NBC’s plan to move Jay Leno back to late night and bump Conan O’Brien back a half-hour have hit a snag.
O’Brien told the network yesterday that he won’t sign off on the plan, which would move his version of “The Tonight Show” back to 12:05 A.M. EST after a half-hour version of Jay Leno aired at 11:35 P.M. EST.
“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,” O’Brien said in a statement. “‘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.”
“I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future,” he said. “It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.”
So what does this mean?
It could mean that NBC will lose O’Brien or Leno in the shuffle. Fox seems poised in the wings to snap up whichever host may be forced to depart NBC.
But it appears that NBC isn’t going to push Leno back into primetime, which means that shows like “Chuck”and “Heroes” could still get new seasons if their ratings warrant it.
However, affiliate relations could mean that O’Brien would be off the air while Fox worked out a late-night broadcast schedule and slot for him.
There are crime scenes that are less of a mess than this…
Good for Conan. He shouldn’t be bumped around because Leno’s ratings sucked. Leno should just retire and NBC should cancel his low rated show.
This is going to go down in TV history as the biggest disaster NBC has ever had.
Prediction, by Fall 2010, NBC will be announcing their brand name late night lineup that will include neither Leno nor O’Brien.
First Leno showed he had no class and now Conan shows he has nothing but. He is actually concerned for the person who took over his previous show, something the Chin can learn from. Conan also has geek cred.