|
February 4th, 2010
02:29 PM ET
Fox is interested in Conan, but no real negotiations yet
At a press conference covering News Corp's second quarter, Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said there are varying opinions at Fox about bringing Conan O'Brien into the fold, but if someone can prove that the money will talk, he's willing to listen. "Certainly if the program people can show us that we could do it, and be fairly confident of making a profit on it, we'd do it in a flash," Murdoch said. "But we're giving it a lot of thought and a lot of examination." On rumors that the network has already started talking with O'Brien about a late-night show, News Corp President and COO Chase Carey said, "I'm sure there have been some conversations, but... if you mean real negotiations, no."
« Previous entry'The Michael Vick Project' attracts and disgusts viewers
 |
  About this blog
Our daily cheat-sheet for breaking celebrity news, Hollywood buzz and your pop-culture obsessions.  |
Just to throw a few facts into the mix... I know, that's not a good idea, most people prefer to make opinions without them... Conan took over the Tonight Show on June 1, 2009 – Leno started his 10 pm show on Sept 14. That's at least 50% of Conan's airtime with no Leno preceding him. Hard to justify blaming Leno for O'Brien's ratings. Both shows did poorly because both shows were poor. I personally liked Conan better than Leno or Letterman but I accept the fact that I'm in a minority fanbase and Conan did not have a big enough draw to keep him on the air. NBC was idiotic not in canceling Conan but in canceling Conan and keeping Jay who after this fiasco will probably not be able to bring the Tonight Show back from the grave. And as far as Conan getting "screwed" by NBC... All I can say is $33 Million severence pay. Wouldn't we all love to receive just one percent of that kind of screwing for essentially failing at a job?
FOX listen up! Conan is the coolest funniest of them all. Don't look in the mirror just sign him up and we will have a ball!
Conan is brilliant. The ONLY reason his ratings were low is because the former Tonight Show audience followed Leno to his new time and quit watching the Tonight Show. When NBC brought Leno back, they screwed O'Brien. The advertising support for O'Brien's launch was also short...they gave him the show, but no support and built-in competition with Leno. (If you haven't seen Rosie O'Donnell's take on the whole thing, it is worth watching).
Fox should put him(Conan) on a half hour before Leno,and see what happens to the mighty NBC....
Actually , Leno should quit NBC too !.
REALLY PUT NBC FEET TO THE FIRE !
What will they do then ? Jimmy F. would be crazy to take the job if that happens !! Where will they go from there ?
Call Johnny Carson back....oh wait, never mind .
I have never found Conan funny. I find him quite annoying, but no one is more annoying than Jay. Jay's arrogance is disgusting. I hate Conan got screwed by Jay and NBC, but I still do not think he needs to have an hour of airtime in any timeslot. As others have mentioned, lets bring back some Carson re-runs for some true late night entertainement.
Conan is the most disturbing talk show host, I hate what he says, his voice, and his looks. It's time to get the trash out and give us something to watch. I quit watching TV a few years back and I find these contract ans time slot games more fun than the shows.
I'm wondering what the IQ of people that are making some of these claims about Conan? Again, just because you think Conan < than Jay, doesn't mean you are right.
Team CoCo
I personally think Conan is a very bad copy of Jay Leno. While Jay is a genuine funny guy who appeals to his audience, Conan struggles to be a host. His entries are pathetic, his skits are boring, and his newspaper clippings are fake. His self-admonishments and put-downs are a sub-conscience expression for lack of talent. I am amazed he even lasted as long as he did. If it wasn't for Max Weinberg and his band the show would have no purpose.
If I were him, I'd take the money and run!!
This is not a contest. Neither O'Brien or Letterman can carry a stick compared to Leno. There is nothing as unfunny as someone (Conan / David) who THINK they are funny. Give it up and let it be. What are all of you doing up at that hour anyway? Go to bed!
If & when he gets the Fox contract I hope Big Jaw Jay tanks!!
Conan needs to go back to what he does best – write comedy. He really sucks at trying to be a comedian. But, then Fox sucks at trying to be a network. A marriage made in ....
Where NBC failed is switching up the time slots. Leno has a generation that follows him as does Conan as does Fallon, etc. When Leno left the tonight show, Leno followers left also. Hence, Conan's drop in ratings. His ratings weren't great on Late Nite because there aren't very many viewers in general at that hour. Conan will always be Conan no matter what network he lands on or what time slot he fills. I'm from the Conan generation so I'll like him regardless of where and when. Ratings speak nothing to quality. Ratings are about money, nothing more. Stewart and Colbert both have good ratings but move them to NBC, Fox, etc.. to 11:30 & 12:30 and watch how quick the ratings drop. Nothing to do with their performance, everything to do with when they air. That's why Conan put his foot down on NBC. Keep that in mind.
Personally, I'd like to see him on cable. HBO would be nice to remove any FCC restraints. He's always pushed the envelope as far as network tv would allow. I'd really like to see him let loose somewhere uncensored. I think he'd make some of the best comedy on cable. And lord knows HBO could use some fresh new programming.
I've programmed my remote to skip NBC. Conan would be yet another reason to park my TV at Fox. Leno is the scum of the earth. I hope his new "Tonight Show" fails worse than his failed primetime show.
I will watch whichever station puts Conan up against Leno. I promise!
Conan would be a better fit on Nick or Disney. He has the real juvenille sense of humor. Kind of like iCarly or Hanna Montana. That way I would never half to see him.
Conan is too liberal for Fox. It will never happen.
Why does no one seem to realize that it was The Jay Leno Show which was cancelled? One reason it was cancelled is that , as a lead-in program, it was actually undermining the ratings of LOCAL NEWS, of all things. This, then, trickles down to the Tonight Show. NBC realized, "Whoa! We need to get rid of this 10pm thing NOW."
As for Conan being selfish, how would you feel if your coworker was fired, then given your office? In the interest of self-preservation, it is completely within the realm of reason that you might make it difficult for the employer as a means to getting everything you can from them, as you are clearly not sticking around – that is, unless you do not value your dignity.
I'd like to see him on FOX, I think that would be a good fit. I hope he gets a new show, and all of his crew can get back to work soon too.
For those of you who don't remember, Conan already has a history with Fox. He was a writer and producer for the Simpson's between 1991-1993. Oddly enough, many people consider those the best seasons of the Simpsons...
If everyone loved Conan so much – Why weren't his ratings through the roof. I think alot of "so called fans" really didn't watch. They just want to fuss – an anti-establishment thing going on.
CO CO......CO CO
FOX needs to do everyone a favor and sign Conan up QUICK!!!
I don't think FOX will be the only network looking to swoop up Conan. This will put FOX or any other network on the map with regards to late night programming.
@ The L
You have just showed your stupidity. Don't tell me I don't know programming when I used to be a programing director for a station in the 4th largest city in the US. Blaming Jay for Conna's low ratings is not only asinine, but ill informed. Saying Conan had low ratings late night because it was late night is about as silly as it gets. Compared to other shows, he had low ratings, not just late night compared to other time slots. So please "L," stop looking at this with your fan-boy COCO eyes and do a little more research and not just gut reaction.
For all the idiots that say Jay didn't get the ratings , here are the actual numbers :
Jay Leno show @10 – 5.3 mil. viewers
Tonight Show with Jay Leno- 5.2 mil. viewers
Tonight show with Conan O'brien – 2.4 mil. viewers
Jay actually had MORE viewers at 10 than 11:35, it's just that at the 10:00 time slot networks want closer to 10 mil. viewers per program in that time slot, ...hard to do with a variety talk show.
Conan failed because he is not that funny, can be downright irritating, and is a poor interviewer who constantly interrupts his guests with his childish "look at me" humor. Good riddance to Conan, it's hard to feel sorry for someone who got a $45 Million severance package after failing at his job,...maybe he should be a bank CEO next.
Conan is an AWESOME writer and he should stick with that. Jay Leno was an awesome fit on the tonight show and NBC was stupid for making him go. I believe Leno should have just went on his way but he is to classy of a guy for that. He took the 10:00 to keep his people working. Then when he was asked to come back HE was made out to be the BAD GUY in all of this. Put Conan on cable and let's see if he can make it there.
