll over this debacle of PR they have been in.

Oh and PLEASE get rid of Kevin Eubanks.

Good on Conan. What a class act.

TOP GEAR With Jay Leno and Keep the show Bias Free!!! Let Leno and cohosts review the cars as honest as can be, just like the Euro version. F comcast i’ll run NBC and bring it back to #1, okay maybe not, but BRINGI TOP GEAR USA with JAY LENO

Why do so many blame Leno for this? Zucker five years ago told Leno he had to give up the Tonight Show despite the fact he was winning his time slot. The five years passed, Leno gave it up and did what was asked of his bosses, now Garren. Leno started off well with 18 million viewers, then tanked. Conan did worse – losing the lead Leno had and falling to half the viewers that Letterman had, while only EQUALING what Letterman had in the younger age group – he was not even able to win that market over as expected.

So what does NBC do? They put Leno back at 11:35 pm to try to regain the lead from Letterman which may or may not work. Conan is demoted 30 minutes and it is hoped he can keep the Leno lead-in. However, as I expected, he said no to it.

Yet on this board many bash Leno although he had little to do with this situation. The guy is not 65 which is retirement age for many, I think he is in his 50s. If he did a good job to start with, why harrass him for listening to his bosses?

I think NBC is getting exactly what they wanted here. I sincerely doubt Conan had the forethought to specify scheduling in his contract meaning if he walks away now NBC gets Jay back while not having to pay Conan.

On Conan I think there’s a lot of talk but I can’t see another network giving him a late night show. The problem he has is that he’s the same type of humor as Letterman and Letterman’s better at it. So Jay provides counter programming for those who hate Letterman while Conan is in a straight up competition.

If I were Conan I’d ride off into the sunset and do some other stuff and then pounce once Letterman retires.

People seem to have selective memory when it comes to Leno’s tenure at The Tonight Show. Letterman consistently beat Leno for at least the first 2 years after Letterman premiered on CBS. I guess it was ok to give Leno room to grow, but not Conan.

Go Conan. Jay tried and failed. Jay should be cancelled.

One idea to throw against the wall: Give Jay the entire 3 hours of prime time on Saturday night to create an old-fashioned comedy-pallooza. No one will care what his ratings are on that night.

@kidsfuminghere

You say jay is a backstabber? Show your proof.

Just what is NBC’s fascination with Jay Leno? I thought he announced years in advance that CoCo would be his Tonight Show successor. Now Leno wants his old job back because he and his lame, 1990s-based jokes are driving viewers away at 10PM? WTH? I don’t get it! That’s surely because Leno’s humor is non-existent to me!

Leno needs to retire post-haste!

Leno may be “unfunny” to some but he tottally dominated the 11:35 time slot over Letterman. Conan has fewer viewers but is still competitive in the prime demo. It’s only been seven months, for God’s sake! Dave’s blackmail scandal was also a boost for his ratings so Conan is fighting an uphill battle.
NBC made the experiment and it didn’t work.
Now, they have to do damage control.
Either stick it out with Conan at 11:35
or put Jay back there and give Conan a primetime development deal that will make him happy. If he could develop a few hit sitcoms, he could make a truckload of money on the back end. If Conan isn’t interested, you have no choice but to part ways with him.

Retire Leno!! Nobody wants to see your ugly mug on TV again! You’re NOT funny! You proved that with your useless primetime show! Get out of the spotlight and give Conan a chance.

Why should Jay retire?
He became unfunny in just seven months?
NBC is to blame…not Jay or Conan.
Grow up.

I agree Kevin.

The sad part is, Jay Leno is actually becoming a victim in this story since a huge backlash (huge by internet standards) is starting to brew against Leno….and it’s honestly not even HIS fault!

It boggles the mind that the only people on the entire planet who knew that moving Leno to the 10pm slot was a bad idea were the execs at NBC. lol.

[...] Read Conan’s Statment on the show here. [...]

Leno is clearly the better talent with the better ratings and MILLIONS more viewers so he should get his FULL hour back!!

Leno was forced out as others have stated and he would’ve NEVER retired if Zucker didn’t force his hand!!!

Conan is thinking about not wanting to screw over Jimmy Fallon or the Tonight Show legacy, and seemingly is willing to lose his job over it. Leno is willing to destroy the Tonight Show tradition as it has always been (at 11:35), push Conan back past midnight, and push Fallon and Carson Daly into the netherworld of late night infomercials.

Why don’t we all see that Leno is a douchebag that needs to retire? Oh, and he isn’t funny.

The Conan lovers have to face the truth: He had the worst ratings in Tonight Show history.

I agree with you as well, anony.

Jay is considered a “failure” by many at 10pm.
Ironically, it appears that NBC is the only group that NOW appreciates how well he did at 11:35 as host of the Tonight Show.

It sounds to me that NBC is absolute about returning Jay to 11:35 for the entire hour. The 30 minute idea is a crappy compromise. They will need to make Conan happy with another deal or will have to let him go.

Hey, so who wants Leno?

ABC? Didn’t ABC already said they were happy with Nightline + Kimmel.

FOX? Leno doesn’t match FOX at all. It would be an embarrassment. Clearly FOX wants Conan.

At this point all NBC has really said is that Leno won’t be back after the Olympics.

Anonymous says:

“The sad part is, Jay Leno is actually becoming a victim in this story since a huge backlash (huge by internet standards) is starting to brew against Leno….and it’s honestly not even HIS fault!”

Leno agreed to resign from the Tonight Show and should have had the common decency to stand by the resignation and fall on his sword when the time came. If he now resumes the post, he’s not going to be able to play the Jack Parr card, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried.

Can someone explain to me if Leno was going to retire in 5 years, why did NBC sign him onto a new contract. Was he offered a deal with Fox also? I just don’t understand what led NBC to offering him this PT slot unless THEY f’d up somehow.

“The sad part is, Jay Leno is actually becoming a victim in this story since a huge backlash (huge by internet standards) is starting to brew against Leno….and it’s honestly not even HIS fault!”

What did the network do to him [Leno]? I don’t think anyone’s preventing people from watching [Leno]. Once they give you the cameras, it’s on you.

Sorry, Boris….but to be fair, *NBC* offered Leno a CONTRACT (2 years, option for another 3) and both NBC and Leno signed it. This contract was signed nearly a year ago, well before we knew how badly Conan would fare at 11:35pm.

So why is it Leno’s fault this is all occurring now?
What about NBC’s obligations to Leno?

Conan signed a contract, Leno signed a contract – to say that Conan should be treated “more fairly” than Leno is kinda silly (tradition aside). Both were victimized by NBC…NOT just Conan.

(IMO, of course)

I believe you are correct, Lurker.
Fox always thinks youth and the future and Conan is both.
Maybe Leno takes some time off and when Letterman retires, Jay returns on CBS to replace him!
It isn’t so crazy…Jay is a workaholic and would do the show in diapers if need be.

NBC was looking for an extremely frugal season when it scheduled Leno in prime-time. And, it’s come back to bite em in the arse somewhat. But, it’s a shame if Conan ends up leaving (I’m not a Conan fan, I don’t watch him, just saying).

Remember NBC’s glory days? My how things have changed.

Kermunk,

I called Jay a backstabber. I think he has a long history of it.If you read “The Late Shift” I think you will find numerous examples where he and his manager orchestrated both Johnny’s retirement and Dave’s bypassing in pretty underhanded ways.

I also think when he decided to take the 10 o’clock show he was seriously , and intentionally, undermining Conan’s chances for success by setting himself up to remain the primary face of NBC’s talk show line up. Today Tom Shales went as far as to suggest that Leno intentionally delivered a weak product hoping to be cancel and restored to the Tonight Show.

I’m not sure about that, but I do believe he WANTED to go back to 11:35. I also believe his B&C interview a few months ago helped lay the groundwork for the move.

The affiliates were not threatening revolt over Conan’s ratings. They were threatening revolt over Jay’s.

No matter how you slice it JAY FAILED

When the affiliates are upset about a 30% drop in viewers of their local news programs how can Conan be blamed for his poor ratings?

I’ve been a Conan fan for years. I even ignore his uber-liberal bias because I like him so much. But he just isn’t funny on the Tonight Show. Again not his fault, he’s been watered down for the time-slot.

I want MORE coked-up werewolf, less other stuff.

Lurker – I’m talking more about how Leno is the victim “post-Jay Leno canceled at 10pm-Conan moving to 12:05pm”…I’m not really talking about his TJLS.

(and to be fair, the EXACT same comment can apply to Conan….and it seems like he isn’t doing too well either based on your premise…)

Nobody is saying it’s Leno’s fault. It’s NBC’s fault. Still, I think Conan is much funnier and much classier (there it goes again) than Leno.

