Basically, back in 2004, NBC said that they were going to give Conan the Tonight Show in 2009. Leno agreed, and was planning on retiring. Then, when Conan was about to get the show, Leno decides he doesn't want to retire after all.
NBC wants to keep Leno, and he's saying he's gonna go to another network, so they give him a 30 minute show called "The Jay Leno Show" right before the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. This was a total slap in the face to Conan, because it was almost like nothing changed except for the time slots.
Nevertheless, Conan moves to California with his family, same with a lot of his staff, and takes over the Tonight Show.
The Jay Leno Show ends up sucking horribly and the ratings are terrible. Conan's ratings are also below what NBC wanted, and after 7 months, they decide they want to move The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to 12:05, and bump the Jay Leno Show back to 11:35. Conan says no, because he believes it would be damaging to the 60-year institution that is The Tonight Show, and would also be incredibly unfair to Jimmy Fallon, because it would bump Late Night with Jimmy Fallon back to 1:05am.
NBC tells him to deal with it or fuck off, Conan stands his ground, and they yank him off the air. After the winter olympics, Leno gets the Tonight Show back. There's actually some speculation that all of this was a pretty diabolical plot by Leno, who knew the importance of a lead-in (Leno's ratings were the best around when he had the Tonight Show, but his lead-in was Law and Order), and the shittiness of his show was basically planned. So Conan gets poor ratings, because his lead-in is shit.
Don't know if that's true though, but the point about lead-ins is still valid.
Either way, this has gone down as one of the biggest fuckups in television, and Conan O'Brien, one of the most likeable people in television, paid for it.
NBC wants to keep Leno, and he's saying he's gonna go to another network, so they give him a 30 minute show called "The Jay Leno Show" right before the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. This was a total slap in the face to Conan, because it was almost like nothing changed except for the time slots.
Nevertheless, Conan moves to California with his family, same with a lot of his staff, and takes over the Tonight Show.
The Jay Leno Show ends up sucking horribly and the ratings are terrible. Conan's ratings are also below what NBC wanted, and after 7 months, they decide they want to move The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien to 12:05, and bump the Jay Leno Show back to 11:35. Conan says no, because he believes it would be damaging to the 60-year institution that is The Tonight Show, and would also be incredibly unfair to Jimmy Fallon, because it would bump Late Night with Jimmy Fallon back to 1:05am.
NBC tells him to deal with it or fuck off, Conan stands his ground, and they yank him off the air. After the winter olympics, Leno gets the Tonight Show back. There's actually some speculation that all of this was a pretty diabolical plot by Leno, who knew the importance of a lead-in (Leno's ratings were the best around when he had the Tonight Show, but his lead-in was Law and Order), and the shittiness of his show was basically planned. So Conan gets poor ratings, because his lead-in is shit.
Don't know if that's true though, but the point about lead-ins is still valid.
Either way, this has gone down as one of the biggest fuckups in television, and Conan O'Brien, one of the most likeable people in television, paid for it.
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