I admire Conan for taking a stand against the fickle waffling of NBC; he gained points in my book. Conan's Tonight Show was funny and current - he has such great quick wit. Leno, I don't care if you come back– I used to watch you, but after having the choice of Conan, I won't go back. Neither should you. I will be utterly ecstatic if Conan comes back on Fox. My husband watches Fox news anyway; we're in 🙂
I'll follow Conan anywhere!
I miss Conan....:-(
@ Jess – AMEN!!!!!!!
I'm so sick of hearing people say that Conan is not smart or funny. That's YOUR opinion but the man is extremely smart; there is no denying that.
Conan is too cool for the The Tonight Show and hopefully he will flourish at another network.
He had 7 million people watching his last show...hopefully most of Team Conan will make sure to tune in on his next hosting gigs.
Whether it is FOX or another network, I hope Conan finds a home soon. My DVR/TV is awfully lonely at 11:30pm now that he is off the air.
I'm with CoCo!!!!!!
Let FOX have Conan. If he was that great to begin with (ratings wise) he'd still be at NBC. If he went to FOX, starting at 11 wouldn't guarantee anything. Moving him from his first late night show @ 12:35 to take over the Tonight Show @ 11:35 actually took the #1 rated late night talk show (in the Tonight Show) and handed the #1 slot to David Letterman. Say what you want about Jay Leno (not being funny or just plain trashing the man), but if he wasn't so good at 11:35 he wouldn't have continually beaten Letterman. Leno was handed the #1 late night talk show and kept that rating through the NBC screw up. No 10 PM was not the answer by any means. But don't blame Leno for NBC's way of handling things. Any one of you would have jumped at the chance to have your old program back and if you say you wouldn't have, you're lying.
Conan is all about Conan. He doesn't fit with guests because he would actually have to act like he cares what other people say or think. Running reruns on Fox will be much cheaper and the ratings will not be that much different. Fox will be dollars ahead by passing on this moron.
ross February 4th, 2010 6:07 pm ET
"Conan has ALWAYS sucked and ALWAYS will. Good for FOX – they SUCK also – a great pair!"
Hey Ross, why don't you crawl back under that CSPAN rock where you've been living the last 20+ years. FOX is one of the best channels out there because they push the envelope. Leno and Letterman don't want to push anything so they don't get fired and can retire in peace, but Conan keeps it real.
Although, Ross, Conan always likes to put down his own shows all the time, so maybe you think he sucks because he told you that. Precisely why he doesn't suck!
O'Brien isn't funny one bit! Who cares if he goes to Fox. His show will be a failure there as well. The guy just isn't funny! His ratings while host of The Tonight Show were dismal. With a $40 million payout he should just go retire.
Oh yeah, he's such a scary talent so funny. That's why he had such high ratings and we all here at the office spoke of how funny he was last night or we were so exited to tell our friends "do you believe what Conan asked so and so?" and how he even made the news or the entertainment shows with snipits of his show.....oh, sorry, that was Letterman's show.....never mind.
If Conan's ratings at NBC were even close to decent, he would still be there. Any network dumb enough not to learn from NBC deserves the awful ratings they get for signing him.
Interesting that I'm not seeing any discussion of the time difference involved with a move to FOX. FOX only airs a two-hour prime time, ending at 10:00 PM followed by local news (an hour in most large markets, a half hour for the smaller affiliates). If Conan started a Late Night talk show at 11:00 it would be a huge advantage, catching folk coming out of prime time on the other networks and capturing (presumably holding) viewers who won't be interested in switching to Jay or Dave halfway through Conan's show. If you follow the structure of these shows, the guests don't start until the half-hour mark, meaning if you've tuned in to Conan on FOX to see Tom Hanks, he's going to start right around the time of Jay and Dave's monologue – unlikely you'll change channels at that point...
What's the big deal with Conan. I watched him a few times and was not impressed. His monologues are all over the place. It even seems at times that he doesn't even know what to say next. Maybe he should find another profession.
I want to see Conan. I don't care what network he'll be on.
Don't get me wrong, NBC is run by some genuine dummies and Jay Leno is so completely unfunny. However, I do not get the Conan fixation either. His ratings stunk (don't play the lead-ins; if you're good, you're good) and he is terrible and humorless, too.
I thought O'Brien was funny some of the time and not funny some of the time. But apparently I was wrong. He was always/never funny. Thanks, all you commenters, for setting me straight.
The man has never really gotten great ratings in 16 yrs....why should things change just by being on Fox?
Leno is horrible. I don't know anyone who actually watched his show – it just seemed out of place. The jokes were horrible and Leno does not have any original ideas in his head. Conan was origianl and creative. So is David Letterman. The only reason Leno had higher ratings is that more stations carried his show than Letterman. I am not a fan of Fox, but if they put Conan on, they will get me to watch his show. Why didn't Leno just accept his retirement and not act like a big cry baby. His interview on Oprah was deplorable.
Let's face it. There are two types of people- People who favor Conan's edginess. People who favor Jay's approach. To those of you who think Conan is an idiot, I would like to remind you of several things: 1) He was valedictorian of his class at Harvard 2) He wrote on Not Necessarily the News 3) He wrote on the highly rated years of SNL in the early 90's 4) He was a writer during what is considered the "prime" years on the Simpsons. 5) He has had a faithful following- well over 500 as someone said- for 17 years!
I don't care for Jay's cup of tea, he doesn't make me laugh enough. But I respect the fact that humor differs with different people. There's no need to tear people apart here. I think there is room for everyone as there are different types of viewers out there.
I also think Conan's show was absolutely neutered by the whole NBC thing and how they prevented him from doing his normal stuff that his faithful fans knew and loved. I never thought Conan was right for the type of audience that is looking for something out of the Tonight Show. It doesn't really fit with Conan.
This really isn't about that- NBC broke their contract with him. If any of you had a contract labor dispute I am sure you would do something similar. I know his ratings weren't good enough, but I think Conan will come out ahead someday when he is free to be who he really is.
Can anyone explain to me why would Conan be any better on FOX than he was on NBC?
Conan was not funny on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and he was not funny on the Tonight Show.
We tried giving him a month to see if he would improve and then switched to Letterman. Conan just doesn't belong on any network.
If Conan goes to Fox @ 11:00PM, he'll face stiff competition from E! network's Chelsea Lately and TBS Lopez Tonight shows.
Conan's not that funny. I'd watch either of those shows 1st before watching Conan on Fox.
For everyone who keeps saying "Conan tanked because he had low ratings, and Jay was #1" – doesn't anyone remember that Johnny's audience followed Letterman to CBS, and he slaughtered Jay in the ratings for the first couple of years? Jay needed time to build a new audience. Conan wasn't given that same chance. It takes more than a few months.
I thought they were remaking Conan The Barbarian
Kelly's comment makes the most sense...
I love Conan, but only turned it on after the Colbert Report. A majority of the audience is the same. Fox is a bad move. Midnight, Comedy Central – good move.
February 4th, 2010 5:38 pm ET
Conan would be a much better fit on Comedy Central, following the Daily Show and Colbert Report.
Hmmm....a Coco sandwich!!! Putting him on Comedy Central between Stewart and Colbert might be a great idea! Go, Coco!!!
@Robert. You don't know much about television programming so you're forgiven. Jay had great ratings with the tonight show because at that hour he was the better alternative for viewers, he ALSO had decent lead in programming. Once Jay was moved to prime time Jay was no longer the best alternative at that hour. Him being awful led to a poor lead in for Conan which made Conan's ratings drop. Jay is the cause for Conan's low ratings during the tonight show...plain and simple. Conan having low ratings during late night was because it was LATE at NIGHT!!! Plus at that hour, clearly craig furgeson is the better choice...so please don't come here and purport to know about Conan's low ratings. Survival in late night entertainment is like survival in the woods. If a bear starts chasing you, you don't have to outrun the bear, you merely need only to outrun the next late night host.
