So with his release of an eloquent, measured, but firm statement today, Conan O’Brien begins the process of untethering himself from the shackles of NBC Read the full post.
Jan 12
2010
05:44 PM ET
Conan O'Brien: Where does he go from here?
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i disagree about the comedy central competition. many of the viewers who watch the daily show et al do so online, and young people making a choice between the two could always choose conan live, stewart and colbert online
lENO NEEDS TO RETIRE
BINGO!
but you didn’t offer a solution Ken
Jay Leno is the best. All Conan does is jump around and say “we got a great show, we got a great show.” I would like to point out that I am 24 and Jay Leno is the best. Give him back his old show and have done with it!!!
Conan is better than Leno. Leno is such a farce. He makes cheap jokes about politicans and celebrities. It is the same skits over and over again. There is no variety. Leno had it moments, but Conan always has memorable quotes.
Leno is for the adults in their 40s and 50s, and Conan is for everyone. I have been watching Conan since I was 13, I am not 23. I appreciate Conan’s humor, and honestly feel that he contributes a lot more to the industry than Leno. Conan is more talented.
samantha, there are plenty of us in our 40s who prefer conan and loathe leno.
Ditto James.
And there are also plenty of us in our 50s who prefer Conan and appreciate his wit.
There are plenty of us in our 80s who love Conan and despise Leno, just kidding we worship the ground Leno walks on. We’re are NBC execs afterall.
I take offense as a viewer, that I do not know my Tonight Show history. I’m in that 18-34 demo too, give us some more credit Ken.
I cannot believe this NBC. You have lost all reality as to what it is we (the viewers) desire. Leno needs to retire or move on. He already had this battle for his seat when he original took over the Tonight Show, now he wants to oust Conan because he’s still not done with his “have you seen this” bits? God, let Leno’s career be known as mistake in the history of Tonight Show hosts. If you ask me, i think his career should have died before the 2000′s. END LENO!!!!!!!!!!
out him back on at 12:30 on comedy central then syndicate the show to a network non major like tbs or the WB or whatever they call it these days!
Conan is so talented. NBC took him and his style of comedy for granted. Conan should just leave. He is a brillant comedy writer. He should go back to writing for the Simpsons.
NBC kept Conan on a leash wanting him to stick with them. They promised he would get the Tonight show when Leno left. He did his time, he is up to the plate, and NBC wants to strike him out. They are doing a dirty deal on Conan.
How funny would it be if both Leno AND Conan refused NBC’s plans to move?
If they both say NB See You Later, it would be the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Yeah right…
If Leno wanted to refuse NBC’s plans/move, he would’ve done it already.
Leno wants back on at 11:30 so that he can go out on top. He was working this deal, not presented with a done deal.
Yesterday I was hoping Jay would flip the bird to Jay and NBC and keep the Tonight Show – even at 12:05 – if only out of spite and to keep Jay from reclaiming the coveted chair. But I’m so impressed by Conan’s letter that I can’t help rooting for him no matter what he does. The only classy thing for Jay Leno to do would be to step aside and say, “Conan replaced me just like I replaced Johnny. He deserves the chance to build his own show without any further distractions.” The ball’s in your court, Jay – what you do next will cement your image with the public forever.
If Jay grabs the Tonight Show back like this, I can only pray that the public will hold him accountable for his actions. He should be reminded that in the early days of his own reign, when he was floundering and the entire world was shredding NBC for letting Dave go, NBC panicked and offered Dave the job back. He said something to the effect of, “I want the job, but not this way.” Food for thought, Jay.
My first sentence should read “I was hoping CONAN would flip the bird…”
Leno should go on his show tonight and announce he wants no more of this and that he will leave NBC when his show ends Feb. 12. Otherwise, he makes NBC chose between him and Conan for the Tonight Show, and if he goes back to Tonight, he goes back a bad guy. If he bows out now, he looks like a hero and probably could find a good home on another network. Both he and Conan have been horribly disrespected by the clowns at NBC in this debacle. Thanks to those idiots, this is about the only way both Leno and O’Brien can go on honorably.
Also, it was beautiful that Conan mentioned Jimmy, and I also like Daniel’s Comedy Central idea.
I think that NBC should in fact DROP Leno, and keep Conan, because Conan is doing a fine job where he is, and he has the young demographic that is so very coveted. Leno has nothing new or fresh to bring to the table, so why keep him around?
Let Leno go to Fox, keep Conan.
@Daniel: “Why not go to Comedy Central? It would be the perfect lineup”
One: because it’d be a gigantic pay cut.
Two: because South Park’s on at 10, Daily Show’s on at 11, and Comedy Central’s made the very smart move of slotting new episodes of Futurama in-between the two starting in the fall. That would be the logical place for Conan, but it’s also the logical place for Futurama.
Three: Comedy Central ran Conan’s reruns, next-day, for a year or so. I assume it didn’t attract much interest, because they quit doing it.
Me, I’d love to see him go back to Simpsons. But I don’t see that happening either.
Nix NBC all together, any where would be better. hell with it, go go SPIKE lol
It’s escaped mention that Conan Obrien is the only host who has been unable to retain the Tonight Shows audience. The show is the anchor not the host and the show will regain audience with a new host.
So, Jay wasn’t beaten in the ratings for the first two years?
It is because Jay’s 10 pm show had crappy ratings, which led to crappy news ratings for the local affiliates. Poor support from the rest of the schedule. It’s another way Jay injured Conan.