Conan-NBC Exit Deal Done: NBC To Pay $40 Million

Wall Street Journal:

Conan O'Brien is close to signing a nearly $40 million agreement to walk away from his dream job hosting NBC's "The Tonight Show," bringing down the curtain on one of the entertainment industry's biggest programming debacles.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[you can call me Roy]

12:24 PM on 01/23/2010

Funny, how everyone loves their entertainers but you won't see any news stories on NBC how the 45 million that Conan got for leaving was paid for by the American taxpayer! That's right folks, the division of GE who owns NBC filed bankrupsy, so get your kneepads on again US taxpayer!

[SayLessDoMore]

10:20 PM on 01/20/2010

Hey ... for the record ... I'm willing to not host "The Tonight Show" for $10 million.

Just sayin.'

[GreenGirl88]

06:14 PM on 01/19/2010

The money won't just go to Conan--he has a lot of staff who relocated from New York IN GOOD FAITH for this sham who also need to be compensated so that they can move back to New York, and for other expenses incurred. It's called severance, and, unlike Wall Street, it wasn't a situation of Conan's own making. Why is NBC #4?? This is why. BAD MANAGEMENT.

When Jay tanks again because of all the bad publicity (not to mention all the really good shows, like Life and Southland which were killed or moved to make way for Leno) and all the Gen-X and Gen-Y viewers they will lose who are refusing to watch NBC, and they have to consider either finding a new host for The Tonight Show, or ending the franchise altogether, how smart is Zucker's inexplicable favoritism toward Leno going to look, and who the hell will they find to replace Leno, in six months when the hard reality of this colossal failure in judgment and hubris is no longer deniable?

NBC board members and major stockholders should set up an emergency meeting and fire Zucker NOW before he makes any more STUPID decisions and signs any more hiring/firing agreements!! As Julia Roberts said, NBC REALLY IS IN THE TOILET, both ratings-wise, and credibility-wise.

Worst business decision EVER, Mr Zucker, if there is any justice you will also be out of a job REAL soon (not soon enough for me).

[VietVet]

06:01 PM on 01/19/2010

No one is worth that kind of money be it entertainment, sports, banking, medicine, politics, or any profession.

[sammy cole]

05:41 PM on 01/19/2010

40 million for a job badly done is no different than paying bonuses to CEO's of BANKS that took down the USA. Obama shoujld apply his 75% taxes to this nausiating Conan paycheck.

[davidpkronmiller]

06:09 PM on 01/19/2010

He didn't do a bad job. He wasn't given a chance to get off the ground. Jay's ratings were horrible his first year - Letterman kicked his butt. And something EVERYONE is forgetting - this summer Letterman had a huge tiff with Palin that got him big ratings and he had an affair with a staffer that got huge ratings.

Perspective folks. Perspective.

[bzb]

05:33 PM on 01/19/2010

I have 40 million reasons for not feeling bad for Conan. Thats not a severance package, that's pi mping 101. When you ABSOLUTELY must get paid, retain excellent legal representation.

[JessWonderin]

05:10 PM on 01/19/2010

oh well . . . will be tough, but I'm sure with proper budgeting and a few cuts here and there, he might stretch it out to Social Security collectin' time . . . . .

[natchez]

04:51 PM on 01/19/2010

No one is worth 40 million, this is just plain greed and to think what could be dome with this money...disgusting

[alsm9]

06:43 PM on 01/19/2010

Ya, I bet you're a real philanthropist. lol!

[ebanks84]

04:27 PM on 01/19/2010

Conan needs to suck it up, take his 40 mil and just leave in peace. He's acting so immaturely and that's why I never liked him in the first place. He's got childish ways.

[DeePDX]

04:42 PM on 01/19/2010

You obviously didn't read Conan's statement that provoked a couple of hundred people in 3 states to come to his side during this whole mess. And he surmised his position by saying,

"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."

That speaks volumes more in maturity than I've seen Jay demonstrate at all during this whole thing. I've been a fan of Conan's since high school to my adult years because his humor is more relatable to me than Jay's. No disrespect to Jay's career, but making fun of dumb people on the street is a bit more immature to me.

This is not Conan's fault, but NBC's and maybe a bit of Jay's since none of this was a surprise. 5 years ago Jay Leno was told that he's tenure at the Tonight Show would be coming to an end. NBC gave him WAY more courtesy then than what they are doing to Conan and his staff.

[alsm9]

04:50 PM on 01/19/2010

yep

[RadCenter]

03:14 PM on 01/19/2010

Think what $40 million would mean to the people of Haiti right now.

Some people need to get perspective.

[GreenGirl88]

06:50 PM on 01/19/2010

For all those posting about Haiti, that's another thread, and you should stick to this thread's subject.

It is a true horror that dwarfs all our mundane daily problems, and I have done my part by donating, have you? Using it to divert this thread is really low.

[Jazzcomedian]

03:04 PM on 01/19/2010

Glad that Conan got his $40 million. I haven't been able to rest until this was resolved. Now I can calm down and concentrate on some of the problems in my own life. One of them being--no money.


Conan should lay low for a few months and then come back as the host of "Snapped." That'll show NBC how much they screwed up.

[DRaymond]

03:04 PM on 01/19/2010

What I would do if I were Conan....

The article says that he can have another show on another network in as little as a year (I am guessing that is the period of the revised non-compete). So he has 40 mil in the bank and a year. What I would do is keep most of his staff and create an advertizer supported web serries, keeping costs down by skipping the studio and doing everything remote. As long as he doesn't badmouth NBC and it is web only it will most likely fit within the non-compete.

In other words you do the celebrity interview part in advance at their home or wherever they are working at the time. Soon you will have several in the bank. You can then be a lot more flexible and accomodating in booking talent than the other shows. Then for the monologue you go to a local comedy club and ask for a brief timeslot at the start of the show. Every comedy club owner would die to be able to put Conan O'Brien on the marquee for one night. For sketch bits either use the comedy club or incorporate it into the interview segment or both. Shoot everything with handheld HD cameras. Quickly edit the comedy club front end to the interview back end, add advertizing, and post.

Then in a year if it works well you have a cheap to produce format and a core audience to sell.

[ched]

03:03 PM on 01/19/2010

So much for Zucker's baseless threat to keep Conan off the air for years, and the "no 11:35 in the contract" nonsense. If any part of this report is true, it's an admission by NBC that Zucker, not Conan, breached their contract. The Tonight Show starts after local news,NOT tomorrow at 12:05am - end of story. NBC has to pay Conan the value of hosting the Tonight Show for 10 or 20 years - that's serious coin. Forty million won't begin to cover it, but it's a start.
What Zucker is really looking for in the severance contract is a gag clause that will prevent Conan from badmouthing him and NBC in the months and years to come. That will be a tough one to sign, since Conan and his writers have produced some of their best material in years over the past few weeks.
Not that it really matters, after all. Zucker will be gone shortly after Comcast takes over. After this most recent debacle, the new bosses would have to be idiots to keep either Zucker or Ebersol on board.
See you on Fox, Conan.

[marred]

02:52 PM on 01/19/2010

Who the hell cares? He had a tonight show before with a different name.

[klondiker]

02:14 PM on 01/19/2010

Conan has the golden opportunity now to re-shape TV forever. He should bypass network television completely and go online. Produce the whole thing independently and broadcast is directly online. Most of his audience are young, web-users anyway.

[JessWonderin]

05:14 PM on 01/19/2010

yep . . . if he doesn't someone will . . . the internests has lots of tubes to exploit . . . .