Conan's ratings were low the 4 months after he took over the Tonight Show. He had 4 months and dipped to where he stayed after Jay Leno took over the prime time slot in September. Were you supporters all watching this summer? Most of America wasn't after the first week.
Let's remember that Leno said the reason NBC moved Conan was because of low ratings (the same reason they pulled Leno off the air). Wasn't Leno supposed to be the lead into Conan ? Looks like Leno should stop pointing the finger at Conan because he didn't do his job either. NBC has blown it big time. Conan suits a secific market and once again when the New York influence moves to the fake city of LA...it fails. Don't forget Letterman's Oscar night......get a sense of humor people because this whole thing has turned into one big joke.
Love Conan, watched faithfully at 12:35 and then 12:05 in Colorado. The early years when he got many more laughs joking with the audience about their response to the lame written joke. (like recent months) Miss the staring contests. His show's humor is SILLY, much more so than Dave or Jay, which is why I've been watching Dave since the move. I'm not ready for silly right after the news. Silly is good later, when I'm practically punchy before bed. Plus, try as he might, best bud Andy Richter does not have an announcer voice, and didn't replace the skilled and talented 'you must laugh or die' antics of Joel Godard. Joel knew his time slot. Well, if Conan lands a new show, I'll be one more 50 something guy who finally buys tivo or the like, and that trend will add to the entertaining confusion.
All the talk shows bash conservative views with their comedy. It would be great to get Conan onboard, and perhaps bash liberals more often with comedy. That's the missing piece that Fox needs to add to its line-up to counter the liberal agenda on most networks.
There is a reason why Fox in doing due diligence and analyzing if they can make a profit because thier late night has a sucessful audience and the don't want to loose that.
Conan did not get the ratings, period. He did not adapt his show for the audience. Many people blame Jay, but in reality folks, you had the control, the modern technology called the remote control, VCR, DVR you all have control, you could change the chanel back to Conan and watch, you choose not to. So who is to blame, either Conan is because his show did not adapt and/or you in control of the remote who did not have to urge to click that button to Conan because his show was not that great. Either way NBC acted to regain revenue, could it have been handled better yes, but they did thier due diligence to correct a problem, yes.
What ever chanel he goes to I hope he can adapt his show to the target audience and kick NBC's butt.
Any network should jump at the chance to sign. Ratings were cited, but the man has a ready-built audience. Any network exec knows that it takes years to build an audience... can you imagine an established audience who chips away at NBC and CBS? If one has a mind for business instead of a mind of "I think he's funny" or "I don't think he's funny" would see the financial sense 😉
I have spoken with dozens of people both young and old, and can find only a small percentage of them that ever watched or would watch the egotistical Conan. He is not funny, maybe he is not supposed to be, and always draws attention to himself which is sickening. Please fox, do not bring Conan to your network and lower your standards of "fair and balanced". Some of the statements in the comments are correct in relating that his ratings were low for a reason. Not interesting, not funny, self promoting, and entertaining only the uneducated and foolish non thinking folks out there. Thanks for hanging there Jay and keep up the good work. I do not wish failure on anyone, but Conan needs to do something else for a living after he spends his millions he got for leaving NBC.
Conan is very funny. Leno looks like he needs to take a nap. Leno's flop of a lead-in probably has more to do with Conan's low ratings than anything else.
I love Letterman. But what a grand and poetic resolution if Carson's chosen heir retired a bit early, and gave his show to the man who did so well with his previous show.
And a quick shout to Craig Ferguson- you funny!
Hope to see Conan on Fox. But pleae leave Andy Richtor behind. Sorry Andy, but I just don't get your "humor". All of your comments during Conan's dialog seem to fall on deaf ears, and just make for akward moments that Conan has to recover from.
Never watched Conan until he took over Leno's spot at which point I watched him devoutly. He is a great entertainer. I tried watching Jay on his new spot, but hated the show. I will probably not return to watching Jay, but will be waiting eagerly for Conan to return to television. Letterman isn't even an option for me.
God I hope not – what a jerk!
I felt that Coco was too conservative after he went to 10:30. That's why I stopped watching. He was too crazy for Jay's old audience, but not crazy enough to keep his old fans happy. He'll do much better somewhere where he can be himself again, maybe he can become even crazier than he could be at NBC and really get a younger following. Coco did have some trouble adjusting to his new job, no doubt, but he is the future of late night. Make no mistake.
I don't understand why people are comparing Conan's 12:30 ratings to His/Leno's ratings in the 11:30 slot...
Completely different audience and ratings expectations. Conan's ratings relative to the 12:30 time slot before moving to the Tonight Show were excellent, and when projected to the 11:30 slot, it made sense...
However, what NBC ignored, is that Leno and Conan have a completely different demographic, so there was never a chance that Leno's audience stuck with Conan. NBC had to have known that by commiting to Conan, they were going to lose the older demographic to Letterman.
When you're switching demographics you need to give time to grow that age group. That means marketing during the appropriate times, which for NBC should have meant lots of Conan advertising during its Thursday sitcom lineup and SNL...oddly, I rarely saw spots for the Tonight Show during either. The result was that Conan essentially maintained his 12:30, hardcore fans but NBC did him no favors in attracting new ones.
What people should understand is that Fox already has Conan's core demographic built right in, and have tons of programming watched by younger viewers that they could market his show during. Given time (which is the key anywhere), his ratings would undoubtedly out-perform his NBC numbers. NBC just doesn't have the presence with younger viewers that Fox has, plain and simple.
Conan is Corny! He will fall on his face where ever he goes. Highly paid staff writer that never should have leaped in front of the cameras!
I could care less. He still would have been honored on NBC with having his full show time and turned it down only because Leno's 1/2 hour before him? Seriously? That is petty.
Wishing him the best! Great guy and very funny.
Here's how it should be Conan goes to ABC for a tonight show, Jimmy Kimmel should suck it up and let Coco have the first spot. Three major networks now have a show after the news and the three big names go at it every night. I feel nervouse if Coco goes to FOX their not the best at keeping shows on the air but I do like the idea of him join Colbert and Stewart on Comedy Central.
Skip Conan... just let him ride off into the sunset with his 30 million. He may be popular at first but remember... his ratings were down 46%. Why take the chance ...
Leno's popularity is a testament to America's unquenchable thirst for mediocrity.
I was never going to watch Letterman again because of his fiasco with interns (wasn't suprised but consider him a hypocrite to joke about other's infidelity). I'll never watch Leno again because of his part in squeezing out Conan. I would watch Conan.
Here are my comments about Conan's appeal: he was great in his first week as Tonight Show host and last week, but he was really really bad in between. He really seemed outdated (in comedy like Robin Williams or Dana Carvy) and boring with his ridiculous skits (except for Conando and the Insult Dog). I am surprised he couldn't make better use of Richter being back. So I hope he soul-searches and provides some better quality comedy as he waits for his no-compete agreement to run out.
If Conan couldn't make it at NBC I highly doubt he'll make it at Fox. I mean when you are handed the number one show the Tonight Show and it drops in rating's by 49% that it huge. And the fact is the show was about to lose money for the first time in 60 years. Perhaps Conan should look at other brands of comedy besides a talk show. Maybe he should do movies or something because I don't think he is cut out to be a host of a show. Generally people just don't get his comedy!
You know, if NBC had given Conan a proper prime-time lineup, I don't think this would have happened. Most people have forgotten about the prime-time support Leno had with "Tonight". So yank prime-time and the crowd will not follow. Now that NBC will make another proper prime-time lineup AND Jay is back with "Tonight", what do you think will happen?
It's an unfair comparison any other way.
everyone email FOX if you want to see Conan there!
let's let them know we will be there when it happens!
