Late Show UK

The final edition of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will air this Friday – after the 22nd January show Conan will no longer be hosting The Tonight Show.

A deal has now been reached between NBC, Conan and his staffers. TMZ.com report NBC “have reached a $45 million settlement… Conan will get a severance of $32.5 million, regardless of whether he gets another hosting gig”. They also say “NBC will pay $7.5 million to Conan’s “Tonight Show” staff — and our sources believe the network added several thousand more to the pot at the last minute”. In addition to this “NBC will pay a whopping $4.5 million to the executive producer”.

The guests for Conan’s final Tonight Show this Friday will be Tom Hanks, Will Ferrell (who appeared on the first ever edition of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien last year) and Neil Young.

When The Tonight Show returns after the Winter Olympics break, it’s likely Jay Leno will take The Tonight Show back in the normal 11.35pm timeslot. It’s not known when Jay’s final 10pm show will air but it could be as early as the 26th January.

TMZ.com – “Conan O’Brien, NBC Reach $45Mil Settlement”

TransWorldNews says Conan “has reportedly accepted a $32.5 million deal to leave The Tonight Show… according to reports, NBC has agreed to pay O’Brien $32.5 million to leave The Tonight Show and to remain silent about the controversy surrounding the show’s time slot change. Jay Leno will reportedly return as host of The Tonight Show”. Conan is rumoured to be in discussions with Fox for a possible talk show on their network. TMZ say Fox even registered a website for Conan already – they report “the registrant of CONANONFOX.COM is the Intellectual Property Department of Twentieth Century Fox”.

Several well known celebrities have commented on the Leno/Conan debate – Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony this week and opened with “let’s get going, before they replace me with Jay Leno” and comedian Sarah Silverman (the ex-girlfriend of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel) said “NBC displaced a lot of people by bringing the show here. People enrolled their kids in school and I don’t think six months is enough time”.

It’s not known how much longer The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will be on NBC – original reports suggested the final episode would air in February before the Winter Olympics start, but the show may end as soon as this week – guest listings aren’t being released very far in advance at the moment which is a sign the show is ending soon.

TMZ.com – “Conan O’Brien Scores $32.5 Mil from NBC”
TransWorldNews – “Conan OBrien and NBC Reach $32 Million Deal”
Hollyscoop – “Celebs Weigh in on Conan-Leno Controversy”
Hollyscoop – “Conan In Negotiations With Fox”

Talk show hosts have been reacting to the recent news about The Jay Leno Show and what effect it has on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and Last Call With Carson Daly.

David Letterman thinks it’s best if Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien shared The Tonight Show hosting duties together at 11.35pm every night instead of having two separate shows. Jimmy Kimmel dressed up as Jay Leno for his entire Jimmy Kimmel Live show last night and did an excellent Leno impression (albeit a Leno impression with a lisp). Conan O’Brien brought out Howie Mandel from Deal Or No Deal USA to help him make decisions about what to do next.

Click here to watch the videos

Conan O’Brien released a statement yesterday with regards to the current situation at NBC with The Jay Leno Show and – Conan’s show – The Tonight Show. As you undoubtedly know by now, The Jay Leno Show is being axed from the 10pm slot on NBC from February. NBC have proposed The Jay Leno Show is cut down to a 30 minute show and aired at 11.35pm with The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien shifting 30 minutes later at 12.05am. The Tonight Show has always aired at 11.35pm and Conan isn’t happy.

His statement is addressed to “people of Earth”. A segment of the statement is below;

“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.

So it has come to this: 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. 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. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next”.

Click here to read Conan O’Brien’s statement in full at MSNBC.

Yesterday we told you about the axing of The Jay Leno Show from the 10pm slot on NBC. We also said his show may be moving to 11.35pm with The Tonight Show, Late Night and Last Call all starting 30 minutes later than they do at the moment.

USA Today say “the former Tonight Show host will return to late night on March 1, after NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, , in a half-hour format in his old perch at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT. The Tonight Show, now hosted by Conan O’Brien, would move from the after-news slot it has occupied since the ’60s to after midnight: 12:05 a.m. ET/PT”.

However this all depends on whether Conan is still happy staying at NBC with The Tonight Show after all these changes. They’ve not treated him too well and I’m sure he’s not very happy about the proposed changes.

If Conan were to leave NBC it’s likely Leno will be offered The Tonight Show back (in its current 11.35pm timeslot).

