Image Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBCIn an interview with 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft that will air Sunday, Conan O’Brien said he wouldn’t have taken back The Tonight Show from Jay Leno if the roles had been reversed. “I know me, I wouldn’t have done that,” O’Brien tells Kroft. “If I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well…and then…six months later. But that’s me, you know. Everyone’s got their own, you know, way of doing things.”
O’Brien also explained why he decided to leave NBC rather than air at midnight behind Leno. “I think this relationship is going to be toxic and maybe we just need to go our separate ways,” he says. “That’s really how it felt to me…and I started to feel that I’m not sure these people even really want me here….I can’t do it [anymore].”
The interview — O’Brien’s first since leaving NBC and signing onto TBS — will air on the very day his contractual muzzle expires (as part of his exit deal with NBC, O’Brien agreed not to give any interviews in print or broadcast until after May 1). The piece is also expected to include highlights from O’Brien’s 32-city “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On TV Tour.” His new talk show on TBS bows in November.
UPDATE: CBS has released more quotes from O’Brien’s interview Sunday. Read the quotes after the jump. The talk show host on Jeff Zucker’s claim that The Tonight Show lost money while O’Brien served as host: “I honestly don’t see how that’s possible. It’s really not possible. It isn’t possible.”
On Zucker’s opinion that lower ratings meant people didn’t want to see O’Brien as The Tonight Show’s host: “In my opinion, I don’t think that’s fair or accurate. But he’s entitled to his opinion. I think for anyone to say that the results were in after six months — that doesn’t ring true to me.”
On whether or not he has any regrets: “I don’t regret anything. I don’t regret one decision I made in that week and a half period…I wish it had ended differently. But I’m fine. I do believe, and this might be my Catholic upbringing or Irish magical thinking, but I think things happen for a reason. I really do. And I think that this all happened for a reason.”
On whether or not he was screwed: “The biggest thing people come up and say to me in gas stations and restaurants, I have so many people say this to me. ‘Hey partner, you got screwed.’ I don’t — and I always tell them, ‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t get screwed. I’m — I’m fine. It just — it didn’t work out.’ But I don’t want people thinking, you know, that I got screwed. Because it just didn’t work out.
On whether he’s resolved his issues: “No, I have not resolved all my issues. I am mostly very happy. I love this tour. It’s the most thrilling thing I’ve done in my career. And so I’m in a really great place in a lot of ways. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t have my moments of everything, you know, anger disappointment, frustration, and just confusion.”
I hope Steve grilled CoCo on whether his comments about Leno seem hypocritical considering he reportedly threatened to leave NBC if he didn’t get the Tonight Show.
How is that hypocritical? That’s just bargaining. It’s not agreeing to a deal and then whining about it afterwards (and doing everything you could to undermine it).
The fact of the matter is that America made up its mind. Conan at 11:30 pm was HORRIBLE. It was unwatchable. It was awful. Ratings tanked. Don’t talk about “lead-ins”, please…Conan did this all to himself. Also, doesn’t the guy already have like tens of millions of dollars in the bank? Why should we care? In fact, we don’t. Adios Conan. Enjoy the college circuit. What a loser.
Poor sandi. What a sad life.
Listen Sandi, why can’t we talk about lead-ins? Jay may not have been the complete cause, but he is responsible in part. Additionally Leno’s numbers sucked when he first took over for Johnny. I’d rather watch a “loser” than a 2-faced hypocritical traitor.
Sandi is one of those people who uses Spanish phrases to pepper her idiotic comments. This is what Leno fans call “snappy” and “funny” when really it’s just one of those off-putting verbal affectations your older, unmarried aunt or uncle has. Adios amigos, Conan! No comprende! Moron. Also, how much do you want to bet Sandi has a gunt?
Totally agree with ger. I don’t think he threatened to leave NBC when he was doing Late Night. He was getting offers when his contract was up so NBC threw him the Tonight Show because they knew that was what was going to keep him on the network.