Jay Leno, david Letterman and Conan all have a following just as Jon Stewart and Lewis Black. This list goes on and on because of all the talent out there. To say who's better is ambiguous as we all have different opinions as to what we find funny. For the Conan followers I would like to suggest that you don't blame Jay. Blame NBC because not only did they fire Conan they denied him from having any other show until September. We are the following , the audience, the market that drives the networks to produce these shows. So we are told that Conan did not have the numbers. We blog here but we have no one person leading the way to influence these networks. NBC screwed up! Conan followers are the ones with the greatest impact. As for me I prefer Leno and Letterman in that order; however, if I had Lewis Black on at 11:30 pm I would have to get another DVR.
O'Brien is terrible, NOT funny at all. Leno isn't funny either, but Conan really blows chunks.
Conan yes. Sign him!
I love conan put him back on TV!!!!!!!!!
Screw Fox, Conan on the same network as moron's like Glen Beck, Comes, etc, etc? Fox is a deplorable station and would harm his reputation. HBO or Comedy Central is the answer. Leno is a bumbling fool, he's not even funny. I cannot understand to this day why NBC took him over Letterman.
I would hope that Conan would have more integrity than to go to work for that neo-nazi network, Fox. Although he may not have much choice. He certainly isn't anywhere near as good as Leno, that's not saying much though since Leno isn't that great either. But if he wants a job, he may have to take whatever he can get.
Conan is never going to have the ratings that Jay had. Different kinds of humor and not everybody gets him. I think the main reason Jay had better ratings than Coco and Letterman is that his monologues and segments are better. People stay tuned to them. Letterman and Conan do more interesting interviews but by the time they start, people may have already switched channels or turned off the TV and gone to bed.
Concan: Please enjoy your millions NBC gave you and stay retired!
NBC: Figure out a way to clone "Johnny" and bring him back.
Bottom line lead in means squat. Every TV made now has a remote control and changing the channel is a simple thing. People watch the shows they want to watch, when they want to watch them. Blaming bad lead in show is an excuse for crappy shows that want to ride on the coattails of good shows.
Conan may be a good comedy writer, but as a comedian who delivers what is written for him he sucks. NBC should have let him go years ago. Also they should not have given him a 33 million dollar going away present. He quit, he was not fired and his contract was not breached. NBC did not fail his crew, he did and he should have been responsible for their severance packages.
Conan is by far the king of late night tv. The only reason Leno gets any ratings is because older people (such as the baby boomers) enjoy his bland conservative jokes. I have never heard of anyone under the age of 40 watching anything else but Conan.
Just another reason to never watch fox...
Jay grew into his show, Dave developed his show, and Conan? Well, I have a hard time with people that interrupt others just to show how smart or to do a "one UPsmanship" to their guests.
Perhaps he is much more funny in a Club setting, or maybe I don't get it.
Hi Johnny!
I'm not a huge fox fan, but if they'll bring Conan back, it's a big kudos from me.
It doesn't matter where Conan ends up, but once he's back on the air Leno and NBC will get what was coming to them. Conan is hilarious.
Don't blame Leno for this mess, blame NBC and the viewers. NBC for the way they handled this mess and Conan for his show. Conan did not have the ratings. If enough people had watched Conan jumping and spinning on stage, he would still be on the air
Come on FOX, get this deal signed!!!!
Team Conan Unite!
Bill,
He won't be able to roast the Peacock. Under his contract (nondisparragement) he will have to pretty much play 'nice' or lose the 40 million.
Wow.. can't believe some people don't think Conan is funny. Sorry old folks but your humor is dead! Jay sucks and hopefully he'll flop as well.
I really hope CoCo goes someplace else like Comedy Central! I HATE FAUX!!! Robert Murdoch is a racist pig, and doesn't deserve a dime of Conan's talent. Late night Comedy Central – I'm there!!
You Coco fans are joking, right? His ratings were so low they HAD to do something. All 50 of you - or 500? - screaming for him is a pathetic case of a vocal and very tiny minority. And FOX knows it too, which is why Murdoch plainly said "if you can show me how it makes money..."
And if Conan is too proud and too special to take a half-hour bump back, imagine how he'll feel when FOX offers him HALF AS MUCH money, which they will when he gets a little more desperate for airtime. Comedy Central can't afford his NBC-wages either.
Fact is he made a HUGE, ego-driven error. The Tonight Show gets bumped to midnight every so often (for Tennis, Olympics, Natural Disaster specials, etc.( and has never suffered. He just couldn't handle the ego blow and blamed it on "destroying the franchise." Baloney. Did the franchise suffer when they shortened it from 90 minutes, or changed hosts? NO. It only suffered when Conan took over and the ratings tanked SEVERELY.
And guess what? Jay Leno's slightly-older demographics represents people with more money to spend. And sorry, they are NOT about to die off. The Boomers are approaching retirement, not burial. They'll be watching Jay for a long, long time.
I like Coco, but not Fox.... any other options for coco; comedy central sounds like the right place....
Why didn't ya'll watch when he was on NBC? his ratings were in the garbage...
Conan would be a good anchor on Fox News Network – they are all comedians
What's all this talk about putting Conan on Fox News after Sarah Palin's spot? I'll explain this very simply: there's the Fox NETWORK, which gave us The Simpsons, Married with Children, That 70s Show, Arrested Development, Futurama, and Family Guy, and THEN there's Fox News, which is a separate entity entirely, and caters to a totally different audience.
Given Fox's history of cancelling good shows very quickly (like Futurama and Arrested Development), I'd rather see Conan go elsewhere. I think a 12AM show on Comedy Central right after Colbert would fit like a glove.
Conan won't end up on Fox. he was getting lower ratings than Seinfeld reruns and will cost more. Plus the competition for guests is getting stiff. Comedy Central can't afford him.
Mark my words...Jimmy Fallon gets fired in June, Conan and NBC make up, and Conan is back on Late Night waiting for Jay or Dave to retire.
Fox has to convince its affiliates to do this. From what I understand, the network does not have the rights to air programming at 11:30 and some of its affiliates have long term contracts for the syndicated programming that they show. It is unlikely, that they would support the change based on Conan's ratings on NBC. Although it is conventional wisdom that the Leno show at 10:00 was to blame for Conan's low ratings, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was on the air for three months before Leno's show aired. He was never able to build an audience in those three months. The NBC affiliates wanted him out at 11:30 and the Fox affiliates might not be willing to take the risk. The best opportunity for Conan on late night is ABC if the network is willing to end Nightline.
If he goes to FOX will he be known as THE RED FOX? or is he staying with COCO??????????????????????????????
i totally agree with an earlier post that conan would work much better with comedy central following stewart & colbert. cc would give the show complete freedom to do whatever they wanted, and the younger, hipper audience would already be there – conan has all the money he could ever need now, so hoping he'll go for the better fit at comedy central.
Maybe the reason Conan's ratings weren't great was because Jay was losing the audience at 10:00, so people weren't sticking around for the news and the Tonight Show.
As much as I like Conan, he won't beat Jay or Dave at 11:35. I'm sure that's Fox's hesitation. I hope they suck it up and go for it though.
FOX is definitely playing coy with the whole thing. If you have a chance to put an amazing investment into late night, wouldn't you take it? FOX might not have a chance like this in a long, long time. If they want to start up their own franchise, then now is the time to do it. Leno and Letterman only have so much time left before they retire, die, or no one cares about them anymore. Then what?
If FOX invested in Conan they would have a great franchise for years and years to come and could steal the top spot from NBC.
Just please, don't call it The Conan O'Brien Show.
What does the economy and unemployment have to do with this? Is Fox going to hire a bunch of factory workers to do a show instead of Conan?
I'll watch Fox if they bring Coco back, that way I'll be watching it for more than Family Guy and Carolina Panthers football!
I'm glad he's off the air, he's a waste, not funny and not deserving of the money he received. The ratings proved that......
Fox is notorious for canceling shows early without giving them a chance if they don't debut at the desired audience figure. I'm sure he'd required some guarantee that they wouldn't do to him what NBC did, and it's against their corporate culture to make a real commitment.
Put anyone on NBC at 11:30 and I will stay awake and watch. Anyone but Conan that is. His show has always been bad.
