Don’t let the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly fool you — Jay Leno didn’t go the Don King route with his hair suddenly.
EW has ranked NBC’s move to put Leno on at 10 p.m. at the top of its list of “TV’s 50 Biggest Bombs Ever”. Though it seems fairly obvious, EW wraps up why it chose the Leno debacle nicely:
It destroyed not only five hours of primetime programming, but also the local newscasts that followed. However, the floppage of the move doesn’t even stop there: The Tonight Show ratings with Leno’s replacement at 11:35, Conan O’Brien, also took a 50 percent dip. And NBC’s attempt to remedy the situation was just as ugly—asking Conan to move back a half-hour to 12:05am so Jay could return to 11:35.
USA Today‘s Lifeline Live blog gave us a preview by posting the top 10, including Fox taking Family Guy off the air twice and the extremely horrible American adaptation of the great BBC sitcom Coupling. (I have yet to forgive for that.)
This is Conan O’Brien’s last week on The Tonight Show.
I’ve been following the NBC late-night meltdown just like everyone else, watching all the jokes about it on TV — Jimmy Kimmel’s sharp-elbowed appearance on Jay Leno being the highlight — along with the kibitzing from network elders, ranging from Fred Silverman — who heaped blame on NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker — to NBC sports guru Dick Ebersol, who trashed O’Brien, calling him “chicken-hearted and gutless” for taking a few jabs at Leno.
Conan is finally a free man, getting a big payoff (estimated between $30 million to $40 million) while Leno gets to return (after the Winter Olympics) to his old 11:35 p.m. time slot.
(And speaking of big payoffs, I can only wonder how many office pools have sprouted up in the past few weeks, with over and under bets on how long Zucker, who got everyone into this fine mess in the first place, keeps his job after the Comcast takeover is completed.)
But what about Conan? He clearly emerges with a big reservoir of sympathy as the poor guy (yes, the extremely highly paid poor guy) who got the shaft, losing his show after just months on the job. Read the full story
Conan O'Brien is insisting on severance deals for his 'Tonight Show' staff.
The sticking point in Conan O’Brien’s complex exit negotiations with NBC involves his TV staff, not Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday.
Although discussions also focused on whether NBC would keep the rights to familiar O’Brien comedy bits including Triumph, O’Brien’s focus was ensuring severance deals for his “Tonight” staff and crew, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
O’Brien is “dug in on that,” the person said.
NBC fired back in a statement, saying “it was Conan’s decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work.”
“We have already agreed to pay millions of dollars to compensate every one of them. This latest posturing is nothing more than a PR ploy,” the network said.
Reports from various news sources say Conan O’Brien will pull in $30 million as he is freed from his NBC contract and clears the way for Jay Leno to return to The Tonight Show.
The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman (via AOL’s PopEater) is reporting the figure, saying O’Brien just needs to sign the deal. The site reports that Universal Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer brokered the deal after talks between O’Brien’s camp and that of NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker came to an impasse.
Hollywood gossip site TMZ adds that the deal, while sweet monetarily for O’Brien, prevents the funnyman from trash-talking NBC, among other strings. The network will also insist O’Brien not take on another hosting job for a set period.
Rosie O’Donnell is no fan of Jay Leno. She didn’t like his previous stewardship of the Tonight Show and she’s not thrilled with reports that Leno will bump Conan O’Brien and move back to his old time slot.
According to US Weekly, here’s what Rosie had to say on the matter during an interview Thursday:
“I think he should walk away. If you’re privileged enough to drive the bus, you should say, ‘Thank you’ and drive it to the best of your ability, and when it’s time for them to hire a new driver, you should say ‘Thank you for allowing me to drive this as long as I did’ and pass the keys to the new guy with red hair, and not try to flatten his tires before he even gets going.
“I think shame on [NBC President] Jeff Zucker and really, shame on Jay Leno. I think he’s forgotten his roots and what stand up comedy is about, and graciousness has never been his No. 1 quality. … I think it would serve him well to think about what might happen if he were able to let go and grab on to whatever the next rung is.”
As usual, Rosie took the whole thing one step too far, when asked if she’d want to be a late-night host. “That question today is like asking if I’d want to have a vacation in Haiti. While I hear that’s an enjoyable place, this isn’t the time to go.”
The Washington Post is reporting that Jay Leno is going to return as host of The Tonight Show, if Conan O’Brien doesn’t have a last-minute change of heart.
NBC is now willing to let O’Brien leave the network, and even develop a show with another network, according to the Post.
O’Brien had announced he was unwilling to host The Tonight Show at 12:05 a.m. after NBC announced plans to move Leno from his flagging 10 p.m. show to the 11:35 p.m. spot.
However, the network isn’t letting O’Brien go without a final jab. According to The New York Times, NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said the various moves the network has made in late night are as a result “an astounding failure by Conan.”
Meanwhile, it appears instead of the Leno half-hour at 11:35, NBC will likely have the more traditional schedule of The Tonight Show at that time, followed an hour later by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Last Call with Carson Daly at 1:35.
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Don’t let the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly fool you — Jay Leno didn’t go the Don King route with his hair suddenly.
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Rosie O’Donnell is no fan of Jay Leno. She didn’t like his previous stewardship of the Tonight Show and she’s not thrilled with reports that Leno will bump Conan O’Brien and move back to his old time slot.
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