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[NBC] Goodbye Conan.
Sharp101
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It's like NBC is trying as hard as they can to fuck up.
Here's the letter Conan released today:
What a classy guy. I really love how he explains things and gives a shout-out to Jimmy.
I fully expect him to be off the air for a while. Apparently his contract has no stipulations on what time the Tonight Show will start and has some sort of condition that may keep him from being on another show for a year or more. [source]
All in all, I'm pretty fucking pissed off they are doing this to Conan. There is no reason for Jay to have a show 5 nights a week. He should back off and do a 1 night a week show or some sort of monthy special or something NEW.
Here's the letter Conan released today:
SourcePeople of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.
Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.
But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.
Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. 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.
So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.
There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.
Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.
Yours,
Conan
What a classy guy. I really love how he explains things and gives a shout-out to Jimmy.
I fully expect him to be off the air for a while. Apparently his contract has no stipulations on what time the Tonight Show will start and has some sort of condition that may keep him from being on another show for a year or more. [source]
All in all, I'm pretty fucking pissed off they are doing this to Conan. There is no reason for Jay to have a show 5 nights a week. He should back off and do a 1 night a week show or some sort of monthy special or something NEW.
Sharp101 on
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On another note this makes how many failed shows Andy Richter has been on now?
My introduction to Patton Oswald was Ratatouille.
I'm imagining a small rat explaining all this to me.
It's amusing.
A two hour block of Daily Show / Colbert / Conan certainly seems like a good idea.
Only if Glick is his cohost
a choice quote from this article about how much this Leno show fucked things up:
Didn't they give Chappelle like $25 million per season way back when?
Exactly.
That's a huge step down for Conan, though. In terms Simmons would understand, it's like going from starting for the Celtics to coming off the bench for the Clippers.
Leno's show is so cheap to produce it still makes NBC money, even with the poor ratings. The problem is it's killing the local affiliates, who were going to pull it themselves if NBC didn't.
Zucker's just an idiot, he either didn't realize or didn't care how the change would hurt the locals. He's gutless too - he won't even take the heat over it, instead hiding behind underlings (Gaspin, Bronstad).
Under Conan's current contract NBC would have to make up the difference for like 4 years, so Comedy central could pay him like a dollar and he'd still make his previous money.
Jeff Zucker.
Chappelle moved DVDs and syndication sales like crazy, similar to Seth McFarlane. Daily, topical talk shows don't translate nearly as well to either.
That's if he's fired/removed as Tonight Show host, not if he voluntarily leaves. If he quits, he forfeits that $60M.
It got beaten by extended basic cable. Often. Specifically: 'Sons Of Anarchy', which was a source of WONDERFUL schadenfreude being that I love 'Sons' and think that Leno is a massive cockbag.
Anyway, classy declaration of war by Conan there. If I were in his position, my statement would have read something more akin to Schwarzenegger's 'Hidden Decoder Message' memo.
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This, Conan has a $60 million parachute built into his contract, if NBC has the balls to pull him from the show, they'll have to pay up. Problem is, I don't think it would cover his leaving the show on his own terms, so if he outright resigns, he doesn't get the 60 mil.
And apparently there is nothing in his contract about moving the Tonight Show's timeslot. So if they decide to do it there isn't much Conan can do but quit.
Basically this is going to be awesome, we should be thanking NBC.
CHUCK of all shows has become their highest rated hourly program. Now, I'm not complaining; I really like Chuck. But it's a niche show, it shouldn't be the network's ratings leader. Especially at just 7 million viewers.
maybe it will feature conan setting fire to the tonight show set
my unofficial autobio will be accompanied with tips on how to smile
cause I've found that when they don't see you frown, they never know that you're a threat
and they don't sweat you when you came around
I can see Conan going to Fox, but it's not a cheap move and it would be at least a year out.
Fox would have to revamp some things to support a late night show (they currently have no programming there), and Conan has a non-compete clause in his contract.
Putting Leno back in the top spot is going to turn off a lot of young viewers (Conan's audience) and is a very, very boneheaded move for the long term stability of their late night lineup.
The biggest reasons are that he's known as a pretty big brown-noser, and he has more money than god at this point, so he listens to notes from the execs and doesn't care about his creative integrity.
Currently painting: Space Wolves [flickr]
That $25M included DVD, syndication, etc., rights for the show for seasons 3+, which is where CC/Viacom would have made their money. Season 1 of Chappelle's Show was the first TV show to ever sell 2 million DVDs.
Because Leno held the top spot in late night for 15 years and only moved to primetime because NBC decided to give Conan his spot 5 years ago(long before this shit went down).
The decision to give Conan the Tonight show in 2004? Was that current NBC managment or old NBC managment? They shift all the time don't they?
http://www.noob.us/humor/conan-obrien-patton-oswalt-on-old-women-giving-birth/
Seriously though Conan has been the most tolerable late night talkshow host in my lifetime. By that I mean he is often genuinely funny. I don't like the late night talk show format enough to watch him regularly, but fuck this was a retarded move on NBC's part.
I understand that moving to Comedy Central would be a theoretical step down, purely based on number of viewers, but I'm guessing the guy is living pretty comfortably at this point and I know that network would suit his comedy style so much better.
Well, no there was a decision, as it wasn't in his contract to inherit the Tonight Show until his contract was renewed to include that in 2004. I think that's what Kipling is asking.
And apparently that would have happened under Zucker as well.
Which would leave the door open for Seinfeld to take over the Tonight Show, followed by Jimmy Fallon on Late Night.
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