NBC buys out Conan O'Brien

[brooklynite]

from MSNBC:

NBC reportedly agrees to pay Conan $30M
Deal to vacate timeslot may be in finalization process, sources tell TheWrap

NBC has its way out of the Conan Crisis.

The network has agreed to pay O'Brien $30 million to vacate the 11:35 p.m. "Tonight Show," individuals involved in the negotiations have told TheWrap.

The deal, which may still be in the process of finalization, could be announced as early as Friday.

You know, I'd be willing to not host the Tonight Show for a million dollars even...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Big change from threatening to keep his contract and force him off the air for 3 yrs.

[tekisui]

2. Conan wins.

[Warpy]

16. Yes, he walks away with a good chunk of change

and, best of all, he walks away from LA.

Now I know there are people there who love it, some of them are my cousins. However, people from the east coast often have a pretty rough transition, something O'Brien gave every indication of having.

So he gets time with the wife and leisure to figure out what to do next.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[Hawaii Hiker]

57. I don't live there, but I love LA

And i would think Conan, especially considering he could easily afford to live in Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Brentwood, Malibu, etc. could learn to love it rather easily...

[Warpy]

58. It would drive me bonkers.

I managed the transition to NM, though. This state is a real anomaly in the west and I chose it carefully.

[Leopolds Ghost]

30. No, he LOSES. He had guaranteed Tonight Show for 3yrs, he had $80 M deal cancellation fee!

At worst he could have taken that fee and invested it in an independent production show like Letterman did.

NBC could do nothing but preempt the Tonight show entirely for Leno, with pay, making themselves look bad.

They would have CAVED!

This is sadly, Conan caving.

[SoCalDem]

35. He has a young family, and may have just wanted OUT

and to get on with his life..not hanging around courtrooms for the next 5 years.

Sadly, there is probably a "muzzle" clause, so he may not be able to talk about it much..

The best revenge he can have, is to negotiate a decent deal with Fox, and move back to NYC....and then beat the pants off Leno..With him and dave, Leno could end up a distant 3rd

[undeterred]

3. $30M for what?

He should give it to Haiti.

[Bluebear]

17. Breach of contract.

[lpbk2713]

4. I'd be glad to find something else to do at 11:35 for a half mill or so.

Hey NBC, I'm available.

[roamer65]

5. I wonder which closet Leno was hiding in this time.

Leno is slime.

I'll watch either Letterman on CBS, or O'Brien on Fox.

[aquart]

32. What did Leno do?

Conan was perfectly happy to take his show from him. Now he's slime for getting it back? Please explain.

[Kerrytravelers]

6. I'm with Coco. Where ever he goes, I go.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

7. To the Oxygen Network!

Here he comes ladies!




Seriously though, I hope he takes less money and gets back on the air as quickly as possible and really fucks Leno over.

[Kerrytravelers]

18. bwwaahhhh... *high five* bwaaahhhhhh!!!!

:rofl:

People of Earth: Bring Coco back!

[LuvNewcastle]

8. That's great news!

If he goes to Fox, I'll be able to watch him. I don't have cable and Fox is one of the few stations I get, along with ABC and PBS. I don't care much for Jimmy Kimmel, so I would be happy to watch Conan.

[LatteLibertine]

9. Conan

tickled me when he said one of his options was to start a show on BET called "White All Night". :P

[Leopolds Ghost]

26. He should! n/t

[jillan]

10. He is going to be the winner in this - just wait.

Wherever he goes, whatever he does - he will have a new following.

[TexasObserver]

11. The return of the masturbating bear is within reach.

[rucky]

40. FOX would air it in that time slot.

just sayin'

[SemiCharmedQuark]

50. Yeah, but FOX has standards that are quite different than NBC

I mean...look at what they let Family Guy get away with and that's at 8pm.

[greennina]

12. I wish I could get a bonus for doing a bad job!

Sounds more like Wall Street than Hollywood.

[Missy Vixen]

19. So, he did a bad job?

Please do a little reading before commenting.

Most of the reason why his show was still building an audience was because Leno's show (the lead-in,) tanked. The affiliates were screaming because it affected their ad rates.