USA Today – “After failed Leno experiment, a redefining moment at NBC”

The Jay Leno Show – which currently airs every weeknight at 10pm on NBC – is being pushed to a later timeslot soon according to The New York Times and other notable news outlets.

NBC have also now confirmed this – Digital Spy reports NBC Universal TV chairman Jeff Gaspin said “I can confirm that starting February 12, Jay Leno will no longer air at 10pm… My goal right now is to keep Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon as part of our late-night lineup. As much as I’d like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that’s not true”.

The New York Times reports NBC’s plan to win back viewers to its channel during primetime is to move The Jay Leno Show (which launched in September last year) from 10pm to 11.35pm and have The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien move from 11.35pm to 12.05am.

The Jay Leno Show would be cut to be a 30 minute programme instead of a full hour, but The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien would stay an hour long show.

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would also be pushed back to make way for the changes – it would start at 1.05am instead of 12.35am. Last Call With Carson Daly currently follows Late Night With Jimmy Fallon but its future is now unclear because it may have to be pushed back so late that NBC might decide it isn’t worth airing it anymore.

The New York Times says “NBC executives held extensive discussions with Mr. Leno and Mr. O’Brien on Thursday about the future of the network’s late-night lineup… while NBC officially said no final decision on the plan had been made, two senior NBC executives who had talked to the top management about the moves said that under the plan being discussed, Mr. Leno would definitely shift back to 11:35 but in a half-hour format, while Mr. O’Brien would slide back his start time by a half hour and then produce an hourlong show”.

Conan addressed the news that Leno might be taking back the 11.35pm timeslot on his show this week saying “we’ve got a great show for you tonight. I have no idea what time it will air — but it’s going to be a great show”. Leno joked on The Jay Leno Show about moving to Fox but Fox seem more interested in Conan – they told The New York Times “we’ve always been interested in late night and we’re always looking to bring great new talent to Fox. While Conan would be a great fit for Fox, he’s still under contract with NBC, so we’ll just see how all of this plays out”. Fallon seems happy enough being moved slightly later – NYMag says he told The New York Times “I’ll do my show at 3 in the morning… I’m just happy I have a job”.

The New York Times reports “the revised lineup would go into effect after NBC concludes its coverage of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 28. NBC will pre-empt its prime-time and late-night lineup for more than two weeks to cover the Olympics, creating a natural break in which to put the late-night changes into effect”.

What do you think? Will Leno stay is he’s being moved back to late night? Will Conan stay with NBC if Leno takes back the Tonight Show timeslot? Will Fallon stay if he’s being shifted to a later timeslot? Leave us a comment.

Digital Spy – “NBC cancels ‘The Jay Leno Show’”
The New York Times – “Update: NBC Plan Would Move Leno Back to Late Nights”
TV Guide – “Leno Leaving 10 O’Clock Timeslot; Late-Night Changes Proposed…”
TV Guide – “NBC Reportedly Moving Leno Back to 11:35 with O’Brien Following Him”
TV Guide – “Fox Says Conan O’Brien “Would Be a Great Fit”"
NYMag – “Jimmy Fallon: ‘I’ll Do My Show at 3 in the Morning’”

Conan O’Brien returned to host The Tonight Show last night following the cancellation of last Friday’s episode because of his accident whilst filming the show. Conan got a concussion during Friday’s taping when Teri Hatcher was racing him in a triathlon for a segment to go out that evening. Friday’s new show never aired and NBC broadcast a rerun episode instead.

Conan said he wanted to carry on with Friday’s taping after the accident but soon became clear something was wrong when he couldn’t speak properly and the cue cards he was looking at were “like a menu for an Egyptian restaurant”. He said “as many of you may know, on this past Friday’s show I was doing a stunt and I hit my head and suffered a slight concussion. And I promise, if you’re a good audience, I’ll do it again tonight”.

The Associated Press – “O’Brien back on `Tonight,’ joking about accident”

Click here to watch a clip of last night’s show including Conan talking about the accident and a clip of the moment it happened

Conan O’Brien hit his head during a stunt on The Tonight Show on Friday, forcing NBC to air a rerun as the episode wasn’t completed before the mishap happened.

Conan was taken to hospital and has released a statement – “last thing I remember I was enjoying the play with Mrs. Lincoln, and the next thing I knew I was in bed being served cookies and juice”.

Next week’s new episodes are subject to change and may be replaced with reruns.

Telegraph – “US chat show host Conan O’Brien in hospital after hitting head in stunt”