Though NBC was expected to make an announcement by today about a possible resolution to the ongoing negotiations with Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno gave an unexpected update in tonight’s monologue about the genesis of his primetime show and where everything stands. The network just released the following transcript from tonight’s installment of The Jay Leno Show:
“I thought maybe I should address this — at least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC. Oh, let’s start in 2004 — 2004, I’m sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, ‘Listen, Conan O’Brien has gotten offers from other networks. We don’t want him to go, so we’re going to give him The Tonight Show.’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve been No. 1 for 12 years.’ They said, ‘We know that, but we don’t think you can sustain that.’ I said, ‘Okay. How about until I fall to No. 2, then you fire me?’ ‘No, we made this decision.’ I said, ‘That’s fine.’ Don’t blame Conan O’Brien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked, and not a problem since then. That’s what managers and people do; they try to get something for their clients. I said, ‘I’ll retire, just to avoid what happened the last time.’ Okay.
“So time goes by, and we stay No. 1 up until the day we leave. We hand… [applause here] No, no. Okay, but I’m leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else — I would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else. I said to NBC, ‘Would you release me from my contract.’ They said, ‘We want to keep you here.’ Okay. What are your ideas? They said, ‘How about prime time?’ I said, ‘That will never work.’ ‘No, no, we want to put you on at 10:00. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10:00. Look at these studies showing Jay’s chin at 10:00. People will go crazy.’ Didn’t seem like a good idea at the time. I said, ‘All right, can I keep my staff?’ There are 175 people that work here. I said, ‘Can I keep my staff?’ ‘Yes, you can. Let’s try it. We guarantee you two years on the air, guaranteed. Now for the first four or five months against original shows like CSI, you’ll get killed, but in the spring and summer when the reruns come, that’s when you’ll pick up.’ Okay, great. I agree to that.
“Four months go by; we don’t make it. Meanwhile, Conan’s show during the summer — we’re not on — was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didn’t help him any, okay. They come and go, ‘This show isn’t working. We want to let you go.’ ‘Can you let me out of my contract?’ ‘No, you’re still a valuable asset to this company.’ ‘How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be?’ Okay. So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. They’re the ones that sort of make the decisions; they’re not happy with your performance and Conan is not doing well at 11:30. I said, ‘What’s your idea?’ They said, ‘Well, look, how about you do a half-hour show at 11:30?’ Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you don’t do it well… I think we did a good job here, but we didn’t’ get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, ‘Okay, I’m not crazy about doing a half hour, but okay. What do you want to do with Conan?’ ‘We’ll put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps The Tonight Show, does all that, he gets the whole hour.’ I said, ‘Okay. You think Conan will go for that?’ ‘Yes, yes. [laughter from the audience] Almost guarantee you.’ I said okay. Shake hands, that’s it. I don’t have a manager, I don’t have an agent, that’s my handshake deal.
“Next thing I see, Conan has a story in the paper saying he doesn’t want to do that. They come back to me and they say, ‘If he decides to walk and doesn’t want to do it, do you want the show back?’ I go, ‘Yeah, I’ll take the show back. If that’s what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.’ So that’s pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30; I’m not sure. I don’t know. [applause] I don’t know. But through all of this — through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy. I have no animosity towards him. This is all business. If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air. I think you know this town, you can do almost anything. You get ratings, they keep you. I don’t get ratings; he wants. That was NBC’s solution. It didn’t work, so we might have an answer for you tomorrow. So, we’ll see. That’s basically where it is.”
Ugh.
Just a situation that could have been much easier than Jay lightly stating he planned to retire, they say no, he agrees and goes with the primetime plan. HE SHOULD HAVE JUST RETIRED
why should he they still would be getting rid of Coco. Will see if Coco says anything about Jay half as nice I doubt he will
You think those comments were genuine? You could read right through them like a glass window.
This post really shows the immaturity of Conan’s fans. Too bad he didn’t have this many rabid supporters watching his show!
I’m a fan of both and I agree with you AK. This is to save face in preparation for taking back the Tonight Show. He’s already starting to try and woo the audience back. It’s sad.
Jay isn’t nice–he’s manipulative. Conan has more integrity in his eyelash than Leno & those NBC buffoons put together. Not that they think they need any integrity—they seem to have gotten by just fine without it so far.
While I think that’s a fabulous idea, I think a better idea is to give it to Craig Ferguson. That man just kills it every night. So natural.
Get outta here Craig
Watch Jay leno show on hulu.com so NBC cant detect ratings. screw local channel marketing lies
Jay Leno and NBC can go take a flying f*** at the moon.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No matter what is said hee the bottom line is this: JAY IN and COCO THE GIANT LEPRECHAUN–OUT!!!!
*here*
Conan was the one who put his newly-moved-to-LA crew out of work by refusing the 12:05 hourlong slot. What a mean thing to do … Jay has always been amenable to change, while Conan, who ruined the cash cow Tonight Show, wouldn’t take NBC’s gracious offer to stay. What a blowhard!
Uh, Conan didn’t kill The Tonight Show. People stopped watching NBC because they didn’t want to see Leno on earlier. Leno lost that audience for Conan. Did you SEE Leno’s ratings drop? Conan’s followed. And actually it’s NBC that isn’t allowing change. They’re trying to hold onto the past while creating something new at the same time. You can’t do both at once.
Conan’s ratings didn’t drop because of Leno. If anything, they didn’t get any better because of Leno. Conan’s Tonight was on months before Jay’s Show and the ratings were down then.
For me, the only ass here is NBC. Yes, Jay Leno could have just retired but I don’t think you understand these comedians. They are workaholics and Jay especially. He doesn’t take vacation time off and he went to the hospital and took a day off only because he was forced to. Trust me, a lot of comedians and a lot of these late night guys, Letterman included, would keep working until the day they died if they were given the opportunity.
