Chef is first celebrity judge set for NBC reality competition show
Conan, NBC Officially Splitsville (Updated)
UPDATE 10:30 AM CST/8:30 AM PST
Statement from NBC:
NBC confirmed today that popular late-night host Jay Leno will return to host "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. (ET) beginning March 1, 2010 and that "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" will continue to be broadcast from 12:35-1:35 a.m. (ET). The announcements were made by Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment.
"We're pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years," said Gaspin. "He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television."
Leno previously hosted "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" from May 1992-May 2009. The program will continue to showcase many of the features that made Leno America's late-night leader for more than a dozen years.
And the joint statement from NBC and Conan O'Brien:
NBC and Conan O'Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien."
Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.
O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of "The Tonight Show" on January 22.
UPDATE 6:27 AM CST/4:27 AM PST
From an NBC spokeswoman:
"NBC confirms a deal is signed and an official announcement will be made this morning."
ORIGINAL POST 3:00 AM CST/1:00 AM PST
Our long national late-night nightmare is over.
After nearly two weeks of protracted, oft-bitter and highly publicized divorce proceedings, "The Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien and NBC have finally put pen to paper on a $40 million-plus breakup agreement. O'Brien's manager, Gavin Polone, confirmed the signing to TheWrap early Thursday.
"It's signed," Polone said.
Among the final sticking points, according to reports in recent days, was severance for O'Brien's staff. There were other issues as well, insiders said.
"In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket," Polone told TheWrap. "Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible."
NBC reps couldn't immediately be reached early Thursday. (Update: An NBC rep, reached early Thursday morning, declined comment.)
O'Brien will end his seven-month stewardship of a national institution on Friday, unwillingly handing back custody of an iconic television brand badly bruised by a series of management missteps breathtaking in their ineptitude.
Then, it's expected that on March 1, "Tonight" will return with new/old host Jay Leno, the well-liked but never beloved stand-up comic who unapologetically campaigned to replace Johnny Carson in the 1990s, dominated the ratings through much of the 2000s and now finds himself charged with maintaining the relevancy of a 60-year talk-show formula threatened with extinction in an era of viral comedy and ceaseless celebrity exposure.
Among the biggest unanswered questions linked to the crisis: What will O'Brien do now? Can Leno salvage his good-guy reputation with the public? And will the barrage of negative coverage related to the past week's events lead to NBCU chief executive officer Jeff Zucker's ouster -- or is that just wishful thinking on the part of Zucker's many Hollywood enemies?
NEW: What's next for the key figures in LateNightCrisis 2010?
O'Brien will be free to begin work for another network on Sept. 1, said a person familiar with the deal. No formal conversations with any other outlets have started, but Fox has already started flirting with Coco.
NEW: NBC's parting gift for Conan: the nickname 'Coco.'
NBC will end up taking a massive financial hit to make its Conan problem go away, with insiders estimating the cost of various buyouts and penalties directly related to his exit in excess of $40 million. That doesn't count the millions wasted on creating, marketing and promoting the new "Tonight," including an estimated $50 million spent building a new studio and office complex for O'Brien on the Universal lot.
O'Brien's personal payday -- estimated to be in the vicinity of $30 million -- will be more than the value left on his lucrative deal with NBC, with other monies being used to pay for buyouts for executive producer Jeff Ross and other staffers.
A final deal was held up as NBC and O'Brien's camp haggled over severance packages for employees who uprooted their families to head west for "Tonight."
O'Brien and NBC negotiated severance packages for non-union workers who don't have long-term deals. Those severance agreements are said to be "much better" than the typical NBC buyout.
It's understood O'Brien will divert some of his own settlement funds toward a pool to be used for the staff exit packages.
Other contract players, including announcer Andy Richter and band leader Max Weinberg, will settle out their own deals with NBC separately, people with knowledge of the situation said.
Amazingly, dumping O'Brien -- costly though it will be -- may have been the smarter financial move for the network, at least in the short term.
That's because had NBC decided to kill Leno at 10, but not offer him "Tonight" (or a half-hour 11:35 show), it's believed Leno's contract with the network would have been even more expensive to buy out than O'Brien's pact, one industry insider close to the situation said.
Because Leno has no agent or manager, however, details of his deal have been harder to confirm.
In any case, NBC's exit package with O'Brien will buy -- at least for a while -- the host's silence.
Comments
Phoenix Says
When Jay hosted the Tonight Show I enjoyed it and watched.
When Conan hosted the Tonight Show I watched it, found it wasn't entertaining to me so I stopped watching.
When Jay had a show at 10pm I watched it, didn't like it past the monlogue so I stopped watching.
Now I will watch the Tonight Show again when Jay returns and if I enjoy it, I'll keep watching and if I don't, I won't.
And none of this had anything to do with NBC or fueds. It's pretty simple...if someone likes the show they will watch, if they don't they won't.