Conan O'Brien wasn't the one who caused this. It was Leno. NBC has tied themselves to him, and they're going to ride him into the ground, just like that exploding blimp.

[quiller4]

24. Lousy show and worse ratings.

[Liquorice]

31. Leno did a terrible job when he first took over The Tonight Show. People

don't like change--it would have taken a while, but Conan would have eventually been accepted. Leno didn't beat Letterman in the ratings for the first 3 years after he took over.

[Missy Vixen]

44. Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Leno! n/t

[greennina]

51. They're spending 30 million to get rid of the idiot.

Please use some logic. If he was doing well they'd want to keep him. Instead, it's worth more than $30 million to get rid of him. He's costing them tens of millions of dollars in losses because he is (intentionally?) doing such a poor job.

Again, I wish I could get a big bonus for screwing my employer.

[Missy Vixen]

54. Here, cupcake, let me help

The reason why Conan O'Brien is getting a thirty million dollar payout (and the non-compete clause in his contract waived as well,) is because NBC breached their own contract. Instead of firing Jay Leno, like NBC should have since his show at 10 caused not only their ratings to tank, but their affiliates to demand he be removed due to a precipitous decline in ad revenues for their stations, they're giving him a promotion.

There is no business in the world that would continue to promote someone who should have been fired. Oh, nothing outside of the banking industry and NBC. If Conan O'Brien and his representation chose to take NBC to court, that $30 million would balloon exponentially. He'll get an offer from another network, and he and David Letterman will bury Jay Leno.

YOU are the one that wouldn't know logic if it bit you in the face. Are you Jay Leno's "special friend", perhaps?

[JamesA1102]

33. Leno did a bad job at 10

and he's not losing his job. The affiliates didn't demand that Conan's show be canceled, they demanded that Leno's show be dumped. Now they are making Conan pay for Leno's failure.

[Tunkamerica]

36. You'd be getting paid for this comment

[alp227]

13. I'll follow Conan on Fox

The (New) Tonight Show with Jay Leno will have the same blue set as the current Leno show I guess, not the old purple one that I've come to associate with The (First) Tonight Show with Jay. Besides, I oppose Jay Leno hosting The Tonight Show again, as Conan O'Brien made is so much better.

[PacerLJ35]

14. It'll be interesting to see what NBC does (and says) when Leno's ratings flop

[MilesColtrane]

15. 30 million for walking?

Who's gutless now NBC?

Glad that the Pale One has banked on the suit's failure.

[roguevalley]

20. hope he goes off network. more freedom that way. LET CONAN BE CONAN!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. That's great.

What about Andy and Max and the rest of the crew?

[ohheckyeah]

46. Really.

Lots of people will be losing their jobs and many of them moved to CA for the job.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

49. Probably depends on whether Conan wants to stay in LA or go back to NY

I think Fox should go ahead and try a Late Night Show. What do they ahve to lose? The Office reruns?

Fox is more Conan's style anyway.

[Common Sense Party]

22. Does he still have a non-compete?

And if so, does that only apply to another broadcast network?

If so, he could, possibly:

a) Go to a cable station like ComedyCentral or USA (like Lopez is doing on tbs)

or

b) If he signs with Fox, they could even do a streamed internet show until the non-compete clause is null, and then go onto TV.

I'm sure there are other, better options that my stuffed-up head is too puny to envision.

[scarletwoman]

23. My question is, did or did not Leno agree to retire from the Tonight Show 5 years ago

when it was announced that Conan would take it over in 2009? If Leno couldn't bear the idea of letting go of it, why didn't he kick up a mighty fuss back THEN?

The whole sorry spectacle of putting Leno on 5 nights a week in primetime just seemed pathetic from the start -- a sop to a big ego who wanted to hang on no matter what.

I know that Conan was restless about being stuck in Late Night, but if the NBC execs wanted to keep Leno, why didn't they just tell Conan "too bad" instead promising him the Tonight Show?

I was a Letterman watcher until the glorious digital TV conversion left me with only one channel -- the local NBC affiliate. :banghead: But before Craig Ferguson happened (and I WISH I could still watch him!), I loved to switch over to Conan after Letterman. I'm still quite fond of Conan -- he's goofy but sweet, and I think he's really getting fucked through no fault of his own.

