NBC’s Dilemma: Jay or Conan?
[Guest post by DRJ]
Faced with a late-night ratings slump since it replaced Jay Leno with Conan O’Brien, apparently NBC has decided to split the baby:
“The network has a plan in the works to restore Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight for a half-hour, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O’Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m. Mr. O’Brien would then have a full hour.”
Nevertheless, Leno appears to be the winner for now:
“For Mr. Leno, who made no secret that he was unhappy about being moved from “The Tonight Show,” the change represents something of a vindication, even if his crown has been tarnished by his 10 p.m. experience. Mr. O’Brien faces a more unpalatable choice: accept a demotion to 12 a.m. and stay on NBC, or leave for another network, thereby breaking his lucrative contract with NBC.
The exact terms of Mr. O’Brien’s contract are not known, but he is rumored to have built into the deal he made five years ago to stay at NBC a guarantee that he would host “The Tonight Show” or NBC would owe a penalty of as much as $45 million. If his show continues to be called “The Tonight Show,” NBC may not be in breach of his contract, which could compel Mr. O’Brien to stay at NBC even if another network makes him an offer.”
I’d like to read that contract. I’d really like to hear the conversation between Conan and his lawyers if they tell him NBC isn’t in breach and won’t have to pay a penalty, even though they gave part of his time slot to Jay Leno.
— DRJ
Putting O’Brien in Leno’s old spot was a bad move by NBC, IMO. These guys draw in completely different audiences–Leno the older WW2/baby boomer set, O’Brien the 21-30 year-old demographic. Leno’s delivery and schtick are perfect for his audience because he’s conversational and his humor’s relatively gentle. O’Brien’s a complete wise-ass, and Letterman already gets that particular crowd in that time slot. Also, Leno had done some stand-in hosting for Carson during JC’s vacations, so the Tonight Show audience was already familiar with him when he took over the slot.
The people that typically watch Leno absolutely detest O’Brien; I guess he reminds them of a ginger Eddie Haskell or something.
NBC’s hosed on this one; they cut their own throats by giving Leno his own earlier show to begin with, when they should have just done a clean break. O’Brien will be pretty pissed about being shoved to the back of the show, but Leno doesn’t exactly enhance his own brand by being the lead-in.
They should just blow the whole thing up and start from scratch. Maybe they can have a seance and get Sam Kinison’s ghost to be the new host.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 1/8/2010 @ 2:03 pmI don’t see the 1/2 hour working, between Leno’s monologue and headlines (or whatever), that’s a 1/2 hour with no time for guests, and I don’t see Leno doing what would amount to be an opening act for O’Brien.
steve sturm (7629b0) — 1/8/2010 @ 5:10 pmPerhaps, after 50+ years, it’s time to strike out into a different direction with that time slot?
AD - RtR/OS! (946807) — 1/8/2010 @ 5:16 pmJack Paar, and before him Steve Allen, used to come on at 11:45, and run to 1:00.
Now, they’re talking about a 30-minute lead-in to a 60-minute show – one completely different from the other?
Time to check the NetFlicks list again.
Maybe they can have a seance and get Sam Kinison’s ghost to be the new host.
If they’re going to do that, they might as well get Carson back.
Also, it would fit in with GE’s slogan: “We bring good things to life”
JayC (46ff20) — 1/8/2010 @ 5:37 pm“The people that typically watch Leno absolutely detest O’Brien”
Yup.
Me, I’m over watching the scottish conan-guy, Craig Ferguson. Funny, and a patriot.
It’s a great day for America, everybody.
Fred Z (bc2518) — 1/8/2010 @ 6:39 pmHave you seen my puppy cause of I thought he was in this fight but he’s not here.
happyfeet (e9e587) — 1/8/2010 @ 9:42 pmPut them on against eachother. NBC is several stations. Leno at 10:30 on NBC, Conan on USA at 10:30. They switch at 11:30 (same program on the other station). Hell, put it on MSNBC. It’s somewhat newsy.
I say this because I really like Leno, and always have, but I also enjoy Conan. Albeit, less. Not enough to go out of my way to watch, but much more than ‘I hate you’ Letterman.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 1/8/2010 @ 9:47 pmI gotta admit I really like Conan…his quirkiness and self-abuse is much funnier to me than Leno’s smug mugging. I can see how his awkwardness wouldn’t appeal to everyone though. And that said, I rarely watch either show during the week, usually being in bed by 10:30 after the news as I get up at oh-dark-hundred.
I think Conan really got screwed when they created the early Leno timeslot before the news…they gave Conan “The Tonight Show” only to create the prime-time “Tonight Show Lite” which (even with the news in between) is going to reduce the general desire to see yet another show in a similar (comedy/variety) vein. (Yes, there’s always been a later show, but really who stays up for those outside of college and 3rd shifters just waking up??? Fallon is just abysmal anyway.)
Now that decision is not working out for the network as even the news are complaining (hm, couldn’t be the quality of their newscasting costing them eyeballs either, could it??), and Conan is sounding like the one who’ll get the shaft. Strange how that works out…wasn’t it Lorne who bent over backwards to give Leno something so he didn’t just have to walk away completely? Seems like he should man-up and tell Leno “you’re not cutting it in PT, and we gotta let it go to give Conan a chance to make or break an audience without the early preview in the way.
Frankly I hope he walks. Seems to be a growing list of relatively well-known broadcast names going to Fox…Stossell, rumors of Dobbs and now O’Brien. Well, ok, 1 definite and 2 possible coordinates don’t even satisfy the minimum geometry requirements to make a line-segment much less a trend. 🙂
Letterman is just plain ugly. He used to have a great sarcastic edge and dry humor, but he’s just gotten vicious…he’s the “inside voice” of the liberal left, saying what they’re really thinking with no filter, and boy is it scary.
rtrski (47b90a) — 1/9/2010 @ 6:12 amInteresting static. NBC brass thinks Leno will be funnier at 11:35 PM than he was at 10:00 PM. Of Allen, Parr and Carson, Leno seems the least memorable, but that’s a subjective view. Leno’s strength was cultivating relationships with network affiliates which helped him get the ‘Tonight’ gig in the first place. Local news at NBC affiliates were hit hard with Leno as a lead-in. Odd that the Peacock Network decided to bruise an institutional franchise they’ve had for 50 years, too, with a lead-in crutch. Now ‘The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’ will supposedly air at 12:05 AM which makes it technically no longer a ‘tonight show’ but a ‘tomorrow show.’ No doubt Conan is calling Letterman for advice just as Letterman did with Carson. When his contract is up, he may walk unless it has been his dream to host ‘Tonight.’ And so it goes. But then our family’s 11 to 12 block is locked up with Comedy Central’s Stewart and Colbert.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 1/9/2010 @ 12:32 pmyou know, i actually started to watch conan again since the switch. and i hardly ever watched leno. and never watched letterman in years.
that ends if they bump conan, because it is simply shabby. Leno took his gamble and lost. let him host late night, or whatever they call the 12:30 a (eastern) time slot. Conan stepped up and he is frankly a funnier guy; he deserves to be treated better.
A.W. (b1db52) — 1/11/2010 @ 5:32 am