The weird gets weirder. In an earnest letter, Conan O’Brien says he’s not moving the Tonight Show:

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy…My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction.

Nobody has any idea what this means, though. Ordinarily, the above paragraph would be followed by “…so I am resigning” or something like that. But there’s nothing. He just says he’s not moving. It seems weird to insist you’re keeping a timeslot on a privately owned broadcaster when your bosses say you’re moving. Maybe he’s going to do a peaceful protest of some kind? How would Ghandi keep the 11:35 timeslot?

36 replies on “Conan O’Brien Is Going to Chain Himself to 11:35”

  1. I thought it spelled out pretty clearly he’s giving his bosses an ultimatum. They keep Coco on at 11:35 or go through with their current plan and give the Tonight Show back to Jay “America’s Yakov Smirnoff” Leno and Coco will go elsewhere.

    My guess is that they’re gonna give the Tonight Show back to Jay, Conan’s gonna go to Fox. Conan will lose in the ratings to both Jay and Dave and get canceled and those of us who actually love comedy will be sad pandas.

  5. Paul Constant: Nobody has any idea what this means, though.

    Um, I thought the implications of Conan’s statement (which was perfectly pitched, BTW) were overwhelmingly obvious. Then again, I’m not as clever as Paul Constant.

  7. I’m also guessing that, since Conan’s contract was for the Tonight Show at 11:30pm, his refusing to be moved to 12:05 means NBC will have to pay him a lot of money to cancel his contract.

    I watch Letterman, but used to watch Conan sometimes on the Late Show. I have a lot of respect for him for refusing to budge on this.

    I don’t understand why anyone thinks Jay Leno is funny.

  8. @7 Unfortunately, the contract only stipulated that he’ll host a show called “The Tonight Show”. The contract makes no guarantees about the time slot of that show. I’m guessing this was intentional on NBC’s part, and was easily missed by Conan’s lawyers?

    At this point, Conan’s probably looking for a way to get out of his contract entirely.

  9. I’m not sure about it damaging the greatest franchise in broadcasting history, but it sounds like they’re trading an hour of viewership for a half-hour’s worth.

    The trouble with moving Conan to Fox is that Fox runs its news at 10pm, not 11. (At least here in Seattle.) Who watches the news at 10?

  13. Here’s what this means:

    Over the past 4 days (since NBC told Conan they were f’ing him), his lawyers probably said “You can’t get out of your contract; as long as they call it “The Tonight Show” it could air once a week at 3 AM, and you’re stuck”, Conan has wisely moved the debate into the court of public opinion to try to shame NBC. Well played.

  14. Here’s what this means:

    Over the past 4 days (since NBC told Conan they were f’ing him), his lawyers probably said “You can’t get out of your contract; as long as they call it “The Tonight Show” it could air once a week at 3 AM, and you’re stuck”, Conan has wisely moved the debate into the court of public opinion to try to shame NBC. Well played.

  15. A stolen comment from KristaJulieva on Gawker:

    The network then gave an order: “Cut the Tonight Show in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

    The true host was filled with compassion for his show and said to the network, “Please give him the program! Don’t kill it!”

    But the other host said, “Neither I nor you shall have the Tonight Show. Cut it in two!”

    Then the network dropped the program on its head and lost millions of dollars and flailed about pathetically and pissed everyone off and remained in fourth place for generations untold, for the network was NBC.

    Comcast is getting a shit sandwich from GE.

  16. “The contract makes no guarantees about the time slot of that show.”

    The Tonight Show has immediately followed the late local news since 1954, setting an all-but-indelible expectation for its start time. (It started at 11:30(10:30 Central) in 1954, then moved forward 15 minutes during the late 50s and early 60s. The start time was moved back five minutes in 1991.)

    I would have no problem with Conan starting at 11 on Fox.

  17. BREAKING NEWS ::: Ghandi doesn’t watch television and has more important things to do than care about late-night shows!! ::: Broadcast teevee is little more than a platform for brainwashy-advertisements!! ::: Life will go on!! ::: Jimmy Fallon is a dimwit!! ::: Now stay tuned for the brain-numbing story of “A Commentard Flamewar”, starting Anonymous People.

  18. i’m with Genevieve; it’s a contractual thing…i think his contract quite clearly spells out what the show is, and when it airs. If NBC wants to move it, and Conan disagrees, then NBC has broken the contract and Conan is free to go…and to be paid $20m a year for the next 5 years…and if he gets another gig and it pays LESS than $20m a year, NBC has to make up the difference. So if FOX gives him a show and is only wanting to pay $12m a year for Conan’s services, NBC is still on the hook for $8m a year.

    Aren’t entertainment contracts for high profile stars, great?

  19. Conan doesn’t have some pussy wuss contract; dude has been around for 17 years and he has some big, powerful agents, managers and lawyers negotiating his contracts…my info in the above post I learned from reading Nikki Finke and other insider sites; not from gossip columns. Contracts for the BIG stars spell EVERYTHING out down to timeslots, titles, billing, size of staff, parking, perks, EVERYTHING you could think of and then some. If the network tries to change ANYTHING, that gives Conan a way out and entitled to his “Play, or Pay” money….(they get paid regardless if the project goes forward).

  20. @16 @18 Hey, look, I did your homework for you:

    http://tinyurl.com/ydae4xs

    “Unfortunately for O’Brien, during negotiations for his original deal to host “The Tonight Show” his management apparently forgot to get it in writing that the show’s time slot would always start at 11:35 p.m.

    That little detail may be key in keeping NBC from having to shell out any sort of penalty or to release O’Brien from his contract.”

  23. Yes, a million people really is “no one.” If either of these guys was drawing in a reasonable amount of viewers, I suspect we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

  28. #26, seriously, thanks. gAndhi, not ghandi.

    ghandi sounds very close to gandi which means dirty in hindi.

    I’m sorry to be OT, but it had to be done.

  30. If you read the full letter, it’s clear that this is a guy with principle. He’s resigning. It’s completely unfair what NBC is doing. He’s been given seven months after NBC kept him on the hook for years. It was horrible what they did to Letterman who also cared about the show – read Late Night.

  31. @20: Starting after the late local news has come to define The Tonight Show. Shows that start later are known as “Late Night, with XXX,” and “Last Call with YYY.” Moving Conan’s time slot back means it’s no longer the Tonight Show he’s hosting.

    But why not start Conan at 11:35 and Leno at 12:05? Win win win.

  32. C’mon Paul, you’re smarter then this.
    If Coco puts in word that he’s definitely making moves to leave NBC/announces it in a letter before NBC drops him then the less likely* it is he’s going to get his $80million ($20 million over four years) pay out from the graying, ashed peacock.

    *if a statement like that isn’t an instant breach of contract/resignation in itself

  34. Leno was beating Letterman in the timeslot. Conan never has.

    Moving Leno to 10:00 was a mistake, but moving him out of 11:35 was a bigger one.

  35. Funny or not funny (I think he’s funny), Conan made the right move. You can only let yourself get dicked around for so long.

    @34: Conan may have never beaten Letterman had he been allowed to do his thing, but we’ll never know, because NBC fucked him (and affiliates) over with their 10pm Leno Ego Show. Combined with the Christmas Underwear attacks (driving the ratings to Nightline), Conan was given nary a chance to perform. As I recall, Letterman beat Leno out of the gate for a while before Leno came back to beat him consistently.

  36. I think this is more a statement that Conan won’t be run over, just because GE or NBC releases a statement about what they want doesn’t mean they can change things around in the middle without talking to him about it. The whole thing is silly, Conan > Leno, but it’s not like I watch either.

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