Open Forum Friday: Did Conan O’Brien Make the Right Decision?

Posted by on January 22nd, 2010   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

openforumconanobriendecision

As most people know, tonight will be Conan O’Brien’s final episode of The Tonight Show, and after that he is a free man. Jay Leno will take over his old show, and Conan will be without a job. The final deal for Conan’s exit from NBC will net him $32 million, while his staff will split a $12 million severance. It’s a lot of money to leave a gig, but NBC retains the rights to all of the characters that Conan and his writers created, and Conan won’t be able to host another talk show until September. So in the end, did he make the right call?

A lot of people have been blaming NBC execs and Jay Leno for this whole mess, and indeed, they are primarily the ones responsible. However, it was Conan’s choice to make a stand and to refuse to have The Tonight Show pushed back past midnight. He claimed that it would taint the legacy of The Tonight Show, and maybe he’s right. It’s also possible that he was hoping that he could call NBC’s bluff and that they would back down or Leno would bow out, but unfortunately that didn’t happen and all of his staff were forced to take the fall with him. No doubt he has some options available to him, but all of his employees may not be so lucky. Plus, there is also the fact that Conan’s Tonight Show ratings were pretty low. What do you think? Are you with Coco? Did he make the right choice to leave NBC, and did he get a good deal out of the situation? Will Leno be able to save The Tonight Show or have all of his viewers already made the switch to Letterman? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • Mason

    I am with Coco and I support his decision to leave. Why should the big corporation get everything it wants. It’s about time someone take a stand, and Conan is a man of integrity. I predict Leno back in the 11:30 slot will do moderately well. I never understood why people prefer him- could be that NBC had good lead-in shows and middle America and the older demographic likes his tooly style. I would be glad and wouldn’t be surprised if Dave edged him out in the ratings from now on. I think this scandal has generated a lot of hate towards him. If I watch late night now it will be Letterman and Craig Ferguson.

  • Ian

    Leno will probably regain some strength but I think this has something to do with his contract too and so who knows how much longer he’ll want to do this. With Letterman he can be extremely hit or miss if he’s good he can capitalize but he is no spring chicken either.

    I look forward to Conan perhaps producing some cool original material. If Fox is smart they might opt to give him a late night show on FX instead. It could have lead ins of stuff like It’s Always Sunny, etc. and he could work a little bluer; not that he needs that but it would be solid lead ins instead of Fox running news and Seinfeld reruns in the 10-11 slot.

  • First, I think the whole think is a lesson in brand management, or more, how management was to risky in how they played with the dynamics of a show that has some 50 years of respect and a presence in the television landscape. Jeff Zucker’s quotes of “trying new things” is bullshit as the degree of “trying new things” is different between episodes of say “Joey” and “The Tonight Show”.

    With that in mind, I think Conan was forced to refuse going with the change and probably realized it was a bad management move on-top-of another bad move. Furthermore, if he didn’t make a stand the new schedule would most likely kill his show’s ratings, cause NBC to cancel him down the road, and expose his staff to even greater financial risk.

  • I completely understand why Leno beats Letterman and O’Brien in ratings and I’m happy for it. Its the same reason Dane Cook gets 5 bilgzion myspace friends; both him and Leno are milk toast hacks that appeal to a wide swath of America. Good, I like that I like more adventurous comedy and films. F*ck mainstream!

  • Justice

    I never really had a problem with Leno, I didn’t watch him regularly but I thought he was a good enough guy and all, but it really seemed he dicked over Conan. Leno undercut him and his Tonight Show when he announced his “retirement” and then started a new show when money was thrown at him. It was a chain reaction…the show bombed, sinking affiliate 10pm news ratings and in turn Conan’s ratings. It was a debacle. It’s too bad too because now there is a better chance of that asshat Jimmy Fallon remaining on the air. He makes Carson Daly look like Bob Hope.

  • Ben

    Between this and the talk of how things went down when Leno originally got the Tonight Show instead of Letterman, I really can’t side with Leno on this and I certainly can’t side with NBC. Conan has always come across as, not just an incredibly talented comedian/host, but also as a genuinely good guy. I don’t think he can be faulted whatsoever for sticking to his guns on this. If anything, in an industry plagued by people giving in to the powers that be for another couple bucks, he should be applauded.

  • Falsk

    Meh. I wish I could get a bonus for publicly bad-mouthing my boss and getting fired.

    Sucks for the employees. Sure Conan can coast for awhile on his pay and pick up a show in September, but what about them? Won’t be as easy as it is for Conan, I’m sure.

    Meh. Show business.

  • deadpaul

    “Sure Conan can coast for awhile on his pay and pick up a show in September…”

    I hope Conan can make it on $35 million, plus all the money he’s made so far…

  • J.G.

    To answer the topic question: I think time will tell. I’m sure a lot of people are curious what Conan’s next move is. Will he get another talk show on a competing network? Does he go to cable or Internet? Movies? Conan is getting a lot of good sentiment right now, but we’ll see if that translates to support for his next project. If he even decides to continue in show business.
    His moral stance on not hosting a neutered Tonight Show has certainly engendered renewed support for him in the comedy world. Across the fan and performer barrier.
    Leno claims that he was only thinking of his staff when he decided to take the 10PM slot, and again when the network offered him the 11:30 slot and told him Conan would be ok with being pushed back.
    Conan on the other hand saw this as the final dick move by NBC and Leno. Moving the Tonight Show and Late Night further back into the night (closer to carson daly territory) would only serve to benefit the network and Leno. Obviously Conan’s Tonight Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would be irreprably damaged by this, perhaps even to the point of cancellation. That means that two sets of shows and staffs would be negatively effected by Leno’s lack of class. O’Brien made the morally justified move, let’s hope he gets another tv show soon though.
    In conclusion I hope Jay Leno’s return to late night TV bombs and NBC has begs Conan to come back. Hosting the Tonight Show was Conan O’Brien’s dream. Jay Leno failing at the Tonight Show is mine.

