NBC Considering Moving Back Leno, Conan and Fallon

[Sean]

so i'm watching that HBO tv movie "The Late Shift", someone mentioned it in this thread so i thought i'd give it a watch, i'm near the end of the movie, and i find it funny that after Jay Leno keeps the Tonight Show, he says, "Welcome to NBC, which stands for Never Believe your Contract." now i thought this was very funny because earlier this week, Jay Leno said the exact same thing about his new fued.

 

[EmpireWF]

http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/16/conan-obrien-jay-leno-the-tonight-show-nbc-announcement-settlement/

TMZ reports Conan's people and NBC have reached a preliminary deal that could be signed and announced as early as later today. The deal would include a payment from NBC to Conan (rumored to be around $30mil to $40mil). Conan would leave the network and be free to go to a competing network as soon as he wishes and Leno would take back the Tonight Show in the 11:35 slot.


I can only assume Conan will then begin negotiating with other networks, such as FOX.

Also, I wonder if the rumors that Conan's last show will be this coming Friday are true.

 

[MrBill]

Also, I wonder if the rumors that Conan's last show will be this coming Friday are true.

I think the show was going to be taking a break for a month whether he was staying or not due to the late night Olympics coverage that is around the corner.

 

[EmpireWF]

True, but he won't be returning. Once the show resumes, Leno will be back.

I wonder if they will return to the old studio (if it even still exists) or remain in the one built for Conan.

 

[Sean]

i think Jay joked they turned his old set into a storage area

but maybe during the whole Olympics thing, Conan can get a new network and set, try to come out as the same time as Jay back at the Tonight Show

 

[MrBill]

i think Jay joked they turned his old set into a storage area

but maybe during the whole Olympics thing, Conan can get a new network and set, try to come out as the same time as Jay back at the Tonight Show

Conan would probably be off the air for at least 6 months to get a new show up and running on another network. I'm guessing the first order of business for him would be to move back to NYC.

 

[EmpireWF]

It will likely take Conan some time before he even gets a new deal elsewhere. Say for Fox for example, they would need to work out a lot of stuff before deals get signed.

Like Bill mentioned, would he want to return to NYC or stay in Hollywood, what about the deals of all his staffers and cohorts (Andy, the band, the writers, etc.).

Perhaps they'd be able to get on the air before the end of the year, but it will take awhile.

 

[IamMedellin]

He fukin buried him on his own show..Kimmel is a Bawss

http://tv.gawker.com/5449596/late-n...-with-low-blow?skyline=true&s=i&autoplay=true

 

[DJ Fog]

what is with the hate of Leno. I find myself in the internet forum minority of actually preferring Leno to Conan. I don't think Conan is entertaining at all. Think this is a great move.

I would guess you are over 40 yrs old.

 

[Palooza]

what is with the hate of Leno. I find myself in the internet forum minority of actually preferring Leno to Conan. I don't think Conan is entertaining at all. Think this is a great move.

Your sense of humor must be piss poor.

 

[Marley]

I'm going to LMFAO when Leno retires in a few years and this looks like the worst decision ever.

 

[JBauerisGod]

what is with the hate of Leno. I find myself in the internet forum minority of actually preferring Leno to Conan. I don't think Conan is entertaining at all. Think this is a great move.

Besides the fact that he is egotistical and couldn't care less about one of the most historic programs in TV history?

 

[EmpireWF]

it wasn't Leno's decision. I honestly think it has something to do with Comcast buying NBC.

This likely has nothing to do with Comcast. Do you think they want all the negative PR the network has received over the past two weeks? Hell, the in-fighting has gotten so bad, Conan openly mocked the eventual failure that Dick Ebersol's (NBC's Sports guy) Olympics will be. If I'm a corporation investing billions of dollars into a new investment, I wouldn't be happy.

Leno went public as early as last November saying if NBC offered him the Tonight Show back, he'd take it.

Leno's ratings at 10pm sucked big time. That format does not work at that timeslot, five nights a week. NBC affiliates around the nation were PISSED OFF because the bad ratings hurt their profits and hurt the local news shows.

Conan's ratings as Tonight Show host were not great by any means. Letterman was beating him (something he did not do often to Leno). However, Conan was doing better than Letterman with younger demos. It got so bad during the summer that Letterman reruns were beating first run Conan shows.

The argument against Leno says that Conan never got a solid lead in to help him in the first place. All the years that Leno did superb (ratings wise), he had the benefit of the great NBC shows. Conan had a failed Leno experiment.

So, with Affiliates pissed off and overall ratings going down the toilet, NBC decided to cancel Leno's show before affiliates went public with their displeasure. They didn't want Leno to go and wanted Leno back at 11:35 with Conan's Tonight Show starting after midnight.