Leno… Like him or not, he does get viewers for NBC. And NBC does not like the threat of another network hiring Jay. If he does the job, then good.

Lurker made the best point in the world. Nice work changing the Seinfeld quote.

Rick, it’s apples and oranges. Letterman and Leno debuted on Tonight/Late Show ages ago, when EVERYONE’s broadcast ratings were higher. Yes, Conan has the lowest ratings in Tonight Show history right now, but so does everyone else on long-running shows. There’s just more competition.

Now if someone could crunch the numbers and show me Leno/Letterman’s early 90′s numbers as a proportion of total viewers watching late night broadcast and compare it to now, THAT would be interesting and tell a more complete story. It would eliminate the viewers that fled to cable long ago (me I watch Adult Swim every night without fail).

Truth is, whether you like Conan or not, he was not given a fair shot, and Jay’s primetime show cannibalized his possible guest list. And it will do the same if Leno moves to 11:35.

I agree it’s wrong to blame Leno for this mess. The baddies are NBC.

I just question the rather widespread assumption that NBC would rather keep Leno than Conan. It seems more likely to me that rather than cancel Leno outright they would first attempt to exercise some sort of contractual maneuvering to avoid the penalties for canceling Leno’s show. This way they can try and get the public to blame Conan for Leno getting the boot. The offer they made seems to be the only contractually compatible version (but only if Conan had agreed). It was worth a shot. Shareholders would have been royally pissed otherwise. Now the question is which contract is pricier to break.

I’m clapping at my desk right. Bravo Conan, Bravo.

Normally if you have a job, leave that job, and someone else takes over your old position, you can’t just waltz back in after failing at your new job and demand your original position back.

Leno has a show. It’s a failure. Treat it like you would any other show and cancel it. Then cut him loose and let him find a job elsewhere.

Leno needs to just bow out at this point and try to salvage some of his image. Regardless of the ratings and who is funnier, he’s coming off as a classless, backstabbing bully.

I’m too young to remember the Carson to Leno transition, and I’ve never researched it that much. But Leno always came off as a nice guy to me (albeit not a funny one) on The Tonight Show, so I always in turn thought the whole feud between him and Letterman was some overblown mess mostly caused by agents and the network. Because Leno really didn’t seem like a bad guy.

But now it’s happening again and the only common denominator is Jay Leno (yes it’s still NBC but the execs have changed). Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Whatever happens, Conan has handled this with dignity, and I hope he lands on his feet.

Things were really much better where they were but Conan wanted to move up and NBC was looking to save money so they tried this bold experiment of slotting Leno in primetime. Now they have this mess on their hands.
I don’t blame Leno or O’Brien for wanting the best job at the net but only one can do it. Based on ratings, NBC has decided that it will be Jay hosting the Tonight Show. Only way this doesn’t happen is if Jay declines. The ball is in his court.

the solution is simple. Axe Leno. He’s been on TV for nearly 18 years (longer?) and has had his glory day. Chuck Leno’s show, forget about it and move on as if Leno would have retired at the end of last season.

NBC should sack Leno AND O’Brien and replace them with ANYTHING — reruns of Gomer Pyle, for all I care. Over at CBS, Letterman needs to go, too. A quarter century on TV — really, how TIRED is the Letterman show? How tired is this format? Carson was the GOD of late night, but (1) he was a comedic genius, and (2) that was another time in TV history. With the Internet and all the “entertainment news” programming that airs on broadcast and cable, the need for a show featuring guests who come out and hype their latest TV/movie product has long past. I’d rather watch Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, or even Chelsea Lately…

Vanity Fair Said…

“Can someone explain to me if Leno was going to retire in 5 years, why did NBC sign him onto a new contract. Was he offered a deal with Fox also? I just don’t understand what led NBC to offering him this PT slot unless THEY f’d up somehow.”

NBC wanted to hang on to Conan so they pressured Jay to retire in five years and I assume Jay thought he’d be ready 5 years from when the announcement was made. But he wasn’t and he was still the #1 late night show on TV so NBC didn’t want to lose him. Which is what led to this.

But Jay never asked to retire and he made it clear even at the time that this was being done at the request of NBC and that he would have preferred not to have made the decision.

I don’t make any claims about relative talent (which is subjective) but Conan has never been a roaring success in late night. He barely beat Ferguson on late night (even losing to Ferguson on rare occasion) and his Tonight Show’s not come close to Jay’s numbers for months.

NBC is run by chimpanzees. I’m not sure I’m totally understanding all of this, because there is 250 different things being said, but what I get is that Leno’s ratings suck so he wants Conan’s time slot. Little baby Leno wants Mama NBC to put him in his wittle crib.

He’s not funny. It isn’t a good show. Leave Conan and his time slot alone.. and Jimmy Fallon for that matter, too. What the hell is wrong with you, NBC? Idiots.

Why is it so difficult to understand that NBC WILL NOT FIRE JAY LENO?

He DOMINATED Letterman in every single demo the entire time he went head to head with him! NBC realizes that they made a humongous mistake and wants things back the way they were at 11:35. Whether this will work now remains to be seen. Letterman has some momentum and ironically, Jay’s own primetime show weakened the Tonight Show audience lead-in.

The bottom line is that NBC believes that the only chance they have at regaining the crown in a very lucrative time period is to get Jay back at 11:35. They will NOT fire Leno. The only way Conan hosts the Tonight Show is if Leno says he doesn’t want it.

Conan is just not funny. He whined and fussed until he was allowed to sit in the big boy chair and he failed. Now he has to suffer the consequences. You took Leno’s lead over Letterman and you utterly wasted it. Please go to Fox where both Leno and Letterman can now beat you.

“NBC wanted to hang on to Conan so they pressured Jay to retire in five years and I assume Jay thought he’d be ready 5 years from when the announcement was made. But he wasn’t and he was still the #1 late night show on TV so NBC didn’t want to lose him. Which is what led to this.

But Jay never asked to retire and he made it clear even at the time that this was being done at the request of NBC and that he would have preferred not to have made the decision.”

I think that none of us know what really happened in those negotiations, but even if this is the exact scenario that took place it doesn’t make me feel any sympathy for Leno.

Considering he was #1 when those negotiations happened, I think he had some room to say, “No.” But he didn’t. At the end of the day he decided to retire, and when 2009 came he should have bowed out gracefully and with class. But he didn’t.

NBC hasn’t handled this situation right either, but Leno is definitely partially to blame. He didn’t feel like honoring the decision he made in 2004 anymore, but it was too late since everything had publicly been set in motion for Conan to replace him. So he forced NBC’s hand, and they made a stupid decision to avoid him going to another network. Now that his show has failed, he still can’t just bow out and he is forcing NBC’s hand again.

He can play victim in this all he wants, and maybe some people will believe it. But I know there’s a lot of people now, me included, who aren’t going to look at Jay Leno the same again.

According to this article written at the time the transition was announced in 2004, though NBC approached Leno about eventually stepping aside for Conan, Leno agreed and it was Leno himself who picked his 2009 exit date:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6115643/

Obviously, at some point Leno changed his mind, leading to the current debacle.

Kevin says:

“The only way Conan hosts the Tonight Show is if Leno says he doesn’t want it.”

Something, it so far appears, he does not possess the scruples to actually do.

This is great news for David Letterman! Yeah! He’s been at the top of his game this year and NBC’s troubles are only going to send more viewers over to CBS. That’s the way it should be.

Leno:

“‘In 2009, I’ll be 59 years-old and will have had this dream job for 17 years,” Leno said in a statement. ”When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised [my wife] Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60.”

Conan:

“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.”

Which one is classy, which one is a dick? You decide.

So… much… Leno RAGE. Where does it come from? Most of it doesn’t make sense .-.

“NBC hasn’t handled this situation right either, but Leno is definitely partially to blame. He didn’t feel like honoring the decision he made in 2004 anymore, but it was too late since everything had publicly been set in motion for Conan to replace him. So he forced NBC’s hand, and they made a stupid decision to avoid him going to another network. Now that his show has failed, he still can’t just bow out and he is forcing NBC’s hand again.”

