Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Conan O’Brien Says No to 12:05

by Ken Shane

Are you tired of having it shoved up your ass by the suits? If so, then Conan O’ Brien is your man. After being toyed with by what passes as the braintrust at NBC for way too long, Conan issued an open letter today. What makes his statement particularly powerful is that he doesn’t seek pity, but rather seeks to protect the great legacy of The Tonight Show. Johnny Carson would be very proud of Conan today. Without further ado, here is what Conan O’Brien has to say …

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.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • JonCummings
    I don't like the idea of passing out judgments of "good" or "evil" on Leno here. On the one hand, he signed a contract that said he would give up "The Tonight Show," just as Conan signed one that said he would get it. But this business of making commitments five years in advance in order to keep Conan at the network was stupid in the first place. How did Leno know whether or not he would want to keep going today, way back in '04? And why berate him for wanting to find a way to stay on the air now that his 10 p.m. show obviously hasn't worked?

    It's NBC that's created this problem, not Leno. (Though it is his problem, and NBC's as well, that time quite clearly has passed him by, and that his show completely sucks ass. Moving to 10 just exposed what many of Leno's loyal Tonight Show viewers should have figured out a long time ago.) My guess is that even if Comcast/Universal/Don Geist/Jack Donaghy/NBC manage to put these pieces in place, Leno will not win back the viewers Conan lost to Letterman this fall--particularly not with a 30-minute show that places way too much emphasis on his lame monologues.

    My suggestion to Leno: I hear the Hallmark Channel needs a late-night guy. That demographic is more his speed, anyway.
  • My problem with Leno is not that he wants to stay on the air, but that he's willing to do it at the expense of Conan. We now from the whole Battle of the Tonight Show I that Leno is not above underhanded tactics to get what he wants. He is clearly not the nice guy that his image would suggest. If he wants to stay on the air, he should be the one leaving the network, not Conan.
  • The insanity is also in how powerless NBC is willing to make itself appear. The banking industry took crap for rewarding the incompetence of their collective staffing with record bonuses. NBC is bending over every which way to save Leno, at the expense of everything else it seems. They look weak, easily manipulated, which is something advertisers might either try to exploit or just be completely turned off by. NBC rewards failure too now, and that looks like a loser. Why would you want to sink your money into that?

    The biggest loser in this is (I hate to say it) Jimmy Fallon, the true odd-man out. If Conan winds up staying after all this, Fallon is stuck competing with infomercials and reruns of That 70s Show. If Conan bolts, the bad taste of all this screwing over might drastically affect Leno's supposed glorious comeback, leaving Fallon with a hot turd on a twig for a lead-in. At least Conan was thoughtful enough to include Fallon in his note. Leno... I just think this is some straight-up Rupert Pupkin.
  • Look at another side of Conan's situation. He packed up virtually his entire Late Night staff, every last one of the Max Weinberg Seven, the Masturbating Bear, Pimpbot 9000, the whole deal, and moved it across the country thinking they had a solid contract to produce a specific show. The changes, even though some will argue are only facial, do affect the makeup of the show that he has brought his staff to. Now he has to tell all these folks that what he said would be, and what will be, are two completely different animals.

    Which cable conglomerate just bought NBC/Universal? And isn't it funny how these decisions are now getting thrown around fast & furious after the deal has been struck?
  • It was Comcast that just bought NBC. If you've ever done business with them as a cable customer, you know better than to hold out much hope that they'll improve that pathetic network.

    Make no mistake, Conan is under contract, and can stay, and be paid. What he can't do is control when his show airs. My feeling is that NBC has been trying to force his hand and force him out so that they can give the Tonight Show back to Leno. Why, I have no idea. Somewhere in all of this are Leno's dirty hands.
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