NBC late night shakeup


JackFetch

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Jay Leno had 3 years of getting beaten by Letterman before he finally was successful as the host of the Tonight Show thanks to Hugh Grant's penis. Conan is deemed a failure after only a few months? The only failure in this whole mess was the Jay Leno Show. Fuck NBC, and fuck Dick Ebersol. They screwed up, and couldn't figure out a way to get out of the hole they dug themselves into when they publicly announced Leno's "retirement" before he was ready to go.

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Remind me why just getting rid of Leno wasn't what NBC did, wouldn't that have been the logical choice?

It's all worked out I guess. NBC obviously had no faith in Conan and probably only ever viewed him as a Late night host. Hell they proved as much with their handling of Letterman. Funny thing is, who will replace Leno in 9 months when his ratings dive?

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"The deal under discussion would provide for a settlement of more than $30 million and allow him to start a new show as early as this fall, the person said. O'Brien has two-and-a-half years left on his contract; reports of his annual salary vary widely, from $10 million to $25 million."

Conan's buyout possibility.

If he pulls that off, he's the man.

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The Masturbating Bear is dead.

As a deal nears for Conan O'Brien's exit from NBC, one thing is certain: The characters and recurring comedy bits O'Brien originated during his 16-plus years on "Late Night" and "The Tonight Show" will not follow the host when he leaves NBC.

The Peacock owns the intellectual property behind such popular O'Brien characters as Pimpbot 5000 and Conando, as well as recurring segments such as In the Year 3000 and Desk Driving. Sources involved in the settlement negotiations say NBC is keeping the copyrighted and trademarked elements of O'Brien's shows as part of the deal. That means the bits and characters will likely never be seen after O'Brien's "Tonight" ends its run Jan. 22.

While the vast majority of the characters O'Brien introduced are said to owned by NBC, it's unclear who controls Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet that is perhaps O'Brien's most popular recurring bit. Triumph was originated by writer and longtime O'Brien pal Robert Smigel, whose reps declined to comment on whether Smigel or NBC owned rights to the character.

In 1993, David Letterman got into a dustup with NBC when he departed "Late Night" for CBS' "Late Show." NBC attorneys attempted to prevent Letterman from taking intellectual property originated on "Late Night" to the comic's new home. Letterman responded by dropping certain bits and renaming other recurring segments -- "Viewer Mail" became "CBS Mailbag" and frequent guest Larry "Bud" Melman began referring to himself by his real name, Calvert DeForest. Letterman mocked the dispute on his first "Late Show" when NBC anchor Tom Brokaw interrupted the monologue and stole cue cards in the name of securing NBC's intellectual property.

O'Brien, if he lands at another late-night show, might be in a tougher spot. Unlike comic personalities Letterman and Jay Leno, O'Brien began his career as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons," and his shows relied more heavily on the cleverly scripted bits and outrageous characters.

Losing those assets could hurt O'Brien as he looks for another home, although his "Tonight" had featured fewer of the characters than "Late Night" and the host -- who is considered one of the top comedy writers in the business -- may be looking for a fresh start. Sources close to him said he was not interested in taking his NBC characters with him.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3id3e0b71b5f1a6df49c39fb3f3749b81d?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thr%2Ftelevision+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Television%29

You can almost hear the writer's hands wringing as he wrote the best opening line he'll ever write in a serious article.

Also, I'm pretty sure Smigel owns Triumph because he had his own dvd out, and has appeared on other shows not owned by NBC.

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My dad, a huuuuuuuger Carson fan than any of you could probably understand, actually enjoyed Jay's show. He still is a Leno fan and finds O'Brien a bit too nutty. He likes Leno's show as well.

When talking with him tonight, two quotes from HIM needed to be posted:

"What the hell is NBC thinking?"

"I don't know why Leno took the spot back, it's rude. And Conan's been nothing but classy during the whole thing."

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I'm pretty sure that Robert Smigel wholly owns Triumph, and there shouldn't be any controversey there. I'm not sure how NBC owns "In the Year 3000;" Conan was doing the original "In the Year 2000" version in live shows with Bob Odenkirk in the late 80's in Chicago.

A lot of Conan's old signature bits seem to have been retired when he moved to The Tonight Show. Did he ever do "Desk Driving" on The Tonight Show? I know the Masturbating Bear never showed up. And Pimpbot 5000? Have we even seen that in the last 5 years or so? I mention these because the article specifically mentioned them, but with the exception of a few classics, Conan seemed to be actively trying to create brand new ideas and material for The Tonight Show, and there's no reason to think he won't be able to successfully do so again on whatever network and timeslot he winds up with.

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Conan O'Brien can get a whole lot of money from NBC as a parting gift, but there will be strings attached -- not the least of which ... Conan cannot trash the network.

Sources tell us NBC wants a liquidated damages clause if Conan says anything disparaging about the network once he leaves. Essentially that means there is a clause in the contract that says Conan will automatically pay a predetermined amount of money if he says bad things about NBC.

And, as we have previously reported, NBC will demand that Conan not take another hosting job for a certain period of time.

Sources say NBC will be paying Conan a hefty sum, but that will be offset by any amount Conan makes for his next hosting gig. So if Conan makes a deal with FOX, NBC can reduce the amount it pays Conan by the amount FOX forks over.

FYI -- we've learned Conan's existing contract already has an offset clause in the event he leaves NBC and takes another job.

Bottom line -- Conan won't be taking NBC to the cleaners.

source

At least he's getting a chance to say all the bad things about them now I guess. Hopefully it has a time limit, like 3-5 years or something. Weird about the offset clause though....

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There is no way there isn't a time limit on that contract. They just want him to shut up and go away until everyone forgets about all this. Hopefully he made it a condition that they have to do the same thing. I do find it odd though that their "company man" Leno has been trashing NBC on the Tonight Show since his first day, and they don't seem to care.

The bottom line is Conan will get lots of money regardless of who it comes from.

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That was just so shit, and unfunny what he was doing there. He seemed to be jumping on the "Attack Leno" bandwagon, and came across as an unfunny tool.

You should seek out some Comedy Central "roasts" because that's what this clip struck me as. To be honest, getting another late night host on at a time when the NBC situation is so open to comment is a pretty stupid idea, unless you're trying to prove that you can roll with jokes made at your expense. IMO, Leno brought that whole segment on himself.

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