Mad Dawg

That's what I told me wife. Just say, "Hey, I was tired of all the pot shots, and I can give as good as I get. He had it coming." But instead, just like everything else in the interview, he was a complete non-party to any of this.

Jay G.

Do you seriously think Jay wouldn't have accepted a move to an earlier time slot? I mean, I could see him getting upset if it was a timeslot before 8pm, such as moving him to a morning or afternoon slot, but 8 and 9 are literally prime time slots.

To be fair, NBC had to pay Conan because Conan wouldn't accept any other options either (although NBC only presented one option to him).

Jay G.

It's not that simple. Neither O'Brien nor Leno "got the ratings." If the Jay Leno Show was doing great in the ratings, and O'Brien was still doing poorly, NBC would not have moved Leno back.

The decision was based on both shows doing poorly, but more so because of the Jay Leno Show's poor ratings than the Tonight Show. The network affiliates were not bitching about the Tonight Show ratings.

Nefarious

From what I read and understand, the original plan/proposal by NBC was to have his show at 9 pm and not 10 pm. He wouldn't do it and demanded the 10 pm slot. He even called it the "new 11:30". He then negotiated a contract guaranteeing him that time-slot. So yeah, I do think he knew exactly what he was doing (marginalizing Conan) and remaining the first & key talk-show on NBC.

I don't know that he knew he would get back The Tonight Show but I certainly don't think he's disappointed by that. He had the power because of the buyout and the time-slot guarantee. Those are the strings he claims he didn't have. And he pulled them.

NBC paid Conan because 1) it was cheaper than paying Jay 2) there were no other options where Jay would accept and instead not opt for the ridiculous money.

islandclaws

True. Look, NBC fucked this thing up big time from the second they spoke to Leno in 2004. However, if Conan had Leno(pre-primetime)-sized ratings, NBC would've probably just given Leno the boot to do something else. I highly doubt that they would have replaced Conan if he were consistently #1. He wasn't, so it was an easy leveraging tool to use against him.

RoyalTea

If Conan had Leno(pre-primetime)-sized ratings, NBC would still have to decide between Leno's $150 million buyout, or Conan's $30-40 million buyout.

wirefan

Exactly...

Other folks keep saying this was just about Conan's ratings but that's just burying your head in the sand. NBC had to decide between paying 30-40mil and paying 150mil... If Conan's ratings were the same as Leno's old ones or even just marginally better I still see them making the same decision.

And this is where Leno's foresight came in... by putting in a poison pill >3X that of Conan's, he was virtually guaranteed Conan's job if he got 'fired' at 10pm - the only scenario where it wouldn't happen would be if Conan was wildly popular and got substantially better ratings than the old Leno Tonight Show... (which was unlikely since he was new to the timeslot and Leno was pissing on his lead-in)

If it was about the money he'd take the 150mil and walk to another network. And I'm sorry but I'm just not buying the "I was humbled" into accepting the 30min slot in front of Conan... again he said he thought the show at 10 would struggle going into the show (or so he claimed) and he even had the foresight to put in a 150mil parachute in case it failed - was he really humbled (or surprised) or was he maximizing his leverage to get his old job back?

ScissorPuppy

I don't know if it was just me, but when Leno's show was first announced they made it sound like it was going to be more like a variety/comedy program with some of Jay's popular Tonight Show skits thrown in. What it ended up being was the same show with a different name, earlier time slot and new set.

RoyalTea

Also, another big FUCK YOU to Leno talking about how he didn't walk away (this time) from NBC because of all the people on his staff, and how he didn't want them to be out of a job. Do you really think that little of your staff that you don't think they could ever find another job?

You say you haven't touched your Tonight Show money yet and you've been living off your standup money. So, let NBC fire you, take that $150,000,000 buyout and divide it up amongst your staff. Assuming there's 150 people who'd be otherwise out of a job, they'd each get a cool million.

He claims this wasn't about him and only about his staff, but he missed out on a great way to give those people a shit-ton of money.

Jimmy James

They wanted him at 8. He demanded 10

wm lopez

But they handed Conan the show with the ratings in #1. And Conan didn't have the appeal to America to hold those ratings high. Just like when Oprah leaves her show somebody is going to be in her timeslot. Will they hold those numbers?
And yes 99% of us would have done what Jay did.

Count Dooku

Really!?

Given the choice between $150 million and going to work everyday, you think how many people would choose working?

islandclaws

All talk aside, I think we can agree that this was ALL the fault of NBC brass for fucking with its late night talent in fear of losing one of them. They shouldn't have assumed Conan would jump ship once his contract expired. He'd been with NBC for 20 years, I think he would've stayed if they made a tender offer.

islandclaws

Yea, well... $150m to walk away from MY job, or his job hosting The Fucking Tonight Show filled with a myriad of guests. Who'd walk away from that?

wm lopez

They couldn't get Johnny Carson back because he was up there in age.
But they could get Jay Leno back.
Your trying to "Hmmmmmmmmmmmm!" me?
The guys from DVDTALK gave me my own twitter page!
Who do you think your talking to some Obama kool-aid drinker who was cheering last night's speech?

Count Dooku

According to people in this forum like Mr Lopez, Conan O'Brien was absolutely thrilled to walk away from that job for a fifth of that amount.

wm lopez

The liberals called Bush that too and now the conservatives call Obama that.
So what?

Count Dooku

Jay Leno should have made it clear to NBC in 2008 that he didn't want to leave The Tonight Show and forced NBC to choose between him and Conan before any of the transition took place.

William Fuld

wirefan

"Retiring is the selfish thing to do" (again because he feared putting his staff out of work...)

When Oprah finally asked a decent question and said, "why didn't you just do what Conan ended up doing - if you're going to fire me and you have this contract, why not demand NBC honors the contract for staff"

Leno's response: "Could've done that... but I didn't"

The simple followup question.... "so it was not just about paying your staff and your bullshit that walking away would have been selfish.. it's about you wanting that job back?"

My problem(like I think many here) is not him wanting his old job back - it's his transparent claims that it was not about that, it was about keeping staff employed and being humbled.... Just own up to your motivations and don't bullshit the public...

Rypro 525

Gawker has the highlights of the Jay Leno/Oprah interview

gryffinmaster

dx23

Nefarious

Jay Leno didn't care about getting The Tonight Show back is like believing Tiger Woods doesn't like a good piece of strange.

Nefarious

And so when Oprah announces 7 months before that person's show starts that she's going to do a "different" show called The Winfrey Show one hour earlier than her old show it will still be the new person's sole fault for low ratings in the established time slot. Right?