I miss Pee Wee Herman
For all of the Jay supporters who talk about his ratings, what do you think would have happened to him if NBC would have given Johnny Carson a show right before Leno came on just like they did to Conan? I'll tell you, Leno would just be a footnote in television history.
Conan had low ratings because nobody was watching his lead-in, The Jay Leno Show. I'd love to see him go to Fox. It almost feels like fate when you think about his days as a writer for the Simpsons.
I sure hope Coco gets hired by Fox. Then we can all watch him and his masturbating bear get slaughtered by Leno and Letterman.
Bring it on "string dance clown"
The only comic that I know who could do a better job on the Tonight show is Seinfeld, but he probably wouldn't take it.
The only reason Conan got canned by NBC was because of Jay. Here's what should happen:
1. Fox sings Conan.
2. Fox puts Conan on at 11:30 (before Leno even gets out of the shoot).
3. The Tonight Show would be history in 3 – 6 months.
I also disagree about Coco going to Comedy Central. They have more commercials then the actual TV show.
Late night tv is a graveyard populated by ghosts from the 1960s – it hasn't changed in all this time except Letterman imitated morning shock jocks without the shock part. All this old crap should be swept away and something new needs to be programmed for the late night slots. For a time in the 1970s and early 1980s half-hour comedy serials had some success there. Does anyone remember "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman"?
Late night ended when the last real dinosaur, Johnny Carson left. It's all the same old schtick just repackaged for younger viewers. But look at how much Jimmy Fallon sucks – even the repackaging no longer works.
Death to late night talk shows. Give us something new.
There is a reason Conan is gone-Low Ratings.
You have no idea the following CoCo has... bring him on and you won't regret it.
If Conan goes to FOX, we could see the late night version of Conan the destroyer and it would be great.
@Texas annie, turn the channel and get back in the kitchen.
@Chuck, Ross and Robert. I'm sure you belong to the same group of people that find Two and a Half Men to be hilarious. Stick with what you know, mouthbreathers.
Add me to the list who can't stand Conan...
...being off the air for eight months!!! (see what I did there?) CoCo is the greatest and I'm praying he finds something new SOON so he can fast track his show to debut on September 1st and cream Leno in the ratings! I miss his hilarity too much already. Those who comment that he "failed because he wasn't funny" need to understand that HUMOR IS SUBJECTIVE. Anyways...go team Conan! (hopefully to FOX!)
As Conan continues to be the hot topic, a certain Scot on CBS continues to fly under the radar. It's not Leterman or Leno nor does Fallon stand a chance against this late night king. Beware the man named Ferguson and his bizarre puppets.
I'd rather paint the wall white and watch it dry than to watch that silly,jumping,hand clapping, face mugging,inane Conan -–what people see in that clown is beyond me, he's an insult to Carson, NBC, Leno and anyone else you can think of, even that all time loser Jerry Lewis was better than Conan -– he always did that stupid jump and went on about how great the show was going to be all the while clapping his hands together, he reminded me of that clapping monkey toy, no no thats an insult to the monkey toy -- he SUCKS BIG TIME - no talent, no timing,no humor-get a life Conan -– I think pumping gas at some far off town in Texas would be your best fit -- Kimmel is a thousands times funnier ---– GP
NBC made a giant mistake letting Conan go. Jay Leno reminds me of some dried up comic that should be playing in nursing homes. The once mighty peacock is no more. Good luck Conan! Can't wait to see ya in late night again!
Go Conan
"While there are so many people unemployed and others losing their jobs" has absolutely nothing to do with paying a comedian a bunch of money. Its simple economics. If the Tonight Show made NBC $200 million a year by having Jay Leno as host, they wouldn't even blink an eye about paying him $20 mil a year – and neither would you. If Conan could make Fox $150 million a year doing a program for them, wouldn't he be well worth $30 mil or $40 mil a year? Can you bring your company that much $$$ a year? Few can.
Mean Old Jay Leno, it's all your fault that Conan did not have the ratings required to pay the bills. According to Team Conan, the ratings were low because he came on 35 minutes after the end of Jay's show who's ratings were low, boohoo. When I was watching The Tonight Show it was never based on what show was on at 10pm, I had decided to tune in at 11:35pm no matter what show I was watching at 10pm. If Conan cannot take responsibility for his low ratings, he should have been smart enough to take the first deal offered by NBC not refuse to negociate. Once you decide it is my way or no way, don't be surprised when the decision is no way.
John_NM, you are incorrect. You say Jay led the ratings for his full 12 years. Problem is, he had the show for 17 years. It took him FIVE WHOLE YEARS to catch Letterman. FIVE WHOLE YEARS! He led for the last 12, but not for the first five.
Get your facts straight next time.
I can't watch Fox, I hope Conan goes somewhere else
Leno's style of comedy is outdated and sometimes he comes out like a pervert whenever he has female guests on his show. Conan is all about class, which was something Carson had and made the Tonight Show what really was.
NBC made a HUGE mistake by taking Leno and moving him to 10. They wanted to try something new but his new show sucked. and now they lost Coco.
Conan would be a right fit in FOX....he has what it takes and besides he already has some history with the network when he was writing for The Simpsons. Conan going to Comedy Central could work but some people don't have cable.
wherever conan goes if he is given the freedom to be creative he will do well. NBC simply shot themselves in the face on this one. The inept handling of the situation has made conan more popular than before. NBC is looked at as the rotten apple in the barrel now.
WHO CARES!!!! He can stay off the air.
The reason why the Tonight Show with Conan didn't work, was because Jay came before at 10 and his new show sucked...causing a domino effect after the news. People switched to other networks during Jay and by the time Conan was on, less people watched the show.
Also NBC failed to give Conan enough support, he was only on the air for 7 months!! NBC didn't plan ahead of time...Jay has a few years left before he retires and so does Letterman, and then who will replace Leno? Jimmy Fallon??...I like Jimmy but he's the "new kid", he still has a lot to learn. Conan was the future of late night, his audience is younger and with time it will grow.
If FOX signs Conan, it will be a good move because in no time Leno and Letterman will retire. Besides Conan is much funnier.
The reason Jay didn't leave NBC as well is because he would have lost all of his staff. They would all be out of jobs. He payed his staffers out of pocket during the writers strike, he cares very much for them. I can understand where he came from.
It's not Jay or Conan's fault, it's NBC's!!
It's funny, we just said tonight how much we all miss Conan! Hopefully he gets a network soon, and we can enjoy some more giant Irish humor.
After listening to Johnny Carson for 30 years I find none of the late night comedians even close to him. He was bright, a good listener and never went for the easy cheap sex jokes.
Craig Ferguson is funny, however. I'd give him the late night show.
I was super pumped in 2004 at the prospect of seeing Conan take over the the tonight show. I patiently waited 5 years. Then there was a 3 or 4 month wait from when the Late Night ended and Conan took over the Tonight show. I faithfully tuned in every night for the new tonight show, and now i have to wait AGAIN until september! I just want this man on TV. I don't care where, I will follow!
Some of the posts seem to imply that you have to be young to like Conan and old to like Jay (Letterman is a jerk.) I'm in my early 40s so, yes, I'm not a twenty-something, but I was that in 1992 when Jay took over the Tonight show and I have always considered him the best. For those of you who don't remember that far back, in the beginning he was also competing against Arsenio Hall. Hall's show, which I seem to remember started at 11:00 pm, didn't survive once Leno got in his groove. He may not have been number one all along, but he had good ratings or they would have ousted him for someone else. He then soared to the top and maintained those ratings at 10:00 o'clock...unfortunately that timeslot required higher ratings. Why should he be blamed for wanting back what he had wanted to keep in the first place (aside from the fact that he was not released from his contract).
Leno has class. Letterman is a jerk who laughs AT his guests (rather than with them) and Conan is strange and not funny. Poor baby...he is unemployed with a $33 million severance check; boo hoo.
I'm looking forward to the Olympics and then to having Jay back on the Tonight Show (although I've enjoyed having him in the earlier timeframe too.)