I would have liked to see Jay decline the offer for 11:30 with the Jay Leno Show and said like Conan did, that pushing the Tonight Show to the next day and at another hour ruins the shows legacy.
I think that Conan’s decision to walk away from 12:05 and thus leaving his crew potentially without jobs wasn’t an easy one, but his reasons were just. He shouldn’t continue doing business with a network that has so little faith in him. His comedy isn’t liked by a wide audience, but those who love it- well we think he’s hilarious. And because not everyone will get it after their first 5 minutes of him, he deserves to have a network that has his back and trusts him.
I still think Jay’s a good guy and he didn’t make his decision based on his ego. Those that really do think he didn’t have his crew in mind and factors other than himself are those that have just hated Leno even from before this incident. There’s no changing that.
Loyalty to Conan doesn’t mean we have to hate Leno.
Hannah, I wanna have like, fifty, of your babies. Seriously, you sound hot.
well get over here skiiboski and lick my clam !
Well said, Hannah. This is exactly what both CoCo fans and Jay fans need to hear.
Really if you look at it, Conan is the lucky one in this mess. Granted his dream job has come to an end (sad, sad), he has most of the public and his fans ready to follow him wherever he chooses to go. Jay on the other hand, has had his reputation tarnished as a result of NBC’s mishandling of these shows.
Ta Ta Coco!!
…or, put another way, “Taco Taco”
I will miss my Coco. But he will return to take over the world on another network. Hopefully HBO.
Conie can replace Letterboy when he retires? I’ve always said Cold Cocoa wants to be Davie when he grows up, and Davie wants to be funny when *he* grows up. Well, I quit listening to Letterman about the time Cher called him an a-hole to his face on his show (I only wish I’d seen that particular broadcast, only read about it), but I recently tuned in and found that indeed he had seemed to have matured out of his smug smirky oh look at me I’m so cute and funny phase (a la Tom Bergeron and Norm MacDonald) – only to find that now Paul Shaffer is developing senile echolalia Ed McMahon dementia, piping up with “You are correct sir!” several times during every monologue, and Davie is developing Don Rickles delusional paranoia fixated on Jay Leno. I’ll no longer watching him any more again. It’ll be interesting to see where Conie and his lustful auto-erotic bear, when the O’Beast one reverts back to type after masquerading as a real talk show host unsuccessfully for a few months, finds work as his true self – a failed National Lampoon writer.
> Hopefully HBO …
As long as it’s not ABC, FOX, CBS, or CW, where I might accidentally catch sight of him whilst channel surfing. I have a weak stomach and a problem with high blood pressure, and I’ve had quite enough of his faux “comedy” over the years. The only thing that was remotely funny about his late show was the casting of the fake movies. Other than that, it was adolescent bits that catered to his adolescent audience (remember when he went to Chicago(?) and almost couldn’t control that huge audience? That and all the time he spent talking about himself during his interviews. I me I me my I me my. Me Me Me. I actually saw someone here blame his poor Tonight Show ratings on Leno’s poor performance 90 minutes earlier. That, my friends is called Denial. It’s not just a river in Egypt. Sheesh.
So Jay, why agree to something you know won’t work? And you did it TWICE!! NBC told you to roll over & you did. COCO don’t play that way. He has ballz baby!
Obviously working at Taco Bell or whatever low level job you have, you don’t have a clue about contracts. He’s contractually stuck with NBC who won’t release him so he could work elsewhere, and if he did retire 175 people would be out of work. What is so hard to understand about that.
@amadeline: Actually, Jay’s initial contract (which Jay & NBC have now changed)said NBC had to pay Jay an $80 million penalty if the network canceled “The Jay Leno Show” prematurely (I can’t remember if it was before a year or before two years). I don’t know if there was a non-compete clause in the contract, and if so, how long it was for, but Jay certainly wouldn’t be in a terrible position if he decided to say no to NBC.
With that $80 million, Jay could pay those 175 people some $450,000 or so and retire without feeling guilty. Heck, he could just pay everyone $100,000 and still have a little left over for himself (about $78 million).
Know your facts before you start bad-mouthing someone else.
Obviously working at Mcdonalds you don’t understand that JAY IS A LIAR! They offered to let him out of his contract early, and he refused. And even if they had not, it would have cost Jay about 100,000. To get out of his contract and retire, Do I need to explain to you how rich he is?
You better check your math jjv. 175x$100,000=$17.5 million, not $2 million.
Amadeline, Leno is playing politics just as much as the next man. You honestly think this is exactly how it all went down?
Better idea, Letterman is the older. He should retire and Conan get his show.
Hell no, Craig Ferguson’s much better then Letterman, Leno & Conan put together! Let him replace Letterman!
Get outa here Craig
Better idea: since Ferguson is the funniest fun gi on late night tv in a very long time, let him replace O’Brien *and* Leno. Start fresh. It’d be the best thing for the show, the network, and eventually, Leno would realize, retirement (at least from late night) would be the best thing for him. I’m sure that CBS would snap up O’Boring for Ferguson’s show, with Letterman’s papal blessing, he’d talk about how The Boy Has Been So Very Very Wronged By Beezeleno, and they would eventually realize their mistake too, and start running crime show reruns after Davie’s show until they could lure Jimmy Kimmel from ABC, who would then lure O’BadBoy, until *they* realized … etc. He’d be the foster child that nobody keeps very long because “well, Ms. Social Worker, he’s a nice kid, but he just doesn’t seem to fit in with our family, and he’s just not popular with … well, with anyone, ‘cept for the bad unruly kids, y’know?”
Good thing Johnny Carson didn’t move to prime time when he retired. Cause it took Jay about 3 years to climb to #1 in the ratings.
Johnny just rolled over in his grave. Jay has ruined the ‘Tonight Show’ legacy by dragging out this soap opera. Jay could have simply retired and left the show for Conan. It would be unfortunate that 175 people would have to look for new jobs but that is the way it works. He is not personally responsible to keep 175 people employed. That is just the excuse he uses to feed his own ego.