Given the press NBC gave to the Leno show I sincerely doubt he forced NBC’s hand. In fact, it was NBC who was saying “this is the future of Television”

I’m sorry but Jay Leno is simply not to blame here. Conan couldn’t compete and NBC asked Leno to move back to late night (which again couldn’t be at Jay’s behest because he hasn’t even agreed to those terms yet). In a perfect world Conan would have been given more time to succeed but that’s not where NBC is right now. They need to win at something and Jay’s their easiest route back to #1 in Late Night (or so they hope)

If Internet fans were ratings Conan maybe things would be different but right now Conan is the weakest link

Boris, it doesn’t have anything to do with “scruples”.
Conan was threatening to leave the network if he didn’t get the Tonight Show so they forced Jay out. Neither Jay nor NBC wanted to do this but it was the only way they could keep Conan. Now that Leno at 10 and O’Brien at 11:35 didn’t work, NBC wants Leno back at 11:35. If Jay’s old job is being offered to him, why shouldn’t he accept? That’s the way life is..it isn’t fair but the employer decides who works and at what time. Conan might be entitled to some major compensation depending upon the wording in his contract and he no doubt will get another network gig.
That’s life in the big city.

This whole thing is all about perception. Jay Leno is perceived as an arse-hole and, quite frankly, I think he is an arse-hole. NBC needs to stick by their decision of appointing Conan the host of “The Tonight Show.” Publicly, they would look stupid re-appointing Jay and then appointing a new successor in five or so more years when “The Chin” decides to finally retire. “The Jay Leno Show” has been cancelled. Let Leno go. He doesn’t have the balls to jump ship to FOX or ABC and nobody’s really banging down his door to get him. NBC’s fears of Leno jummping ship are unfounded. Nobody wants him after his failed primetime gig. He’s damaged goods.

Thanks Tom for the explanation.

And I have no care who ends up where. Neither one do I find particularly engaging, I prefer Letterman. But what did Jay Leno do that was so wrong here. Did his contract end and did he tell NBC no I won’t leave and won’t give up the Tonight show? No contract no airtime. Why didn’t NBC just let Leno go after his contract was up? They obviously felt he was still a valuable commodity. If he left, I’ll bet Fox or ABC would have picked him up for something as Leno still wanted to work. So they keep Leno and so this 2 talk show nonsense. IMO it’s almost like Jay and Conan were the one’s competing against each other versus Conan and Dave.

And can I ask what were the ratings for Conan before Leno’s show started? Didn’t Conan have the Tonight show for 3 months before Leno’s show started.

Tom, as Conan points out in his statement it took Leno a couple of years to really settle in at the Tonight Show. Leno took the job in 1992 and didn’t really hit his ratings stride until 1995 and some would argue that he only managed it then because of that Hugh Grant interview. Conan’s been in the job for a few months and his ratings haven’t been spectacularly bad – he’s still winning the younger demos for example. I don’t know if I buy the lead-in argument Conan and others have made and I don’t think the lead-in would be drastically better if it weren’t Leno.

The unfortunate truth is that we’re unlikely to ever find out what Conan could have done with the Tonight Show given the 2-3 years that Leno had to establish himself and build the shows audience.

In terms of who’s to blame in this situation I think it’s unfair to blame Leno and it’s unfair to claim Conan has brought this situation on himself because that’s not true at all. This isn’t even entirely NBC’s fault, unless this really was some kind of insane genius of a marketing plan they never intended to be moving Leno back to 11:30 at this or likely any stage – really the NBC affiliates have to carry a lot of the blame for this since they’re forcing NBC’s hand on this. And after eating a huge sum of money by moving Leno from 10PM (in terms of profits) the last thing NBC wants is to add mega-bucks pay outs to one of Leno or Conan by not honouring their contracts.

Should they have offered Leno a primetime show? Probably not.
Should they have forced Leno’s hand on retirement to keep Conan? Probably not.

But by the same token should they have let Conan go to Fox four-five years ago and would that have been a good move for them? Probably not. And should they have let Leno go to ABC this year? Probably not a great move for them either. There’s really no way NBC could have come out of this whole late night debacle with a real win.

I suppose offering Leno (or Conan) another job elsewhere on the schedule might have worked for them. Would Leno have been interested in doing a US version of Top Gear instead of another year of Tonight? It’s possible and I’m sure they could have found a new prime time unscripted vehicle for one of them if they’d tried hard enough. Maybe NBC should have tried to get Leno to replace Springer as the host of America’s Got Talent over the summer? Or replace The Hoff as a judge this year? Maybe even promote it to the fall schedule to get him to do it, it’s not like it can perform worse than half the fall schedule as it is.

Having said that I still think that fundamentally a prime time talk show/unscripted comedy show isn’t a bad idea, the nightly format doesn’t work but there’s potential in the idea with the right format and host. I think if you were to package it right it could work as part of the Thursday comedy block at 10PM or be a strong performer on Friday night. I still think NBC should have cut down on Leno’s prime time presence rather than just moving him back to late night though.

I think if NBC had announced that they were going to limit Leno to one or two shows a week and focus on re-launching the show with a new format after the Olympics they could have at least gotten themselves through to fall 2010. Of course I don’t know how tight Leno’s contract is on his show being a nightly one.

@Kevin
“Why is it so difficult to understand that NBC WILL NOT FIRE JAY LENO?

He DOMINATED Letterman in every single demo the entire time he went head to head with him!”

That is not true. Check your sources. When Letterman premiered in 1993 until a year or so after, Letterman received better ratings than Jay. It wasn’t until the O.J. Simpson case, circa 1995, in which Leno had the Dancing Itos that Leno’s ratings began to outperform Dave’s. Leno lovers get your facts straight please.

Kevin says:

“If Jay’s old job is being offered to him, why shouldn’t he accept? That’s the way life is..it isn’t fair but the employer decides who works and at what time.”

This analogy is preposterous.

Rob I guess I am only defending Leno here because everyone seems to think he’s some evil guy. How does anyone know no one else would hire him. I’ll bet after all this PR someone would offer him a gig same as Conan.

As I said I don’t care. I prefer the Letterman lineup to NBC anyway.

“I’m sorry but Jay Leno is simply not to blame here. Conan couldn’t compete and NBC asked Leno to move back to late night (which again couldn’t be at Jay’s behest because he hasn’t even agreed to those terms yet). In a perfect world Conan would have been given more time to succeed but that’s not where NBC is right now. They need to win at something and Jay’s their easiest route back to #1 in Late Night (or so they hope)

If Internet fans were ratings Conan maybe things would be different but right now Conan is the weakest link”

Leno shouldn’t have even been at 10PM to begin with. The only reason the Jay Leno Show exists is because he couldn’t do the right thing when 2009 came and retire. NBC was essentially forced into creating it so he wouldn’t flee to another network. While NBC has handled this horrendously, we wouldn’t be having this discussion if Leno had honored his initial decision. And yes, even if it was at NBC’s request, retiring was still a decision because he could have said no back in 2004. Also, I think Leno can barely wait to get back to 11:35. Other than the bad press, this situation is probably completely fine with him because it gives him a better time slot.

Maybe Conan would have pulled lower ratings at 11:35 regardless of the circumstances, but the fact is, we’ll never know. We’ll never know what would have happened if TJLS didn’t exist; we’ll never know what would have happened if Conan had a better lead-in than NBC primetime. Shows like these take time to build an audience. Leno came off of Carson and it took him years to get into first place. Unfortunately for Conan, it doesn’t look he’ll be getting that chance.

They didn’t decide to move Leno because they needed to reinforce the post news time slot. They need Leno out of prime-time because he’s toxic and killing the affiliates.

@Tom
“In a perfect world Conan would have been given more time to succeed but that’s not where NBC is right now. They need to win at something and Jay’s their easiest route back to #1 in Late Night (or so they hope)”

Moving Leno back to 11:35 is NO guarantee that NBC will be #1 again in late night. Leno has the stink of his prime time failure all over him. People aren’t going to suddenly flock back to NBC because Jay’s back. He had his shot, he failed. I do think he will get decent ratings. The old folks who watched him before might watch him again. But he’s not the future of NBC. He skews older. He himself is older. Over time, he’s going to end up losing viewers. NBC already made a commitment to the future with Conan. They need to get some balls and stick to it.

I want to know who forced NBC to sign Jay to a new contract. Everyone is blaming Jay for not retiring. He’s 59 and was not ready. ABC was more that ready to hire him so NBC could have just let him go, not re-sign him, and he would have gone to ABC. What he would have done on ABC I have no clue. But blame NBC. They could have easily let Leno go.

Douchebags all around. Can’t say Leno is too much at fault here. I’d like to see Conan on Fox. Why not? Fox has a pretty good rep of fouling up the status quo with the big 3 networks.

Typical. Bunch of mngmt. types playing CYA, using the laborers as pawns.

Vanity Fair, to be fair, NBC did have a BIG hand in this current mess with all their decision making bombs. Yes, they may have forced Jay’s hand in announcing his retirement 6 years. Yes, they scheduled “The Jay Leno Sh%t” to air 5 times a week. And yes, they’re contemplating putting Jay back at 11:35 p.m. and letting Conan go.