Craig Ferguson is wayyyy funnier, all the rest are just that, all the rest.
Conan got just what he deserved. His dream was to be the host of the Tonight Show, but he wasn't willing to wait till Jay retired. His goons (managers) put pressure on NBC to give the show to Conan. No one was concerned about how Jay Leno felt about all this. And Conan or his managers never called him to see how he felt about it. All they wanted was his job for their client, Conan O'Brien, and of course the cut they would get for getting him that job. By being let go he made many more millions than he would have if he worked under his contract, so don't feel sorry for poor Conan. His 45 million plus a job on the Fox Network is a whole lot more than he would have received from NBC. What goes round comes round. He took the job from Leno and now NBC is giving it back to Leno. And talk about age discrimination, all you Conan fans do is talk about the age of people that like Jay. We don't don't say anything about the stupid young people that like Conan. Go Jay
I am with Team Coco! Can't wait for him to come back on the air!
Conan had the Tonight Show for months before Jay's show began and Conan had bad ratings before and after. Thats why Conan is a failure. He's just not funny enough. Accept and live with it. There are better commedians out there.
I don't really care all that much for Conan O'Brien or Jay Leno, but in my opinion NBC made a bad choice. The should have given the Tonight Show to David Letterman instead of Leno when Johnny Carson retired. But instead they dumped him like they did Conan O'Brien, and look how that turned out. Who's got the ratings now? NBC is starting to live up to their Nothing But Crap nickname in my opinion. But look at the bright side... We didn't have to give them any Stimulus Funds. 🙂
I miss Conan so much!
I never watch Fox, even if Conan joins Fox, I still won't watch him.
Another vote for Conando going to Comedy Central. Why does he have to do a talk show at all? Some skit comedy would be great – him and his writing team certainly have the experience and depth of talent to do it.
I think going head to head with Leno would be predictable and stupid. It might bring the ratings at first when they play up the war. But after everyone forgets about it and Fox cancels, all that will be left is Ambien Jay, putting everyone back to sleep again because that is all Americans really want in a late night talk show...
we want you back Conando....we miss you in LatinAmerica....
Do it, Conan! I'll be tuning in when you do.
So true. Fans move with Jay
hes not funny... Craig rules
Conan drove me away from The Tonight Show. He won't make me want to watch Fox.
I don't understand why everyone is hating on conan. He isn't the reason nbc is failing. The reason is that jay wasn't getting good ratings in the slot before the local news and they were all losing money because of him not conan. I can't wait to see him on which ever network. He chose to leave they didn't fire him and he was paid well for it. So he's won either way.
Just put Conan on exactly at 11:30 to make sure he gets a jump on the 11.35 shows. Heck...play with the idea of goingeven earlier.
Truth is, Conan's ratings were down by forty-nine percent. He wasn't that funny. Perpetually arrogant and crude, yes- funny, no. Perverted jokes and adolescent humor only goes so far before it gets old.
Mark my words: The Tonight Show ratings will go back up after Jay takes over again. Fox may sign Conan, but it won't last long. There's a reason that Conan didn't last at NBC, and here's a hint: It's not NBC's fault. Sorry, kids.
Don't waste your money Fox. I tried many times to watch his show, and it was boring
Does he really have to goto Fox? Cant ABC pick him up or hell even Comedy Central...
I will watch him wherever he goes but I hate that network 🙂
I agree Ryan. O'Brian was set up to fail by placing his show after Leno's. He never had a fair shot since Leno took his fans with him to the earlier time slot. O'Brian always had his loyal following before he hosted the Tonight Show but the late time-slot after midnight was never expected to have great ratings.
So basically, Leno's fans followed him to prime-time, Conan's (smaller) fanbase followed him to the Tonight Show.
Jay got fired for low ratings, Conan got booted from a time slot for low ratings.
That means they both suck, but Jay really really sucks right?
Wrong. Ratings don't always mean everything.
Too bad Conan might go to the dark side(FOX).ABC doesn't have anything worth watching on at 10:35 pm/11:35pm E. ABC needs to scrap their late night and take Conan on!
Would watch Conan anywhere he goes !
He is the best since Johnny Carson !
Too bad NBC didn't retire Leno like planned.
Leno has trashed the Tonight Show.
"Conan had low ratings for a reason. People weren't watching. He had weak ratings on late night and he had weak ratings on the Tonight show. Moving networks is not going to magically make Conan funny or entertaining. It didn't work for Letterman, it is not going to work for Coco."
(SEE ABOVE)
I could not disagree more. Conan was off to bad start because he followed Jay and the news...people were asleep before his opening monologue.
Agreed Ryan. The reality is, there is only so many "did you see this in the news," celeb interviews and such a person wants to watch in one evening (or at least that I want to watch). That (and sleep) is why ratings fall over the late night shows.
Let's face it – NBC is a fourth-rate programmer at this point, with shoddy leadership and a sad slate of shows (not every show, calm down). How long is that team going to keep their jobs?
So NBC gets to deduct from the $32 mil. whatever he gets from FOX, right? How genius would it be if he just signs for a dollar at FOX and makes the NBC people pay him to work for a competitor.
It all is a moot point since Craig Ferguson is the best!! But to get me to his late hour I could use a little Leno followed by a little Conan. Letterman is awful. But Conan reruns are the worst. I hate reruns, So I have nothing to do for that hour before Craig comes on. I don't have any access to Comedy Central either, but if Leno came on one station, then Conan came on another an hour later, followed by Craig on yet another, it would be a perfect evening. 🙂
Ok...double standard here.....Conan will be taking 100's of peoples jobs if he lands the 10:00 spot...there are about 502 news stations with employees that will lose their jobs....why not bad mouth him like Jay leno was??
I'm jonesen for a late night cup of Coco. Let's get it going, FOX!
Have you seen how many fans he has on facebook? This would be nothing but beneficial for FOX and I think they owe us anyway after pulling Arrested Development off the air!!!
Conan was a pitiful JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Absolutely not at all funny.
In fact, the few times I watched him, I truly felt sorry that he actually carried on in such a manner and evidentally thought he was funny.
His ratings were low because no one in their right mind would spend time watching that NUT stroll around on that stage making the strange movements that he did. I truly think he is PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Glad he is gone and hope that he NEVER comes back anywhere.
Conan was a pitiful JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Absolutely not at all funny.
In fact, the few times I watched him, I truly felt sorry that he actually carried on in such a manner and evidentally thought he was funny.
His ratings were low because no one in their right mind would spend watching that NUT stroll around on that stage making the strange movements that he did. I truly think he is PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Glad he is gone and hope that he NEVER comes back anywhere.
House, Fringe, 24, and Conan all on the same network!!! Can we say AMAZING!!!!!
Conan, I tuned you in one night to see what all the hub-bub was about and got hooked! Laughed my a%#s off!
I'm waiting to see where you'll land...wherever that may be, I'll follow.
Hope it's soon!
Fox does better with their South Park re-runs at that time slot than it will ever do with Conan. Don't be suprised when no deal is struck.
con head sucks he not funny and him and fox sucks to what good match keep the the bum off the air PLEASE PLEASE GET OFF THE TV
Since NBC and Leno double crossed Conan I no longer watch NBC at all. I may be missing some good shows but I doubt it. I'll watch Conan no matter where he goes. I hope the networks understand that Conan is gold and his ratings will kill any show competing in the same time slot.
As far as ratings go – it's like this. Leno's show bombed in the ratings so the affiliates news shows were not being watched and that in turn caused Conan's ratings to falter and can even, I've been told cause The Today Show ratings to falter because when people turn the TV off at night and turn it back on in the mornings, they usually watch whichever channel they were watching the night before – and that wasn't NBC.
Leno is a big baby. He knew what he was doing when he went at 10:00 – he wanted Conan to continue to follow him and he also grabbed the headlines and did jokes about them before
Conan had a chance to do them.
I still can't believe that this all happened! It's amazing that a huge TV network could shamefully publicly screw someone like they did to Conan!! And on top of all that – he's not on TV at all!