Now the same amount of people will be out of jobs at Conan’s show. And a whole new crew was hired for Jimmy Fallon. I don’t think we can make this all about employment and “saving jobs”.
I can understand Jay’s concern about the 175 people that work for him, but what about the people who work for Conan? Not only are they out of a job, but they were uprooted from NYC to LA. Hopefully Conan got a deal for them along with his golden parachute. Jay should cough up some dough too IMHO.
Also, he didn’t seem to care about the crew members and everyone involved in the prime-time shows that were canceled to make room for The Jay Leno Show.
We and NBC don’t want any more Conan. retire him to some obscure cable channel. Not that Jay is so great, but Conan sucks. Craig Ferguson is entertaining, same for Jimmy Fallon.
@viewer. you shouldn’t smoke crack so early in the afternoon. and it seems you smoke it again during fallon’s show. he’s very likeable. but his show is TERRIBLE. he is awkward. not conan awkward, but crickets chirping awkward.
I think the point has been missed.
NBC will not and did not let Leno out of his contract.
Therefore he has no choice but do as NBC says.
It seems to me that Jay should have just retired, or finished his contract and leave. NBC had little faith in Conan and kept Jay in the wings. It’s sad Jay went along with all of this. I would have more respect for him if stood his ground, instead of swaying like the wind.
People seem to forget that Jay has a history of douchebagery. Has it slipped everyone’s mind that this is the second time Jay has pulled something like this? That monologue wasn’t at all sincere. The same thing happened when Carson retired and Leno stole the contract away from Letterman (whom Carson personally endorsed for the replacement). But Jay had to have what he wanted. I agree with Jimmy Kimmel. Leno has $800 million he doesn’t need this anymore, and the PR work to bring his career back after this scandal is going to be more expensive than Conan’s buyout.
He couldn’t retire because they wouldn’t let him out of his contract.
Yes, he should retire. he and NBC really gloss over the fact that he didn’t do well in the ratings when he was first on either. Yet, he was given plenty of time to improve, it’s a shame that Conan wasn’t. I’ve never found Jay funny, though I did think he was a nice guy (until all this mess), so I pretty much steered away from The Tonight Show the years he was host. I was enjoying Conan’s Tonight Show (who I find very funny). It’s too bad he’ll be gone soon. Oh well, back to Dave and Craig.
O’Brian and his masturbating bear are as funny as a funeral – his own. Ever notice how much time he spent talking about himself during interviews on the late show he hosted? Once he had a very famous guest who lived next to him in the same condo building. His first question – completely serious, because he spent over a minute on it – what’s it like haviong me for a neighbor? I stopped watching him at that point. Never will again. Good riddance. He was his own downfall. At least Leno is funny and a good interviewer. Good riddance to bad Irish white trash.
EW, please remove neveracocofan’s insulting comment and ban him or her from further participation. Thank you,
Seriously, people would have more respect for you and your opinion if you had ended it with “Never will again”. I have to agree with Caitlin, your comment was insulting and needlessly ignorant. Keep your racist opinions to yourself next time.
He said this same kind of crap to other people he has back-stabbed in the past. He tries to play “Mr. Innocent” but his fingerprints are all over it. And the fact that he has been apart of similar situations more than a few times, just makes it more clear that it this is no accident that he is trying to portray it as.
No kidding. I don’t buy it.
When he said he was Number 1, they still were going to give Conan the 11:30 slot anyway; it should have been a clear sign to Jay that they weren’t going to rely on good faith. He had every right to sue if they removed him. Fact is he said nothing while people grew excited as Conan was taking over the Tonight Show. When they gave him 10 o’clock, they knew he never intended on retiring.
What’s he going to sue them for? They would have still been paying him, he just wouldn’t have had his show. Unless his contract ended in which case he still wouldn’t have anything to sue over. It’s not like he has any sort of entitlement to that show.
Yes, he’s trying sooo hard to look innocent; this story seems somewhat believable UNTIL: when NBC came back to him after Conan denied the offer of 12:05am (thus ruining the Tonight Show franchise), Jay should not have accepted the 11:35 slot. That steals it from underneath Conan, and shows a lack of support for fellow comedians/hosts. If he would have taken the high road, Conan probably would have kept his Tonight Show gig.
or leno back in the spot where he was #1 for over 15 years could have provided conan exactly the lead in he needed… at the end of the 2 year contract, leno is free and conan should be very secured in his roll as tonight show host
That’s the problem with Jay. I absolutely believe most of what he’s saying (minus any sincerity he’s trying to attach to it) because NBC is a ridiculous network that’s been run into the ground by the petty and vindictive Jeff Zucker. But, the problem with Jay’s statement isn’t what NBC did to him, but his reaction to it which was apparently “let me out of my contract, please” followed by “oh, okay, i’ll stay”. What the hell? He could have gotten out of either contract. He could have moved on. He could have gone to another network and crushed NBC. But, he didn’t. The situation he’s in now is his own fault for not standing up for himself in 2004. He should have fought for his job or ridden out the first contract and gone to work somewhere else. He didn’t. I feel sorry for 2004 Jay who was pushed out of his job by NBC. I don’t feel at all sorry for 2010 Jay because the only person to blame is himself.
I’m totally with you on this, anon. As far as I’m concerned, Leno has no one to blame but himself. And now he wants our sympathy??? Give me a break. Leno is a jerk. Last week he was making fun of O’Brien and now he’s saying he’s a good, family man. Does Leno think the American public is that stupid? After all of this, I have trememdous respect for O’Brien for standing up for himself and zero respect for Leno for taking the easy way out and blaming everyone but himself.
If there’s a joke, comedians will tell it.