BUT… Leno is no innocent victim here. He may appear a nice guy, but he’s a total egomaniac. If he didn’t want to retire 6 years ago, he shouldn’t have agreed. He had the leverage to stop it. But he did agree (and I’m sure was well compensated for it). So what happens next? 2009 approaches and Leno starts making noise publicly that he doesn’t want to retire. ABC and FOX court interest, NBC gets nervous, signs Jay to a new contract and “The Jay Leno Sh&t” is born. Jay is just a much a player in this mess as NBC. He knew what he was doing. When his new show flopped, he publicly cries and whines that he wants his old job back. What a p&ssy! Retire Leno!

OK, Conan appeals to younger people so put him on at 10 for the youngr folks and put Jay back on at 11:30. I like Jay on at 10, that way I can go to bed earlier. Forget the local news affilates…they should not be controlling the network! They are pretty sorry for what they do anyway.

Screw the news. Give Leno 10:35, Conan 11:35

Conan should walk, and in leiu of a long $50 million fight over the contract (which he would probably win in the end anyway, due to precedent), he should ask for the rights to all of his footage from NBC. I think that’s the only thing that’s stopping him, is he’d basically lose access to his entire career (since he was at NBC’s SNL prior to that).

Conan at 10pm on Comedy Central, followed by Stewart/Colbert? I’d watch. Hell I’ve already seen every episode of King of the Hill that Adult Swim’s playing then anyway.

Rob, I stand corrected. Leno started off with a bang but Letterman quickly regained the lead until ’95-’96 when Leno took off and never looked back (except for Dave’s post-heart surgery comeback when his numbers briefly spiked).

We’re going around in circles here but to answer a few more posts..

“This whole thing is all about perception. Jay Leno is perceived as an arse-hole and, quite frankly, I think he is an arse-hole”

You said it. This is YOUR perception.

“Leno is damaged goods”

Perhaps, but a seven month failure in prime time vs. 14 years of dominance at 11:35 would suggest otherwise.

“Let Leno go..blah…blah…blah…”

It isn’t going to happen. NBC can still smell those big numbers Leno got at 11:35. The only way NBC will let him go is if Jay WANTS to move on or he can’t recapture the audience at 11:35. NBC has already rendered their decision.

ME: “If Jay’s old job is being offered to him, why shouldn’t he accept? That’s the way life is..it isn’t fair but the employer decides who works and at what time.”

BORIS: “This analogy is preposterous”

It isn’t an analogy. It’s precisely the situation here. I’m not saying Conan isn’t getting screwed and I’m not saying Jay would be right in taking his old job back. I AM saying that NBC wants Leno in that slot and it is their prerogative to choose the host. If I were Jay and wanted the job back, I’d take it in a heartbeat. I’m not going to be taking any food out of Conan’s kids’ mouths. He will reportedly be paid a lot of money by NBC if his contract is invalidated and/or he will certainly land another network gig. Leno would have no reason to feel “guilty”.

But Rob did Leno whine and cry about wanting the tonight show back. Trust me I am a huge Letterman fan and I was livid when Letterman got screwed years ago in favor of Leno but ultimately I understood why and Letterman just went to CBS and ended up creating his own BETTER show.

But how was Jay a player in this? If NBC wanted to keep him why did it need to be a talk show. Why not a once a week variety type show or how about a reality type show about Cars or something else who knows. Did Leno insist on it being a talk show? Did Leno insist it being on 5 days a week. IMO NBC should have just let him “retire” when his contract was up and if he ended up at ABC or Fox so what. What the hell was NBC worrying about.

Personally I think they should cancel Leno and leave Conan alone but obviously NBC has the numbers that tell them they need Leno back at 11:30. I think it will blow up in their face but so be it. Leno and Conan will both be laughing to the bank.

“Screw the news. Give Leno 10:35, Conan 11:35″

Never happen. Plus Leno already failed in primetime.

“Conan at 10pm on Comedy Central, followed by Stewart/Colbert? I’d watch”

Small potatoes. CC brings in about a million viewers each night for Stewart/Colbert. Conan had more than twice that audience when he hosted “Late Night”.

So if Fox affiliates are lukewarm about Conan, what are his options? Seems he is being pinned into a corner with no way out.

“OK, Conan appeals to younger people so put him on at 10 for the youngr folks and put Jay back on at 11:30″

I’d certainly offer Conan a primetime spot..maybe a weekly comedy show and sign him to a development deal to produce sitcoms.

@Vicki:

As an old fart, I retire earlier now than when I first entered the workforce, as do most middle-aged old folks. So why, if you’re correct (which I believe you are), would NBC just switch the two?

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me/my generation (old dog/new tricks) but I want my Johnny Carson show on after the news. I watch primetime from 7-9 (central), at 9, I get ready for the next day, watch news at 10 (in bed), throw on the Johnny, and fall asleep usually at the half hour mark. Night-night.

I enjoy both Conan and Jay. Wife and I only caught Conan on Fridays, day before a holiday, etc, but we found him funny (we’re older, but not AARP droolers), and enjoyed him, but just to late.

I don’t know, I want TV I can listen to in bed, instead of watching (we read in bed with Conan on now). Both these guys do this, but your right, Leno reaches a wider demographic.

So I say: Put Conan on at 9, news at 10, Jay at 10:30, Conan on at 11:30. NBC does this with other shows (Keith O/MSNBC, etc). Should save money, keep & attract viewers.

Thoughts?

You said Conan at 9 and again at 11:30!

Kevin says:

“BORIS: ‘This analogy is preposterous’

“It isn’t an analogy. It’s precisely the situation here.”

Spare me. Leno has complete freedom of movement, something that in no way applies to the employee in the typical employment situation. It’s an analogy, and a bad one.

“I’m not saying Conan isn’t getting screwed and I’m not saying Jay would be right in taking his old job back.”

Here we agree.

“[Conan] will reportedly be paid a lot of money by NBC if his contract is invalidated and/or he will certainly land another network gig. Leno would have no reason to feel ‘guilty’.”

And here we disagree. Nobody knows what Conan will get or, for that matter, the terms of Leno’s walking papers, but it doesn’t matter. If he acquiesced to the original proposal, Leno knew that he was throwing a sabot into the works of the Tonight Show.

Either Leno foresaw the outcome or he did not. If he did, he’s a scheming pigfucker who also screwed over everyone who came from New York to work on Conan’s show. If he did not, he’s a reckless imbecile who did the same thing. The only difference is that in the latter case, he still has the honorable option of departing NBC along with Conan and leaving the network to its own devices. Failing this, “guilt” is entirely appropriate.

Conan is WAAYYY better than Leno in every way you can measure. period. If NBC never put that douche bag in at 10pm the tonight show would have done as it always has, there may have been a dip for a while (like when douchy Jay took over from Carson it took a long time to beat Dave and even than it took Hugh Grant screwing around with a hooker to get people to watch on the most fortuities booking in history).

I pray no one watches Jay, and he loses huge to Conan on Fox a half hour earlier and in a perfect world starting right after the olympics!

“But how was Jay a player in this? If NBC wanted to keep him why did it need to be a talk show. Why not a once a week variety type show or how about a reality type show about Cars or something else who knows. Did Leno insist on it being a talk show? Did Leno insist it being on 5 days a week. IMO NBC should have just let him “retire” when his contract was up and if he ended up at ABC or Fox so what. What the hell was NBC worrying about.

Personally I think they should cancel Leno and leave Conan alone but obviously NBC has the numbers that tell them they need Leno back at 11:30. I think it will blow up in their face but so be it. Leno and Conan will both be laughing to the bank.”

Jay was a player in this by not retiring like he said he would.

Now, the other questions you ask are good ones. Why a Monday through Friday hour long, primetime talk show? Personally, I think Leno would have been great doing Top Gear USA as people above have suggested. There’s no way of knowing why NBC went that route, but gut instinct tells me it’s in part because Leno wanted it. But then again, I’m using Earth Logic to assume that NBC would want to make the least intrusive deal with him possible unless he pushed for them to do otherwise. But Earth Logic does not equal NBC/Zucker Logic, so who knows.

Either way, I agree that putting Leno back at 11:35 will probably blow up in their faces. Conan will be going to the bank, but I guess what makes me sympathize with him the most here is that I don’t think he entirely cares about that. If it was just about the money, he would take the 12:05 show and shut up. But it’s also about getting a fair chance to host the Tonight Show and being treated with respect, and in those aspects he’s getting royally screwed.

“Conan is WAAYYY better than Leno in every way you can measure. period”

Wrong. Not in the ratings at 11:35pm

“If NBC never put that douche bag in at 10pm the tonight show would have done as it always has”

Pure speculation on your part with no proof. NBC wasn’t setting the world on fire at 10pm which is why Leno got the gig in the first place. People were making a conscious decision to tune into Jay at 11:35.

