Well, the whole controversy over NBC's The Tonight Show seems to have been finally settled. I'm not happy about it though, not by a long shot.
On January 21st, Conan O'Brien signed a settlement deal with the network to leave Tonight and got about $45 mil out of it, around $32 million for himself, and roughly $12 million for his staff (which NBC apparently did not want to cover in the agreement). Some of his staff members who were not covered by the settlement got about six weeks severance from O'Brien out of his own pocket. The dude is a class act all the way. The agreement also keeps O'Brien from appearing on another network at least until September of this year. Jay Leno will return to The Tonight Show in March.
Again, so not happy about this.
In O'Brien's final Tonight Show he gave a heartfelt final monologue, thanking NBC (the company that in the end screwed him over) for over 20 years of work they've done together. He spoke about how quitting the show was the hardest thing he's ever had to do, and thanked his fans and his staff for their work and support. One of the best things said by the embattled host that evening, however, would have to be this advice.
"All I ask of you is one thing... I ask this particularly of the young people who watch. Please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen."
Like I said, class act.
I don't think the same can be said for Leno. I really felt like he took an "It's not me doing this, it's the network" approach to the whole thing. And in some ways, that is correct. Oprah Winfrey, one of the few celebrities who supported Leno over O'Brien during all of this, pointed out that people who support O'Brien do so because they don't understand how the industry works. Perhaps, but for Leno to act like he had no say or power in this is just ridiculous and, frankly, kind of underhanded.
My feeling is that Leno could've stepped aside. Back in 2004, when it was announced that O'Brien would take over Tonight, Leno said on the show that he would allow O'Brien to take the reigns without incident. He stated that "I'll be 59 when [the switch occurs], that's five years from now. There's really only one person who could have done this into his 60s, and that was Johnny Carson; I think it's fair to say I'm no Johnny Carson." He also said that Tonight is a dynasty; "you hold it and hand it off to the next person." That's the Leno I would've liked to see when this hit the fan. I would've liked him to say "You know what, I had a great run on that show, it's a shame my prime time slot didn't work out, but let that red-headed kid take this as far as he can, and I'll find something else to do." If I had seen that Leno at all during the past few weeks, I would've cheered both men on.
But that Leno was nowhere in sight. A while back Leno even amended what he had said on The Tonight Show back in 2004, now saying that he was lying that night and that NBC was forcing him off the air. He's said that this host and time slot conflict was "all business". When he sat down with Oprah Winfrey on Jan. 25th he admitted that he hadn't spoken to O'Brien since the programming changes were first announced. Not cool Leno, not cool.
But, what's done is done. I may not like it, but there's not a damn thing I can do about it. Leno will be back on The Tonight Show, and O'Brien will hopefully be back better than ever in the fall on a network that will appreciate him for the talented, funny, classy guy that he is. As that old saying goes, the best revenge is living well. Maybe it'll be for the best that things turned out the way they did.
Any thoughts on the matter?
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