They make fun of everyone. Just because they make fun of someone it doesn’t mean they think that he’s a bad person. And so far, I haven’t read anything about Jay something mean about Conan. He did that one joke about Conan getting a better deal, 7 months instead of 4 months, but that was Jay making fun of how they got an even crappier chance of proving themselves.
The media have only tried to turn them against one another. Every night highlighting jokes and posing them as direct and malicious zingers towards each other. Conan’s, you can do anything with your life, unless Jay Leno wants to do it… I see that as just a good joke.
Jimmy Kimmel attacking Leno on Leno. Geezus, has everyone pretended like we don’t have a little sense of how shows work? Have we never seen a “reality show”? It was all planned. Leno and the world knew about Kimmel dressed as Leno for an entire show so he KNEW he was going to get it. Yeah, he felt uncomfortable, but doesn’t every celebrity look uncomfortable whenever they do those roasts on comedy central? You know it’s coming but you’re still going to react to it.
Also completely agree with you anon. All of the folks trying to push the angle that Jay Leno cared about his staff…those folks had 5 years to plan for their next move. How stupid does NBC or Leno think we, the viewers are, he NEVER intended to LEAVE. His staff just ‘happened’ to NOT have jobs after he was supposed to leave THE TONIGHT SHOW and his 10 PM show was such a copycat of THE TONIGHT SHOW, I wondered how it was even allowed! Every move Jay Leno has made has been phony, self-serving, and completely void of any respect for THE TONIGHT SHOW franchise or his successor, Conan O’Brian. He didn’t even give up the studio, did he? NBC had to build Conan a new one… think people and ask yourself WHY? For me it always comes back to one person and that one person is JAY LENO. Now we have to “Oprah” interview. GOOD GRIEF. Hope all will pay close attention, if they bother to watch that is, to the OMISSIONS, HALF-TRUTHS, and SPIN. Easy to spin an IMAGE but choices make a man’s REPUTATION!
Exactly. It is the same BS that he has always shilled.
Jay said it perfectly by stating “If you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air.” He should stay off the air because he already had a great run on Tonight and now it’s Conan’s turn. Conan should be able to do well now that his ratings have been off the charts these last few weeks. It’s just not fair and Jay should just make the decision to leave once and for all.
Well, the problem is Conan’s ratings were tumbling from June – September, BEFORE LENO TOOK OVER 10pm.
So again, Jay is absolutely right. If you don’t get the ratings…they take you off the air.
Jay was #1 for nearly 2 decades…Conan took the show and knocked it out of #1 (and THIS WAS BEFORE LENO’S SHOW CAME ON THE AIR). Looks like Conan did not bring in the numbers.
So ta-ta, Coco.
EWsmom, you ignorant slut! Jay leno ratings were in the toilet when he took over the tonight show.. it took him 3 years to build an audience and win the late night wars.. Conan was not given the same chance as the chin monster.
LOL!
Ok, well a little FYI for you – this is 2010…not 1992.
The TV landscape, particularly late night, has changed drastically. In ’92 there was only a few options for late night…today, not so much
And btw, NBC runs a BUSINESS…not a freakin’ CHARITY. They have *NO OBLIGATION* to give Coco 3 years just because Leno got 3 years.
Try to get with the times and don’t come across as an uneducated fool.
EWsMOM – I watched The Late Shift recently (documenting the Tonight Show war between Leno and Dave) and in it it states that Leno had horrible ratings for MONTHS and was always #2 until the Hugh Grant interview where he talked about his arrest.
NBC gave Leno a shot within the first few months – Conan’s been on less than a year and they should do the same.
Ok Charlotte, but why?
Why is Conan entitled to “more time”? Was it written in his contract? Is it the law?
Just because Leno got X years does *NOT* entitle Conan to the same thing. Not.at.all.
EWsmom, you’re just as pathetic as J. Well done, because that’s not an easy feat.
LOL
I asked ONE simple question – yet none of Coco’s fans seem to have an answer.
But anyways skip, enjoy Conan’s last week on NBC…and probably on broadcast television for a looong time lol
Do you want to remind us one more time what year it is?
come on…half wit, tasteless, white bred, middle of the road soccer moms need softballs lobed at them nightly to complete there days in their wasted lives. cut mom jeans here a break.
dude, u make NO SENSE…bad ratings…OFF THE AIR….LENOS RATING WERE BAD @ 10pm but they dont want to let him go…..Leno shouldve never let The Tonight Show if it meant so much to him….he did, so him acting like he has no choice but to take it back is BS.
EWsMom- Conan isn’t ENTITLED to more time. He just deserves the time and repesct given to Leno. It’s such a disgrace NBC didn’t even give the man time to find his bearings at the earlier time.
And like you said, it’s 2010, not 1992. So why are they bringing Leno back?
EWsMom – Although Leno was not on when Conan took over through September – thats the SUMMER. No new shows because fewer people watch during the summer. So his ratings were bad, but don’t make it look like the time that Leno wasn’t on Conan had a good lead in with new high rated dramas.
yes charlotte!! i remember leno sucking hard until he nabbed the hugh grant interview. hugh grant wouldn’t go to letterman because he was afraid he’d get roasted and end up even more embarrassed, so he went with watered down leno, and suddenly nbc and the tonight show were worth watching…wish conan was given the same opportunities as leno was. sad and embarrassing.
EWsMom is a moron
Haha, ignorant slut
Now now. I don’t think Jay Leno was being 100% truthful with his statement. Didn’t he say he would glady take the show back several months ago? This hardly sounds like last minute decision making. Conan is rightfully taking some shots at NBC but he has every right to leave. I’m not going to speculate on Jay’s side of this because I don’t really know exactly what happened. But they should have let Conan leave in 2003 when he was getting other offers. Bottom line is that they wasted his time trying to keep Conan and only prolonged the inevitable. Conan will be successful wherever he goes. I don’t know what to say about Leno but Conan has absolutely every right to leave. I’ll be glad to see him on another network.