Conan, realizing the shit NBC was doing, said no fucking way and here we are.

It's going to be Leno with the Tonight Show again at 11:35, Fallon and Carson Daly with Conan off to a new network.

Meanwhile, most comedians have taken Conan's side in all this with the belief that Leno is useless in the role because he doesn't try to do anything more than he has since he got the show originally in the early 90s. He does his shtick and that's what he does. Plus, everyone senses Leno was never sincere about handing over the show in the first place and always intended to weasel his way back into it. Whether that's true, only Leno knows.

Me, I like Conan. He's funny to me. Leno is a tired act.

At the end of the day, NBC is to blame for all this. Leno never wanted to leave in the first place but they did not want to lose Conan. Five years later, they're losing him anyway. As it turns out, they could have saved a lot of money by just letting him walk instead of forcing Jay out and all this mess.

 

[Marley]

what is with the hate of Leno. I find myself in the internet forum minority of actually preferring Leno to Conan. I don't think Conan is entertaining at all. Think this is a great move.

:gtfo:

:will:

 

[IamMedellin]

"When I took this show over there was a lot of animosity between me and Dave and who's going to get it, and quite frankly a lot of good friendships were permanently damaged and I don't want to see anybody have to go through that again. You know, this show is like a dynasty-you hold it and then you hand it off to the next person and I don't want to see all the fighting and all the who's better and nasty things back and forth in the press so right now, here it is, Conan it's yours. See you in five years, buddy."
- Jay Leno in 2005

http://tv.gawker.com/5450086/lenos-...onan-its-yours?skyline=true&s=i&autoplay=true

 

[Palooza]

http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2010/01/jay-leno-is-a-real-class-act

Clip of Leno handing the show over to Conan in 04.

 

[EmpireWF]

TMZ reports NBC and Conan's Team are negotiating on intellectual property including Triumph, the Masterbating Bear, Pimpbot 5000, etc.

The report says NBC will likely concede the characters to Conan but he'll have to give something up (probably prohibit him from making disparaging remarks about NBC for some time).

The person who owns Triumph is actually a writer or former writer for Conan.

 

[Sean]

i just like the year 3000, they could just change it up like they did for the Tonight Show

 

[SethMode]

Jay Leno has always seemed like a world-class doucher and backstabber. This situation is just confirming it.

Oh, and he has never been even remotely funny.

 

[IamMedellin]

O'Brien's NBC departure leaves bits behind
NBC owns rights to popular trademarked characters
By Matthew Belloni and Nellie Andreeva

Jan 16, 2010, 01:16 PM ET


The Masturbating Bear is dead.

As a deal nears for Conan O'Brien's exit from NBC, one thing is certain: The characters and recurring comedy bits O'Brien originated during his 16-plus years on "Late Night" and "The Tonight Show" will not follow the host when he leaves NBC.

The Peacock owns the intellectual property behind such popular O'Brien characters as Pimpbot 5000 and Conando, as well as recurring segments such as In the Year 3000 and Desk Driving. Sources involved in the settlement negotiations say NBC is keeping the copyrighted and trademarked elements of O'Brien's shows as part of the deal. That means the bits and characters will likely never be seen after O'Brien's "Tonight" ends its run Jan. 22.

While the vast majority of the characters O'Brien introduced are said to owned by NBC, it's unclear who controls Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet that is perhaps O'Brien's most popular recurring bit. Triumph was originated by writer and longtime O'Brien pal Robert Smigel, whose reps declined to comment on whether Smigel or NBC owned rights to the character.

In 1993, David Letterman got into a dustup with NBC when he departed "Late Night" for CBS' "Late Show." NBC attorneys attempted to prevent Letterman from taking intellectual property originated on "Late Night" to the comic's new home. Letterman responded by dropping certain bits and renaming other recurring segments -- "Viewer Mail" became "CBS Mailbag" and frequent guest Larry "Bud" Melman began referring to himself by his real name, Calvert DeForest. Letterman mocked the dispute on his first "Late Show" when NBC anchor Tom Brokaw interrupted the monologue and stole cue cards in the name of securing NBC's intellectual property.

O'Brien, if he lands at another late-night show, might be in a tougher spot. Unlike comic personalities Letterman and Jay Leno, O'Brien began his career as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons," and his shows relied more heavily on the cleverly scripted bits and outrageous characters.

Losing those assets could hurt O'Brien as he looks for another home, although his "Tonight" had featured fewer of the characters than "Late Night" and the host -- who is considered one of the top comedy writers in the business -- may be looking for a fresh start. Sources close to him said he was not interested in taking his NBC characters with him

Fuck NBC