NBC and Leno SUCK.
He cannot roast nbc on fox, It was part of the deal he agreed to for the 50 million parting gift he got
would love to see conan back on he made my night
I'm still with Coco!
Conan did not get a large audience because he isn't very funny, even if you like juvenile humor, which most tv viewers don't appreciate. His nervous mannerisms wear thin quickly.
Craig Ferguson is the best in late night comedy, even though CBS (and his producer, Letterman's company) give him almost no support or publicity. Jay is next; he'll get most of his Tonight Show audience back and rule the ratings again.
I put Jimmy Fallon next, in large part because his band, The Roots, is the best. Kevin Eubanks following. Paul Shaffer is highly overrated and almost as annoying as Letterman. Jimmy Kimmel third, okay but can be irritating. Letterman's egotism and caustic "humor" make him impossible to watch. And he's a sorry excuse for a human being.
Conan will rock at Fox. It is the right place and the right time for him. He has his Team CoCo following along with some newfound fans who saw what a decent person he truly is. He deserves a decent chance to get his show and timeslot established.
@Robert – If my broken medical thermometer displays readings which correlate (and only roughly) to the humidity in the air and not my body temp, then when it reads 104 degrees, it's not telling me I have a fever. The Neilson ratings are completely useless if, as it seems, they are completely unscientific. They represent a study of non-randomly selected individuals who are willing to be compensated essentially in peanuts, in order to be burdened with the duty of inaccurately recording information as to which household members and guests viewed which programs at what time. Luckily, we are now in a technological position where we wouldn't even need to rely on sampling. We can get accurate data on what people are watching directly. Whereas the difference between Neilson ratings and what people are actually watching should be like the difference between exit polls and an actual election, due to the nonrandom nature of the system and the exclusion of a growing portion of television consumers it's not even close. Luckily, now we essentially have the actual election. This is not 1979 anymore. A large portion of the information is already being recorded or is capable of being recorded.
Conan made the Simpsons funny for a time, he made Saturday Night live funny for a time and then he had a really funny late night show that helped define a generation. This guy is largely responsible for a larger percentage of the funniest, most enduring stuff that has been on television in my lifetime than possibly any other writer or performer. Unleash the Coco and the money will come. Neilson can go to heck. If someone can't sell Conan they are looking to the wrong cause if they blame Conan for it.
Three words that don't go together: Fox, Palin, and Conan
He'd be great at Fox. He would have a better audience to be himself. I think he would help their ratings tremendously, especially attracting the Team CoCo crowd. 500,000 plus Facebook fans in less than 48 hours has got to mean something. He deserves better than what he got at NBC. He just needs the right venue.
NBC set Coco up to fail when they gave Jay a primetime show. In my opinion they knew they screwed up by getting rid of Jay so they laid out a plan to get rid of Coco and put Jay back at the Tonight Show. If you put Jay on at 10 then all his fans go with him, which lowers Coco's raitings because Jay fans got Jay and don't need the Tonight Show any more.
Can't wait to see Conan back and on Fox. I Hope it happens really soon.
John_NM – Leno was not #1 for the entire 12 years. He had the Tonight Show for 17 years and Letterman beat him for the first few years.
When NBC told Leno in 2004 that they wanted to give the Tonight Show to Conan to keep him with NBC, that's the time Leno should have done or said something. He could have said no, or said, 'screw you I'm going to call Fox and ABC' or something.
In my mind, there are two different kinds of late shows for two audiences. The safe and stale type that Leno has and then the edgier one of Conan or like Letterman did 20 years ago. NBC was afraid to put the real Conan show on, so they neutered his show to make it safer. This didn't satisfy his old fans. However, it was still not 'sterile' enough for the over-50 crowd who are wishing Johnny Carson would come back from his grave and do a show that they like.
I say, put Conan on Fox nightly and maybe do a "Conan Special" on F/X about three or four times a year! Give him total and complete creative control and see his real genius come out.
Conan is so self centered. Every skit. Every bit. Every interview is all about him. His mannerisms, jokes, monologue, beginning jumps/faces me makes, are so overplayed. Conan is a one trick pony that belongs on anything but Prime Time television. Does anyone think that if Conan was that good and if Conan brought in the viewers and if Conan brought in the sponsors that NBC would let him go? None of the above. Come on people. You lovers of Conan are in the minority. Conan can't pay the bills. He's an idiot. Conan is classless alongside the likes of Jay Leno and those who came before him.
Conan is going to SHRED NBC once he moves to Fox! Team Conan!
Oh, by all means put him on FOX, right after the Sarah Palin talk slot.
Conan can have Glenn Beck on as a guest. Lets see the king of pie in the face disenfranchisement humor take it to the limit.
I'm with John_NM... this whole thing is the fault of the network. I prefer not to watch late night except for Craig Ferguson. Tomorrow's just your future yesterday...
Jay Leno was doing well on the Tonight Show–rated # 1. So why did NBC think he had to be replaced in the first place? Was Conan getting too impatient? All Conan's jumping, twirling, etc. made him seem really silly! So let Fox Faux News have him. He didn't have the ratings Leno had, and if they compete in the same time slot, Leno will beat him.
My husband and I used to watch Letterman, then Leno and now we just adore CoCo! We don't fit the demographics as he is 64 and I am 56 but his comedy is so fresh and original he puts the other two to shame. What a job NBC did on him and his staff, but remember when one door closes another opens. CoCo will land on his feet wherever he goes and we will be there to suppport him!
Leno needs to hang up his cue as his material is terrible, and he is a pig for taking that show back.. Let's watch the Karma unfold as Jay implodes!
While Conan may not win the ratings war, he'll win the revenue war because his demo is young, male, and is willing to spend disposable income on advertisers' products.
Leno's audience is old and about to die, making 11:35 PM on NBC a ticking time bomb.
Please bring back some old re runs of Johnny Carson for the next month then you will see some quality evening entertainment. Jay Leno is ok, Conan O'Brien needs to get a little less caffeine bounce in him...
I agree with Marie. Still bitter at fox for removing Arrested Development (and Futurama)
Why does team Conan think his show will do any better on FOX than it did on NBC? He has one basic shortcoming as a comedian...he is not funny.
@JK, you don't need to explain the ratings system to me. Not only did I work in television, I spent 10 year in advertising and also 10 years at two Fortune 10 companies as the Director of Advertising. People complain about the nielsen system. People complain about the court systems, people complain about political system. Yes, they are all flawed, but they are the only thing we got to work with and they are the best in the world, no matter how flawed. Fact of the matter is as far as the rating system goes, Conan was not cutting it. If he had such a great following from Late Nite, he would have carried them to the Tonight Show. And 7 months to get in your grove is plenty of time. Most shows are not given that long to cut it. It is also really a lame excuse for everyone that is blaming the lead in for Conan's rating issues. The news was Conan's lead in, not Jay. Yes, I know, Jay gave a sucky lead in into the news, and thus you could potentially give a slight point or two blame to Jay if you feel you must. However, I have seen many more shows that have great followings be sandwiched in between dogs and do just fine. In some cases, the good show helps the dog shows. This was not the case for Conan. You can believe that without a doubt if NBC thought Conan was going to pull the audience and the advertiser dollars, he'd still be there. This was not personal. This was business.
I would be thrilled if Conan took his show to the community access cable channel in Bozeman, Montana, then I wouldn't have to see him ever again. (No offense to the fine citizens of Bozeman.) Also, I don't know why Jay Leno is getting all this heat. He was #1 for the entire 12 years he hosted the Tonight Show. NBC unilaterally decides to give the show to Conan. Conan fails miserably, his brand of stupid sophomoric "humor" does not translate to middle America. Conan's Tonight Show ratings are less than half of what Jay Leno's were. Meanwhile, ... Leno's new show (which he said would never work) actually isn't working. This debacle is entirely NBC's fault, neither Leno or Conan had anything to do with it. If anyone is a class act, it's Leno for not raising a massive public stink when he had the Tonight Show taken away from him. Conan simply didn't deliver the eyeballs, whereas Leno did consistently for 12 years.