  • Booma

    Falsk,

    Conan has been much more concerned about his employees than himself. Much of the negotiations occurring over the past couple of weeks have been concerned with the severance his crew would be recieving. From what I understand, Conan is contributing some of his pay-out to the crew in addition to the severance they are each getting. This is not new, Conan demonstrated his care for his crew during the writers strike where he paid all his employees out of his own pocket. So I don’t think Conan is simply “coasting” and leaving his employees for broke.

  • herpes is forever

    on one frosty december evening, starving to death in the sleet i once met a man, he was headed towards the port authority presumable after visiting a hidden, cozy strip club behind time square. he stopped briefly and smiled at me readjusting his trombone. a large boner grew that i thus shall never forget. this mans name was LA BAMBA

  • Goon

    people assume that since Conan is walking away with money that it somehow erases the pain of what you’ve worked for being taken away from not just you but the families of everyone who was transplanted from their lives by moving across the country for their craft.

    Bottom line is regardless of what anyone thinks of Conan’s show, he had the ratings until Leno’s lead in appeared on the scene and very quickly tanked the local news and then Conan’s own show. And then they reward Leno’s terrible show by putting him back on late night.

    Especially after how he handled his final episode, Conan comes out of this smelling like roses

  • 81

    Blar Blar Fucking Blar @ $35 mill what is “Conan” doing now? Buying Hooker’s & Blow, Good for him.

  • Tommy

    I can’t believe people still watch this crap. So dated!

  • Joel

    I’m going to call it right here: Letterman is going to retire and offer the Late Show to Conan.

    He’s 62, he’s at the end of a contract and he’s now mocking Leno daily while publicly supporting Conan. It really seems like he’s setting us up for the ultimate punch line: “I’m giving the show to Conan.”

  • Mark

    Call me crazy, but my current thinking is that Conan underestimated NBC’s willingness to get rid of him. Maybe the smarter move (in hindsight) would have been to let Jay have the 11:35pm slot and ride it out until Jay’s ratings dropped and he could get the old slot back.

    If his aim was to not have The Tonight Show brand tainted, surely he failed by having himself ejected and the former host re-installed in this fashion?

  • HFD

    Jay Leno is a cock sucker. Conan did the right thing by sticking up for himself and the Tonight Show. Pushing the show back another 30 minutes would have killed the show, and it would have been under Coco’s “watch”… that’s surely a legacy that Conan did not want on his resume.

  • kim

    hee hee.He said cocksucker/

  • Falsk

    @Booma

    I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. Conan certainly is doing his best, but I imagine it still has to suck for a crew that (as Goon mentioned) “transplanted themselves” to stay with him (and bring their families along as well) and certainly weren’t getting paid nearly as much to BEGIN with and are now back on unemployment… sure that’s the name of the game, especially with writers, but it’s a pretty shitty situation to have to go through whereas when you have a name like “Conan O’Brien” you’ll have a much better time doing anything as opposed to, you know, Joe the writer. From what I understand Conan will keep his writers with him for whatever venture he goes through in September (and good for him for that), but I tend to have little sympathy for ‘celebrity’ to begin with (hell, I wish MY unemployment check was that big!) when there are other little people concerned.

    I think we can both agree, though, that they all got the short end of the stick where NBC is concerned.

  • Goon

    “If his aim was to not have The Tonight Show brand tainted, surely he failed by having himself ejected and the former host re-installed in this fashion?”

    its not Conans job alone to protect its reputation. Jay Leno isn’t at fault for being shoved to 10 o clock and not having a bigger audience, that is NBCs fault. But it is his fault to have not stood up for himself before and then passively take it back whilst playing the victim. He could have gracefully stepped aside himself, but instead his general greed won over. As Patton Oswalt said, he really wants it bad for someone who has never done anything interesting with it.

    And people again are acting as if it was just for Jay and Conan to switch. If Conan had agreed to this, he’d also be taking part in fucking over Jimmy Fallon and (yes) Carson Daly.

  • Who is this Carson Daly you people speak of? Isn’t he one of those “vampires” from Twilight?

    I’m with Coco, wherever he goes.

    Unless it’s cable, which I already canceled.

  • the best PERSONALITY of all of them is Craig Ferguson and no one but me watches him. he would blow away Letterman (who has lost his edge), a dull Jimmy, and milk toast Leno away if given the resources.

  • HFD

    I love Ferguson, he’s absolutley loony! =)

    @Kim – I figured it was safe to use CS since Jay uses it liberally on the podcast. :D

  • David Lettermen isn’t funny anymore because after 30 years of Late Night he’s run out of ideas.

    You can’t do ANY show for that long and still remain relevant and interesting.

    I stopped watching after he left NBC. Those were his best years.

  • Goon

    If you stopped watching after he left NBC, how would you know if he’s still funny?

    I’d definitely say there was a good while where his schtick was old for me, but its come back around again. I mean the top 10 list never really did anything for me, but his monologues, in between bits and interview style have been top notch over the last year and a half whenever I tune in, he’s gone full bore into the old-man-doesnt-give-a-fuck-anymore stage which for most people means no quality, but for a person like Dave means some good stuff comes out.

    He’s on a short list of elderly stars whose future death is going to probably make me extremely sad and realize how old I am. Even though they’re sort of out of the public eye as of late this would also include Christopher Lloyd and Gene Wilder for me.

  • Falsk

    I’ve always been partial to the Waffle Slingshot, myself…

  • with that kinda of severance I can make it the right decision