And yes, Conan’s rating were terrible when he was on the Tonight Show. I think the biggest problem here is that on NBC and Leno’s part there really wasn’t much class in these in their actions.
he didnt threaten to leave NDC in fact approached him because kilborn left his show and there was an open spot behind letterman and they were terrified to lose him
Sandi,
The fact is Jay was his lead-in everynight and no one watched Jay during the early hour. In fact there is a report that just came out that indicates Jay and Conan 7 weeks into their “new” show have the same amount of people watching. In fact Conan was superior in the 18-49 demographic. This isn’t an attack. It appears you might not have all the data.
Hey, Sandi! America definitely has made up its mind. Jay Leno’s ratings are now matching Conan’s lowest, but see, Leno HAS the lead-ins. Looks like your big-chinned master is the biggest loser of all.
Sandi, I loved the $h!t out of your eyebrows when they were on The O.C. What happened?
Brian, you may not agree with Sandi but your comment was crude and vulgar.
Amy, I agree whole heartedly. But, There is one thing worse than a 2-faced hypocritical traitor….an unfunny one, (Of which, Leno is the king of unfunny).
Sandi, your delusional if you believe that Leno had nothing to do with Conan’s ratings. Even the affiliates were complaining about Leno’s lead-in.
Holly, the FUPA holding up?
Holly, how’s the FUPA holding up?
What is a gunt?
What is a FUPA?
Sandi, it turns out that Leno is doing no better in the preferred advertising demo now than Conan did. Whoops!
Not a fan of either but I am not sure where you are getting your data:http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/04/08/leno-wins-another-week-of-late-night-now-five-for-five/47772. Leno has won every week since being back and that is fact. Business is business.
Sandi….The truth is when Leno was on the TOnight Show, his leadin was scripted dramas and the news. When Conan was host of Tonight, his leadin was Leno. Part of the Tonight Show switcharoo is Leno’s show was tanking, and local affiliates were seeing depressed ratings on their newscasts, where they make their money.
Funny, but here in LA, the lead-in to the Tonight Show has always been the local news. Half an hour of time during which people watch something other than scripted dramas or Leno’s 10 pm show.
Guys, don’t talk about lead-ins because it makes Sandi head achy-ache.
Note that Leno’s 18-49 ratings merely match Conan’s despite a far stronger–as in not Jay’s crap show–lead-in.
It’s difficult to apply logic with a Leno fan since he tends to attract the lowest common denominator (Leno fans: that means you’re dumb).
What would that matter? They didn’t have to say yes, and Leno didn’t have to agree to it either. That’s like saying you shouldn’t be allowed to try and get a promotion and should just sign a long term deal without any promise of advancing. NBC could have simply let him try his hand elsewhere when his contract was up.
You are a moron. Plain and simple.
Dang, my bad! I clicked on the wrong reply button. That wasnt meant for you!
Love the COco, firemendate
Please. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. NBC is in a business to make money. Yeah “Coco” can say NOW that he wouldn’t have taken The Tonight Show had it be reversed, hey you say that now you coward. How about you keep your trap shut and move on you 30 million dollar rich moron!
Idiot.
Jay, is that you?
“Hates Coco,” you sling insults and hide behind an email address – perhaps the most cowardly act yet invented.
I think sandi and “hates coco” should think about going to bed earlier. Sheesh!
Or how about sandi and hates coco eat a giant bag of sh*t and them kill each other.
then*** Don’t want the grammer police on my ass
You guys know that Leno has way more money than Conan, right? Like, a lot more. He is not a nice, blue collar guy. A nice guy doesn’t make dirty decisions, use “it’s just business” as an excuse and, once they get their way, go on to complain about how he got screwed. Weasels with more money than they need do stuff like that. NBC didn’t break Conan’s contract because they didn’t think he was funnier, they did it because it was cheaper than paying Leno. I wonder how many people would still feel sorry for Jay if he ended up unemployed instead, sitting on $200 million. Conan is STILL paying his staff and the far richer Leno wouldn’t even pay his striking writers. Remind me again, who’s the better man here?
