UPDATE pg 11, post 155, CONAN is COMING TO TBS!!

[auntie]

Let me ask a few questions. I'm not sure on the history of all of this. What roll did Jay Leno really play in giving up the Tonight Show to Conan? Was it in his contract to give it up at a particular time to Conan? I'm assuming it was..then how is he came to be doing a show at 10 PM? NBC wanted to keep him on? Why then didn't they try to change the commitment they had to put Conan in Leno's place...and just extend Jay's contract?
Does Jay want to have the 11:30 time slot back? Or..would he be happy if NBC let him keep the 10:00 pm time slot?
I don't see either of these guys as the "bad guy" here. Seems management really screwed up. First not keeping Jay on to begin with..and having renegotiated their commitment to Conan. Secondly for thinking 10:00 for Jay would work out well for anyone.
I wonder also...can Jay walk away from this if he wanted to? Is he obligated by contract to do the Jay Leno Show at anytime that NBC says he has too?
I think the classy thing to do would be for Jay to let it go..and let Conan have his shot. If..and that's a big "if"...he wasn't going to be penalized by NBC for it. I say this even though I prefer Jay to Conan.

 

[chisnpeke]

Let me ask a few questions. I'm not sure on the history of all of this. What roll did Jay Leno really play in giving up the Tonight Show to Conan? Was it in his contract to give it up at a particular time to Conan? I'm assuming it was..then how is he came to be doing a show at 10 PM? NBC wanted to keep him on? Why then didn't they try to change the commitment they had to put Conan in Leno's place...and just extend Jay's contract?
Does Jay want to have the 11:30 time slot back? Or..would he be happy if NBC let him keep the 10:00 pm time slot?
I don't see either of these guys as the "bad guy" here. Seems management really screwed up. First not keeping Jay on to begin with..and having renegotiated their commitment to Conan. Secondly for thinking 10:00 for Jay would work out well for anyone.
I wonder also...can Jay walk away from this if he wanted to? Is he obligated by contract to do the Jay Leno Show at anytime that NBC says he has too?
I think the classy thing to do would be for Jay to let it go..and let Conan have his shot. If..and that's a big "if"...he wasn't going to be penalized by NBC for it. I say this even though I prefer Jay to Conan.

Conan wanted the Tonight Show at that time or he threatened to leave. They gave Conan the show so they wouldn't lose him.

 

[bicker]

I don't understand why people call Leno "greedy"?

Many folks, when they have a preference, need to demonize whatever might get in the way of getting their preference. This situation, as many others have, has arrayed fans of Leno against fans of O'Brien, and just like the primaries involved in this are using propaganda to try to bring-about the result that they want, so are their fans.

 

[bicker]

Let me ask a few questions. I'm not sure on the history of all of this.

While gaining historical insights is a worthy endeavor, what you're going to find is that almost every answer you get from someone who actually cares about the result of all this is going to be colored by which answer best supports the conclusion that they want you to draw.

A few things that are very clear: There is nothing in any contracts about there being seniority or order of succession. None of the contracts involved mention more than one person, the person who's services the contract is securing. Very specifically, Leno's contract has no mention of O'Brien, and O'Brien's contract has no mention of Leno. None.

Also: What people desire is irrelevant. When it comes down to business, what matters is what people have committed to.

I don't see either of these guys as the "bad guy" here. Seems management really screwed up.

No: No one screwed up. NBC tried to address a critical concern, the need to come up with substantially less-expensive programming. They've tried other things as well. Some things were accepted, others were not. Who knew that people would be willing to watch people lose weight? Of course with 20/20 hindsight, many folks will claim that that was a great idea. But note that many many people vigorously condemn reality television. They simply didn't have the luck of having reality television programming introduced at a time that the network introducing it was in the process of being acquired by a major cable company. That's the whole context of what is going on here: If Comcast wasn't trying to acquire NBC, it is as likely as not that this Leno at 10PM thing would have continued for the full two years, unless the opponents of the idea (and there are always opponents) found some other leverage.

Keep in mind some of the other things that NBC has managed to do to work towards their goal of reducing costs: The no longer present first-run original scripted programming on Saturday nights. They now import television shows (The Listener, The Philanthropist, etc.) made for other countries, with actors paid based on that other country's pay scales and terms and conditions. And they run Dateline NBC several times per week.

 

[AustinTink]

TEAM CONAN!!!

We're up to 81,000 fans today. Woot!!

 

[bicker]

Only 1,068,000 to go before it registers with the advertisers!

 

[AustinTink]

Only 1,068,000 to go before it registers with the advertisers!

It's called a fan page, Bicker. Everyone knows it won't change things. Geez.

 

[bicker]

Does "everyone" know that? I'm chatting with some of those fans, this week, in some of the television-focused online forums, and it almost seems that they believe that their buying a t-shirt is going to change the course of what's going on.

There's one guy who keeps claiming that Leno must submit, because (and I am quoting), "It is Conan's turn." He's not joking. He's not speaking euphemistically. He's serious about this being practically a matter of orderly succession. I think it is safe to say that there is a very wide spectrum of perspective on this issue. I don't think any generalizations really apply very well to any of the various sides of the issue.

