Conan out, Leno back in??

[Franc]

I still think it has less to do with "I care about the Tonight Show, so I will let Jay have it back at its traditional timeslot" and more to do with "If I'm gonna be treated as second-best to Jay again, I'm outta here."  Again, Conan and Jay - both looking out for themselves.

Dude, you talk as if looking out for oneself is a bad thing! Of course they are looking out for themselves, you and I would do the same. But if they come out saying "I'm against these changes before they are not fair for me", viewers would think he's a total douchebag, which is evidenced by your comment here!

[TVC]

Would Leno be so accommodating if the network moved his program to a slot after The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien? I suspect that under these circumstances, Leno - just like O'Brien - would be negotiating his release from the company. I have a difficult time believing Jay when he says he agreed to a return to 11:35 because he thought Conan would be accepting of 12:05.

It will be interesting to see how Leno fares when he returns to The Tonight Show. Ma and Pa Kettle from Des Moines will continue to be in his audience; but a backlash is likely from younger viewers who feel that O'Brien was treated unfairly. Also, when Leno does really retire, who will NBC have as a viable successor?

It's a good thing the people who run NBC chose a career in broadcasting rather than in air traffic control. At least no one is being killed by their poor judgment.

[BD]

Would Leno be so accommodating if the network moved his program to a slot after The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien? I suspect that under these circumstances, Leno - just like O'Brien - would be negotiating his release from the company. I have a difficult time believing Jay when he says he agreed to a return to 11:35 because he thought Conan would be accepting of 12:05.

It will be interesting to see how Leno fares when he returns to The Tonight Show. Ma and Pa Kettle from Des Moines will continue to be in his audience; but a backlash is likely from younger viewers who feel that O'Brien was treated unfairly. Also, when Leno does really retire, who will NBC have as a viable successor?

It's a good thing the people who run NBC chose a career in broadcasting rather than in air traffic control. At least no one is being killed by their poor judgment.

Heh, good post. And yeah, if Leno really did care about Conan, he wouldn't have accepted the deal to have a show at 11:30 before consulting Conan about it. Leno said in his recent statement that NBC told him that Conan would be fine with it but honestly, I think that's just a way to cover up the real reasons why he accepted it. Anyone else who really cared how Conan felt about it would have talked to him practically one on one before accepting the deal. So basically I find Leno's recent statements to be pretty much bull.

And yeah... Leno will more than likely still get the 50+ demo but in terms of the 18-32 demo... I really think that he has lost it. The 18-32 demo are the main ones online and online there's MUCH more support for Conan than Leno. So yeah, while Leno might make it back to #1 I definitely don't think he'll get the same high ratings that he use to have.

[Off_trak]

I don't think he'll be #1 any time soon. Letterman has stepped up his game when Conan began as host, and earned back the #1 spot in late night. Also, more and more people are watching Craig Ferguson now, so there's a strong block right there. Leno's damaged goods, and there will be fall out from this for a long time to come.

Also, the "don't blame Conan" statement was pure arrogance. No one has blamed Conan for anything, except NBC. Even that is misguided, as the network FIRST cancelled Leno's 10 pm slot, and shoehorned him back into the Tonight Show. Conan only did what any one would do, and stood up to the network. Conan would have been gone whether he had accepted the 12:05 slot or not, eventually. Leno (and his lawyers) positioned himself to land on his feet regardless of whatever happened with the 10 pm show.

[imhomerjay]

And yeah, if Leno really did care about Conan, he wouldn't have accepted the deal to have a show at 11:30 before consulting Conan about it.

Not necessarily.   I can care about a colleague, but ultimately it's my future and my career I have to look out for, not theirs.  It's not Jay's responsibility to make sure the man who essentially forced Jay out of Tonight years ago is all that heartbroken (allegedly) over a 30 minute time change.   I can't count the number of times my job duties change over the years; if Conan can't man up and accept that comparatively small change, that's his right, but it's not something that makes Jay the bad guy.

[visualbasicwizard]

Soooooo....Who gets to explain to GE a/o Comcast why the brand-new studio they built will be sitting dark?  That'll be an interesting meeting.

[BD]

Not necessarily.   I can care about a colleague, but ultimately it's my future and my career I have to look out for, not theirs.  It's not Jay's responsibility to make sure the man who essentially forced Jay out of Tonight years ago is all that heartbroken (allegedly) over a 30 minute time change.   I can't count the number of times my job duties change over the years; if Conan can't man up and accept that comparatively small change, that's his right, but it's not something that makes Jay the bad guy.

True but don't you think what he did goes against Leno's recent statements of calling Conan "a good guy, a gentleman, etc." I mean if you really felt that way and also if (as he said in 2004) he didn't want to have anyone go through what he did back in the early 90's, he would have talked with Conan before making the move. Well at least that's how I feel. If I called someone a good guy and pretty much a friend, before making a deal that would have an affect on his life in any way I would talk to him about it before accepting it.


Anyways, I absolutely loved Conan's 35 second $1.5 million Bugatti Mouse bit on tonight's show. "Take that NBC!! Ha-Ha!!" lol

[Axl]

Soooooo....Who gets to explain to GE a/o Comcast why the brand-new studio they built will be sitting dark?  That'll be an interesting meeting.

Capital costs are rarely an issue, since they're pretty much baked in from the start.  I discovered early in my career that a sure way to be unprepared for a layoff is to say to yourself, "They've already spent so much money on what we're doing... there's no way they'd let that go to waste."

The only disadvantage here is a bookkeeping one... they'll have to eat the full cost of that studio on their books immediately instead of amortizing it over several years as I'm sure they intended to do.  But anyone who watches the stock market knows that publicly-traded companies go through these sorts of "one-time charges" like toilet paper... sometimes billions of dollars worth in a quarter.

[catdogwheel]

That was a cool car! Unfortunately we'll never see that at the end of the golden road.

Anyways I wanted to share something that was said on my local newscast that aired right before Conan. There were 4 newscasters and the lady at the desk said "stay tuned Adam Sandler is up next on The Tonight Show". Then one of the other guys said "who knows? With the way things are going over there he could be hosting it soon."

[priceguy]

And it's all over.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/news/Conan_OBrien_NBC_severance_deal/index.htm

[catdogwheel]

And it's all over.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/21/news/Conan_OBrien_NBC_severance_deal/index.htm

so is my time over at NBC watching any shows.

[upperclasstwit]

so is my time over at NBC watching any shows.

I'd boycott NBC over this, but I never watched anything on NBC except for Conan O'Brien's shows. Maybe I'll boycott them after The Olympics are over.

[sideshowPA]

No more Triumph?  Say it ain't so!

[mrbrown2195]

It looks that way - according to insiders, NBC gets to keep his shows' intellectual property...

[BD]

It looks that way - according to insiders, NBC gets to keep his shows' intellectual property...

He'll more than likely find some way to get around it.

IThey said the same to Letterman but all he did when he went to CBS was give the bits new names. Don't know if it's more strict for Conan though...

But yeah either way... he'll come up with something to address it.