You are a moron. Plain and simple.
Screw you. How is he a coward? Jay is the coward. He saw that his Ten pm show was going to get cut and wanted to be on TV. So he basically went to his old sand box and took the toy he gave to Conan back. Conan could have taken Jimmy’s slot back. But Conan has too much class.And Conan’s show follows the Carson format closer than anyone. Jay is stale and is familiar. that is why the old folks love him.
Sarah, you do realize that you misspelled “grammar,” right?
@ Sandi: Know what? I’m tired of these unfounded BS comments how “he brought all this on himself”. If you never bothered to watch Conan I can respect that, but instead of condemning something you never bothered to watch or try to understand, why don’t you just take your baseless opinions elsewhere and be happy watching boring Jay Leno? I’m sure you just love the way he falls flat and stutters his way through unfunny politically motivated jokes with his chuckling monkey Kevin Eubanks(ah right, he’s leaving too…), and how they force laugh their way through absolute GARBAGE for an hour. By the way? That awkward “Rodney Dangerfield impression” or whatever it’s supposed to be that Leno does is grade A HORRENDOUS. The fact that he does it EVERY NIGHT speaks volume for his lack of creativity and dated sense of what’s actually funny.
Brian, YOU are an idiot.
Good one!
Do we really know he said that or did NBC just try to get him to stay when he started getting other offers?
Conan’s contract was indeed running out and his star was rising while Leno was a steady opening act. THEY asked HIM to be the host of the Tonight Show and announced it far in advance because he would have been given a marquee spot anywhere else, as he has now.
Fox and ABC were openly courting Conan in 2004 after his 10th Anniversay Late Night primetime special. WHen he passed, ABC signed Jimmy Kimmel.
Sometimes when I’m deep inside Jay’s butt, I think of Conan and just smile!
You dumbass Gabriel, you don’t even know what the word hypocrite means.
LENO’s comedy is so much better than that Coco banana. See people, Conan never broadened his comedy….it was all for the college kids. And it was pathetic. What may work at 12:30 am won’t work at 11:30 pm. Conan wouldn’t listen to anybody else about broadening his range. Leno’s ratings are high again, as they were before, because he appeals to all of America. Conan on cable is a better outlet. America loves Jay. Conan could go crawl under a rock with his tens of millions as far as I care. Stop blaming others Conan…you were a disaster!!!
Please. Don’t speak for all of America when you say Jay appeals to everyone in it. He has 5 million viewers a night, with the average age of 55. And Conan’s average viewer was in the 40s range, which is clearly above college age.
Wow Mary, you must be in the 65 and older bracket to be such a huge fan of Leno’s. Or maybe it’s that big chin of yours that makes you feel connected to him. Hmmmm? Just wondering.
Wow! Coco Banana….really how insulting. Well maybe if I was a 4 year old. I figured it out Jay is appealing to a younger generation….they are called toddlers. NBC, “Jay you have to share”, Jay “But I don’t wanna!” Sounds like a big stinking temper tantrum. I guess I prefer to watch the more refined and age appropriate Conan.
Conan’s show premiered long after I left college and I loved it. It may target younger people, but plenty of 40-50 year olds watch. (I actually can’t stay up that late anymore, but that is why god invented tivo!)
Anyone, like Mary, who would say that Leno’s “comedy” is better than Conan’s isn’t even worth arguing with. Clearly Mary has contempt for the concept of college, and clearly she’s scared by jokes she doesn’t get and that aren’t broad. Mary, stop using the word “America” to mean “the portion of America that’s like me.” The vast majority of Conan’s fans are just as American as you.
Mary, imagine if Johnny Carson had gone to prime time, essentially doing the Tonight show at 10pm ahead of Jay Leno back in the 90′s. Do you think Leno ever would’ve gained his footing? Of course not. Leno didn’t pass the torch properly, and that’s why mainstream America never accepted it. It took Leno a long time to gain his audience, time that Conan was not allowed.