“there may have been a dip for a while (like when douchy Jay took over from Carson it took a long time to beat Dave”

It took a few seasons.

“and even than it took Hugh Grant screwing around with a hooker to get people to watch on the most fortuities booking in history”

Granted, it was a prime booking “get” but if people didn’t like Jay, one guest isn’t going to make them stick around. That’s just a dumb statement.

“I pray no one watches Jay, and he loses huge to Conan on Fox a half hour earlier and in a perfect world starting right after the olympics!”

What are you, thirteen years old?
If you’re an adult, you have anger management issues. Seek professional help.

Jennifer I watched Letterman get screwed by NBC and go to CBS. If this is what NBC wants, let Conan put on his big boy pants, leave and see if he can achieve success elsewhere as Letterman did. He’ll get a boatload of money as a result. Personally to me the Tonight show Franchise died with Carson. Leno had a talk show in that timeframe for a while as does Conan now. The brand was associated with Carson not with the show.

As far as Leno not keeping his word, so what. This world is made up of people who don’t(like what NBC did to Letterman years back promising him the tonight show). And at 59 he didn’t want to retire? I don’t blame him. Did people really think he’s leave and NEVER do any entertaining ever again? Did NBC REALLY think at 59 that would happen. I don’t blame Leno. NBC forced him into this retirement nonsense and then cry when Leno still wants to work. As I said, no one was forcing NBC to re-sign him. He could have easily gone to ABC. So what and who cares if he did. Oh boo hoo he didn’t keep his word. Well NBC didn’t keep their word to Letterman years back either. I already said what I’d do which is let Leno go like they should have last year when his contract was up. They don’t want to. Their decision. Conan learns a valuable lesson as Letterman had to.

Good for Conan. Leno’s been vying for his spot back this whole time. What of all those interviews where he’s like, “I want to be back at 11:30, and if they asked me, I’d do it.” It’s one thing to look out for yourself, but it’s another to trample on whomever is in your way in the process.

What is NBC’s problem? Can they do nothing right?

Can someone point me to an interview where Leno was begging to get his 11:35 job back? I keep hearing about it.

And just for the record I don’t feel sorry for either. Both make more in one year than I’ll make in my lifetime.

And also for those who say Conan never got a chance to see if he could build the audience like Leno did? Leno took the reigns when in 1992 and TV was a differet animal. How many shows today get 2 years to build an audience. Most shows are cancelled within months of airing. As far as Conan not being given a chance to succeed with his show, you could make the exact same argument that Leno was not given a fair chance either. Now I hate Leno’s show but both situations are the same in that regard.

I’m from Germany, so the latenight that I do see is all web-streaming and at what time they are on doesn’t matter to me but I prefer Conan and Fallon over Leno any day.

Very rarely do I watch Leno and if I do it’s not for the monologue or anything it’s for a guest I really like, with Conan and Fallon I usually watch the whole thing.

NBC has officially lost all semblance of dignity. Which is a shame, because they had precious little left. They screwed Conan over by putting Leno on at 10, and now they’re probably going to end up giving Conan the shaft yet again. I hope I’m wrong. I hope they decide to keep Conan and oust Jay. But to me it doesn’t seem the most likely scenario.

And let’s not forget, there’s a pretty good chance that Letterman will also be retiring in the next 2-3 years. If NBC does in fact chose Leno over Conan, I’d love to see Conan go on to replace Letterman when he retires- a little bit of history repeating.

NBC should have never messed with late night to begin with. When Leno decided he didn’t want to retire they should have told Conan that he could keep his new salary but he’d have to wait a few more years to get The Tonight Show. Conan may have still decided to leave NBC, but it wouldn’t have turned into this cluster f*ck.

Some people need to look a bit harder at Conan’s ratings…Jay Leno was helping him get murdered.

1) Fans of the Tonight Show because of Leno simply watched Leno’s 10PM series and then left. Letterman’s numbers didn’t really go up or anything much against Conan. Had NBC not given Leno his new series, all of the tonight show viewers would be forced to choose between Conan or Letterman or go to bed. Instead, they were given an option to disregard late night television in general.

2) Leno’s poor numbers hurt local newscasts. With the newscasts earning up to 30% less in the ratings than the year prior, Conan was already HEAVILY hampered by Leno.

3) Guest stealing. With Leno having a primetime slot, it led to even more guest siphoning than ever…now there was one extra series with which celebrities had to split their time or ignore another one entirely.

Conan complains that he was only given seven months as host before the network yanked him from the timeslot. It only took three months for Coca-Cola to reverse their decision to introduce New Coke. I’m no Leno fan, but he was beating Letterman handily, and Conan shed half Leno’s audience. Conan can’t blame his ratings failure on the Jay Leno Show; over the summer, before Leno’s show premiered, Conan was already plummeting against Letterman. In TV terms, the Conan O’Brien Tonight Show was every bit as disastrous as New Coke. Zucker has made any number of blunders, but returning Leno to 11:35 isn’t one of them – replacing him with Conan was.

Hitler hears about the whole ordeal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOQvsuJ5wIA

And Bill and Rob are smiling big smiles at all the hits their site is getting because of this controversy.

Personally, I really like Conan and prefer him over Jay (too boring) and Dave (I used to have a major crush on him but now he is just so negative about everything)

Ouch:

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/conan-crisis-nbc-looking-tonight-show-guest-hosts-12879

@jen

Don’t know who tom shales is, but he sounds like a fool.

“The affiliates were not threatening revolt over Conan’s ratings. They were threatening revolt over Jay’s.

No matter how you slice it JAY FAILED”

Nonsense. Jay was kicked of his show so Conan could have it. Then the network got scared and Jay a job – and he took it. Sure it was a bad time, but that was not his fault – that was their fault.

@Jennifer

“Leno needs to just bow out at this point and try to salvage some of his image. Regardless of the ratings and who is funnier, he’s coming off as a classless, backstabbing bully.”

Only to Conan evangelists – and as we know, there aren’t that many.

One of the funniest stories I read today about the whole ideal:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/leno-vows-to-go-wherever_b_421013.html

“Leno Vows to Go Wherever Conan Goes, One Hour Earlier”

Just hours after funnyman Conan O’Brien declared that he would leave NBC if Jay Leno returns to late night, Mr. Leno responded that he would go wherever Conan decides to go, “only one hour earlier.”

Good for Conan. Someone needs to keep these NBC execs accountable for their horrible business and programming decisions. I like how he brought up the tradition of the Tonight Show and he needs to be given a good chance to prove himself. Jay’s ratings were down after Johnny left and then when David Letterman moved to CBS. it took time to get the show running on full thrusters.

“As far as Leno not keeping his word, so what. This world is made up of people who don’t(like what NBC did to Letterman years back promising him the tonight show).”

Of course the world is. But that doesn’t mean these people should be rewarded for their behavior, that we should root for them, or that they shouldn’t be called out. Maybe you don’t care, and that’s fine. But there should be a place for dignity, honesty, and integrity in the world. And when people don’t have it, they should rightfully be derided.

I also don’t blame Jay for not wanting to retire. But that in no way negates the fact that he agreed to do it. If he didn’t want to retire, then he shouldn’t have said he would in 2004.

Jay Leno is the one who forced NBC to sign him. Do you think that if he wanted to retire quietly or do something on ABC that wouldn’t directly compete with The Tonight Show they would have done this? No. They were trying to protect themselves from competition and Leno siphoning off ratings from The Tonight Show. They just did it in a really stupid way. As others have said, there are numerous other shows he could have been given, but for some reason TJLS was the result. We can only speculate as to how it came about, so I’m not going to blame anyone for its inception. But Leno even considering going to ABC to compete with The Tonight Show put NBC between a rock and a hard place.

I like both Jay & Conan but lets face it… 17 years ago Jay negotiated a deal to get Letterman out of a job, 6 years ago Conan negotiated a deal to get Jay out of a job… just give the show to Jimmy Fallon

“Only to Conan evangelists – and as we know, there aren’t that many.”

Kermonk,

I’m not a Conan evangelist. Before last night, I hadn’t watched the Tonight Show in months. I didn’t watch Late Night regularly either. I also used to think that Leno was a nice guy, even if I didn’t think he was funny. So it is possible that maybe Leno really is just coming off poorly to the average person.

Last night Letterman actually suggested that Conan and Leno co-host The Tonight Show.

Leno actually took two years before he beat Letterman in the ratings. Remember the Hugh Grant interview? That is probably why Conan is saying that NBC has not allowed his show to get its footing.

