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Conan O'Brien leaves NBC for $45 million deal
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NBC's late-nightmare is over. The network announced Thursday (Jan. 21) that Conan O'Brien will leave "The Tonight Show" and NBC.O'Brien is expected to tape his last "Tonight" on Friday (Jan. 22).
NBC and O'Brien agreed to a $45 million deal wherein Conan receives $33 million under the condition that he not return to television for eight months.
There is also no provision that says his $33 million will go down by the amount of his new television deal, as was previously speculated. The rest of the $45 million will go toward the severance package for his "Tonight Show" staff members. Jay Leno will return to hosting "The Tonight Show" after the Winter Olympics; NBC hasn't said yet what will fill the spot between Friday and the start of the Games.
The official deal comes after almost two weeks of sturm und drang about the future of O'Brien and Leno, and to at least some degree of the network as a whole. NBC said Sunday, Jan. 10 that the prime-time "Jay Leno Show," which had pulled weak ratings and damaged affiliates' local news numbers, would end, and network chairman Jeff Gaspin floated a plan to give Leno a half-hour show at 11:35 p.m., pushing "The Tonight Show" to just after midnight and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to 1 a.m.
Two days later, however, O'Brien released a statement saying he didn't want to move to midnight. "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," he said. "'The Tonight Show' at 12:05 simply isn't 'The Tonight Show.'"
That kicked off a round of sniping that played out in the two hosts' monologues -- as well as those of David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson -- intense negotiations and lots of reports about when O'Brien would be doing his last show.
Negotiations dragged on as NBC and O'Brien's camp hammered out details, with reports of "it'll be done tomorrow" trickling out for almost a week.
Now it's done and Conan O'Brien will receive $33 million for seven months' work. Not a bad deal, though we'd wager he still feels pretty raw about the whole thing.
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still not good enough. I will have to do without my CoCo for 8 months?!? Leno is dead to me.
COCO FOREVER!!
Whoever is willing to watch Jay Leno again, is corrupt. The Tonight Show is permanently tainted...and will only be moreso when Jay's lameass jokes start again.
Love, love, love Jay!! Two more nights of badmouthing of his employer by Conan - than out of here!! Take your UNFUNNY jokes somewhere else eight months from now. We'll see how profitable you are then. Bye bye -
Lost all respect for Conan - taking that amount for being a baby and not willing to move by 30 mins - probably only for a couple years while other people out there are suffering in this economy. Screw Conan. Last night he said to help Haiti and then less than 2 minutes after, he does that $1.5 million dollar skit - hmmm - maybe the people in Haiti could have used that money. He is a baby and hope he does not get another show. Horrible
I believe that Coco will return in September on FOX. Wanda Sykes is doing alright on Saturday nights then why not add Conan to the weeknights?
its not lenos fault ppl come get off his back he is just doing his job
GO JAY GO! O'Brien is a WHINER! The "TONIGHT Show" is whatever the NBC says it is! PERIOD! LENO IS A PROFESSIONAL ENTERTAINER, INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM PLAYER TO BE SHUFFLED ALL OVER THE NBC SCHEDULE! Tell me the TIME and I'M THERE to watch LENO! (HEADLINES segment FOREVER!)
elcaptindish, It is leno's fault. If he wanted the tonight show he shouldn't have left it. I HOPE the tonight show fails miseribaly when he takes over. I never did like the shows he was on and never watched him at all.
I respect Conan for trying to preserve what was bigger than him and that was the institution of the Tonight Show. That show was always on after the late night news and moving it would have tarnished the history. I dont refer to it as being whiny and I know some emotions are involved, but I think Conan did the right thing. Leno hasn't said anything really about the bumping, he is the company man, willing to do anything at beck and call of the network.
Glad that everything is over, I'll miss CoCo and hope that he shows up on my TV again soon!