Jay Leno is for old geezers! Remember what the late great Bill Hicks said about Leno? Google it and enlighten yourselves!
And, I sometimes feel like Leno’s butt is way too tight!
Team COCO! you freakin’ Hobo’s!
He HAD 5 million viewers when he retook the tonight show. Conan had 10 million. Leno’s numbers have sunk to the same level as Conan’s were, only Jay doesn’t have the excuse that conan has that he had to follow the crashing and burning Jay leno show at 10 pm! Jay has Law and order, seinfeld’s game show, etc to lead into him, and he still gets ratings that barely beat dave letterman.
It wasn’t that he threatened to leave unless he got the Tonight Show. What happened was that he received offers from other networks for an 11:30 show, and he told NBC that he wanted to take one of them. They didn’t want to lose him, so they arranged the 5-year Tonight Show plan, which naturally he accepted.
Conan got what he deserved! He is definitely a hypocrite – he literally strong-armed the network into giving him Jay’s show and then he tanked it. I for one am really glad Jay is back!
Wrong.
so wrong. like saying up is down. rather than “strong-armed” you should have said “was successful and built an audience by being consistently funny for over 15 years, so that NBC had to offer him a better deal because NBC knew competitors were making better offers, and yet conan was willing to be flexible and work out a 5 year interim deal with NBC before achieving an 11:30 show (which was being offered to him).”
amadeline, what you said is contrary to facts which are undisputed by nbc or leno. you can’t simply change the facts because you want to argue against conan. “changing the facts” is also referred to as “lying.”
Yeah Right! NBC offered Conan the Tonight Show because they knew the he was the funnier man. But Leno was walking down the halls of NBC flashing his nasty hairy Italian junk at the execs and threatening to infect them with gonorrhea from his man-gyna, so they went out like filthy hobo’s!
Jay needs to put down the bag of Doritos and get some new material!
Watch his monologue, notice he can’t even let the applause finish before he segue’s into his next pathetic fartsmear.
———->”Mic-Drop” <—-Here
Or better yet, ask him why he should not be considered a hypocrite for doing the same exact thing to Lopez. TBS even told Lopez it would not renew his show if he didn’t move his show to 12:00 to accommodate Conan’s demands.
everybody knows that conan wouldn’t have taken the gig except for the fact that lopez called him. read the recent glowing write up in time magazine about conan, written by lopez himself. conan’s management then needed to make certain that lopez’s approval is completely clear to all, but some people obviously choose to ignore this fact
Lopez actually wanted the midnight time slot, but TBS had no lead in for him, now they do. Lopez is smart enough to know that his show will benefit greatly from having Conan before him.
I’ve watched Conan and I’ve watched Leno… Conan is superior in every way I can see. His interviewing skills are second to none: If he’s interviewing a shy or nervous younger actor or actress he is genuinely warm and visibly puts them at ease. If he’s interviewing an outrageous personality like a Jim Carey or Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) he is able to match or even exceed their wit & improvisations. It’s not even close – Jay is consistently bland, banal or outright dim regardless of who he’s interviewing. Coco’s writers are much more creative, Andy clearly is a far better sidekick than anyone on any other show of that format, the music is better… What else is there? I just can’t fathom an impartial latenight viewer seeing it any differently. Well to each their own I guess…
TEAM COCO
Word.
I don’t think that’s hypocrisy. NBC didn’t want him to leave back then, so they contracted to give him the Tonight Show. If they didn’t give him the Tonight Show, he would have left and moved on to another channel. I don’t see any hypocrisy in that.
I haven’t watched Leno since this happen. Watching David Letterman and loving his show.
Good for you scrabblequeenbe. But the ratings don’t lie. Leno is ONCE again beating the crap out of Letterman. So how about all you haters out there chew that and joke on it too!
Joke or choke it don’t matter….:)
Ratings don’t mean anything with regard to quality. They just mean networks can charge more money. I don’t think anyone would argue that Dancing With The Stars and American Idol are the highest quality shows on television.
