Posted on 01/12/2010 12:28:04 PM PST by Beaten Valve
Conan O’Brien says he will not do “The Tonight Show” if it airs at 12:05 a.m. He released the following statement Tuesday afternoon:
People of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.
Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.
(excerpt of full announcement)
(Excerpt) Read more at mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Nikki Finke weighs in.
http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/
HELL NO! Conan O’Brien Refusing To Delay ‘Tonight Show’; What Does NBC Do Now?
Carson was superb, Jay was tolerable and at times funny, but Conan sucked. Big time sucked. Not funny at all, and he never looked very comfortable doing it.
Leno was doing well in Carson’s slot. NBC should have left well enough alone.
That was the intial idea of the move, but as you pointed out, it's the DVR that killed the idea. Recent studies have shown that the 10pm hour is typically the hour most people who have DVR's are either watching something they recorded earlier that evening or earlier that week.
About the only shows I ever DVR are Glenn Beck or Red Eye. There's nothing good on network TV these days anyway.
Which is why I wouldn't watch any of these shows in the first place.
Leibowitz, Colbert and O'Brien are key reasons why my entire generation is a bunch of snide, arrogant narcissists.
i like Conan O’B... and i am glad he has responded the way he has... how silly of NBC to think moving Jay’s sorry show to an earlier time slot will save it... it’s not a good show...
Never really cared for any of them since Johnny, but, this includes a very classy letter from Conan. He gets it.
Conan O’Brien was a writer for “The Simpsons” for a number of years.
The way I see it is this, Leno knew the deal NBC had with Conan to take over the tonight show. He wanted to stay on TV so he took another time slot. NBC doesn’t like the ratings its getting so they decide to screw Conan and screw Fallon as well (after only 7 months)...Leno has no problem with it, Conan does. Lack of class to me.
I, for one, really enjoyed Conan’s style of comedy.
(He also gave us Triumph the Insult Comic Dog)
I hope he lands on FOX and establishes a new night time juggernaut.
It seems like Conan has everything but talent! I had to sit through a couple of his shows and never could figure out why anyone thinks he is funny.
It’s funny you should mention demographics because Conan is beating the pants off of both 10 PM Leno and the perv over at CBS in the demo that matters most, 18-34 year-olds.
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv-cable_ratings/19409.html
The old fuddy duddies here don’t get it and never will. O’Brien was NBC’s best shot to have a late night presence after the 40-60 year-old perv watchers are dead. Now that’s gone and NBC’s loss will be Fox’s gain.
O’Brien probably wrote the statement himself, as he’s a former Harvard Crimson editor and penned, himself, what was one of the best Harvard commencement speeches ever.
http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm
I Leno has even a SHRED of class he’ll resign from NBC and let Conan keep the time slot.
I liked Conan, but I am probably not as old and as uptight as some others.
Not one mention of the name “Jay”. There is a mention of “Jimmy” but “Jay” is his predecessor. I think he knows who was behind this.
It was a very honorable statement.
Well said.
I have a solution
Put Leno on MSNBC (the other NBC network) and fire the socialist that presently occupies the 11 pm timeslot.
Heck, change then entire MSNBC network into a comedy network... ratings can only go up.
The dumbest idea ever put on network TV were an endless pool of stupid reality shows and things like Japanese game shows tweaked to suit an American audience.
LOL
Conan will be offered a spot late night on Fox.”
Conan has a contract which runs for 4 more years, to a total of 80 million.
I don’t think he can go to Fox with that money on the table in his contract. I don’t think Fox will pay more.
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