March 29, 2011 - 8:22pm
The saga continues: red-hot fury, or at least severe irritation, from Conan O'Brien
BY ERIC CHIU
It’s been a few days since news broke about NBC’s current late-night scheduling debacle and today, the other shoe finally dropped as Conan O’Brien released a statement saying that he’s not on board with NBC’s plans.
“I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it,” O’Brien wrote.
“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.”
O’Brien’s made his displeasure at the network clear in his monologues in the past few nights, ripping into NBC with grumpy Letterman-levels of vigor and the statement makes his feelings about the whole fiasco clear.
The bad blood certainly isn’t unearned, but with “The Jay Leno Show” ’s status as a ratings black hole and NBC’s affiliates asking for someone’s head, NBC executive Jeff Gaspin said he was forced to make a decision earlier than he wanted to.
Given that it’s NBC, though, it’s no surprise they chose the worst possible one.
O’Brien was announced as “The Tonight Show” host all the way back in 2004, but NBC made “The Jay Leno Show” to keep Jay Leno on NBC, making O’Brien second fiddle again. The network’s latest decision makes it clear whose side NBC would prefer to be on, and O’Brien’s response effectively tells them he wants nothing to do with it.
The middle finger O’Brien’s letter gave to NBC also puts the network into an especially tight spot — the schedule swap was done with the expectation that Leno, Fallon and O’Brien would approve and out of a desire to not have to pay either Leno or O’Brien for any expensive contractual violations. In O’Brien’s case, it’s been reported that his contract only covers him as being host of “The Tonight Show” — nothing, however, on when the show might actually be on.
The dust is still settling, but if the opening rumors of NBC planning on both reinstating Leno as host of the “The Tonight Show” and searching for guest hosts is true, it’s already looking like the network plans on taking its gloves off against O’Brien.
For Conan, though, it’s a relief to know that he plans to hop off the sinking ship that is NBC. Given the shrapnel the whole debacle’s already sent in NBC’s direction, they presumably won’t want to stand in O’Brien’s way as he heads out the door — with FOX all but sending O’Brien the paperwork to start working, it likely won’t be long before people can see O’Brien on a network that’s less openly hostile to its hosts.