How does someone with the word “hate” in their name use a smiley-face emoticon? “I hate Susan Lucci’s guts!
”
don’t pretend like you analyze ratings. take a closer look.
how do you think leno would have fared if carson took a gig at 10pm instead of graciously stepping away?
Precisely what ratings are you looking at? Hate to break this to you, but your buddy Jay Leno is averaging a 1.0 rating in the 18-54 money demo. If that sounds low, well, it’s because it is. Conan’s was 1.1, something you and the rest of the Leno-watching retards loved crowing about to no end as to why Conan was “fired.” So why don’t you chew on that? Or, being a Leno fan, maybe I should say wrap your dentures around that. You know, on account of how old you are.
Shows my intelligence watching NBC.
The only people that are tuning into Leno are old fogeys who don’t remember what they watched the night before. That’s the only reason that they can still find Leno’s repeated, stale jokes funny, which aren’t even funny in the first place.
Ratings? Who watches TV these days. Ratings are boxes in a select group of peoples homes. Those people hardly count in the modern world, they wouldn’t be on the Nielsen list if they used technology like normal people do. Youtube here, google there kazaaam..
Right on, Scrabblequeenbe! Me, too. I will never, ever watch or support that 2-faced traitor!
Does anyone else love that this is airing on CBS? We should all make sure to watch it so that NBC gets horrible ratings during that time slot. Whether we’re Team Leno or Team Coco, we should definitely not be on Team NBC Executives.
Gimmee a W!
Gimmee an A!
Gimmee an H!
What’s it Spell?
Waaahhhh!
Sorry, Terry, but W-A-H spells “wah,” not “waaahhhh.”
jeez…jay leno fans are so dumb. it’s the same type of humor that jay himself displays. “oh wow, cheers are so clever. let’s do a bit on that”
Jay Leno, is that you?
Conan is such a baby. His ratings sucked. His material sucked. He’s just goofy and immature. And Letterman should shut his mouth. After he go away with sleeping with his staff he really wants to claim moral authority?!?!
Uger, how long does it take you to cry yourself to sleep alone in your single bed?
Brian…you are such a loser. I think you are really Conan…I see you trolling aorund this comments board…knocking on everybody. You really need help, douchebag. Found a job yet? Or still in junior college?
I’m a high school sophomore. And I have a “C” average…so watch it, bucko!
As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed. Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!
When and where in he** did David Letterman ever proclaim moral authority??
Please, by all means, point out exactly to me where David Letterman ever claimed moral authority over Jay Leno. All he did was call him a complete boob who got what he deserved. Pretty sure that’s just the truth.
Right, and I’m pretty sure Letterman’s called himself worse names for his own stupid behavior.
But really, I like Craig Ferguson. I think he should take over the world.
That way I can have Conan all to myself!!!! Not that I’m obsessed or anything… I mean, Conan’s alright.
I love Craig and I love Conan. They are both funnier then either Dave or Jay. But I never liked Jay on Tonight, he was funnier in the 80′s on Laverne and Shirley and such things. I used to like Dave, but he is nearly as funny as Craig ( who has no money, band, sidekick, etc. and still manages to be funny). And Coco well I have always loved O’Brien
@robert Just as a little note, Craig Ferguson does actually have a sidekick now. He has the robot that the guy from mythbusters made for him. But I agree, Conan and Craig are the best for late night.
that robot sidekick is actually a buffed up Pimpbot 3000 from Conan’s old show!
Anybody is “immature” compared to Leno. His material is for people in their 60′s who don’t know any thing about what’s going on in the comedy scene. I don’t care if your going to say your younger then 60, Leno’s main audience is seniors who can’t fall asleep.
Were you on an episode of Jay’s stolen bit, Jay-Walking? You write fragments for sentences and have the grammar of a third grader. No wonder you never got Conan’s humor.
