Conan O'Brien announces microfracture surgery to stop NBC from moving his time slot

TIME has a Top 10 Leno Moments, and a Top 10 Conan Moments feature. Guess what made Conan's top 10:

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1880685_1880687_1880746,00.html

:grin:

 

Leno and NBC Strike 1 Hour 'Tonight' Deal

Posted Jan 14th 2010 3:43PM by TMZ Staff

Jay Leno has made a new deal with NBC, which gives him "The Tonight Show" from 11:35 - 12:35 ... sources tell TMZ.



As we first reported, under the contract Jay had been working under, he was guaranteed the 10 PM hour. By moving him to 11:35, NBC was in breach of his contract and needed to negotiate a new deal. That is now done, sources tell TMZ.

So Conan O'Brien is out, and Jay is restored.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/14/jay-leno-conan-obrien-nbc-the-tonight-show/#ixzz0cco7MUKG

 

Darn the Houston clip is missing. Anyone know where I can watch it?

 

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/j...onan-ill-keep-you-off-the-air-for-3-12-years/

BREAKING NEWS! EXCLUSIVE! 3RD UPDATE: NBC Universal, faced with Conan O'Brien's defiance, is taking what insiders tell me is "a super tough threatening position" over his refusal to host The Tonight Show at 12:05 AM instead of 11:35 PM. "Someone's got to show NBCU that big greedy corporate dickheads can't win," one of Conan's manager-agent-lawyer-public relations "Team Conan" representatives told me. And while Jeff Zucker has not stepped up and taken responsibility for this mess he set in in motion in the first place -- by replacing Leno with Conan O'Brien as host of The Tonight Show even though Jay was No. 1 in his time slot at the time -- he's been busy behind the scenes. I've already reported how Zucker has been privately blaming Conan for the current debacle, saying "He let me down" because The Tonight Show for the last 7 months since O'Brien took over has been losing out to David Letterman in both eyeballs and advertiser-coveted demographics. (Bull****, Zucker, you can't keep blaming others for your Zuck-ups.) Bad enough that Zucker made Conan hear about the planned move in the first place from the media.

But now the NBCU chief has been talking tough during the negotiations with Team Conan. To counter O'Brien's principled public statement which the late night host issued this week, Zucker "is threatening to ice Conan", according to his reps. "Zucker said, 'I'll keep you off the air for 3 1/2 years.' Which doesn't have a chance in hell of happening. What I really think Zucker wants is to hold him off the market for at least six months to a year until the dust settles and Leno is secure and Conan is squelched." One rep even compared Zucker to "Darth Vader" because the NBCU chief "has been so evil" about this. His 3 1/2-years threat comes because O’Brien has another 2 1/2 half years left to run on his contract, and NBC could also enforce a clause that keeps Conan off television for a year or more after that.

According to NBC's stated plans, The Jay Leno Show would leaves its unsuccessful primetime 10 PM time slot on February 12th, and then move to 11:35 PM after NBC finishes broadcasting the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 28th. That's when The Jay Leno Show arrives in late night, and Conan's show pushes back by 1/2 an hour. To NBC's way of thinking, it can kill two birds with one stone: it won't have to pay Jay that hefty $80 million penalty for taking The Jay Leno Show off the air because the program has "merely" moved timeslots. And it won't have to pay Conan that fat $60 million penalty for removing him from The Tonight Show because that program, too, has "merely" moved timeslots. But, as David Letterman so succinctly put it this week, "At 12:05 AM, that's not The Tonight Show, that's The Tomorrow Show! As I've written previously, the Pottery Barn rule is applicable here: "You break it, you buy it." It could and it should cost NBC.

But I've learned O'Brien's reps now believe that Zucker wants to jettison Conan altogether and put Jay back at The Tonight Show at its usual starting time. So, to prevent O'Brien competing at NBC or elsewhere with Leno's attempt to lure back his late night audience, NBCU's Zucker has come up with this plot to "ice" Conan for the length of his NBC Tonight Show contract. It's dastardly, it's cowardly, and it could be damn effective. But there's no way Team Conan says they're going to let that happen. Bad enough NBCU horribly humiliated Conan and, as he so rightly pointed out in his statement, will damage The Tonight Show by moving it down a half-hour. With the 12:05 AM start, its ratings will never recover. After NBC made that decision, the phones at his WME agency rang off the hook with calls from every network, cable, and pay channel looking to hire O'Brien. And there's every reason for him to flee. But, if Conan exits voluntarily or involuntarily, it will take at least a year before a new show is readied and on the air. He risks losing his fan base during that time. And he'll be forever tagged by the failure. So now it's open warfare between NBC and O'Brien's reps.

Zucker's hardline stance became evident during that 1:45 PM Tuesday meeting at NBC Universal this week shortly after Conan issued his statement of defiance. On one side of the room were NBCU bigwigs Jeff Gaspin and Marc Graboff. On the other were O'Brien's reps: manager Gavin Palone, WME agent and board member Rick Rosen, and the newest member of Team O'Brien, Hollywood litigator Patty Glaser, who was hired last Sunday and is WME's legal shark of choice. Not attending were Zucker (hiding back in NYC), or WME boss Ari Emanuel (leading the WME retreat in Rancho Mirage). One of Hollywood's toughest negotiators and the model for Entourage agent Ari Gold played by Jeremy Piven, Ari. Even so, Gavin can be as mean as a rabid dog, Rick's agency reps 60% of the TV talent, and Glaser is a pitbull. For them, this kind of mano-a-mano negotiation is bloodsport. But even they were shocked by Zucker's scheming.