Jeff Says
It is really too bad that it had to happen this way for Conan. I liked his show, though I can honestly admit I liked his Late Night show better than his Tonight Show. To me, his version of the Tonight Show just felt a little off because it felt like watching his Late Night show with the same music and stuff...still felt like he was in New York. As much as an jerk NBC Sports CEO Dick Ebersol was with his harsh comments about Conan last week, I do agree with him on one point that Conan didn't change things up more. While his style was certainly good enough for his existing fan base, I think it he should've did a complete makeover when he took over the reigns of the Tonight Show. Instead, to me it felt like he simply moved his Late Night show pretty much as it was. Well, hopefully he'll end up back on TV soon with his own show. Though honestly, I'm lazy to change channels for late night, so I probably will only catch a few of his shows. As for Jay, I won't make him out to be the bad guy here. Sure he could've walked away too, but since he never actually wanted to leave, I can't blame the guy for doing what he's doing. All the haters say they'd walk away if they were him, but I think the reality is that they'd probably do the same given the circumstances. Jay too is also looking out for his staff, so it's not all about him. To me, all the anger should be focused on the NBC execs because they're the ones reponsible for this mess. The reality is that this will eventually blow over and people will find something else to complain about. Conan will eventually resurface and if the ratings pick up for NBC late night, all will be forgotten. That's the way it goes and simply, that's life. Move on people...
Bart Says
While, I can't condone NBC's shoddy business tactics, somehow I cannot feel sorry for Conan. His show was lowbrow and unfunny. As far as I'm concerned, he stole the 30+ mil exit money.
Eric A Says
I like Doug DeLong's comment above! That would be perfect!!!
Bye for now, "Coco" - see you over at Fox (or wherever you land)...
Freelols Says
Well, that was easy! ~ freelols.com
Freelols.com Says
Well, that was easy!
Jill Kennedy Says
The media can now move on and focus on the next story...
Letterman vs. Leno - who will win the battle of late night.
http://mankabros.com/onmedea/2010/01/letterman_vs_leno.html
Ed Lane Says
Bottom line is, Jay stabbed Conan in the back. Gave him 5 years notice, handed over the reins, then jumped back in the game and forced him out. Jay is the one that should have taken the buy-out clause and let Conan continue. Shame on Jay.
Doug DeLong Says
When they give the Tonight Show back to Leno, Conan's fans should grab up all the tickets to the first show and sit there in stony silence the entire time.
mark Says
Jay also "looked out for the little guy" when he paid some of the writers from his own pocket during the Writer's Strike. Jay's being vilified all over but Jay makes jokes, not network programming decisions. Moving to 10 wasn't Jay's idea. When he's not on TV, he's out doing comedy at clubs. Comedy is what Jay does whether you enjoy his humor or not. Who's going to turn down big money from NBC to do what you love?
R Says
I'll still watch Community and Chuck as long as they are on, but I won't be watching any new NBC shows for at least a year and I definitely won't ever watch Leno again.
gottacook Says
Why on earth would Conan and/or his production company be interested in the hangarlike studio NBC built for the Tonight Show? His show would have been more successful on a small set, irrespective of other factors such as weak lead-in (if lead-in really is a factor anymore, or will be by this time next year).
Late Night Fan Says
Jay wins again... When HIS ratings were bad and affiliates were complaining about his affect on their news programming - NBC goes after Conan?!? Yes they re-defined NBC primetime, yes they did. As far as Jay doing what the big-guys say; why then did he announce in 2004 he would hand off the show to Conan because he wanted to go out on top? One last thing about the $$... if Conan got $30+ Mill to go - how much is Jay getting to stay????? So much for going out on top Jay.
Mary Says
People show you who they really are when their back is against the wall. The fact that under such pressure (and the personal pain of losing a job he'd worked 17 years for), Conan STILL looked out for "the little guy" is a beautiful statement of character. Hopefully the universe has some good karma coming his way - he deserves it.
consumer Says
I love the way Jay justifies his move as, "I'm just doing what the bosses at NBC ask me to do." He could have exercised his buyout clause and tried to go to Fox. I think he realizes after the prime-time debacle that he needs the Tonight Show platform to attract viewers, and would not make much impact on another network. And he realizes that the other networks are thinking the same thing.
Jerry Says
Jay Leno knows this debacle is impossible to defend because he's simply a selfish baby so all he can do is launch personal attacks. No class whatsoever. That's your talk show host, Jay Leno fans. No class.
Jay Leno really started this decade off like crap. I hope bad things happen to him.
I'mWithCoco Says
Half a million and growing fans and supporters of Conan on Facebook (I'M WITH COCO) will be boycotting NBC and its affiliates once Conan is gone. I highly encourage anyone who agrees that this outrageous injustice should not go unpunished do the same.
Justa Notherguy Says
For those who are too young (or too uninterested, at the time) to recall, it might help to get some background on this story. Read all about how Leno acquired The Tonight Show gig, back in 1993.
http://bit.ly/6FjAQq