There are many theories about why Conan’s ratings are (or were, if you count the past week) lower than Leno’s (Leno was the lead in, not given enough time to build an audience, Conan’s demographic is different from Leno’s demographic so Leno watchers left), but you’re missing the point EWsMom.
Poor ratings are NOT why Conan is getting cancelled, it’s just an excuse. Conan is getting cancelled because Jay Leno’s show tanked. If Jay Leno did a good job at 10, we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place
EWsMom if you are looking at a TV show like this, I feel sorry for your kids, you sound like you would be a HORRIBLE mother.
Conan wasn’t doing as well as he could have because people were changing channels or turning the TV off when Jay came on and not tuning back in to NBC. Plain and simple. If Jay had just retired, Conan would be rockin’ late night. Period.
EWsMom– obviously, Conan was entitled because he is contractually guaranteed by the network for three years. This is why he is being paid out. NBC was willing to wreck the tradition of the Tonight Show tineslot in order to force him to opt out on principle. How does “charity” factor in? History tells us that shows can pick up audiences and win them over. Playing the Devil’s advocate here, but Jay should have had more time at 10 as well. These shows are still profitable– the sky was not falling. Any industry expert will point out that NBC has lost millions on the Olympics before a single minute has aired, and they will lose money. It’s ego on the part of network execs, pure and simple. NBC was simply angry about their failing fortunes overall, and the late night stuff is just kids in a sandbox fighting over toys.
the reason big chin had good ratings on the tonight show was because he is bland, milquetoast, and middle of the road. in all honesty johnny carson was very similar, but his legacy isnt neccesarily his comedy bits. it was his charm and comedic ability to find the funny with the unplanned things that happened on his show. be it an errant knife throw, an wild animal, or a giggle fit that no one seems to be able to stop, he was a master of making situations funny. dave has that same ability plus his sarcastic nature makes him apt to burst the bubble of anyone who comes on his show with any kind of pretension about who they are or who they think they are (eg. joaquin phoenix or paris hilton). yes, conans ratings arent great, even at this time in late night era, but he was never really given a chance to be good. he started when the summer started, when alot of the great lead-in shows that big chin had went on reruns. it was expected that dave would get get a bump in the ratings, and he did, but if you look at the numbers he wasnt getting all of the viewers that came from big chins tonight show. they was actually a smaller audience overall for all of late night programming. but when fall started conan had no solid lead-in that big chin had to when he was on. conan’s lead-in was a bad concept of a show. conan admits that he doesnt have the ratings, but nbc left him out to dry because they didnt give him any of the advantages or conditions that big chin had when he had his show. on the surface conan should do very well if given the chance. he needs more time to find out what he can and cant be on the tonight show. i hope that conan can find another home for his show, late night or otherwise. big chin has no other discernible tv talent. he knows that and he is trying his hardest to hold on to it. rather than bow gracefully and give someone else a shot at his kind of success he would rather keep it all to himself. he couldnt even let rosie o donnell have a shot at being the regular guest host on friday nights like carson did with joan rivers. he wants it all and cant stand to let anyone else have it. and just one more thing. if big chin is such a great host and comedian, then can you please tell me one comedy bit or concept on his show that is original and funny that he came up with? i cant think of one. big chin sucks and needs to go away.
I can’t believe people are still talking 3 years for Leno (thought it was 18 months last week, gee, soon, people will claim he was never #1 lol) so Conan should get 3 years. How about you don’t fire your #1? Conan sure had no trouble worrying about staffers or families of Leno’s Tonight Show when he made his demand.
I also can’t believe people are still saying “he should have stayed on the tonight show then” – what part of “they came and told me they were giving it to Conan” is hard to understand?
NBC always cuts programs before they have a chance to gain a foothold. Southland, Friday Night Lights (shuffled too much), Scrubs (again, shuffled around too much… that show should have been huge), botched Thursdays with the constant tweaking and trying to make mediocre shows stick (Veronica’s Closet, Leah Thompson’s Show, Coupling, Joey). NBC is a mess and needs a Cosby Show-type hit fast. The Tonight Show will fail… I think Jay’s audience has moved on and thinks little of him now. The guy is a jerk.
EWsmom is right…Leno has the ability to bring in higher numbers than Conan. Higher numbers equals more money. That is the bottom line whether the Conan fans like it or not. Clearly, according to NBC, Leno is a more valuable and proven asset then Conan. But, NBC’s little experiment just might turn around and bite them in the ass some day if the viewers do not return to TTS with Leno. I think they will because of who his core demographic group is. There are more older adults in this country then younger adults and for the next 20-30 years that demographic group is going to grow by millions. They will be around not only longer but healthier then any previous generations of older adults, so why don’t the Conan fans try and getting along instead of putting people down because they like Leno.
Why does he get more time? Because whenever Jay actually retires, who are they going to replace him with? As Jay’s fans get even older and become less desirable to advertisers and become fewer in numbr, who will replace them?
ANY new person put into that time slot will have to take time to adjust and build up an audience.
And the same NETWORK that wants to get rid of Conan would have been perfectly happy to accept Jays ratings if it wasn’t for the affiliates complaining. And the affiliates were complaining about Jay. Not Conan. Losing the late night war (for some period of time) is NOTHING compared to ruining the ratings for the news shows.
If Jay actually retired, and they had no choice, would they be firing Conan? And who would they replace him with? No, while Conan would take time to overtake Letterman, he would be given the time because the option of “bring back Leno” wouldn’t be on the table and Conan would be more solid than any other option (outside of something crazy like Seinfeld agreeing to host the show or something like that, and even that isn’t a guarantee).
If Johnny Carson was willing to come out of retirement and take back the show from Leno early on, he’d probably have gotten better ratings too. [Of course, at that point, NBC would have been admiting it was a mistake to give the show to Jay if they didn't stick with him.]