It always amazes me how the small number of Conan haters (also known as NBC employees) insist on spewing hate on every single EW post about Conan – as if they are going to change anyone’s minds. Meanwhile, millions upon millions of people continue to be greatly entertained by CoCo either from his twitter posts, his sold-out national tour, or by any other way that he is legally allowed to express himself right now. Get a life, haters. Go CoCo!
I am not a “hater” of Conan nor Leno. I didn’t nor plan to watch either but Conan is getting tiresome with his comments about NBC. NBC is a for-profit company that has to answer to shareholdres. Conan was not delivering the goods/ratings.
Conan hasn’t made that many comments about NBC. Besides when he was in the heat of the fight, and now that he can do an interview, he hasn’t said a lot.
Don’t pretend like you’ve got the business acumen to offer better analysis. NBC was afraid of Conan competing with Leno, so they made a 5 year deal. Then they breached the deal and had to pay out. Check the ratings now for a look at the “goods”.
Now, everybody is ASKING Conan for comments. I’m not sorry you feel it is getting tiresome; 60 Minutes had the business acumen to know that a Conan interview for those exact comments is good business because lots of people want to hear these “comments.”
If NBC is a for-profit company with only ratings in mind, why does Jay Leno still have a job with the abysmal ratings he is now getting (worse than Conan’s?). It’s because Jay Leno has a better contract. Leno fans have utterly failed to recognize that it was not really about ratings.
LM what a sore baby you are. Coco was awful and he was canned because Amercia hated him. Leno rules, and the ratings prove it.
His sold out tour reflects all the hate coming his way…
Again, why do this gunt-having, middle-aged, sweatpant-wearing women with damaged hair keep coming on here and claiming “America” dislikes Conan? Are you suffering the delusion that all his fans are from Europe, or something? Leno does NOT rule, speaking from a purely ratings-based standpoint, Jill. The fact is that Conan was canned because it only cost NBC $45 million to make him walk. They would have had to pay Jay Leno $150 million. Do the math. Uh-JILL.
Jill: please check the recent ratings. in addition, please don’t ignore the fact that Leno’s ratings were terrible at 10pm so by your own logic, “America” hated Leno.
Coco handled himself with dignity and clas
Conan might be very talented, but he knows nothing about dignity and class … most comedians today are deemed funny because of their lack of both … they resort to crudeness because they lack the intelligence to be truly witty.
Not sure what you’re getting at here. But anyone who doesn’t understand O’Brien’s statement about how he would never do that to Leno is without class.
Also, stay very far away from me as people like you are the worse.
Dignity and class??? Really Deedee?? Really???
In baseball, if you strike out, it’s not the previous batter’s fault. If you were hitting it out of the park, but still not scoring enough runs to win because there is never anyone on ahead of you, maybe you have a complaint. Regardless of what Leno was doing batting before him, Conan was popping out. Unfortunately for Conan, he wasn’t producing the way they needed him to, so they wanted to switch the lineup. He’s not a team player.
that is a poor analogy. how are you supposed to get RBIs when the idiots batting before you don’t get on base?
Yes, he’s so selfish, like when he paid his staff out of his pocket during the writer’s strike, or negotiated an extra $15 million from NBC when he left for his staff, or when he gave all the profits from his stage tour to the employees who weren’t covered by his NBC severance agreement. He’s definitely not a team player!
Amen Brian. Letterman, Conan and even Kimmel paid their employees out of pocket. Jay couldn’t wait to cross the picket line and financially screw his staff. He’s a scab, a phony and a talentless hack. Only humorless, Depend’s wearing old fogeys find his lame-o act funny.
Brian is a sad sad douche….he has no concept of anything except to say that he loves Conan, even though America hated him. Well…whoop-do-doo. What a loser you are Brian….err….Conan.
“Whoop-do-doo”? I rest my case.
I assume what you mean by “regardless of what Leno was doing batting before him,” to use your analogy, would be striking out. Every single at-bat. Basically taking the team under with him. Setting new records for futility. Failing in every conceivable way. Is that what you meant to gloss over with your comment? What a ridiculous failure Jay Leno was in prime time? Kind of a glaring omission on your part.
