Conan O’Brien is almost definitely 100% out the door at NBC, but he’s supposedly getting a $30 million dollar apology check. Of course these rumblings are fairly certain but still considered to be rumors as NBC and/or Conan’s camp are staying silent on the details. On the flip, Conan’s not shutting up about his distaste for the network and last night he once again came out swinging in his monologue. Some choice jokes:
“Hi, I’m Conan O’Brien — future answer to a $200 “Jeopardy” question.
“Welcome to tonight’s show. By the time you see this, I’ll be halfway to Rio in a stolen NBC traffic copter.”
“In the press this week, NBC has been calling me every name in the book. In fact, they think I’m such an idiot they now want me to run the network.”
“According to the Nielsen Company our ratings are way, way up this week. And that’s nothing — wait till you see what we have planned for February.”
And while $30 million may seem like more than enough to cover the guy, NBC is reportedly stipulating that if Conan moves on to another network within a certain time period, they don’t have to pay him that full amount. From TheWrap:
The deal came following a battle between the two camps over whether O’Brien’s contract specifically guaranteed that “The Tonight Show” must air at 11:35 p.m.
As TheWrap previously reported, Team Conan was insisting that NBC has breached O’Brien’s contract because, it argued, the deal had a timeslot guarantee.
NBC’s response: No, there is no such guarantee of a specific timeslot for “Tonight.” So as long as we keep something called “The Tonight Show” on the air, there is no breach.
If NBC had been in breach, it would have owed Conan around $40 million (and as much as $50 million, according to some reports), as a penalty.
People close to NBC insisted the network would not yield on this point– it wouldn’t admit it had breached O’Brien’s deal.
One solution that had been on the table Friday, according to TheWrap’s Josef Adalian: Agreeing to disagree over the timeslot issue and instead settling on a pay or play fee.
This late night TV drama is the worst. I really just need to admit to myself that the only times I ever watched Conan were on Hulu or back in his Late Night days and move on. I’m prepared to go a year without Conan so that I don’t have to talk about this anymore. It blows goats that someone who’s made me laugh so hard over the years is getting railroaded by a bunch of losers, but like… see ya in a year, man. It’s not that long of a time.
Oh, BTW! If you missed Kimmel ripping Leno a new one over and over and over again the other night, check out this video. It’s awesome:
a year is a long time for all the lower paid staff that went with conan when he made the move.
you know, if conan really wants those people to stick with him and work on the new show, wherever that may be (fox) – then he can take some of that 30 million and split it out so that they are able to ride out the year…
that’s a lot of chedda’ yo…
This is a side of the equation that I hadn’t truly appreciated, until the last day or so.
While Conan reportedly has a very loyal staff, there are apparently rumblings that some of the people who work for him — many of whom moved from New York to Los Angeles for Conan’s relocation/transition to the Tonight Show a year ago — are upset that the boss didn’t give 12:05A a shot, in the best interests of keeping a whole lot of people employed and seeing how things ultimately worked out for ratings and show quality.
Conan may ultimately walk away with a $30M buyout, but the vast majority of his employees have no such promises or lofty prospects.
I’m unsure how to feel about these considerations because, on the one hand, Conan must remain true to himself and his supporters to deliver the best show possible but, on the other hand, Conan is essentially a corporation and his leaving the Tonight Show is like a corporation that employs a lot of people going out of business and shuttering its doors.
I’m so tired of these assholes. Jay is going to be on 11:35 because people love him and he gets ratings. So shut up about your bruised ego and your friend’s bruised ego. I’ve despised and boycotted Kimmel and Letterman this week b/c of it.
sounds like your the one with the bruised ego….kimmel was just saying what everyone else has been thinking. and man you have a cardboard sense of humor if you think leno is funny.
I have to agree with “Anonymous” on this one. Leno is way better. I have always thought Kimmel was the shit though, he should have gotten The Tonight Show.
And by the way Molls, if you seriously think that Kimmel “destroyed” Leno in this interview, then you are the worst blog writer ever. Listen to the interview one more time and listen to Jay’s questions, he lobbed those questions to Kimmel. There is no way that Jay wouldn’t know how Kimmel would respond, gimmie a fuckin’ break.
Jay is an Indian giver-oh sorry that is a very old expression that is not PC. What the heck did it mean anyway? When 5 years was way off in the future, Jay thought he could walk away. Then he realized he is a nobody without the Tonight Show. Conan was more of a later at night kind of guy, but he never even got a chance to develop his own audience in the slot. I think that it would have been ridiculous for Jay to be on for a half hour, and Conan knew it.
If the ratings slid after Jay’s 30 minutes it would have been the excuse to can Conan later-maybe without the golden parachute he is going to get.
Jay and Dave are like being a cat person or a dog person. Conan is more similar to Dave, and Dave already had that group. I am a Dave fan, could never stand Jay, so I will never watch him in any time slot.
That must make me a monkey person, because all I want is Arsenio Hall back on.
I have a new found respect for Jimmy Kimmel.
Don’t worry, like a serious case of syphillis, it can be treated.
It will be finicky to right now lastly find a location where our blogger knows honestly well with reference to his specialty.