Ultimately, the whole reason they ended up with two shows with “bad” ratings was because they were afraid of either of those performers going to another network and competing against them. They obviously think that Conan can be a force to be reckoned with at 11/11:30 otherwise they’d just abandoned him. They want to have their cake and eat it to. Leno is fine with giving them that, but Conan doesn’t want to have to wait for Leno (or his audience) to die of old age just so that he can get a legitimate chance to do the job he’s been asked to do.
The reason he deserves a chance to fid his audience is because anyone that replaces Jay will need that time, because eventually Jay won’t be able to come back and “save” NBC. And the whole matter of Conan, and all the people that work for him, had to move from New York to California for the show. If you are making people make a move that big… at least give them some time to get into a groove.
Ok well obviously the asses here are the NBC executives!!! I’m a HUGE COCO fan, but I can’t blame this on Jay. The guy cannot retire or go to another network like many have suggested cuz NBC won’t let him!! What else can the man do?! I believe his statement and i don’t think he’s trying to come across as the innocent one.
The NBC people want him cuz he brought them higher rating hence more money, so of course they’ll choose Jay over Coco..i’m not saying i’m ok with it, i’m just stating facts :S
NBC is all about the MONEYYY! Asses..
I can’t believe we won’t see Conan on TV until Sept!!!
JAY didn’t get the ratings till Hugh Grant came on and caused a commotion. CONAN needed time but honestly he’s a much better show than JAY. Come on people. Maybe this is all a publicity stunt cause right now they are both getting the ratings!!!!!
Mooommmmmmmmm! You’re embarassing me!!!
This was also in the summer “rerun season” when ratings are traditionally lower. The idea is that Conan would have the summer to work out the kinks and then be met with the fall 10PM ratings lead in. He didn’t get that. He got Jay Leno failing so badly that the affiliates were ready to revolt, he got the weakly rated local news lead ins that were failing as a result of Jay’s own failure and he was left with only his core audience and not the casual audience that traditionally chose NBC or CBS in that time period.
Jay’s ratings tanked in primetime, but instead of being let go, he continues, like the awesome Jeff Zucker, to fail upward, right back into his old job. Primetime specials would have been the way to go with him, but no. NBC’s just pushing out what never even got a chance to get off the ground and bringing back the old. Nice job. Hope it pays off for you the way all your other fantastic decisions do.
Then again, ewsmom, you contradict your own pointless point with your super awesome “it’s 2010″ comeback, so maybe an explanation of what really happened is kind of irrelevant where you’re concerned.
EW……GET OFF THAT COMPUTER AND GET TO SCHOOL!!!!!!
Ratings always fall during the summertime. How was O’Brien expected to start a new show and build an audience during the one time of the year when most Americans are hardly watching TV and instead going on vacation, seeing blockbuster movies, etc.?
Does anyone else here remember that Jay Leno was not only floundering against Dave in the beginning of his tenure at “The Tonight Show,” the poor sap was having trouble with Arsenio Hall. ARSENIO HALL, PEOPLE!!! That man couldn’t find “funny” with a banana peel and a blind-man’s cane.
Can’t I like both ? The Coco people have got to get off that late nite “acquired taste” mantra — Jay is good at what he does at that time slot – he can beat Lettermen, just not CSI, LOST, etc.. I like Conan tremendously but he was losing steam as the months were going on..it took this drama to make the show hot ..I don’t want to see Conan go!
EWmom, Have you seen the contract? How do you know that certain time conditions were not part of the agreement?
bring jay leno back at 11:35 to be honest I dont know what people like about conan …Jay speaks to the average person how when he makes so much money but he does kiddos to him.. when the writers strike wss on conan was a train wreck well Jay held his own
Not only that but how many free shows did Conan or any other late night host put on for the millions that are losing their jobs accross the country? Leno is the only one. That alone shows how much he connects and resonates with people.
Leno has one funny bit: headlines. All he does is read newspaper clips THAT VIEWERS SEND IN. He doesn’t do ANYTHING.
Jay still did his monologues while Conan honored the writers strike and didn’t prepare anything during the strike. Again, not a point in Jay’s favor, especially where writing staffs are concerned.
Are you new to the English language? That’s next to impossible to read, laurie. Though I guess it does say something about the audience Leno appeals to.
Apparently, the average person has no sense of humor and in that respect, they can relate to the comedy vacuum that Jay creates. Regardless, NBC screwed this up 5 years ago when they gave up the spot for the guy who was number 1. They should have just released Conan back then, they are the real loser in this entire mess.
Conan actually did great during the writer’s strike. He stuck to the union rules (which Leno did not,) and he teamed up with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for a big “fight” over Mike Huckabee. And quite frankly, I like that Conan and his humor is not for the “average person”.
But Leno had 3 years to build an audience and ratings in that slot, Conan had 7 months with lousy lead ins to deliver viewers (which Jay always had).
ahahahahahaahaa… this is rich. Jay Leno, he’s blue collar just like you and me. what a load. He realizes he’s losing the public opinion battle and no one under 49 is gonna watch him, he’s trying to play nice. I don’t buy it.
Hey Jay, if you are such a blue collar, middle class, guy next door like the rest of us, why don’t you stand up for your so called friends and morals.
Free concerts for the unemployed in Michigan and Ohio.
It’s *their* NOT *there* PICKLE HEAD.
did that make you feel accomplished today?
Did that make YOU feel accomplished today?????
T—–always remember to start a sentence with a capitalized letter.
jay leno is the new O.J.
