Conan and Letterman and Ferguson have a large chunk of die hard fans. The people who like those guys really like them. They don’t seem to have many casual fans.
Leno viewers are not die hard but that doesn’t matter to NBC since there are more of them.
Here’s a great link if you want to catch up on what the various late night shows are doing in addressing the situation (comedy-wise).
Looks like Conan is leaving with a huge payout.
First, that was only true soon after the transition. Conan’s rating are better, and more importantly, “CONAN HAS RANKED #1 OR TIED FOR #1 AMONG BROADCAST NETWORKS IN 18-49 RATING FOR NINE OF THE LAST 11 WEEKS.”
Right, tell that to Google, Yahoo, and all those others companies that make money off the internet. Plenty of people make money off the internet, and there are many ways to make money off the fans of Conan that “defend him on the internet”.
Air his show more than once. They can play reruns on another station, on Comcast OnDemand, and on the net (which I think they may already do)
Don’t put a competing show on before him to dilute the guest pool.
Actually promote his show.
Those 3 things alone would make up for the difference in viewers in fairly short order. No matter what, they needed to give it time. Even Leno said so himself.
It seems so simple to me, and probably it does to most others too.
Leno retires from late Night. Tries a show in Prime Time. Fails. Gets cancelled. Goodbye Leno. The end.
Or: Leno is forced out of Late Night. Is given as consolation prize a show in Prime Time. Fails. Gets cancelled. Is asked back to Late Night. Returns to position he never wanted to leave in the first place. The end.
I’m curious - how to reporters know such precise, intimate details? For example, Bill Carter revealed that Jay Leno hid in a closet in the early 90s to listen in on a conference. How could anyone but Leno really know this? Did Bill Carter talk to a janitor who saw it?
Just a random guess, but I bet Leno told him.
The Bill Carter book on the Leno/Letterman stuff from 92 “Late Shift” is very good. I assumed he talked to Leno for the story about the closet. That was very odd - NBC was talking about firing Leno and putting Letterman in the slot and Leno knew about that plan.
I don’t know if I’d call a prime time show a consolation prize. Yeah, it wasn’t the coveted 11:35 slot, but I would still imagine that there would be a bigger audience during prime time.
This was said before and I can’t believe nobody at NBC though of this, but Sunday nights would be a great place for Leno. Football is over so they have to fill it. They could get two hours of entertainment from younger and established comics, some skits from different comedy groups, and have a couple people come in and chat and plug their projects. Make it this generation’s Ed Sullivan show.
Think he placed a tape recorder in a brief case and left the room?
“There was a low rumple. A metallic ‘squink.’ A ‘glonk.’ Someone crying out…‘Dear God!’”
It’s possible NBC offered Leno other options such as a Sunday show and he said no.
NBC is more or less confirming that Conan is leaving. 
as for Conan why not MSNBC or BRAVO? or USA network? All are part of the same corporate family.
Leno could have told someone else, and that person could have told Bill Carter.
conan’s dream job crushed. I wonder if his last week is gonna be huge or he’s just gonna mail it in and not care. I hope he goes with a bang and brings back some of his Late Night characters like masturbating bear and camel toe annie. I wish him the best and a big fat turd on Leno and NBC execs faces.
Not every last viewer is on cable or satellite, so the payoff is lower. I suspect MUCH lower.
ETA: [del]Lying on a beach[/del] (remembering Conan is not tan-prone) Working in a light-proof studio on cable doesn’t pay nearly as well as making $20M per year for the next few.
Taking care of the affiliates’ concern is primarily NBC’s mandate, not Leno’s. They dropped the ball when negotiating the contract and the minimum ratings clause in it.
Think there’s a chance the change over to Leno happens by Monday?
No. It takes time to do this stuff and Conan will want a chance to say goodbye on air. Bill Carter is reporting that he’ll host the show for one more week, get paid about $30 million to resolve his contract, and be able to get back on the air late this year. That would keep him from competing with Leno, presumably from Fox, for about eight months. But the deal isn’t done.
And amazingly, idiot Jeff Zucker, the head-honcho at NBC responsible for this entire debacle, just got his contract extended. People said he was an idiot for dropping Leno back when Conan started, suggesting instead that Zucker give Conan a raise to stay where he was for another 5 years or so, or simply giving Conan a different contract - but Zucker ignored everybody and marched on to his own drummer.
Then when things didn’t go as he planned (surprise, surprise) Zucker yanks the rug, riles feathers everywhere, and gets rewarded for his efforts! The only surprise is that Zucker didn’t get offered a better paying job on Wall Street for his savvy and stellar job performance.