# Leno/Conan Shakeup at NBC **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073 "2010-01-07T21:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/521 "2010-01-19T01:50:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Anyone think that this was all a Xanatos gambit on Conan’s part? He could have quit back in 2004 and went to Fox, but, this way, he gets $30 million and a devoted fanbase to follow him. (Merely moving to Fox when his show was doing well on NBC would have lost him viewers.) > > Okay, so it probably wasn’t planned that well. But I do think the reason he negotiated for the Tonight Show back then was that, if it did well, he’d do well. But if it tanked, NBC would have to buy him out of the contract or just keep paying him. Nothing so sinister. Letterman wanted the Tonight Show. Leno wanted the Tonight Show. Conan wanted the Tonight Show. I suspect deep down inside, Jimmy Fallon wants the Tonight Show. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/522 "2010-01-19T02:47:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Anyone think that this was all a Xanatos gambit on Conan’s part? No. This is all really silly. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/523 "2010-01-19T03:22:40Z")
Awesome confessional by Jay about the whole ordeal!!! In a nutshell…NBC didn’t wanna lose conan so they fired Jay when he didn’t wanna go from the tonight show but didn’t wanna lose him from the network, wouldn’t release him from his contract so to please him gave him 10:30. Both Conan and Jay were tanking so NBC said the half hour thing, jay thought it sounded OK and agreed cuz NBC said conan would accept it. When conan didn’t nbc said “conan’s gonna walk…want 1130?” and jay said yes. Really really interesting. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/524 "2010-01-19T03:45:42Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Awesome confessional by Jay about the whole ordeal!!! > In a nutshell…NBC didn’t wanna lose conan so they fired Jay when he didn’t wanna go from the tonight show but didn’t wanna lose him from the network, wouldn’t release him from his contract so to please him gave him 10:30. Both Conan and Jay were tanking so NBC said the half hour thing, jay thought it sounded OK and agreed cuz NBC said conan would accept it. When conan didn’t nbc said “conan’s gonna walk…want 1130?” and jay said yes. > Really really interesting. you believe what he says? I’m not sure Team Conan would. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/525 "2010-01-19T03:46:20Z")
Leno’s statement was hard to read because it was so poorly written. I mean, jeez, you’d think he’d have someone copy edit it for readability. Anyway, I think Leno still sounds like a douche in his statement. _Ohhhh, this isn’t my fault! NBC just told me to do it and I had just no idea that Conan wasn’t 100% behind this. Oh, golly!_:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/526 "2010-01-19T04:42:01Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > you believe what he says? I’m not sure Team Conan would. Probably not. But I do. I’ve thought (and maybe said…can’t remember) from the beginning that it was just a matter of NBC wanting to end Jay’s show cuz of the affiliate’s bitching, but didn’t want to lose him. It makes total sense that NBC wanted to try the half and half deal (a compromise to the two of them), and when Conan said “no” NBC got pissed and fired him. With Conan out they offered the position to Jay who simply said “yes”. It’ll be interesting to see if Conan comes out tomorrow and does the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/527 "2010-01-19T05:18:42Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Leno’s statement was hard to read because it was so poorly written. I mean, jeez, you’d think he’d have someone copy edit it for readability. > > Anyway, I think Leno still sounds like a douche in his statement. _Ohhhh, this isn’t my fault! NBC just told me to do it and I had just no idea that Conan wasn’t 100% behind this. Oh, golly!_:rolleyes: Where’s his written statement? I heard what he said on his show; did he release a written statement as well, or are you just referring to a transcript of what he said on air? Anyways, I agree - the whole “I thought Conan was behind it!” thing was totally disingenuous. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/528 "2010-01-19T05:21:01Z")
written transcript of his Jay Leno Show on Monday Jan18/2010 > **[Jay Leno: January 18 (Video, Transcript)](http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/2010/01/jay-leno-january-18-video-transcript.html)** > > For the first time since the NBC late night mess erupted, Jay Leno addressed the matter on his show -- head-on, seriously, and at length. He... ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/529 "2010-01-19T05:25:01Z")
Ahh, I didn’t realize it was a transcript of what he said on the show- what I read earlier said it was a released statement. I take back saying it was disjointed in that case. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/530 "2010-01-19T05:31:14Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Ahh, I didn’t realize it was a transcript of what he said on the show- what I read earlier said it was a released statement. I take back saying it was disjointed in that case. u can watch Leno say it through video at that same link, it’s below the bolded commentary. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/531 "2010-01-19T05:34:50Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > Where’s his written statement? I heard what he said on his show; did he release a written statement as well, or are you just referring to a transcript of what he said on air? > > Anyways, I agree - the whole “I thought Conan was behind it!” thing was totally disingenuous. It wasn’t written, it was made on his show. [Here is the video.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/18/leno-i-told-nbc-that-prim_n_427619.html) I don’t blame Leno for any of this. NBC told him in 2004 that he had to leave in 2009 because he was not going to be number one then. 2009 came and he was still number one. They didn’t want to lose him to another network so they did not release him from his contract and gave him a prime time show. Leno said ok, why wouldn’t he say ok? Now they don’t want Leno at 10pm and want him back at 11:35. Why is Leno wrong for going back if NBC wants him to go back? Why is Leno entitled to give Conan the Tonight Show if Leno never wanted to give it up? NBC is at fault for promising Conan the Tonight Show and then taking it away without giving him a chance to develop. Leno’s only fault is not being funny. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/532 "2010-01-19T05:39:59Z")
