With all the debacle of Jay Leno’s show failing and NBC eating crow and putting Jay back into a 30-minute time-slot at 11:35, this presents interesting options for Conan O’Brien.
Conan came into The Tonight Show with a new contract representing this new scenario in this new time-slot.
But in so doing, Conan uprooted his entire life in New York to come to California to film The Tonight Show.
Aside from that, Conan’s options look interesting. They look great for the short term, but maybe, career wise, not so great for the long term.
If Conan quits, NBC, in theory would owe him the $20 mil a year for that 5-year contract.
If Conan takes up any other option with a different network, whatever he would make, NBC would make up the difference from that salary, to the NBC $20 mil / year contract.
If Conan lets his show get pushed back to the midnight:05 time slot, sources are saying that NBC would renegotiate his contract for the comparable time-slot, or back towards his old pay.
That last option is the most optimal for NBC. They think that if they keep Conan, they get him on the cheap and then they can throw two different personalities at David Letterman.
But what difference would that make? I don’t think it would make any difference. If either of these two guys, Jay Leno or Conan O’Brien couldn’t take Letterman down with ratings… sure, be competitive, but not take him down… I don’t see how the two of them would threaten Letterman, unless the show opening skits for The Tonight Show would be what might ding viewership for Letterman.
This would mean that Letterman should introduce something snarky and fresh to the mid-way point of his show to keep people from turning, or, to get more people to tune in.
For now, Conan is in a pickle, but I’m not sure it’s a bad pickle.
Meanwhile, Fox Network is sniffing around Conan’s camp, but since Fox has never had a real strong support or presence with late-night talk, Conan can either boost that category for them, or he should stay away, play nice, and show NBC he’s a team player. Being a team player can go a long long way in any company. TRUST ME ON THAT ONE!