Yeah, they’re the same…
Really If coco is so good and precious WHY DID’t you watch him and increase his ratings. You don’t like Jay simple do not watch him! It make have taken Jay a while to get his ratings up but he was following Carson. Someting Letterman or Conan could never have done. If Conan is off the air it is his fans’ fault not Jays
I could watch, get my entire family to watch, my building to watch, hell my entire campus to watch, and it wouldn’t do squat to ratings. Only Nielsen boxes improve ratings. So shut your pie hole
Steve is right. Your whole job could watch, if you don’t have a Nielsen box the ratings thing is moot. Nielsen, continuously screwing up tv ratings.
“Jay is the new OJ”, yeah that makes A LOT of sense.
This statement sums up the IQ level of Coco fans! haha!
Jay does not have “clean hands” in this scenario. But if middle American continues to eat up his dreck, he’ll survive back at 11:30. Ick.
I’m not sure. this statement didn’t sell me on jay being completely innocent of the situation (he should have definitely weighed the options more, if this is as blasé as he’s going to make it seem), but at least he’s saying SOMETHING en lieu of the crazy. everyone and their mom has chimed in, and jay’s been awkwardly silent. whether this statement is sincere or not, it’s a step towards some resolution. (but, as always, I’m with coco!)
The backstabbing weasel is just doing damage control so the 50 year old women that watch his show won’t think he’s a bad man.
Just look at what he said in 2004 (the video’s easy enough to find) and you’ll see he’s lying through his teeth.
Find that Video
You can see the video over at npr.org in their “monkey see” blog. And probably also by a simple google search.
here’s the clip.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/01/jay_lenos_superclassy_2004_spe.html
Why does somebody’s age make their opinion any less valid? So what if some people over 50 enjoy Leno? They’re alive aren’t they? They watch TV too, don’t they? In fact, they’re way more likely to watch a late night show than somebody younger who will just watch Adult Swim or something.
They are less valuable to advertisers. They want a younger demo which is what NBC was hoping that Coco would bring.
the sad thing is the little old ladies who still watch his show will buy into what he is saying… ugh
You little punks think a 50 year old woman is an old lady. What idiots.
lady… 50? that’s baren, dusty womb age… 50 ain’t the new 40… and 40 ain’t the new 30, 50 is hela old.
No, we’d never mistake you for a “lady”.
It’s hella and my gen – over 50 started the saying and have been sayin’ FU to people like you longer then you could spell tits. When you stop smelling like pee we’ll talk.
LOL, I like that! Yep, you are right, Conan fans still smell like pee so why even respond to their dribble, haha, smell like pee that’s great and oh so true.
Actually, at 50, aren’t you the one who smells of pee?…
Hotdamn Merle! and we were all gonna go to your 50th birthday party until you called us idiots! “You little punks…errg….get outta my rose garden!” lol
Jay wants everyone to see him as the good guy who is innocent in all of this. But Jay was an equal part of the gang bang that f-ed Conan. Do the right thing Jay and walk away.
Conan tried to pull a power play and it didn’t work. He thought NBC would do his bidding to keep from having to pay him big bucks to settle his contract. Didn’t work.
Conan’s move was not a power play at all. Conan is not negotiating at all to retain the Tonight Show, at this point he is simply seeking a release from his contract that will allow him to return to television as soon as possible. He is a vastly educated man, who knew well before he penned that letter, that he would be sacrificing his relationship with NBC. He took a stand, and he took it early, to defend the legacy of a franchise he truly loves and honors. Conan’s only motivation in his statement is integrity.
Consider by comparison, Leno’s behavior. He stayed mum on the sidelines for an entire week. He made no statements regarding his role or opinion in this whole matter, other than nervous monologue jokes about being canceled twice. He foolishly agreed to Have Jimmy Kimmel on his show, only to be publicly roasted alive. It’s only after this fiasco that Leno decides he needs to clarify his role in the mess, hence his timid statement Monday night that didn’t tell anybody anything they didn’t already know. Jay’s only motivation in his statement is damage control.
Leno seems desperate to hang onto the only thing he has going for him, by allowing himself to be shuffled off to any time slot, for any length of time. Meanwhile, Conan is the one who is smart enough to walk away.
I agree with most of what you’re saying, except I don’t think it was foolish to have Kimmel on his show. I think it was a very calculated PR move in order to gain sympathy. Leno’s people probably feel that everyone loves the underdog, so being ridiculed on his own show will 1) Make the clip go viral, and 2) Garner sympathy because, waahhhh, everyone is blaming Jay when he thinks its all NBC’s fault (and the fact of the matter is that it IS NBC’s fault, it’s just that Leno’s hands aren’t clean in the matter either.) Also, Kimmel is Conan’s direct competitor, so for Jay to have him on his show speaks volumes by itself.
Team Conan. Jay should retire.
I meant for my name to be “@BBshow”, whoops…
I think this whole mess will benefit everyone in the long run. Hopefully Conan will move on to a network that will allow him to shine and Jay will continue to entertain boring middle America and hopefully NBC will acquire some decent programming for 10 pm.
Love the “It’s all about keeping my staff employed” stuff. Funniest joke Jay has told in YEARS.
Why?
Again, Conan could have done his show at 12:05am…but HE chose not to. So his selfish decision is now putting all of his employees out of work.
Funny, indeed.
It’s not the tonight show at 12:05. I see your a Jay fan. You must be thrilled that backstabbing weasel is back on. Enjoy the headlines and Jay walking. Because those bits are so fresh.
Uhh no, I really don’t like either too much.
But to say that Conan is completely blameless is absolutely foolish.
And don’t give me any of that “it’s not the Tonight Show at 12:05am” crap.
You’re reading this address online right now, and the show hasn’t aired yet.
Thousands and thousands of people watched the Conan clips from this week’s show ONLINE, on their OWN TIME.
This is 2010, sweetie…Conan is the old fart for thinking that people actually sit around the TV and watch a show exactly when it airs. The broadcast industry has changed…and unfortunately Conan refused to accept those realities – and now he’s out of a job.
And P.S. – you DO know that the “Tonight Show” hasn’t always aired at 11:35pm, right?
