NEWS JUNKIE POST
Jan 15, 2010 at 9:38 amLate Night Tango: Looks like Conan’s Out, Jay’s Back on NBC’s Tonight
Sounds ironic, but it looks like Conan O’Brien is the one who will take it on the NBC chin. The defiant Tonight Show host has refused NBC’s offer to push back his ratings’ plagued show to 12:05 so Jay Leno ( whose own 10 PM show bombed) could slip into the 11:35 slot for a half hour show. Conan claims accepting the demotion would seriously damage if not destroy Tonight’s heralded heritage and essentially negate its name, making it the Tomorrow Show ( which could involve resurrecting the late great Tom Snyder).
Reports in MEDIAITE,DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD and others have Conan exiting the Peacock network, with January 22 listed as his last night behind the desk Johnny Carson built. But they could pull the plug sooner with growing concern over Conan’s acerbic parting shots. That would mean, Leno could be back at Tonight’s helm, probably before the Olympics.
But no one need cry for the quirky comic–whose own 12:30 show became an after hours stalwart following David Letterman’s escape to CBS after his own Tonight Show aspirations were kicked to the curb in favor of Leno seventeen years ago. Conan’s walk-away bounty is reportedly between 40-45 million dollars. If he abides the “no-compete” clause. If NBC releases him from that obligation, they would pay considerably less, and he could land on FOX, HBO or even ABC within months.
“There’s a rumor NBC wants to keep me off the air for three years. If they don’t want anyone to see me, they should just keep me on NBC, Conan quipped on Thursday’s show.
Leno’s punchline on his Thursday show: “Welcome to the new show, ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get me Off NBC.’”
Both flailing shows have gotten a ratings’ boost as the late night tango gets played out in real time. Leno and O’Brien have spent the week taking shots at both network execs and each other. Jimmy Kimmel who donned a Jay Leno costume for his monologue earlier in the week, appeared on Leno’s show Thursday during the “ten at ten” segment. Asked what his favorite prank was, Kimmel answered:”giving a guy my show, then taking it back.” Ouch.
John Stewart and Jimmy Fallon have gotten into the act, too. But the one who seems to be having the most fun with the late night kerfuffle is David Letterman. Oozing two decades worth of battery acid, Dave’s Leno impression–funny in small doses–has already maxed out. If he rides this as long as he rode the Palin jokes, he risks sounding like a bitter old codger. And I’m saying this as a Letterman loyalist. Enough, Dave.
Everyone’s making Jay Leno the bad guy. Even Rosie O’Donnell called Jay out on her blog saying, he was “bullying his way back into college so he play quarterback again.” Of course, she’s got her own ax to grind. Back when Jay first landed the Tonight gig, then NBC chief Brandon Tartikoff proposed she become Leno’s permanent Friday night guest host; Leno nixed the idea.
I guess there’s the prevailing feeling that Conan didn’t get a fair shake. And maybe he didn’t. But why blame Jay? I mean wasn’t Jay the guy who got the shaft five years ago when NBC announced its plans to replace the late night leader–who consistently toppled Letterman in the ratings–with the younger, hipper Conan hoping to pull in younger demographics? Then, in an effort to salvage its tanking prime time line-up and prevent Leno from catapulting to another network, NBC chief Jeff Zucker and company concocted the 10 PM experiment, placing Leno in a nightly talk /variety show they knew wouldn’t compete ratings’ wise with first run network dramas. But the move would save the faltering network beaucoup bucks in scripted programming.
The fault lies with NBC execs. They misplayed their hand from that first ante. Leno didn’t work at ten because the audience ins’t ready for prime time talk. They want drama at that hour and that’s what they’ll primarily get in the new hastily re-configured line-up. Following the Olympic coverage in March, look for a lot of Law & Order in the short term along with Parenthood and a panel show from Jerry Seinfeld called, Marriage Ref.
The truth is Jay’s ratings were just about where everyone figured they’d be. But what Zucker didn’t figure on was how antsy the affiliates would become as their local news numbers suffered from the weak lead-in. That’s the real reason the plug had to be pulled now. That Conan’s ratings were deeper in the dumpster than anticipated–with Letterman, sex scandal and all, routinely routing him to the tune of double digits–was only icing on the falling cake.
In an interview in The New York Times, NBC Universal Sports Chair, Dick Ebersol told Bill Carter NBC” backed the wrong guy” in Conan. He said his efforts to tutor Conan on broadening his style to accommodate the larger older more mainstream audience failed as the stubborn comic refused to expand his act.
There may well be some truth swirling around the network spin, but most outside observers agree, seven months would be too soon to stamp DOA on Conan had there not be a pressing problem with the affiliates.
And whether your on Team Conan, Team Jay or still waiting for Arsenio Hall’s ( or Joan Rivers’)triumphant return, you know the NBC honchos missed the manners boat. That both Conan and Jay received word of the imminent shuffle via the media is inexcusable. I mean what the Zuck? They both deserved a meeting–before the announcement. Or at least a call.
Jeff Zucker is the one whose head should roll. Of course, the way things go, he’ll score a big bail-out bonus.
Editor’s Note: Please follow Amy Beth Arkawy on Twitter, and read this author’s archive on News Junkie Post.
You certainly told it like it is! I don’t know what the NBC Honchos were thinking but they didn’t think it through properly. Conan certainly laid an egg at his new hour. Why couldn’t they leave well enough alone? It wasn’t right that they didn’t let Conan or Leno know before the media announcement, but enough already of all the whining. Don’t we have better things to think/worry about? And of course everybody on TV is going on about it. It’s the next big story after Kate’s Extensions, right?
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