"Patty came in and said, 'You can't do this.' They claim they can legally, but everyone knows it's ambiguous. The contract is not clearly expressed and they are misinterpreting it," one of my sources related. "So everything now is at a standstill. There's been a proposal, and a counter-proposal. This will end up in front of a judge if someone [at NBCU] doesn't wise up."

I'd learned both NBCU chief Jeff Zucker as well as Gaspin were told about Conan's statement publicly promising to protect the integrity of The Tonight Show he'd inherited. It made Zucker furious. O'Brien's reps didn't want O'Brien to speak out. "They were not thrilled. They told him it would undercut his negotiating leverage," one source revealed to me. "But Conan wouldn't listen to them. He wanted to make it." And yet, because of the controversy, O'Brien's Tonight Show ratings have risen. While Leno hasn't received a similar bump, Conan's number went up to 1.9 in the overnights. Certainly, that has to give NBC pause, right? Apparently not. Sources tell me there's only "the slightest of chances" that Zucker will relent and keep O'Brien and The Tonight Show intact at 11:35 PM. As for Conan, if he's released, he wants to ensure his executive producer Jeff Ross and other staff who moved out from New York to Los Angeles "are taken care of". As for himself, "he's not thinking about strategy. He's saying, "I just want enough money to feed my family.'"

 

I read about this situation and keep thinking to myself: What shows are left on NBC that are watchable/good?

NBC's mythical run in the 90s up until, I'd say, 2004 when Friends went off the air, was very very good. You had ER, Law and Order, Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, Will and Grace, etc. Now...what do they have?

Comedy? Barely. The Office and 30 Rock is their bread and butter while SNL's been given the grandfather clause and their decisions on Scrubs and My Name is Earl are downright confusing.

Drama? Heroes was a one-season wonder. ABC has Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Flash Forward, etc.

Reality TV? This is probably their only saving point and I can't name any shows outside of The Biggest Loser.

Sports? They're still smarting from that exclusive contract with Notre Dame. The Olympics might give them a ratings boost but it happens every 2 years (considering both the Summer and Winter Games)

And now they messed up their late night shows. In all honesty I'm not a fan of either Leno (I was a Letterman fan) or Conan (never really watched him to make a definite decision) but Zucker should have just kept Leno on the Tonight Show from the get go. Was he afraid that Conan would have been mad and bolt if NBC went back on their word about making Conan the heir apparent for the Tonight Show throne? Why would that even matter if Leno was beating Letterman (his main and only competition) on a nightly basis? Where would have Conan went to? Fox? ABC?

NBC is hardly watchable anymore IMO. The only show I watch is The Office and I'm sure everyone here loves 30 Rock (seemed like a good show the last time I caught it).

 

No show for CoCo?

 

http://www.movieline.com/2010/01/ja...hat-restores-him-to-hourlong-tonight-show.php


http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20336890,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

looks like COCO might be done after next week

 

Strangely enough, Bill Simmons tweeted the news about Conan being done after next week several hours ago.

 

It'll be interesting to see which celebrities are going to be on Conan's show next week because I'd imagine those celebs won't be invited on the Tonight Show once Leno gets his seat back.

Also, I think if Zucker and NBC thinks returning Leno to the Tonight Show is going to help them win back the late night ratings, why worry about working a payout for Conan and let him leave to another network? I mean, they're pretty sure Leno will get their ratings back that they'll suck on his ballsack on command, so why don't you just pay Conan to leave?

 

Simmons and Kimmel are close IIRC, I'm sure Kimmel must have found out somehow.

 

I don't know if he does anymore but he used to be a writer for Kimmel's show so I'd assume he has his network of info from his work.

 

^^^ Had no idea. Thanks, brohams.

 

Well, as the Flaming Lips once sang, evil will prevail. The only person who has shown class throughout this process is Conan O'Brien and he will be out of a job. I guess the only real victims in all of this are Conan's staff. Moving cross country isn't easy and being out on your ass after 7 months is a shame.

 

Since it's a previously scheduled break, it's not as bad as it sounds.

If they pulled him cause he keeps bashing NBC then yeah it would be funny.

I'm tuning in just to see what he says. If you can't trust NBC, who can you trust? An ice period would not be good for Conan. He needs to take Leno head on on February 1 on Fox.

 

I agree that a freeze out won't be good for Conan but can NBC do that?

1. Conan signed a contract with NBC to host the Tonight Show

2. NBC breaches its contract with Leno when they moved/cancelled his show.

3. NBC re-signs Leno to a new contract that now states he's going to host the Tonight Show

I know Conan's made his opinion felt about the whole thing and, by saying he won't have any new tapings/shows beyond next friday, made himself look like an insubordinate employee who's contractually obligated to host the Tonight show.....but couldn't O'Brien take NBC to court because they have now sign Leno to the Tonight Show?

 

Leno sucks. His delivery is terrible.

 

And when did Zucker get control of NBC Universal... 2007 - is anyone surprised that the network has gone to pathetic since then??

 

Leno retired from the Tonight Show under his own steam; would he even go back to that show/format if offered it?

That would be uber tacky on his part to take it back, even if it were offered.

 

I wonder how that works with his contract. If NBC has to pay him will they have to pay his staff too? I hope so.

 

Sound familiar?