Conan is the most talented. That was obvious from day one of his first late night show, and he's only gotten better.
Sparkling champagne or JL Flat Soda? hmmm, I'll have the champagne.
Forget FOX, I want to see Conan on cable where there will be ACTUAL creative freedom. FOX will just cancel his show as soon as it starts to get good, like they do with everything else.
Conans rating were down because Leno came on before "late Night". I will never watch NBC again, punch of pigs!
@Robert
Jay might've pulled in more money, but his 1hr show didn't. Affiliates were mad because of it. That's how this whole mess started.
Not only that, when Jay first took over The Tonight Show his rating were HORRIBLE. Fact. And after a few years he devoloped a following. Sad that Conan didn't get the same shot. I'll be boycotting NBC. They don't have any good programs anyway.
WAR DAVID LETTERMAN!
Two words, ignorant commentators..... Craig Ferguson!
So true, Tca. Nobody seems to be talking about the fact that Leno played a huge part in Conan's failure on the Tonight Show! Lead-ins have a massive impact on ratings and once people saw that Jay's show was lame, there was no way Conanc was going to be successful. I kept waiting for it to come up in the Oprah interview, but Jay takes NO responsibility for Conan's demise. Everyone in the industry knows that a bad lead in can kill an otherwise successful show. That's why shows move days and time slots all the time. I fully believe that if Jay's show had been good and gotten ratings, Conan would have done just fine. Coco is awesome and I will watch him on any channel at any time.
because FOX is known for it's late night talk shows? If he signs with FOX, he'll be off the air in less than 1 year- guaranteed. Not his fault- FOX just holds the record for most failed late night talk show attempts, and Conan would just be added to that list right behind The Magic Hour!
Kelly and JohnnieG – totally agree!!! Conan needs to be someplace where he can unleash his boundless comedic talents without any pressure by network execs to either tone down his eccentric humor or over-hype it for gratuity.
You can't really say Conan's ratings were low on his own. It was never a true shot at the Late Night audience with the Leno lead in. I don't know how the failure got hung around Conan's neck when Jay Leno's show had terrible ratings too...Anyway, NBC executive roster should be trimmed. ..GO CONAN!!! I thought he handled himself like a gentleman in a silly industry.
Please bring Conan to Fox!!!! I would definitely watch
and spread the word....he is the best comedian on tv besides
David Letterman. Hands down, if people will relax and LISTEN
TO Conan, he will deliver.......i have tons of faith in him. He is
the most genius, witty comedian on t.v. besides Letterman and
Joy Behar. His material is very topical, non-vulgar, bright and
he has the best delivery of anyone on t.v. Please consider
adding him to Fox thanks Ms. Blue
Sle,
I am not saying Leno is the end all be all of entertainment. Networks make decisions on programs by viewership which equates to add dollars. Conan is not pulling in the viewers. And yes, Conan had low ratings on Late Night, especially if you compare it to the level of ratings required for The Tonight show. I am not sure what you are calling Jay a brown noser. He doesn't seem to be brown nosing anyone. He just pulls the ratings, so they keep him. They had every opportunity to let Jay out of his contract but they didn't want to because he pulls more ad dollars then Letterman and Conan. Those are fact, not just my opinion.
Conan has ALWAYS sucked and ALWAYS will. Good for FOX – they SUCK also – a great pair!
Robert @ 5:38. Conan had low ratings for a reason. One of those reasons is the flawed ratings system. Ratings don't really show the true following of a show, which was evident by the massive amount of fan support for Conan when this controversy hit the media.
Nielsen ratings fail the most important criteria of a sample: it is not random in the statistical sense of the word. Only a small fraction of the population is selected and only those that actually accept are used as the sample size. There are only 25,000 households that participate in the Nielsen daily metered system. The number of U.S. television households as of 2009 is 114,500,000. As a result, the total number of Nielsen homes only amounts to 0.02183% of the total American television households, meaning that 99.97817% of American households have no input at all into what is actually being watched.
Add to that the forums that are missed by Nielsen (internet viewing mostly) and you can see that the ratings are not a good sample of Conan's ability to attract viewers. It is unfortunate that NBC didn't give him more time to attract a steady audience.
FOX will probably just end up cancelling him... like they do with all the good stuff. (arrested development, anyone?)
When FOX started, they were THE cutting edge network. A Current Affair gave us Maury Povich. 21 Jump Street gave us Johnny Depp (and Richard Grieco). The Tracy Ulman Show gave us The Simpsons. Married . . . With Children pushed the boundaries of a sitcom so far it is seen as THE prototype today.
Then FOX had a LOCK as a "real" network thanks to 90210 and Melrose Place. FOX revolutionized sports coverage when they got the NFL's NFC contract. And now it has one of the most if not THE most highest rated show ever in American Idol.
Conan going to FOX would be huge because both Conan and FOX have no problem pushing the envelope. If Conan does go to FOX, FOX will continue the tradition of doing it's own thing and being loved for it. Also, it will be only a matter of time until we see the Masturbating Bear in the background of an entire episode.
I never watch Fox but if Conan gets a time slot, I will.
"Conan would be a much better fit on Comedy Central, following the Daily Show and Colbert Report..".....Kelly
I could not agree more Kelly. I would put Stewart ,Conan ,than Colbert. Great line up.
Would just be another bathroom potty mouth humorless show on the oh-so-conservative-family values- Faux network.
And does anybody think Conan looks like he escaped from Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum?
Make Conan a judge on American Idol when Simon leaves!
Robert, he had weak ratings on Late Night? Really? Oh, and while Letterman was getting beaten my Leno, he's still made CBS millions of dollars over the years and will be remembered as a true innovator unlike Leno, who will be remembered as a brown-nosing hack.
I don't understand why networks have to have confirmation of how successful a show might be before they take a chance. I had actually switched to Conan before the rumors started about the "change". I like him very much and would follow him anywhere. To Fox: Do it!
I think David Letterman should have been given The Tonight Show, as Johnny Carson wanted; executives were jealous of him since he was doing a better job than Jay so they made sure it would be a cold day in hell before he would get it. Hey, David went on to make his show just as much a hit. Conan was not right for The Tonight Show, and that's why it flopped. When they told Jay that he was DONE in 2009, he should have started selling some of his cars so he would not starve when he lost his job!
We gotta get Conan back on TV ASAP, i think fox would be a great place for Conan to come back to TV on, and i hope he leaves all the other networks in the dust in the late night ratings. If he gets a show on fox, i'll watch!!!
Conan made a really bold move leaving the Tonight Show. I really hope it doesn't come around to bite him in the ass. Even with his popularity now, it will be hard getting ratings in this TV climate, up against Jay and Dave. If anyone could do it, though, it's Coco and the masturbating bear.
bring in the COCO
Will it really be worth the $$$ that Conan will demand? Enough is enough. When there are so many people still unemployed and others losing their jobs, I can't justify why ANY network would pay the millions of dollars just for some cheap comedy shtick. Might as well just have re-runs of Cheers at this point.
Canon and Jay BOTH should have walked away from NBC, leaving that network saying "what the heck!"
I'm STILL with Coco!
Hope to see him back on in the fall.
Conan had low ratings for a reason. People weren't watching. He had weak ratings on late night and he had weak ratings on the Tonight show. Moving networks is not going to magically make Conan funny or entertaining. It didn't work for Letterman, it is not going to work for Coco.
Conan would be a much better fit on Comedy Central, following the Daily Show and Colbert Report.
NBC...you ignorant slut!!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE sign him!! And to my local affiliate, I promise I will start watching your news if you have Conan on your station. I would love you forever.
Chad @ 4:32, the man has been on TV for 17 years. You might need to wind your watch.
Watch and learn NBC....when Fox puts Conan on a half hour earlier than Jay, you will see, even the mighty have fallen!
14 Minutes and 59 Seconds....It's going to be a long 1 second.
Can't wait for him to get to Fox and do an absolutely UNBRIDLED roast of the once mighty peacock