And let us not forget that the reason the Leno show at ten was not successful is because Leno and his people did absolutely nothing to make the show new and fresh and interesting. The critics hated it not because it was at ten but because it was nothing new. He did nothing to go after the demo. So, yes, it was Leno’s fault. NBC may have been the enabler but Jay, unconsciously or not, is the reason for this whole mess.

Why do people think that the FOX affiliates will welcome either Conan or Leno with open arms. These shows would cut into their profits and right now TV stations are hurting for money. Affiliate anger and fear is the reason NBC is changing schedules.

Here’s a great solution for the issue: Schedule Jay at 11:35 PM on the “Tonight Show” to appeal to grownups and let O’Brian take his “show” to Nickalodeon to meet the needs for their audience of people with an 8 year olds mentality….. Problem solved!

Reply

NBC Jay Leno
CBS David Letterman
ABC Nightline
FOX Wanda Sykes
LOGO Conan O’Brien

I see Wanda Sykes moving to a weekday schedule. She has more talent in her little finger than Conan has in his entire body. If FOX is smart, they can save a bundle of money by choosing a winner and not a known loser.

Never been a fan of Conan’s brand of humor, and while I never thought Conan should replace Jay PERIOD- I do feel bad for Conan.

NBC, in their own great way, tried to please everyone to avoid another repeat of the 90′s and ended up screwing everyone in the process. Jay was pushed out of the Tonight Show way earlier than he should have been by NBC, so now comes the time for him to claim the throne that should have been his all along, he’s being painted as the villain

I’m sure that the execs at NBC are looking for Conan to bow out and let Jay Leno get his old Tonight Show post back. But once again NBC is shooting itself in the foot by going for the immediate short-term ratings gains.

Jay Leno is approaching 60 years of age, and while he is a workaholic, he realistically has at most five years left to do late night television. David Letterman is approaching 63 and has a history of heart problems, so he has at most three years left, and most likely two years.

Conan, on the other hand, is only 46 years old and has a long time to establish himself as a premier late night presence, especially among younger viewers. If NBC were looking at the bigger picture, they would cut Jay Leno loose or give him that Top Gear USA show with some other specials and let Conan grow into the Tonight Show spot. I don’t know if Craig Ferguson is a lock to be David Letterman’s heir apparent; there have been rumblings that CBS may reach out to Jon Stewart once Letterman decides to retire. But if Conan leaves NBC, he will most likely become Dave’s heir apparent.

People also need to remember that after Johnny Carson retired, the only competition in late night was Jay, Dave, and Arsenio Hall. These days, not only do you have Jay, Dave, and Conan, you have Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Chelsea Handler, George Lopez, Monique, and who knows what else.

Personally, I prefer Conan to Leno and always did.

@Vanity Fair
“Can someone point me to an interview where Leno was begging to get his 11:35 job back? I keep hearing about it.”

It was widely reported that back in November, Jay gave an interview with “Broadcasting & Cable” magazine in which he said that if NBC asked him to take back the 11:35 p.m. time slot, he would. At the time, the media were deriding Jay, saying he was answering a question nobody asked. This indicates to me that Jay was probably talking to NBC even back then, as his new show had just launched to poor ratings, about moving back and his interview was just an indication of things to come.

Aww, it’s Conan’s 8th wedding anniversary today. Of all days in the year…

Catherine says:

“Why do people think that the FOX affiliates will welcome either Conan or Leno with open arms. These shows would cut into their profits and right now TV stations are hurting for money. Affiliate anger and fear is the reason NBC is changing schedules.”

I believe Fox has O&O’s in nine of the top ten DMAs. This doesn’t suggest they’d like a late-night entry, but their leverage might well be diminished.

If everyone is so sure that Leno only has 5 years max left in him, why wouldn’t Conan just be patient and wait for Leno to retire? It seems like Conan can’t come to terms with the fact that he destroyed The Tonight Show, if you ask me Conan leaving NBC is a good thing for them. FOX may be showing some interest in Conan, but I can gaurantee you that they won’t be willing to pay him what he’s currently getting at NBC to do The Tonight Show. Conan will come in 3rd every single night of the week and FOX knows this. Conan’s best more would be to try to get something on Cable, but his ego will get in the way of him taking a cable job.

@ Ant
“Just hours after funnyman Conan O’Brien declared that he would leave NBC if Jay Leno returns to late night, Mr. Leno responded that he would go wherever Conan decides to go, “only one hour earlier.”

Is this true? Did Leno really say this? I know it’s a joke, but what an arse-hole. He just doesn’t get it. He gave up the Tonight Show post (willing or not). It’s Conan’s now, leave him alone. Retire, you old troll!

“If everyone is so sure that Leno only has 5 years max left in him, why wouldn’t Conan just be patient and wait for Leno to retire?”

Maybe Jay will get struck by lightning sooner or some other act of God and Conan won’t have to wait so long.

“People are always blaming the Jay Leno show at 10pm for the late news problems – does anyone think that the lead out may also be a factor. People aren’t watching the late news because they aren’t interested in sticking around for the Tonight Show with Conan? Maybe a factor?”
Per TVWatcher

I agree…this is what I do…

Jeff

@ Ant
“Just hours after funnyman Conan O’Brien declared that he would leave NBC if Jay Leno returns to late night, Mr. Leno responded that he would go wherever Conan decides to go, “only one hour earlier.”

Is this true? Did Leno really say this? I know it’s a joke, but what an arse-hole. He just doesn’t get it. He gave up the Tonight Show post (willing or not). It’s Conan’s now, leave him alone. Retire, you old troll!

I guess that Konan viewers have no sense of humor…
They go more for the 14 year old boy jokes and/or frat jokes concerning masturbating bears…
No that’s funny.

“People are always blaming the Jay Leno show at 10pm for the late news problems – does anyone think that the lead out may also be a factor. People aren’t watching the late news because they aren’t interested in sticking around for the Tonight Show with Conan? Maybe a factor?”

Scratching head. Yeah, that makes no sense. Okay, I don’t like X and X show, so in protest, I’m not going to watch the show that is on before it?!

I think the whole concept of lead out is somewhat antiquated to the younger generation, but the old school Nielsen viewing TV nets still believe in the concept. In the old days, before remote controls, cable and “zapping”, people would leave the channel on to the same channel. If they watched NBC at 10, they’d watch the local NBC affiliate news at 11. Okay, this wasn’t true of 100% of the people as some of you will say i don’t do that, but statistically, a large percent of people do. I’m guessing older folks. Those are the viewers that have lapsed thanks to “The Jay Leno Show” who weren’t watching the local affiliates newscasts. Affiliates say they’ve lost up to 30% of viewers. I imagine that at least 25% of those are the people I described who just leave the channel on. As for viewers who boycott shows that come on BEFORE shows they don’t like, I can only say IF anyone does that, they are in the small minority, like 1-2% tops.

quit bashing jay…he’s he king of late night

@Jeff
“I guess that Konan viewers have no sense of humor…
They go more for the 14 year old boy jokes and/or frat jokes concerning masturbating bears…
No that’s funny.”

Hmm… and “Headlines”, “Jaywalking” and the “Green Car Challenge” leaves you in stitches from laughing so hard?!

7 months in how were Leno’s ratings compared to Carson’s?

@Brendan
“quit bashing jay…he’s he king of late night”

No, Johnny Carson was the King of Late Night. Jay is, and always will be, just a pretender to his throne.

@Joe Jackson
“7 months in how were Leno’s ratings compared to Carson’s?”

From what I remember, they were decent. He managed to hold most of Carson’s viewers. HOWEVER… things were different then. There was no direct competition from the other big nets. CBS aired “Crimetime after Primetime” (Canadian imported hourlong crime series). ABC had (and still has) “Nightline” (news show). FOX had no option at all (they haven’t been in the late night game since their first few season with Joan Rivers). The only serious competition to Jay was Arsenio Hall, who had a syndicated talk show.

A year later, when Letterman bolted to CBS to compete against Jay, he gave Jay serious competition and actually beat Jay regularly in the ratings for almost two years.

NBC is slotting Jeff Zucker’s crucifixion on Sunday, February 7th, opposite the Super Bowl.
Good or bad scheduling move?

Jennifer since when did Jay force NBC a billion dollar corporation to sign him. What a lame excuse. Jay forced no one to do anything.

And now I have to ask after watching Jay’s monologue from last night. He said NBC fired him from the Tonight show and he’s been fired again. Ok now that rubbed me the wrong way. So he never gracefully accepted his fate. Has he always resented what NBC did with Conan? That’s what it sounds like which if I were him I’d leave. NBC is a cesspool and Conan should go too.

And Jennifer while I agree people should behave with honor, did NBC behave with honor back with Letterman. So why are any of these people surprised. It’s lousy and callous and they should both leave.

