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NBC's total late-night meltdown


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Unbelievable that NBC could screw up The Tonight Show transition so badly. If they wanted to get rid of Leno they should have gotten all the way rid of him. Having him at 10pm undermined Conan's chances for a successful start, left doubt hanging in the air, and completely flopped as a format because Leno sucks. Instead of flip-flopping after 6 years of planning to get rid of him, they should have let him go when it failed. Now, Conan is quitting and the stupid-ass hack Leno is back at 11:30. Are they just going to pull a Dallas by giving him the show back and pretending it was all a bad dream? :chair:

Conan's fuck you message to NBC is well done, imo:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I

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NBC has been poorly run for quite some time now, and the pure cost-cutting move of bringing Leno back for the 10pm slot could possibly go down as the worst move in broadcast TV history. It was NBC throwing in the towel saying, "ok we can't compete let's spend as little money as possible."

I do think Conan has struggled since taking over the tonight show, they should have just kept the same format/feel of his old show.

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I agree Conan has struggled because he was not being himself and just continuing his style from the old show because of all the old timers who watch The Tonight Show. But he is dead right that Leno floundered in the beginning and was given a lot of support a lot of slack and a lot of time to make it happen. I am not even a huge Conan fan -- I hardly watch any of the late night shows -- but he got screwed by the incredibly bad management decisions you mention.

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It sucks what they are doing to Conan. It is not the Tonight Show if it is airs at 12:05 and I feel that they would morally be breaching their contract if they were to move it to that time. I have watched Conan on and off since the beginning and although, he can be a bit manic, I think he is a really great "interviewer" (whatever the word should be). On the other hand, I also adore Craig and would love to see him on at a reasonable time (he isn't as quick and good with the interviews as Conan though and couldn't see him ever taking over the Tonight Show). I have never been much of a fan of Leno or Letterman. I feel that Leno is only good for those old boring people... With that said, I will join in with Conan and Al and say fuck you NBC.

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Some updates from today by Nikki Finke:

1:45 PM: I've learned about a meeting that began at 1:45 PM at NBC Universal about The Conan War: On one side of the room -- NBCU bigwigs Jeff Gaspin and Marc Graboff. On the other -- O'Brien's reps: manager Gavin Palone, WME agent and board member Rick Rosen, and the newest member of Team O'Brien, Hollywood litigator Patty Glaser, who was hired on Sunday and is WME's legal shark of choice. I wouldn't want to be Gaspin or Graboff right now: Gavin can be as mean as a rabid dog, Rick's agency reps 60% of the TV talent, and Glaser is a pitbull. This is bloodsport.

I've learned both NBCU chief Jeff Zucker as well as Gaspin were told that, before it went out, Conan was publicly making that statement (see below). My insiders say O'Brien's reps didn't want him to do it. "They were not thrilled. They told him it would undercut his negotiating leverage," one source revealed to me. "But Conan wouldn't listen to them. He wanted to make it." When Conan read the statement to the staff, "he broke up. He began to cry," one of my insiders reveals. "Because for 17 years he was working towards The Tonight Show, and now he says he's prepared to walk away from it. That's an amazing thing. An amazing thing. But he takes very seriously the fact that The Tonight Show baton was passed to him."

Meanwhile, Hollywood creatives are already starting to show support for Conan against NBC. At the Television Critics Association confab, near the end of the session with ABC TV showrunners, TV showrunners Steve Levitan (Modern Family) and Bill Lawrence (Cougar Town) said almost in unison: "Hey, did you guys read Conan's letter?" Lawrence added: "I love it. Man, it was just ballsy. It's just the way I hoped it would be."

Here's Patton Oswalt's take on the situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oswv5ReaN3I

Patton was influenced by Leno's early stand-up.

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