Thanks for reminding me what year it was. Here I thought it was 1999, when Jay Leno still sucked. But you enjoy Jay sweetie.
He put in his time. Over a decades worth of time. You can’t blame Conan for being pissed, nor should he take a step back wards. NBC didn’t do his show any favors.Nor did they give him the same amount of time they gave Leno when Leno took over the Tonight Show
…Except for the fact that the #1 priority of his exit deal is to take care of his staff. Google it, quite easy to find. If anyone’s done any research on Leno going beyond just the Letterman fiasco, you’d know he’s always been cutthroat. Considering Leno’s a workaholic with no children it doesn’t surprise me that he doesn’t want to walk away from show business completely but he easily could have been the gentleman here, stepped aside, and moved on to another network …you know, the plan he actually had BEFORE he even got offered the Jay Leno Show to begin with!
The show has never aired at 12:05 numbnuts.
I think EWs mom is Jay…
jay leno = never funny
If Conan’s staff was THAT important why didn’t he just swallow his pride and take the move to 12:05? Sorry, but I’m not taking either side. I did always like Jay’s Tonight Show, I enjoyed The Jay Leno Show but I also enjoy watching Conan sometimes too. People aren’t looking at this objectively, they are just throwing around personal insults at one another.
If you do a little more research, the staff supported his decision to not accept the offer. And it wasn’t about pride but the integrity of the Tonight Show. Also, by accepting the deal, he’d also be screwing Jimmy Fallon over by pushing his show to 1:05-2:05 AM.
EWsMOM all your great points are wasted on morons who only love masturbating bears… let these idiots believe whatever they want, Conan is GONE! YAY!
Gee, I hope my points aren’t wasted on old ladies who still find Lewinsky jokes to be HI-larious!
1) Yes, in special circumstances ‘The Tonight Show’ aired later than 11:35, but never on a regular basis.
2) Moving it does ruin the integrity and tradition of the show, and quite frankly, it’s a cheap move by NBC. Moving Leno to 11:35 effectively makes his show ‘The Tonight Show’, just shorter and without the title. Conan’s ‘Tonight Show’ will then be no different from his ‘Late Night’ show, just half an hour earlier and in L.A. This is not what he was promised.
3) Online has not replaced television. It just hasn’t. Watching good TV will always take precedence over watching clips on YouTube or whatever. The internet makes it more convenient to replay clips or see what was missed that otherwise would have been watched. Tivo works the same way.
4) Conan is concerned about his staff, and they support his decision.
5) Conan debuted in the summer, which always has low ratings, especially for new shows such as his that run against established competitors. He simply needed more time, much more than seven months. If NBC actually thought this was about Conan’s ratings, why didn’t they cancel him after just the four months and then replace him with Leno? Gee, how about because it takes longer to build his audience. Jay Leno didn’t beat Letterman until Hugh Grant’s sex scandal. Well, guess what? LETTERMAN HAD HIS OWN SEX SCANDAL. Gee, was Conan still expected to beat him then, too? Also, his lead-in (due to LENO) was awful. The affiliates caused the change due to Leno’s performance, not Conan’s. The network brass just intend to keep Leno and screw over Conan in the process.
Oh, and 6) Masturbating Bear has never been on the Tonight Show. Play again!
@EWmom. If you think Leno is doing this for his employees then you’re dumber than I thought you were sweetie.
Now that he has his old job back, he’s just trying to appease what little audience he may have left in this desperate PR move.
He is pathetic.
Jesus, people — wouldn’t you fight for you job, too?
Didn’t sound like he fought too hard for it really. Passive-Agressiveness thy name is Jay Leno.
……or Conan O’brien….
If it was a choice between many dozen millions of dollars on top of the millions I already had vs. being an honorable guy, no, I wouldn’t fight for my job. Leno’s job isn’t needed for him to live on.
Mangled my last sentence there. I meant he doesn’t have to survive, so he doesn’t need his job, but we since we are not millionaires, need ours. He can retire with millions and millions of dollars in the bank.
And, honestly, the numbers don’t lie — more people like Jay than Conan. I don’t “hate” Conan, but most of his off the cuff humor is just not funny, or at least for a cult following/distinct flavor. Jay has broader appeal, and higher ratings. The person who performs better gets the job, so get over this witch hunt.
Leno’s ratings suck worse than his jokes. NBC is clearly the Leno network, and they’ll have him steer it right into an iceberg.
broader appeal = lame, written for old honkie jokes.
What is wrong with you, pickle tits? Did your own white-trash momma leave you on a doorstep?
What makes you think he is white?
Yeah they said *honkie*, leading one to believe they are NOT white.
> Pickle tits
I have to ask. Why “pickle”? Are they sweet? Sour? Are they your bread and butter? Or are you just gherkin us around?
Enquiring minds wanna know…
> but most of his off the cuff humor is just not funny,
Not only that, but his monologue style reminds me of Jim Carey doing Andy Kaufman doing impersonations. One style of joke delivery. Set up line. Pause. “Yeah.” Punch line. No pause. “UHHHH!” Every. Single. Time. No variety at all. And when he does ad-lib a joke he always telegraphs it with “UHHHH!” immediately. A less funny “comic” I can’t recall. I wonder how many times he slept with Lorne Michael’s mother before he got hired on SNL. His resume on that show includes the *memorable* Nude Beach skit where the word penis was spoken 42 times. Timeless comedy. Why change your schtick when it’s that perfect? Penis penis penis masturbating bear masturbating bear.
How I wish Carson could come back, he had class.
Carson Daly? Are you freakin’ nuts? FYI: Johnny Carson is dead!
did you come up with that on your own? I mean that joke is just so clever. Nah, no way, you must have had help; did you call Jay for help with that joke?
Yeah, umm Carson has been dead for about 100 years so really no chance of that happening.