I have been at work and occupied with other priorities most of today - just had a few minutes to read the big news earlier this afternoon, and have tried to catch up on the posts here.
Very nice move by Coco - as far as I can tell, if he walks away from NBC he is walking away from tens of millions of dollars - not a lot of people would do that, no matter how affulent they are. But it is the right move, for the exact reasons that he gives in his statement. I am not certain though that the statement reflects his resignation from The Tonight Show - I will be interested in reading later reports that might clarify this. I don't think there is anything in this statement that is a resignation - he just says he can not accept moving the Tonight Show to 12:05. Here is how he ends it: http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/01/12/conan-releases-statement-on-late-night-situation/ "...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. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work." This seems to leave the door open for NBC to reconsider and keep the show at 11:35. It also seems to at least give Conan a basis from which to argue that NBC still owes him the tens of millions of dollars in his contract - particularly if anyone else becomes the host of a program called "The Tonight Show". This would depend on the exact language and interpretation of the contract, which has been reported to give NBC the right to air The Tonight Show as late as 12:05, but I would not be surprised if this is not open to various interpretations. I see some here want to defend Leno in all this. I can not agree. True, NBC is the source of all the evil here, and they have not treated Leno particularly well. But Leno has basically been a dick through the entire story. The narrative that Leno took up the 10:00 show as a loyal NBC employee to help them save the network is BS. He took the show because he was not ready to leave television, and, I believe, always thought he might be able to land back at late night. The interview he gave last fall makes it clear that at least by that point he was signaling that he wanted back at 11:35. To then agree to move to 11:35 even though it would be nothing less than a betrayal and humiliation of Conan is the last straw. Leno had to know (and be hoping) that Conan could not swallow that, and be prepared to swoop in and take back The Tonight Show. I don't think there is a chance in hell that Leno will step up and do the right thing and refuse to participate in this coup d'etat As for the prediction that NBC will claim vindication if Conan eventually takes a Fox show and Leno finishes 1st over both him and Dave, that may happen, but NBC would be just as moronic and self-destructive in claiming that victory over Conan as they have been in claiming it over Dave. The issue is not whether Leno get higher ratings than 2 or 3 other competitors - the issue for NBC is, are they making more money by repeatedly choosing Leno over the other guys to host the Tonight Show? And the answer is clearly, no, they are not. If they had given Dave the Tonight Show 20 years ago they would have a higher percentage of the 11:35 audience than they did with Leno last year - even if Leno had gone to CBS and been successful enough to stay on the air. If they had stuck with Conan with the Tonight Show and just cut Leno lose like they had promised they would, 5 years from now they would be getting higher ratings than they are likely to get from Leno.* *
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