It’s self serving but I think it’s believable other than maybe the “we’re sure Conan will do the 12:05 thing” part. (Gee, if only there were some way the two hosts could have communicated over some kind of celluphonic device.) I don’t really believe Leno was that interested in how Conan felt about it and if NBC really thought Conan was going to accept that proposal, they were deluding themselves. Which is possible, for sure. It reminds me of the Yankees’ managerial situation two years ago. Joe Torre was entering the last year of his contract, and he was very popular and performing well, but the organization wasn’t really satisfied with the job he was doing. But they also did not want to fire him. So they made him an offer that was not terrible, but not up to snuff (a one-year contract at a reduced salary, with performance incentives that were actually kind of insulting for someone who had been so successful), and somehow convinced themselves this was a reasonable offer Torre might want to take. He turned them down and went to the Dodgers, who, as it turns out, used to be owned by Fox. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/533 "2010-01-19T05:50:09Z")
The most awesome thing that Conan could do at this point, which would never happen, would be to invite Dave on and give him the show on Friday. Bring back Larry ‘Bud’ Melman and all that. They’d never get away with it, but it’d be the biggest middle finger to NBC ever. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/534 "2010-01-19T06:28:34Z")
Calvert DeForest (Larry “Bud” Melman) retired several years ago. He’s also dead. Other than that, great idea! ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/535 "2010-01-19T12:40:09Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#): > > Finally, the Times ran [this hilarious Op-Ed,](http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/17opclassic_conan.html) a scathing review of Conan’s new late-night show from 1993. That was one of the funniest things I’ve read in a good long while, thank you so much for sharing it! ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/536 "2010-01-19T16:45:23Z")
> [@2ply](#): > > That’s not surprising. NBC said the same thing to Letterman when he left for CBS in 1993. He had to change the name of his bits and NBC tried to stop him from doing his Top Ten Lists. O’Brien can’t have been surprised; he would have known that NBC felt the same way about his show’s material. I think his people got as much from NBC in his contract as he could have hoped. It was pretty close to Leno’s original deal, and O’Brien _did_ want the Tonight Show more than NBC wanted him to host. Exactly – this is standard procedure. It makes sense too; if a company hires you to write something, then they expect to own it. Besides all of these characters and bits were created on Late Night based on his Late Night contract. I’m sure he didn’t have much leverage then. He certainly had more leverage when negotiating his Tonight Show contract and I guess he had the money to try to buy the characters and bits back, but why would he want to buy them and why would NBC want to sell them? Look at Dave: Other than the Top Ten lists, I can’t imagine him doing any of his old bits. He has moved on. Could you see him still throwing pencils? Or dropping watermelons from 4-story building? Or having Chris Eliott coming in as the Regulator Guy? Same with Conan. Other than Smigel’s Triumph, there isn’t a whole lot of long lasting bits he needs to carry on for ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/537 "2010-01-19T17:06:03Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Look at Dave: Other than the Top Ten lists, I can’t imagine him doing any of his old bits. He has moved on. Could you see him still throwing pencils? Or dropping watermelons from 4-story building? Or having Chris Eliott coming in as the Regulator Guy? He also took Stupid Human Tricks or Stupid Pet Tricks, didn’t he? Does he still do that? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/538 "2010-01-19T17:16:41Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > Could you see him still throwing pencils? He doesn’t throw the pencils anymore? With the glass shattering sounds? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/539 "2010-01-19T17:46:47Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > He doesn’t throw the pencils anymore? With the glass shattering sounds? I haven’t watched Letterman in the last few months, but he was definitely throwing pencils last year. And I don’t know how you could call that a “bit” anyway. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073/540 "2010-01-19T18:09:22Z")
I thought he threw the pencils at the audience, but he flipped his index cards at the fake windows, and that’s what made the glass shattering sound. It’s probably been about ten years since I watched Letterman on a regular basis, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leno-conan-shakeup-at-nbc/524073.md?page=28)