Tonight Show...Tomorrow?
Unless you haven’t turned on your television within the past couple of weeks (and even then you’re probably not immune), you’ve heard about the shit storm NBC has gotten itself into over its late-night lineup. It all started five years ago when Conan O’Brien threatened to leave NBC for a rival network. To appease him, the network promised O’Brien that he could take over “The Tonight Show” when Jay Leno left; if that didn’t happen by 2009, O’Brien was free to leave NBC and go elsewhere. Fast forward five years: Leno’s “Tonight Show” was still going strong, NBC wanted to keep both O’Brien and Leno, so they offered to give Leno his own (prime-time) show so it could make good on its promise to O’Brien. With me so far? Everything seemed to be working out nicely. Until it wasn’t.

“The Jay Leno Show” sucked (according to ratings and local affiliates). So NBC went back on its word. The network announced it was pulling the plug on the primetime show and moving Leno back to his original (late-night) time slot. O’Brien’s consolation prize? He gets to keep “The Tonight Show” franchise…it will just air half an hour later (technically the next day, if we’re splitting hairs). O’Brien is refusing to go along quietly, which has left the entire late-night lineup in question as O’Brien and NBC try to reach a settlement.

Trust me, I get that it’s all about the bottom line in business. But I also believe that a man – or a network, in this case – is only as good as his word. NBC’s Jeff Zucker should be ashamed of himself for throwing O’Brien aside the minute things got tough. O’Brien stood by NBC for five years, waiting on the network to make good on its promise. He held up his end of the bargain. Too bad the same can’t be said for NBC. I hope NBC is forced to fork over a nice, big chunk of money to buy O’Brien out of his contract. I hope O’Brien goes to a rival network and is a huge success…and becomes a direct competitor with NBC’s late-night lineup. And, I hope Leno’s show tanks (sorry, Jay). It would serve NBC and its execs right for screwing people over simply because they changed their minds.

LINKS:
Wall Street Journal – NBC Puts ‘Jay Leno’ Back Into Old Slot

NY Times – O’Brien Rejects NBC Shift: He’s Set to Say Good Night