. Four years ago, NBC announced that Leno would pass The Tonight Show over to Late Night host O'Brien. Leno was given his own show to air in primetime at 10:00 pm beginning in the fall of 2009. O’Brien took over as host of the Tonight Show in June of 2009. Two weeks ago, NBC announced that The Jay Leno Show was going to be cancelled and they planned to put him on another show that would air at 11:35 pm, pushing the rest of their late night programming back 30 minutes. O’Brien was not happy to hear this and refused to allow his show to be bumped a half-hour later; following Leno yet again. In his public statement last week, he expressed "enormous personal disappointment" and added, "I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is (Tonight's) destruction." I agree with Conan that airing The Tonight Show at 12:05am would mean that it was no longer The Tonight Show, it would be more like the really early today show.
I watched this whole debacle play out in late night programming over the past two weeks. I believe that NBC is handling the whole situation wrong. It’s their fault that Conan’s Tonight Show is failing. He did not have the lead-in ratings Leno had from scripted shows. Conan had poor lead-in ratings from Jay’s show—which was also causing poorer ratings for the news casts. When Leno takes over The Tonight Show again, he will have the lead-in from Law and Order. That’s simply unfair.
I have gained a lot more respect for O’Brien—my favorite late night host after Chelsea Handler. He has handled the whole ordeal with class for the most part. He at least was willing to step down so that Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night would not suffer the consequences of the move. I feel that Leno should have been the one to step down. He gave up the show; if he didn’t want to, he should never have agreed to it. It’s been interesting to see most of the media, also take O’Brien’s side. He and the other late night hosts have been able to create a lot of good material from the fiasco. They have really been taking aim at NBC and Leno. Jimmy Kimmel—who at one point had been friendly with Leno—even went so far as to insult him on his own show. "Listen, Jay, Conan and I have children....You've got $800 million. For God's sake, leave our shows alone!"
O’Brien said hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and reminded the kids in the audience, "You can do anything you want in life; unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too.”
NBC announced today that the network had reached an agreement with O’Brien. The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien will end tomorrow after seven months of being on the air. I’m really I glad I had the chance to attend a taping of his show when I was in California back in August. My t-shirt’s value will likely increase…I suppose you could consider that an upside.
O’Brien struck a deal worth around $45 million, with around $33 million for himself and the other $12 million in staff severence payments—most of his staff moved from New York to California for the show.
Well, I think this was a bad move in all for NBC. Jay Leno’s image is tarnished for the time being and possibly for good. I personally hope he tanks when he returns in March, after the Winter Olympics. I fully intend to follow O’Brien to which ever network he sets up shop. I’m with Coco!
