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Jay Leno is kicking Conan O'Brien out of NBC

Multiple sources now reporting NBC will announce Conan's departure and Leno's return to "The Tonight Show" tomorrow.

Conan reportedly gets:

- Between $25 and $40 million
- NBC waives exclusive rights, he can work at competing network as early as September

Leno returns to The Tonight Show March 1. Conan's last show is January 22.
 
jaw04005 said:
Multiple sources now reporting NBC will announce Conan's departure and Leno's return to "The Tonight Show" tomorrow.

Conan reportedly gets:

- Between $25 and $40 million
- NBC waives exclusive rights, he can work at competing network as early as September

Leno returns to The Tonight Show March 1. Conan's last show is January 22.
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Do you have a link for this.
 
Front page of TMZ.

Part of me wonders if the rumors that Jay was getting a half-hour show from 11:30-12:00 were just that, and Zucker/NBC were intending to hand the show back to Leno and kick Conan out the door from the beginning.
 
Brien said:
Front page of TMZ.

Part of me wonders if the rumors that Jay was getting a half-hour show from 11:30-12:00 were just that, and Zucker/NBC were intending to hand the show back to Leno and kick Conan out the door from the beginning.
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My guess is NBC wanted to get rid of Conan. Jay Leno would have NEVER accepted a half hour show.

[edit]

From MSNBC :

NBC reportedly agrees to pay Conan $30M

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34886438/ns/entertainment-television/

The network has agreed to pay O'Brien $30 million to vacate the 11:35 p.m. "Tonight Show," individuals involved in the negotiations have told TheWrap.

The deal, which may still be in the process of finalization, could be announced as early as Friday.

[/edit]
 
I find it funny how people get so worked up over two comedians whose best years are long behind them.
 
rdowns said:
I find it funny how people get so worked up over two comedians whose best years are long behind them.
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I'll agree with that. Kinda sorta.

I don't think Conan's best years are behind him. I do not like Jay Leno. He is a pompous ass.
Johnny Carson made the Tonight Show and had class. He wanted Letterman to take over the show but NBC decided different with Leno. Letterman proceeded to move to CBS and helped it become the number 1 network.

Leno can piss off as far as I'm concerned. I've never liked him and now I like him even less.
 
I find it funny that so many people are coming out in support of O'Brien, but his rating were half of what Leno had when he left. If O'Brien was successful they would never look at putting Leno back on the show.

Personally I thought that Conan O'Brien worked well on Late Night, but just didn't seem like the right person for the Tonight Show. There will be some backlash, but I would say within a couple of months Leno will start pulling better numbers then O'Brien could ever pull. A lot of viewers "don't get" O'Brien and never will.

NBC should have never made the swap in the first place. Sure O'Brien may have wanted an earlier show on another network, but in the end it probably would have been more cost effective to pay him what was needed to stay on Late Night then to go through all of this. Eventually in a few years when Leno was truly old enough for retirement then a much smoother transition could have taken place. You don't make decisions 5 years ahead of time. NBC has to be one of the most poorly run companies I have ever seen. Why isn't the CEO being fired???
 
Don't forget that NBC as a network is failing, When Leno was in his prime the network was number 1 in prime time. A lot of that carried over to late night. Now the network is in last place. Conan never had a good lead in and not enough time to find his way with the Tonight Show. If Leno was not on at 10 and NBC has better shows in prime time I bet Conan would have had a better shot. He was screwed from the start.

It really was the perfect storm for Leno in the 90's. Hit shows for NBC gave Leno a good lead in so he didn't have to be great. Plus the fact that he had the show for 16 years. Leno wasn't always number 1. It took him 2 years to beat Letterman. Conan had what 7 months?
 
MacNut said:
Don't forget that NBC as a network is failing, When Leno was in his prime the network was number 1 in prime time. A lot of that carried over to late night. Now the network is in last place. Conan never had a good lead in and not enough time to find his way with the Tonight Show. If Leno was not on at 10 and NBC has better shows in prime time I bet Conan would have had a better shot. He was screwed from the start.

It really was the perfect storm for Leno in the 90's. Hit shows for NBC gave Leno a good lead in so he didn't have to be great. Plus the fact that he had the show for 16 years. Leno wasn't always number 1. It took him 2 years to beat Letterman. Conan had what 7 months?
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It's all BS. IMO, it was a business decision handled about as poorly as you possibly could. The Times has a good article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/business/media/15conan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
 
Does hulu count towards ratings? The reason leno beat letterman is NBC vs CBS
 
I think conan kills leno on hulu. People that watch hulu really watch. People that watch it on tv just watch what's on
 
rdowns said:
Why would Hulu count in the ratings?




WTF? CBS is the #1 rated network, NBC is #4. The reason Leno beat Letterman is more people prefer Leno. :rolleyes:
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Not in Leno's prime. CBS was near the bottom in the 90's.
 
You asked for a link above. I believe I was reading Hollywood Reporter, but practically every other news agency has a similar story. Here's one from the Mercury News:

http://www.mercurynews.com/celebrities/ci_14208283

MacNut said:
Not in Leno's prime. CBS was near the bottom in the 90's.
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True. Although the days of Friends, Frasier, Will and Grace, Seinfeld, ER, Mad About You, etc are long over for NBC. It's nuts they used to be the #1 network.

Leno's been on so long, Cheers and The Cosby Show were still in prime time when he took over for Carson.
 
chstr said:
I think conan kills leno on hulu. People that watch hulu really watch. People that watch it on tv just watch what's on
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And NBC couldn't care less about that. They make tens or hundreds of thousand of dollars via Hulu, they make millions selling ads for TV.
 
Let's face it folks. This entire fiasco may force the hand of GE management (and soon Comcast management!) and we could see a lot of heads rolling at NBC. Say goodbye to NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker, and NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol could go along with him.
 
Abercrombieboy said:
Personally I thought that Conan O'Brien worked well on Late Night, but just didn't seem like the right person for the Tonight Show.
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I fully agree with that...they should never have messed with the lineup/hosting...it was just working that way it was.
frown.gif
 
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