Anyway, I hope Conan lands somewhere else. I mean, he has Max Weinberg, for cripesakes! And all those poor New Yorkers who packed up and moved to L.A.! What a clusterfuck!

So NBC, go ahead and give the Tonight Show back to that asshole Leno. I'll just go to bed earlier.

sw

[quiller4]

25. Leno agreed to that because it was the only contract the network was offering

the only negotiation was over dollars.

I cannot stand Conan and I'll be happy to watch Leno agains after my localnews.

[JamesA1102]

34. Only contract the network was offering???

How do you know that? That's not how contract negotiations work.

[Tunkamerica]

37. what type of person can't stand conan?

a better question is "who likes jay better?"

[Ms. Toad]

47. Ditto.

Since I only have one option after the conversion to digital, NBC is pretty much the only thing I can get (and then only part of the time). The move cost me the dramas at 10, and the Tonight Show after the news.

[enigmatic]

27. Good

In a sea of phonies in Hollywood, Leno might be the phoniest. And the least funny.

[Leopolds Ghost]

28. Man, fuck this shit. Anywhere would be a step down. Conan should have f---d them & held on to TTS.

Force them to fire Leno, FFS!

[Leopolds Ghost]

29. He head every right, FORCE THEM TO PREEMPT THE TONIGHT SHOW, WITH PAY!

Pay his staff out of his contract, make NBC look bad, Leno would bomb, they would cave!!!

This decision means the end of the Tonight Show. And people are cheering?

[lbrtbell]

38. I don't think they'll let The Tonight Show die

It has too much history. NBC will either let Jay keep it, or if the ratings get too bad, they'll finally have to admit they screwed up, and they'll get someone else.

Either way, it'd surprise me if the show is canceled. What would NBC replace it with?

[Leopolds Ghost]

45. Since Conan will be moving to 11-12 on Fox, he'll hurt the real newscasts and pre-empt Tonight show.

Jay Leno will be able to claim higher ratings in the 11:30 - 12 timeslot as people switch over from Conan, even if Conan gets good ratings it will be up against the news broadcasts, not Leno. and all of Leno's millions of older, more conservative, Vegas-going fans will be vindicated and the analysts will proclaim how NBC was right to fire Conan, meanwhile broadcast ratings will continue to decline and NBC will continue to undermine broadcast programming and use their ad revenue on broadcast to promote shows exclusively on cable. Demolition by neglect.

[malaise]

39. Good for Conan

Leno will flop so in plain terms GENBC fugged itself properly.

[stray cat]

41. Poor Conan.......

[aikoaiko]

42. I'm sure he would prefer the Tonight Show and its time slot, but $30M is a good result

Now he can move back east where he belongs. Conan in California -- it was never right.

[TicketyBoo]

43. Conan is a nice guy

but his comedy wasn't for me.

I watched the first night he was on, thinking maybe things would have changed, but they hadn't changed enough for me to like the show any better.

We've been watching Dave every night and Craig Ferguson afterward.

Now we'll probably go back to doing what we did before--checking out the guest lineup and then choose between Jay and Dave based on who is going to be on..

[ohheckyeah]

48. NBC could screw up a wet dream.

I don't like Leno and never have. His humor is juvenile, potty humor.

At least the whole mess has made for some good laughs. Kimmel tore Jay up the other night.

[groundloop]

52. Bring back Carnac the Magnificent ! ! ! ! !

[deacon]

53. And Leno showed what a greedy self important bastard he is. n/t

[OneBlueSky]

55. I read somewhere today that Conan's staffers are furious . . .

that he's taking a golden parachute worth thirty million while they're not getting bupkus . . . apparently there are 200 or so staff who uprooted their lives to follow Conan to California, and unless he splits that severance pay with them, they'll be left high and dry and unemployed . . . interesting to see how Conan will handle this one . . .

[Blasphemer]

56. That story isn't true... they are all behind him

Even people at NBC are denying that story. I'm sure it was planted. http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/ratings-cocos-still-got-big-mo-13082

I originally heard that NBC would have to buy Conan out for 40 million, I think it is likely he took 30 million in order to ensure his staffers get a severance package.