Conan O’Brien and NBC have reached an official settlement, confirmed by both NBC and Conan’s manager. Friday will be Conan’s last show as ‘The Tonight Show’ host.
“In the end, Conan was appreciative of the steps NBC made to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement the severance they were getting out of his own pocket,” Gavin Polone, O’Brien’s manager [said]. “Now he just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible.”
NBC said the deal came to $45 million total, with $12 million going to Conan’s staff (who relocated from New York to LA when Conan started ‘The Tonight Show’). Conan’s intellectual properties, such as Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, will stay with NBC, and Conan cannot go back on the air before September 1, 2010.
Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell are expected on Conan’s final show this Friday. Tom confirmed his appearance on twitter.
Here’s NBC’s official statement:
NBC and Conan O’Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O’Brien’s contract to host The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O’Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O’Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.
O’Brien will make his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show on January 22.
Jay Leno will return to ‘The Tonight Show’ on March 1, with Jimmy Fallon following at 12:35 am.
“We’re pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years,” said Jeff Gaspin, chairman NBC Universal Television Entertainment. “He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.”
Are you ready to follow Conan wherever he turns up, go back to Jay when he returns to ‘The Tonight Show,’ watch David Letterman, or do you not watch late-night talk shows?
Photos by INF
And somehow Jimmy Fallon, who wasn’t really all that funny on SNL manages to keep his show. Life sucks sometimes.
Leno was #1 the whole time on the Tonight Show. Zucker screwed that up and moved him to 10 pm. Conan was never #1 therefore Jay comes back. Conan’s rating sucked therefore he lost his job. The lead ins to the news lowered because people watched Leno earlier and didn’t stay up as late. BTW less and less are watching the 11 pm news because they get news on line at any time. Now your informed.
Adam, you’re the one that needs to be more informed and render an opinion on facts! Watch the interview with Jeff Zucker, the NBC CEO, with Charlie Rose and listen to it come out of the horses mouth. Jay Leno was not getting good ratings at 10 PM. If you don’t believe the idiot who runs the place then you are seriously misinformed. It had everything to do with Jay Leno’s ratings…that is what got the ball rolling to begin with. The NBC affiliates were ready to pull the plug on him. Article posted in Los Angeles Times says it all: Call it the Leno effect. NBC’s controversial decision to shift the late-night talk show host to 10 p.m. has been billed as a savvy business move that enabled NBC to substitute a low-cost talk show for expensive scripted dramas. But now it’s playing havoc with many of NBC’s more than 200 affiliates, where Leno’s weaker “lead-in” is undermining audiences of 11 p.m. newscasts. News programs are crucial for local stations, which draw upon them for a third of their revenue. Now your informed.
i’m with you. I’ve always liked Conan, watched Leno because there was nothing else on…but now I refuse to watch anything with Leno.
Conan has handled this gracefully. Leno is going to see rating drop for him majorly. I cant already tell you I watched both Leno and Conan and I will not watch Leno anymore. I can’t wait for Conan to get back on the air. This is going to boost his career and i’m really hoping wherever he goes/whatever he does, he brings his crew along, the whole staff contributed to his greatness!
Conan is generation Y’s Leno!
I am really excited to see where Conan ends up, though I will mourn the loss of him on the Tonight Show.
Honestly NBC will ask him back before it’s time for him to start a new show, I BELIEVE anyway.
I’M WITH COCO
They should have let Conan keep the tonight show and move Leno into Jimmy Fallon’s Spot. He is the newbie, Junior boot, let him go for a whole lot cheaper, keep their dinosaur Leno (who would agree to anything) and leave Conan alone. Oh well, he made a great business deal while keeping his integrity and values in check. We will see him in Sept. I’m sure of it.
So sick of Leno being a wuss in this whole affair. Team Coco all the way! At least he’s free now to find an employer who actually gives a toss about him. Shame he has to leave behind many of his properties though.
I cannot believe NBC is doing this. Conan has more than earned his spot on the Tonight Show. Too bad if Jay’s new show didn’t make it. I’m so disappointed in NBC for giving Jay the Tonight Show back I will refuse to watch it and will support Conan in his new endeavors.
Sorry but Conan lost money for NBC.
I hope Leno tanks hard. He’s been in decline since 2005. This will only make it worse.
Conan is the man.
He was #1 for the entire time at the Tonight Show. Where are you getting your facts?
lol, my comment was totally scattered. Sorry. I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS
Team Conan, NBC should’ve given Conan more time he only had a few months, when Leno returns and the ratings are still in the toilet (which they most likely will be) what are they going to do offer the show to Fallon.
Get informed people! This whole fiasco had nothing to do with Jay Leno’s poor ratings on the Jay Leno Show. The reason Jay is going back to the Tonight Show is because of CONAN’S poor ratings. If Conan had ratings that were even close to Jay’s Tonight Show, then Conan might still have a job. Look, I like Conan, but he had poor ratings so he gets the boot.