Why are people b*tching about Conan not getting a chance? Couldn;t the same argument be made about Jay and his show.

Face it TV is not the same. They don’t give shows years to gain an audience anymore.

Conan does not stand a chance going up against both Leno and Letterman

Probably not, not if he sticks with the format of The Tonight Show. That just did not work at all for him. Conan is a funny guy though, and if he came up with a late night show that was a little different (instead of trying to beat Leno and Letterman at their own games), I think he could be really successful.

Dave reportedly has some great jokes about the situation on tonight’s show. I can’t wait.

The quote about Leno saying he’d go wherever Conan goes just one hour earlier is false. It’s from The Borowitz Report, a satirical news website. Huff Post links it up as the B Report is subscription. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/leno-vows-to-go-wherever_b_421013.html

“Why are people b*tching about Conan not getting a chance?”

Because when Johnny Carson retired he retired, he didn’t have a duplicate show on an hour earlier than Leno. Leno was given a chance to succeed or fail on his own and it took him almost 2 years to beat Letterman. Conan hasn’t been given that chance. He had a few months and then Leno was there from September on, undercutting him.

Vanity, on TV it’s about ratings and generating revenue. I’m guessing you have to know that since you’re even visiting this site. So if Leno was threatening to go to ABC to start his own show, have it compete directly against Conan, and possibly siphon off Conan’s ratings and deplete the revenue of The Tonight Show, was NBC just not supposed to care about that? Because if they would have told Leno to just leave that’s probably what would have happened. They had to do something to make sure Leno didn’t screw them over. For whatever reason, the idiot idea that happened was TJLS. They tried to prevent him from causing them problems and created an even bigger problem.

Of course NBC didn’t behave with honor when it came to Letterman. But I don’t think that should give them a pass now with, “Oh, that’s just NBC being NBC.” They, and Leno, can still get blamed for their behavior. And Conan should definitely get as far away from them as possible.

As for Conan not getting a chance compared to Jay not getting a chance…

Conan isn’t in first place, but he isn’t exactly get trounced. TJLS is doing abysmally and getting destroyed by re-runs of other shows. There’s only so much leeway and room to grow a person deserves. Especially when they’re on 5 days a week at 10PM primetime.

I bet Fox could do some pretty fresh and original stuff with Conan at 11 p.m.

Zoddguts, one of the best mashups with that Hitler clip I’ve seen, and I’ve seen *many*.

Well, I speak for myself, but I personally don’t watch the NBC affiliate news because they are one-sided stupid pundits pounding a political agenda. I’m usually hanging out on CBS or FOX watching something interesting even when NBC had yet-another-vaguely-based-on-current-headlines-crime-procedural instead of Jay-choking. Maybe that’s just me. I stopped watching Leno during semen-on-a-dress-gate. Such stupid superficial jokes. The only good thing about Leno was it used to provide a buffer between the news and Conan so I could safely switch over at the end of Letterman and only risk beholding the musical act on Leno without fear of seeing those newscaster trolls. YMMV

best I could come up with

Carson 1990
“In the fourth quarter of 1990, Carson averaged a 5.6 national Nielsen rating”

Leno 1992
“had a 4.4 rating and a 13-percent share”

22% drop

“I stopped watching Leno during semen-on-a-dress-gate. Such stupid superficial jokes. ”

LOL, yeah, basically Jay had one joke re: Lewinskygate, which he would repeat in different ways. but the punchline was almost always the same.

Adding another late night show is just ridiculous. So is having a half hour late night show. I agree with Conan. Making him and Jimmy move their shows later is unfair. I loved late night with Conan, but after college I stopped watching because I was never up that late. Granted, now we have Tivo, DVR and myth boxes, but those don’t help ratings. Plus, I agree with the person who mentioned the effect of sharing guests. Even now the three shows often share the same guests within a 1-2 week period of time. Even musical guests have been repeated. And for people like me, who enjoy the interviews, it’s a bit much and pretty obvious when a host has nothing new to ask because it was already covered a few nights before on another show.

In a time when all of NBC’s ratings are down, they can’t really blame anyone but themselves. But a move like this is just going to make people have less respect for them and start watching other networks. TJLS has already taken up enough precious prime time space that could have been used for other programming. And while I don’t think he should be forced to retire, NBC has already seen that rearranging their entire schedule to accommodate him doesn’t work. The most respectable thing to do would be to keep Conan at 11:35 and let him make the show he wants to make (I think most people will agree that he doesn’t feel nearly as in control of this show as he did Late Night) and if they want to do some huge restructuring wait until after the fall season or even summer.

Well, I hope this proves interesting. It’s not often that I use the toaster to balance impedance on the TV “antenna.”

Kermonk,

Tom Shales is the television critic for the Washington Post, and he may very well be an idiot.

I just cited his comment today to show I am not the only one who thinks Leno might be a backstabber.

It is also not nonsense to suggest that Jay’s failure at 10 o’clock is the reason for all this sudden turnoil.

Jeff Gaspin himself said he made the decision because of a potential affiliate revolt. He even said if it were only one or two affiliates he would have stuck with Jay longer, but that he had the sense that it was going to be a real problem.

This is in fact an astonishing failure. Think about it. Multiple NBC affiliates were going to refuse to air Leno if NBC didn’t pull the plug. This is something that just does not happen in prime time.

Imagine if you will if ABC affiliates were threatening not to air network prime time programming if ABC didn’t pull the forgotten (which now routinely loses to Leno). The imagine if ABC caved and cancelled Castle too so Christian Slater could have another show.

Yes, Conan had lost a substantial portion of the Tonight show audience (I’m not arguing he was a success). BUT no one was calling for his head. If Leno were not such a catastrophic failure that affiliates were seriously going to pre-empt portions of the prime time lineup, NBC would give Conan time to regain an audience (just like they did for Jay in the early 90′s) especially with the likelihood of Letterman’s retirement ater 2012.

My best guess is the pay outs on Jay’s contract are more significant than the payouts on Conan’s. Or perhaps, wrongheadedly the network thought they would be able to placate Conan until Jay retired for real.

Regardless, the 10 o’clock Leno show was an abject failure, and when Jay gave the B&C interview he KNEW it would never succeed. That’s why he unexpectedly suggested he would be happy to return to 11:35 (nevermind that someone else already had the job). Maybe you see this don’t see any of this as backstabbing (or failure), I do and I’m not alone.

Sandrene, you make very good points. The thing I don’t understand is: what’s NBC’s rush? Yes, getting “The Jay Leno Sh&T” off the air PRONTO was a must, not only for the affiliates, but because it was hurting NBC primetime overall, despite NBC’s spin of making a profit. But with “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night”, why mess with long standing franchises? Why make such a hurried decision? Why not wait until fall and see how Conan does? If they feel he’s not cutting it, then give the Chin back his spot? But in the meantime, leave Conan alone.

I want folks to know I totally believe Conan is getting the shaft but why stay. NBC has already shown they are not to be trusted.

All that said I believe the moron’s at NBC believe this is a fair compromise but all they are doing is looking at 2 individual people. If they were real astute forward thinking TV executives, they would do what’s best for NBC in the long run and not worry about who goes where. I believe they should have let Jay leave – so goto ABC. What was best for NBC at the time. The talk show idea was terrible.

In the end the winnder in all this is Letterman.

Ok typo winner. You know what i meant.

Letterman is funny tonight. He’s relishing taking jabs at NBC. I know how much he dislikes them too.

Rob: “The thing I don’t understand is: what’s NBC’s rush?”

The rush is trying to get the affiliates to approve the sale of the controlling interest in NBC to Comcast. That happens at the end of this month. It’s an attempt at a carrot. Comcast is cable and represents a very real and existential threat to any affiliate with two-cents worth of a brain.

I like Jay, but NBC needs to just pay him off and if he takes his show elsewhere, so be it. I agree with Conan in that they haven’t given him enough time to build an audience. It took Jay a few years to become #1.

Jon says:
“Jay should just retire and spend more time with his nutty, butt-ugly wife, Mavis, their mange cat, and his car collection. He stand-up comedy is old hat”

Jon thanks for identifying yourself as a totally clueless, hateful, asshole.

