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I’ve learned that Conan O’Brien is becoming a Time Warner man all the way. I hear his company Conaco Prods. is finalizing a big production deal with Warner Bros. Television now that his company is producing his new late night talk show for TBS starting in November. 
Sources told me that immediately after O’Brien’s deal with Turner Entertainment Networks’ TBS was announced two weeks ago, brass at sister studio Warner Bros. TV went aggressively after Conan’s company, which is run by David Kissinger. Conaco had been based at NBC since its launch. And, as part of O’Brien’s exit deal from The Tonight Show, Conaco was to stay at NBC through the end of this development season. Conaco has one pilot in consideration at that network, the Untitled John Eisendrath Legal Drama starring Jimmy Smits.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Good for Conan. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Well Amen and Hallellujah! It’s about time Coco began getting his and got smart.
Go, CoCo!
Deadline’s own pilot round-up says that pilot is “not going”… so I assume that’s the end of Conaco’s involvement with NBC.
DK is a class act, I’m happy for them.
Jay Leno is awesome. Once Conan’s ratings tank heads will roll.
Leno and Conan get the job done. There is room for both.
Oh My – the unfunny comic rides again. Isn’t Hollywood grand?
The only business in the world where one can fail upwards!
Godspeed Conan – Godspeed.
Failing upward? I’m counting on it. We all are.
It’s a disgrace. He did not leave. He was FIRED. Because he did a bad job. Can’t anyone just say it. AND, now he’s rewarded with bigger paydays. So funny. I’m crying.
Thank you.
Well, to be fair, if you look at the numbers, Leno’s first six weeks back in the Tonight Show slot are lower than Conan’s first six weeks on the Tonight Show. Not only that, but Letterman’s ratings are actually rising. And there’s no excuse for Leno’s low ratings either like there was for Conan’s low ratings.
But hey, they fired and tried to ruin a guy over a tenth of a ratings point difference?
Also, Leno whined about wanting the 11:30 PM slot LAST OCTOBER, got fired, whined again, got offered a new 30 minute show that breached Conan’s contract, and eventually got back the show while gaining a reputation as a corporate lapdog frowned by half of Hollywood and losing the nice guy status to a lot of viewers.
But he’s on The Tonight Show again. Super.
It seems like Conan leaving was the best thing to happen to him.
Jay Leno is the gift that keeps on giving for Conan (oh, wait, let me put on my hipster cap, ahem, CoCo). CoCo rode on Jay’s prodigious chin for over a decade, making it appear there was this groundswell of support for his brand of shtick. Then along comes a charismatic Scot, Craig Ferguson, who was only known for his recurring role as Drew Carey’s boss on the latter’s show, and by 2008, Ferguson was beating CoCo in the ratings. But of course, by then, CoCo had already been giving the Tonight Show gig.
It’s clear CoCo was doomed to fail as host of The Tonight Show because there’s just not enough love for his persona or humor. It goes something like this:
1) Look a little neurotic, uncomfortable, but cutesy.
2) Tell a lame quip.
3) Spend the next minute making a stupid face or dance for the camera.
4) Repeat.
Late night viewers didn’t care for this and the ratings bear that out. The hipsters who now fealty to Coco got bored and went back to watching Stewart/Colbert and Adult Swim. But then this whole Leno coup d’etat made CoCo look like a sympathetic figure and suddenly, it became cool to love CoCo, so the hipsters, who will never duck an opportunity to tout their coolness bona fides, swooned all over CoCo again and now he’s been gifted with all these ticket sales for his tour and now this deal.
But unfortunately for CoCo, after about six months, the hipsters will get bored and go back to watching Comedy Central’s Stewart/Colbert bloc (not to slam them. I watch them, too) or Adult Swim (which gets mega numbers with the coveted 18-34 demo). Oh, by the way, hipsters, stop touting “Venture Bros.” as the most hilarious, riotous show on all TV. “Venture Bros.” is witty and sharp, but it’s not laugh-out-loud hilarious. You’re trying too hard to make yourself look cool. Anyway, within six months, CoCo will not be getting 1 million nightly and will be getting trounced by the aforementioned outlets.
Look, I don’t detest CoCo, in fact he’s credited for writing some of the Simpson’s best shows during the (in my opinion) best season of 92-93 (though some have said his contribution was overblown). CoCo greatly overachieved in his role as a talk show host and again, he should be thankful he had someone like Leno as his lead-in. But as if the Tonight Show didn’t teach him enough but he will learn when he goes to TBS, there just isn’t much of an audience for him. It doesn’t matter if it’s 12:35, 11:35, or 11:00.
P.J. -
“Look a little neurotic, uncomfortable, but cutesy….”
I understand that this how a lot of people see Conan, and I respect that, but I think people who like him see him a lot differently. We see someone who’s a little rougher because he’s trying to figure out how to use improv ideas to make a kind of comedy that’s more personal and more wistful than what normally comes on TV, and because he reflects the struggle of people born after about 1960 to have a voice.
P.J.’s guide to Conan’s comedy hosting techniques:
1) Look a little neurotic, uncomfortable, but cutesy.
2) Tell a lame quip.
3) Spend the next minute making a stupid face or dance for the camera.
4) Repeat.
However, here’s Jay Leno’s comedy hosting techniques:
1) Mock the latest person to make a mistake
2) Look arrogant yet folksy.
3) Tell lame quips about that mistake.
4) Spend the next minute conversing with guy in the band hoping for a response and/or a nod for approval.
5) Repeat for another story.
6) Show hastily-assembled video mocking the first mistake-maker.
7) Repeat for 20 years.
Why on earth would anyone want to do business with someone who was such an epic failure? Like flies to shit these people.
I know.
I mean, who would want to do business with a guy who is only good at hosting a talk show and nothing else as opposed to someone who is a creator and a writer who didn’t scab during the strike?
If there wasn’t an audience for Conan, He wouldn’t have lasted 16 years on Late Night. Which aired at 12:30 AM. Get your facts right pinhead.
And Carson Daly has been at 1:30 AM on NBC for eight years. Just sayin’…
I think the secret here is that, to make a pilot work, Conan has to bring in writers, consultants, editors, etc. who can put a twist on traditional Hollywood storytelling, and know how to tell a conventional Hollywood story in a smooth, sophisticated way, but are deeply immersed in conventional Hollywood storytelling.
Lookwell and Andy Barker PI are funny and intelligent, but I think they both seem like shows done by brilliant people who read a good book on how to write TV scripts but didn’t really know what the people who make The Burn Notice know about TV show mechanics.
Conan and the other writers tried to make up for problems with structure and pacing by putting in a lot of brilliant ideas. The result is shows that are amazing but hard to watch. If Conaco brings in and trusts someone like Robert McKee, maybe they’ll end up with shows that flow better.
Jay Leno is awesome.
Hi:
Can you please tell me what the metal decor at the edge of Conan’s new set is supposed to represent? Recyled handcuffs? Edgy Wine Racks? Matches to a tarnished Conan hairdo? Will they move, talk or tick toc?
Just curious,
Pat from Toronto, Ontario, Canada