 

[momrek06]

We're up to 81,000 fans today. Woot!!

WooHooTy!!!!!!!!!!

 

[momrek06]

Conan O'Brien Likely To End Hosting The Tonight Show on January 22, 2010

We've got Tonight? Not after Jan. 22.
Conan O'Brien's last night as host of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien will likely be next Friday, a source close to O'Brien tells PEOPLE.

"Conan does not currently plan on doing any more new shows after next week,” says the source.

According to NBC, a pre-scheduled hiatus for the program starting on Jan. 25 has been on the calendar for months.

"Everyone is working as usual in getting the show on," says a source at the Tonight Show.

On Tuesday, the host released a statement saying that he would not go along with NBC's plan for him to host a relocated Tonight Show at 12:05 a.m., following The Jay Leno Show at 11:35 p.m.

"I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is [The Tonight Show's] destruction," said O'Brien.

If Jan. 22 is indeed O'Brien's final broadcast, the show will have ended two weeks before NBC’s scheduled preemption for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage.



http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20336890,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

 

[amg35]

Does "everyone" know that? I'm chatting with some of those fans, this week, in some of the television-focused online forums, and it almost seems that they believe that their buying a t-shirt is going to change the course of what's going on.

There's one guy who keeps claiming that Leno must submit, because (and I am quoting), "It is Conan's turn." He's not joking. He's not speaking euphemistically. He's serious about this being practically a matter of orderly succession. I think it is safe to say that there is a very wide spectrum of perspective on this issue. I don't think any generalizations really apply very well to any of the various sides of the issue.

I had an inkling, but now I know for sure, Bicker is....Jay Leno!!!!!!!

 

[irishbosoxfan]

So let me ask this....Is the Tonight Show done now? Will Leno keep his new show or will they put him back onto the Tonight Show? And if he goes back to the TS what will they do with the dead air time?

 

[bicker]

I had an inkling, but now I know for sure, Bicker is....Jay Leno!!!!!!!

I'd sure love to have his garage.

 

[auntie]

Isn't Conan breaching his contract if he walks? I mean if the air time of the show wasn't in the contract..just that he is to be the host of the "Tonight Show"..then isn't he the one breaching the contract if he refuses to do the show in the later time slot?

I didn't really care for the hosts taking shots at one another...like they did last night. Taking shots at NBC is one thing....they deserve it. Since both of them are obligated by contract to perform for NBC...seems to me they're both suffering the consequences of bad, shortsighted management.
I mean what's Jay Leno supposed to do, if they want to cancel him at 10:00 or move him to later time slot? Isn't he as much under contract to NBC as Conan?

I think NBC deserves to see them BOTH walk away.

 

[DebbieB]

According to TMZ, NBC has negotiated with Jay Leno to take the Tonight Show back, 11:35-12:35 and Conan is out.

http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/14/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-the-tonight-show/

I've always liked Jay Leno but always seemed to be doing something else at 10:00 to watch him then. I'm glad he's back to 11:35, if I'm up that late I watch his monologue before going to sleep. I never warmed up to Conan.

 

[ShootingStarMom2]

Team Conan! I can't stand Jay Leno anymore. He had his shot at his new show and it bombed. Now they don't want to "lose him" so they are giving him the TS timeslot back? They should have just left it alone.

Loved the Letterman top 10 about it. Guess I'll just watch that instead.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I couldn't figure out why they moved everyone in the first place, the shows seemed fine as they were. I stopped watching both of them when they moved, it wasn't time for that yet. Maybe 5 years from now, or even 10, but it seemed odd to do it now.

 

[beattyfamily]

Team Conan!!!

I now think Jay is a jerk. He caused all of this. He should have bowed out gracefully and retired like he said he was going to when he chose Conan to take his place. He made a bigger mess than when he took over the Tonight Show so many years ago (when he was chosen over Letterman).

Between Jay and Letterman, I watched Letterman and when Conan took over, I watched him over Letterman. Now I guess I'll go back to Letterman.

NBC (and Jay) screwed up big time. Oh well.

Conan up-rooted his family and his crew only to get screwed over.

I hope he gets a show that competes with Jay and WINS!

 

[bicker]

I couldn't figure out why they moved everyone in the first place, the shows seemed fine as they were.

Conan insisted on being promised the Tonight Show. The implied threat was that he would go to another network and present new competition for the show. By promising him that he'd have his shot, he stayed with NBC and didn't compete against them.

 

[DebbieB]

I couldn't figure out why they moved everyone in the first place, the shows seemed fine as they were. I stopped watching both of them when they moved, it wasn't time for that yet. Maybe 5 years from now, or even 10, but it seemed odd to do it now.

They were going to lose Conan a couple of years ago so they promised him The Tonight Show to keep him. His ratings have not been good so they decided to cut their losses and put things back the way they were (except Conan is gone).

I watched the first few minutes of Conan last night and I just don't like him, he reminds me of an elf.