I dont see why Leno has to be on every night. Since Leno is only doing 2.5 hours a week by moving to 11.35, why dont NBC keep re-vamped Leno on 2 nights a week at 10pm, say Tuesday and Fridays and have NFL/The Apprentice Sun, and scrpited stuff Mon, Wed, Thurs? Here in Aus we had a show called Rove (he ended his show november 09) and it was basically a talk show, with celb guest and a few skits. It ran in primetime 1hour a week for ten years (9:30 tuesday, then 8:30 sunday) very successfully and was ended by the host, not the network. Since the US has a bigger talent pool for guest than Aus im sure it could work in the states 2 times a week. That way, Jay keeps his job, Conan stays in his slot. the Tuesday leno seems to do well out of TBL. NBC should of negociated something like this with the affliates

Why are so many people saying Conan “had his chance”? He hasn’t even been on the year for a full year. Not to mention he had to contend with a lead-in that was so bad it was costing the affiliates millions of dollars.

I don’t know that folks are saying Conan had his chance totally. My perspective on this is that in 1992 television was a totally different animal. NBC, CBS, ABC gave shows time to catch an audience. Today a television show gets cancelled at the drop of a hat. And if people here are saying Conan should be given the same courtesy Leno was in 1992 then shouldn’t Leno at 10:00 be given the same chance? I just think the dynamics and competition in television is so different that these networks can no longer afford to do that.

That being said, I think Conan should have been left alone and allowed to continue. But NBC for whatever reason feels differently. And we know what programming geniuses they are.

One point of history that has been forgotten with respect to Jay overtaking Letterman in the ratings. Letterman was riding high in 1994, really crushing Jay, and then two things happened that started Letterman’s decline. First his hosting of the Academy Awards did not go particularly well. Hollywood doesn’t like a smart ass who doesn’t kiss theirs. Still that was not a real blow, and Letterman’s ratings during the ’94 Winter Olympics were great. However, CBS lost the NFL in 1994 to Fox, and with that lost a number of quality local affiliates, not to mention the promotional benes of having football. As a consequence, CBS’ ratings in general declined, and Dave’s rating started a slow decline. The Hugh Grant interview is the point where Letterman’s and Leno’s ratings intersected, and Letterman never really recovered, although things settled down once CBS got the NFL back (albeit the lower rated American Conference set of games).

As a Conan fan myself I won’t be watching NBC’s late night anymore. I’ll be watching whatever is on Comedy Central or Adult Swim until he is on in another network.

I think there should be a poll showing what Conan’s viewers are going to do, I’d be interested in what they have to say.

This Conan-Leno thing is a total FUBAR by NBC. F(ouled) Up Beyond All Recognition.

And for NBC, this is a real SNAFU. Situation Normal, All F(ouled) Up.

I like that statement from Conan it was very mature and honest. I like how he cares for his old stopping grounds and Jimmy Fallon’s show.

Conan will easily find work on another network without a doubt. FOX finally has their man to run late nights. I always saw Conan moving to FOX one day and now I think its going to happen.

On the other side, Jay deserves to stay on air if he wants to air it. Jay didn’t fail, NBC failed. The move shouldn’t never been made in the first place but then Jimmy would’ve had to wait for his opportunity. Hopefully all of this will be over soon and everybody will be happy.

Jay didn’t have his own show before hosting the Tonight Show, so you really can’t compare his transition with Conan’s. And 7 months? Technically Conan has had 16 years to build an audience. Obviously NBC had higher expectations for Conan’s ratings and he didn’t live up to them.

Yeah, NBC screwed up when they promised Conan the starting spot five years ago, and now they went to take it away to give it to the old man.

If only the Packers loved Brett this much, when he wanted his “starting spot” back! But unlike Jay Leno, Brett Favre knew forcing his way back in was just going to hurt everybody, so he left for the Vikings. If Leno had any class, he would do the same thing. it’s Conan’s spot now, stop trying to horn in. This is the equivalent of if Brett Favre went 4-12 for the Vikings and then wanted to come back to the Packers to play. No way Jay.

Steve, you are so right. I’ve said the same thing. IF Leno had any class, he’d just walk away and let Conan have “The Tonight Show.” That being said, Jay obviously doesn’t care about “The Tonight Show” franchise, he only cares about himself. He wanted back at 11:35, no matter what show he hosted. And if “The Tonight Show” gets pushed back to 12:05 a.m., so be it. Leno is an ass. Let him go.

NBC is the problem folks the dancing chickens not so much..

Conan – bravo I salute you standing up and saying wait a minute..I’m not a Zucker man.. I’m a professional who loves his job and respects it’s history..

Jay – you showed the world that the chin has nothing left to say..Except maybe “Check PLEASE”..

Fallon – Is a frat house drinking game and not much more…

I myself am crazy about Lopez Tonight..That essay is funny..

BTW that was a joke it’s, Ese ..Geez your spanish is bad ..

graVatar you speak the truth buddy. Lopez Tonight is where its at right now between him and Chelsea Lately their providing the best late night TV in my opinion.

NBC is the one that made the move so the blame is on them.

Conan would definitely be better off elsewhere. I could see him flourishing on FOX. C’mon FOX. You kept around Arrested Development when ABC/CBS probably would’ve cancelled it in four weeks. Your current state of comedy is sorely lacking. This is exactly the jolt of fresh juice you need.

I feel torn, FYI, because I love my NBC Thursday night comedy lineup. But how can I love a network that cancelled Southland because Chinzilla took up too much room, only to shitcan him as well. So yeah, FOX bending NBC over, lubeless, would be pure joy.

And if Southland pulled in some good numbers (pleasepleasepleaseplease…eh, I couldn’t be that lucky), it would be the icing on the cake. Sigh….

Mark McGwire’s press statement can only be topped in terms of sincerity and deeply felt conviction by that of Conan. Congratulations, one and all.

TO MIKEY:
NOBODY DESERVES WHAT THESE GUYS MAKE FOR DOING WHAT THEY DO…
No, They don’t. The ‘math’ is a joke. TV star salaries are a joke.
They need to go stand in a soup kitchen or unemployment line and commisserate with the locals about how they aren’t appreciated and are giving up their multi-million dollar salaries and putting their staff out of work because they aren’t ‘appreciated..CONAN-GET OVER YOURSELF. if your show tanks at 12:05, it would have anyway. If it succeeds, it would have anyway.
NO ONE WILL FOLLOW THESE SHOWS TO FOX
Sports nuts are trained to surf the channels for their games due to mega ESPN. Network shows are a different ball of wax. Viewers will just turn to Dave if they want late-night talk.

I’ve read many but not all the other comments. So, apologies if someone already mentioned: All this reminds me of the Carson retirement and the NBC screwup in giving Leno the Tonight Show in the first place. NBC had been leading Letterman on for years in the Late Show slot that he would get the Tonight Show when Johnny retired. Then, NBC started pushing at Johnny to announce the date. If you remember there was even a movie about what happened next. NBC put itself into the same predicament they have now — not wanting to lose Leno and believing they had Letterman by his privates. If you remember, Leno had a loud-mouth pushy agent, who was telling them that Leno would go to CBS. Well, even Johnny advised Letterman to walk to CBS after Leno was given “the show”. History repeats itself. You would think that NBC would learn, but I guess there is no “gray matter” at NBC.

“…vroom, vroom, ________________ starter…”

…I now officially and irrevocably hate Sweden, Bud Light, Times Square, the Super Bowl, Belgium, and Conan O’Brien and all his mindless zombie fans, and dedicate a popular song by the All-American Rejects to them…

…I already hated Jeff Zucker and his famous pig, and already sing the theme from “Green Acres” in his (dis)honour (“…Jeff Zucker is a ___________ing pig…”)…

…mind you, I think Jay reran lots of his monologue jokes, and couldn’t hold a candle to Bob Newhart or Jeff Foxworthy – but I could watch him, or invite him to dinner. I wouldn’t invite Dave, Jimmy, Conan, Craig, or Carson, even if I was given permission to feed them arsenic-laced baklava while wearing a Gucci balaclava designed by Betty Suarez…

…but I would easily prefer it if Ted Koppel or Charles Osgood dropped by for a nice dinner – or, for that matter, George Clooney – I would get my choice of a female guest if my wife gets Clooney – perhaps someone who was on a top rated TV show that could also teach me to cook tandoori

Bill says:
January 13, 2010 at 8:26 am
… All this reminds me of the Carson retirement and the NBC screwup in …. If you remember, Leno had a loud-mouth pushy agent, who was telling them that Leno would go to CBS …

so considering Team Leno is again playing the role of the villian, and that agent, Helen, is long gone, what does that tell you about Leno? Maybe people will start to realize Jay Leno isn’t, hasn’t, nor ever will be such a “nice guy”. This is the same guy who ripped off Howard day after day, and even swiped Stuttering John without asking Howard first.

“Jay didn’t have his own show before hosting the Tonight Show”
- no but Jay was guest hosting a lot for Johnny before he took over so the audience was already very familiar with him in that slot. It’s not like they pulled him off the street.

The only way I will watch TTS again is if NBC names Joel McHale or Steve Carell as the host.