In the first few years, Leno did terrible. Carson was #1, but then Leno came in and fell behind Letterman. If Conan had the chance maybe he could of or maybe he couldn’t of done that, but at least he would of had the chance.
I agree Carson was a god in latte night tv. He was class personified and won’t allow what happened – being told by NBC that he had to give up the Tonight Show (his show)before he was ready. I’m sure he would have laughed in the face of any TPTB if they had asked that.
But to say that Conan didn’t “have a chance” like Leno did is just dumb. Look at the many shows that get cancelled after two or three shows. Why aren’t we hearing the fans cry – “they didn’t get the chance _____ got.” (insert favorite popular show) Because if you don’t deliver in 2010 – you get replaced.
Leno began his run in a time where NBC didn’t have a choice to replace him after a few months, i’m sure if they did – he would have been out on his chin.
Conan will survive – his fans will survive, in fact I believe we all will survive this and MOVE ON!
i guess you too old to remember that NEWS at 11 is complaining about Leno at 10 and NOT conan at 11:35!
Shhh! The old fogeys get confused when you talk about lead-ins!
You must not no much about baseball, or least baseball past little league. If you strike out, depending on the situation, it can have a lot to do with the previous batter. The last batter could’ve struck out and now there’s 2 outs and its forced you to swing for the fences. Also, he could be on first and to move him up you might have to take a few strikes, etc. Basically, there are many times in baseball where what you do during your at bat is 100% based upon the previous batter, including purposely striking out (yeah, it happens.) Off topic, I know, but just wanted to let you know the way you “proved your point” wasn’t as air tight as you thought.
Your baseball analogy is filled with holes…football would be more accurate. Leno was the equivalent of a crummy offensive line, wide receivers who couldn’t catch the ball and a running getting tackled behind the line of scrimmage. Conan was expected to convert on 3rd and long every possession. He couldn’t do it and was kicked off the team before the season could even get underway. He was a great QB, the franchise he was playing for just sucked.
It’s not smart to replace someone that’s in first place in their time slot. Conan’s ratings were not going to improve. Jay was the one getting screwed imo
Your comment about “Conan’s ratings were not going to improve” is entirely unfounded. You have no idea what would have happened. To proclaim it as fact is odd…
Screwed?! Because he spent five months at 10pm and is now right back where he started? That’s getting screwed?
I think Conan is the more honest and has the most integrity here. He saw that he was beginning to have a bad relationship with these people so he decided to move on. Jay gets told twice to take a hike and he says “Yes and may I have another?”. So Leno is not only unfunny but he likes to come off like he’s some kind or errand boy. And come on, this is the same guy who let his manager (or did it himself, not sure) push Carson out. I don’t see how anyone can stand this guy.
These fake Leno fans must think McDonalds is the best food and Fox is the best cable news based on their logic.
Any worse that the fake Conan fans that didn’t actually even watch his show?
Thing is – Leno’s getting eerily similar ratings to what Conan was getting seven weeks in to his Tonight Show run. Except Leno’s losing in the precious 18-49 demographic. We won’t get the full picture until about a year in but looks like The Tonight Show is better suited to Leno’s old folks appeal and Conan was right to jump ship. That show was neutering him anyway.
That article you read said Leno’s ratings were dipping in the “precious 18-49 demographic”. He isn’t losing.
That’s losing.
Conan always was a jackass, always will be.
Jillian wasn’t always an old maid, but she will be.
Brian, FTW.
Thread over.
Nope
Brian…we all know you can’t even get it up…so stop trash talking others. Loser.
Blubba-glub-blubblub. Glubba-glubba-blobby-blubgub blub. Globbiddy-flub-glubba blub! Blub. Derp!
Then explain my erection!
Conan did the same thing to Jay 6 years ago. Aside from losing his dream job (which I know is no small thing) Conan comes out of this thing smelling like a rose. More money than he could ever know what to do with and he still has a late night talk show.