"You could take Steve Jobs, chase him with a bear, and he'd figure this out better than NBC did"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

conan just got paid

http://www.wwtdd.com/2010/01/conan-just-got-paid/

Just seven months after he took the job as host of the Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien and NBC agreed early this morning on a buy-out for the remainder of his contract, which will allow NBC to replace Conan with Jay Leno. The New York Times says…

The deal is worth a reported $44 million.
Network spokeswoman Allison Gollust confirmed the deal early Thursday but did not offer any other details. Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that O’Brien will get $32 million and that the network agreed to pay his staff $12 million in severance.

And to make sure they pissed away as much money as possible, NBC caved on the “mitigation” clause. If that were still in place, and Conan had signed a deal with Fox paying him 25M a year for example, then NBC would only have been responsible for 7 of the 32M. Now he gets 32 no matter what.

So, to recap, Conan hosted a very successful and popular talk show on NBC for 16 years, but then his show moved 60 minutes earlier and NBC decided he forgot how to host a talk show. Then they freaked the fuck out and panicked like some kind of woman. By some accounts this will cost NBC $250 million, partially because of lost ad revenue but mostly between moving Conan, firing Conan, hiring Jimmy Fallon, and creating a show for Leno. It’s fiscal leadership like this that took NBC from a $1.8 billion profit 8 years ago to a $600 million loss this year. Horny 16-year-olds think about the consequences of their actions better than this. You could take Steve Jobs, chase him with a bear, and he still would have figured this all out better than NBC did.

[Richardo]

1. "...panicked like some kind of woman" ?

I know that's not you, but WTF - is this writer from FHM? Watching too much Mad Men?

Whatever it is, he's trying way too hard. And not quite reaching 'funny' or even 'sardonic'.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. I know...I thought about taking that out, because I felt it might not fly well here...

That's the thing about this particular writer, though...he often tries way too hard. He has a pretty sharp sense of humor that he...unfortunately...often dulls with cheap shots.

This isn't his worst, and I have edited him many times in the past before posting here.

[redqueen]

3. Sign of the times...

societally speaking, we've regressed in so many ways.

[myrna minx]

4. Thanks for pointing that out.

:-(

[A-Schwarzenegger]

8. And come to think of it, how many women were involved in this NBClownfest?

:*

[Richardo]

9. Ba-ZING!

:thumbsup:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. On some morning show a week or two ago, the host said O'Briens golden parachute was $45 million.

I don't know exactly what he meant by golden parachute, but O'Briens pay has been reported back and forth from 30 million to 45 million, so it looks like they may be taking the staff's severance package out of his own.

[rcrush]

6. He gets 30 and the staff gets the rest.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Yes, that's what I'm saying.

I think he's generously paying for it himself out of his own severance package