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CONAN O'BRIEN TO TAKE OVER 'TONIGHT SHOW' IN '09

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Waluigi

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CONAN O'BRIEN TO TAKE OVER 'TONIGHT SHOW' IN '09
Mon Sep 27 2004 13:25:11 ET

From Jeff Zucker, issued to NBC staff via email:

Today, we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of our late night franchise "The Tonight Show."

Today also marks another important milestone in our great late night history. In a few moments, we will be issuing a press release announcing our succession plan for this important television institution.

Jay Leno will continue to be at the helm of "The Tonight Show" for another five years, well into 2009, after which time Conan O'Brien will become the host of "The Tonight Show." Jay will officially make the announcement on his show tonight.

After that, it's back to work as usual for Jay, Conan and their teams, who will continue to provide us laughs for many more years.

I canÕt say enough about this late night team and these two men - especially Jay Leno - who worked tirelessly with us to help us find the appropriate time to make this announcement.

Thanks to both men we have a very bright future in late night!

X X X X X

NBC LATE NIGHT SUCCESSION PLAN ANNOUNCED: JAY LENO TO TURN OVER 'THE TONIGHT SHOW' TO CONAN O'BRIEN IN 2009

September 27, 2004 -- Burbank, CA -- In 2009, after what will then be a 17-year run as "America's Late Night Leader," Jay Leno has announced that he will turn over "The Tonight Show" to Conan O'Brien. Leno will officially make the announcement during this evening's "Tonight Show" - a show that also celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the late night institution.

Said Leno: "In 2009, I'll be 59 years-old and will have had this dream job for 17 years. When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60."

"It is a great accomplishment and testament to both Jay and Conan that we were able to all work together on a long-term plan for this important institution," said NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker. "We look forward to more years of laughs from Jay and are thrilled to have Conan's future be as part of the NBC family."

"Late night talent is a rare commodity," echoed NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. "Cultivating it and keeping it has always been a priority here and with this announcement, we couldn't be in a better place."

Conan O'Brien has signed a new contract with the network in a long-term deal that will keep him at the helm of the critically-acclaimed and top-rated "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" for the next five years and then has him taking over has host of "The Tonight Show" from Leno.

"'The Tonight Show' is one of the great franchises in television and I am thrilled to get this opportunity," said O'Brien. "I am thankful to everyone at NBC - which has been my home for the last eleven years - and I am particularly grateful to Jay for all the generous support and kindness he has always shown me."

Rick Ludwin, Senior Vice President, Late Night and Primetime Series, NBC Entertainment added, "Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien continue to be the most successful combination in all of late night. With today's announcement about Conan, we have locked in the future of this daypart for years to come."

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" continues to dominate late night and has won nine television seasons in a row, 34 consecutive sweep months and 36 consecutive quarters (including ties) with its largest 18-49 audience in three years and its largest 18-34 audience in four years.

In its eleven years on the air, "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" has dominated its time period, winning every quarter and every sweep month over that period. For the 2003-04 season, "Late Night" averaged 2.5 million viewers (nearly one million viewers ahead of its nearest competition) and won by a 71% margin among adults 18-49, its highest in five years and his adult 18-34 audience was "Late Night's" biggest in six years.

On its 50th Anniversary, "The Tonight Show" continues to be the most dominant late night institution in television history. Since it first premiered on September 27, 1954 with Steve Allen, "The Tonight Show" has had just four permanent hosts, including Jay Leno. Allen, host of the then titled "Tonight," eventually left late night to start his own primetime variety series on NBC. Jack Paar premiered on July 29, 1957. On October 1, 1962, Johnny Carson stepped on stage for day one of his nearly thirty-year tenure as host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Jay Leno, who began guest-hosting "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in September 1987, became host of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on May 25, 1992. Conan O'Brien joined NBC as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" in 1988 and premiered as host of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on September 13, 1993.
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Edit: Second source (CNN)
 
I just read this a few minutes ago.

I am happy that they are keeping conan on nbc and eventually giving him the tonight show. There had been rumors of him taking over after letterman if this had not gone through.
 
