One of many messiest succession plans in late evening tv historical past fell aside on Jan. 12, 2010, when Conan O’Brien publicly refused to again down for Jay Leno.
After 16 years of internet hosting NBC’s Late Night time present (which aired at 12:30 AM), O’Brien took over the community’s flagship The Tonight Present (which aired at 11:30 PM, earlier than Late Night time) on June 1, 2009.
This was the success of a promise the community made to O’Brien 5 years earlier. However it additionally left Jay Leno, the longtime host of the nonetheless top-rated Tonight Present, out of a job sooner than he would have preferred.
About 20 years earlier, NBC had endured one other disagreeable switch of Tonight Present energy, as Leno took over for Johnny Carson, resulting in then-current Late Night time host David Letterman feeling handed over and leaping ship to CBS, the place he went head-to-head towards his buddy turned rival Leno at 11:30.
Desirous to keep away from one other pricey defection, NBC supplied Leno an hour-long nightly discuss present at 10 PM. Though he was doubtful the discuss present format would work at such an early hour, Leno says he took the job when he was promised his employees can be paid for 2 full years whatever the present’s success.
O’Brien’s scores dipped early in his Tonight Present run, falling behind Letterman’s rival Late Present – though he made massive positive aspects with the younger-aged viewers that advertisers most want. Leno’s 10 PM scores additionally took a drastic hit. NBC knew this might occur to some extent, and had counted on the comparatively low price of working a chat present (as in comparison with dearer dramas or comedies) to maintain the present worthwhile within the new spot. However that they had not thought of how badly Leno’s decrease scores would harm these of the native 11 PM information broadcasts, and by extension O’Brien’s present.
The offended native associates pressured the community to repair the state of affairs, and on Jan. 10, 2010 NBC introduced that it might pull Leno’s present out of prime time, with the aim of getting him again onto the late evening schedule. The plan they proposed was for Leno to return to his 11:30 spot for a half-hour present earlier than making method for O’Brien at 12:00, with Late Night time (then hosted by Jimmy Fallon) transferring to 1 AM.
Watch Conan O’Brien Mock NBC on ‘The Tonight Present’
Given a “take it or depart it” supply with no advance discover, O’Brien struck again with a public assertion on Jan. 12:
For 60 years the Tonight Present has aired instantly following the late native information. I sincerely consider that delaying the Tonight Present into the subsequent day to accommodate one other comedy program will significantly injury what I think about to be the best franchise within the historical past of broadcasting. The Tonight Present at 12:05 merely isn’t the Tonight Present. Additionally, if I settle for this transfer I shall be knocking the Late Night time present, which I inherited from David Letterman and handed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That may harm the opposite NBC franchise that I really like, and it might be unfair to Jimmy.
So it has come to this: I can not categorical in phrases how a lot I take pleasure in internet hosting this program and what an infinite private disappointment it’s for me to contemplate shedding it. My employees and I’ve labored unbelievably arduous and we’re very happy with our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Present. However I can not take part in what I truthfully consider is its destruction. Some folks will make the argument that with DVRs and the Web a time slot doesn’t matter. However with the Tonight Present, I consider nothing may matter extra.
There was hypothesis about my going to a different community however, to set the report straight, I at present haven’t any different supply and truthfully do not know what occurs subsequent. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this rapidly in order that my employees, crew, and I can do a present we may be happy with, for a corporation that values our work.
The mature, measured tone of that assertion went out the window when a clearly pissed-off O’Brien returned to the airwaves that evening. “Internet hosting The Tonight Present has been the success of a lifelong dream for me,” he declared. “And I simply wish to say to the children on the market watching: You are able to do something you need in life. Yeah, yeah… except Jay Leno desires to do it too.”
The die was forged. O’Brien would solely host eight extra episodes of the Tonight Present, however he made probably the most of his on-air time with numerous barbs geared toward NBC. That included a farcical nightly bit the place he tried to spend the community’s cash as foolishly as attainable, corresponding to “shopping for” a one-of-a-kind fossil from the Smithsonian and utilizing it to spray Beluga caviar on an “authentic” Picasso.
Watch Conan O’Brien Waste NBC’s Cash
David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Howard Stern Shortly Painted Leno because the Villain
A number of of O’Brien’s well-known friends rapidly took sides towards Leno. Letterman had a discipline day dryly mocking Leno’s try at injury management: “He stated that we should always not blame Conan for what is going on on… ‘Do not blame Conan for what is going on on.’ And I stated to myself, ‘Nobody is blaming Conan.'” He went on to critique Leno for making an attempt to carry onto his present as an alternative of discovering one other job, as Letterman did when he was handed over by NBC.
Watch David Letterman Reply to Jay Leno’s ‘Do not Blame Conan’ Speech
ABC late evening host Jimmy Kimmel did Letterman one higher, repeatedly making enjoyable of Leno for his function within the messy state of affairs throughout an look on Leno’s personal 10 PM present. When requested concerning the best prank he ever pulled, Kimmel quipped: “I informed a man that 5 years from now I am gonna provide you with my present. After which when the 5 years got here, I gave it to him after which I took it again virtually immediately.”
Watch Jimmy Kimmel Roast Jay Leno on His Personal Present
The King of All Media, Howard Stern, echoed Letterman’s sentiment about what Leno ought to have accomplished: “I used to be fired by NBC a few years in the past. You already know what I did? I did not sit there like a lap canine and take it. I obtained up, I brushed myself off and I went on a competing station and I buried NBC into the bottom. That is what you do.”
Stern additionally identified that Leno’s 10 PM present performed a significant function in O’Brien’s downfall. “Jay utterly sabotaged him. By occurring at 10 PM, they gave Jay all the very best friends, they took away all of Conan’s pleasure and thunder. The underside line is that this: Jay can also be a thief and that is what will get my goat probably the most. Jay takes and lifts bits straight from my present, straight from Dave’s present… they do not have an authentic thought on that present.”
Watch Howard Stern Fillet Jay Leno
Sarcastically, and naturally, all this drama introduced O’Brien and The Tonight Present an enormous scores enhance. However his reign as The Tonight Present host ended on Jan. 22 with a farewell monologue wherein O’Brien expressed thanks, targeted on the optimistic and requested his viewers to not give into cynicism: “No person in life will get precisely what they thought they had been going to get. However in case you work actually arduous and also you’re variety, superb issues will occur.”
5 weeks after Conan’s final Tonight Present aired, Leno returned for a second run as host, which lasted 4 extra years earlier than he peacefully handed the desk over to famous hack Jimmy Fallon. O’Brien began his personal late evening present on TBS as quickly as his non-compete clause expired. The Conan present lasted till 2021, at which level he started specializing in his podcast and the worldwide journey sequence Conan O’Brien Should Go.