PlaceofDis said:
im not a huge Leno fan, but i love Conan so im happy to hear this!
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I'm not a fan of either. Wonder if Leno will be able to get off the stage like Johnny Carson. Others need to follow his lead.
 
wdlove said:
I'm not a fan of either. Wonder if Leno will be able to get off the stage like Johnny Carson. Others need to follow his lead.
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I like conan's self-depricating humor. I also like the skits because they are just so ridiculous and pointless. The show was better when andy richter was still on it.
 
I love Conan and think he deserves the Tonight Show, but will the Tonight audience which is usually older adults get the humor. Conan managed to survive because being on at 12:35 you can take risks and I wonder if he will have to tone down his material for 11:30. Plus will Max tag along or do we have to deal with Kevin.
 
MacNut said:
I love Conan and think he deserves the Tonight Show, but will the Tonight audience which is usually older adults get the humor. Conan managed to survive because being on at 12:35 you can take risks and I wonder if he will have to tone down his material for 11:30. Plus will Max tag along or do we have to deal with Kevin.
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I agree, this is amazing news. I am a huge Conan fan, but I wonder how the tonight show audience will respond to him...
 
Great news for Conan, since I'm a big fan of his show, and can't stand the blah humor of Jay Leno's Tonight Show. I know Conan is allowed to get away with much of his humor because it is late at night, but hopefully by 2009 the network will allow him to keep that at an earlier time slot, without forcing him to turn it down a notch.
 
I agree with all the above and actually wonder why they don't make the swap sooner. Leno is disappointing, at best.

Does anyone remember the hub-bub surrounding the initial announcement that Conan would take over the slot he now occupies?

Of course, Letterman had been in that slot until NBC shafted him by giving Leno the Carson gig.

Conan was a relative nobody - writer at SNL - and he wasn't well received early on.

Nice to see him doing so well and I think the audience will be cool with him. Letterman was just as quirky in his day when he moved to the 11:35 slot on CBS and his audience just tuned in an hour earlier.
 
What I like about Conan is that he's genuinely funny. Has anyone ever heard his stand-up act? Its funnier than his show, so the humour that goes into his show, as good as it is, isn't even as good as what Conan can do.

And as Conan was the head writer of The Simpsons at it's peak, I think NBC have a winner.

Actually, this was a no-brainer to begin with. When Leno was thinking about retirement a few years ago, Conan was thought to take over. Who else could do it, right? Then Leno renewed his contract and Conan was still at the 12:30 time slot and was fine with that, probably because he knew that he would get the 11:30 slot.....it was just a matter of waiting it out.
 
Conan's my favorite of late night tv, but I also like Letterman too. I remember the recent thread about Conan doing the Walker Texas Ranger clips :D :D I'm sure Conan may have to bring his material down a little for the audience, like, maybe they won't be able to do the masterbating bear anymore :rolleyes: :D
 
Off topic

This is off-topic, but I just noticed ABSTRACT's signature line and have a question - If you fart and no one is there to hear it, does it still SMELL? :D
 
This poses a problem, for me at least, in 2009. Will I have called the satellite guy to finally put a multiswitch on my DirecTV TiVo so I can record both programs simultaneously? It's been on my mind for over a year now...
 
conan will do wonderful things with the time slot. it's nice to see groundbreaking, innovative comedy getting respect. the real question is who do you look to groom for the late nite slot once conan takes over the tonight show? carson daily is a name-dropping tool with zero charisma and no interviewing skills.

if it was next year, i'd say dave chappelle, but who knows what his staying power will be. how about jon stewart? sara silverman? amy sedaris?
 
off-topic

OldManJimbo said:
This is off-topic, but I just noticed ABSTRACT's signature line and have a question - If you fart and no one is there to hear it, does it still SMELL? :D
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well you are there to smell and hear it so yes it does!!!
 
Awesome Awesome Awesome

Jay is such a talentless hack. I'll be glad when he's gone!

Also, this means that Conan will be on earlier. 12:30 is just too late for people that have to be up at 6am...
 
ejb190 said:
Eh, I always liked Craig Killborn better than Conan...
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Kilborn had some good stuff but after a while it got stale. Conan keeps reinventing his show especially after Andy left he managed to hold it together solo. Although I do miss the staring contests
 
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