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I intend to post the entire Conan transcript from 60 Minutes when I get my hands on it. But, for now, CBS has released more info from it:
Conan O’Brien refutes NBC’s contention that The Tonight Show he briefly hosted was losing money and also says the six months he had the show were not long enough to declare it a failure with viewers.
Reminded by correspondent Steve Kroft that NBC Universal Chairman Jeff Zucker said that after six months, ratings indicated viewers did not want him on the show, O’Brien says, “In my opinion, I don’t think that’s fair or accurate. But he’s entitled to his opinion. I think for anyone to say that the results were in after six months that doesn’t ring true to me,” he tells Kroft.
Also reminded that NBC said The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien was losing money, Conan refutes it. “I honestly don’t see how that’s possible. It’s really not possible. It isn’t possible.”
Following are excerpts from O’Brien’s “60 Minutes” interview:
Regrets?
“I don’t regret anything. I don’t regret one decision I made in that week and a half period,” says the late night television comedian. “I wish it had ended differently. But, I’m fine. I do believe, and this might be my Catholic upbringing or Irish magical thinking, but I think things happen for a reason. I really do. And I think that this all happened for a reason,” he tells Kroft.
Was He Screwed?
“The biggest thing people come up and say to me in gas stations and restaurants, I have so many people say this to me. ‘Hey partner, you got screwed.’ I don’t, and I always tell them, ‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t get screwed. I’m fine. It just didn’t work out.’ But I don’t want people thinking, you know, that I got screwed. Because it just didn’t work out.”
Resolved His Issues?
“No, I have not resolved all my issues. I am mostly very happy. I love this tour it’s the most thrilling thing I’ve done in my career. And so I’m in a really great place in a lot of ways. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t have my moments of everything, you know, anger, disappointment, frustration and just confusion.”
Speaking to Kroft about Jay Leno and his exit from the network, O’Brien says he would have left NBC rather than do what Leno did to him.
“He went and took that show back and I think in a similar situation, if roles had been reversed, I know…I know me, I wouldn’t have done that,” O’Brien says. “If I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over to somebody publicly and wished them well and then…six months later. But that’s me, you know. Everyone’s got their own, you know, way of doing things,” he tells Kroft.
Asked by Kroft what he would have done, O’Brien says, “Done something else, go someplace else. I mean, that’s just me.”
O’Brien eventually left NBC, deciding not to play second-fiddle to Leno. He says he didn’t see the point in giving his all in a relationship that seemed to have no future. “I think this relationship is going be toxic and maybe we just need to go our separate ways,” he says. “That’s really how it felt to me…and I started to feel that I’m not sure these- people even really want me here….I can’t do it [anymore].”
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I know one thing, this interview will be a lot more honest than Leno’s interview with Oprah. That was a classic example of lying and spinning to gain sympathy from the audience. Conan seems to be honest in these excerpts which is more than can ever be said about Jay.
Agreed. Conan has always seemed like a very humble guy, even for one who was screwed so badly, or rather backed into a dark corner by NBC. It isn’t fair for the NBC hacks to say Conan had poor ratings, because Jay struggled with poor ratings for 3 years, consistently being beaten easily by Letterman. The thing I’m wondering, is what does NBC and their brilliant think-tank plan on doing when Jay retires? Hire Jimmy Fallon?…
HUMBLE!?!?
Oh. My. God.
It’s like words have whatever meaning people want to ascribe to them.
Or it’s like people use words in a relative sense, so that someone like O’Brien can be “humble” by the standards of his profession, allowing for the fact that an objectively humble person would never hold such a job in the first place. It could be that.
But nevermind. I apologize for interrupting your incredibly over-the-top, insightless sarcasm.
Conan was set up and he knows it.
Is he really still talking about this?
Still? He hasn’t been legally allowed to talk about this until *tomorrow*.
It’s the first time he’s been allowed to remotely mention it since January…
His non-disparage was up today. Show me one place where he’s ever spoken about this before until now.
You mean, is he talking the biggest media story of the last year in public for the very first time? Yes.
JohnDoe, in answer to your question, Leno will never retire.
how bout all the people that moved to California with Conan, how come nobody talks to them, they didn’t get millions. Most got a small severance and will not get back to work for many months in a strange land. People sold houses, spouses, families packed up and moved, is it not fair to say they were screwed!!!!!! Why doesn’t anybody ever talk about them???
One of the sticking points of Conan’s exit deal from NBC was to make sure his staff would get enough money. Read some of Nikki’s older articles about it. Also, I imagine if Conan has his way many of them will be hired back at TBS.
People talk about them plenty. They came up repeatedly in news stories about the negotiations. I’m also not sure they got a “small severance.” Have you actually done the math on that?
Also, it sounds as if most of them got jobs on this tour, and I’d be shocked if they don’t end up working with Conan at TBS, too.
But really, people talk more about Conan because it’s his show. He’s the face of it. What’re they supposed to do, interview one of the grips? Sheesh.
I wish I could whine like that – and walk away with millions!
Yeah, I forgot that successful people can never have complaints. It’s impossible to wrong them, because they’re rich.
Conan’s gone out of his way to tell people not to feel bad for him, pointing out the very same thing you did. And there’s a difference between whining and justified complaints. Seriously, did you even read the text above? He goes out of his way to say he wasn’t “screwed.”
But don’t let any of this get in the way of some tired one-liner, of course.
Ooh look, Conan has a white knight.
Give it a rest, “Chris.” Us working stiffs are perfectly entitled to be fed up with this endless, boring, self-serving story.
Yeah, Conan got screwed. And yeah, Leno blows in innumerable ways. (I still wish our Guild had roasted his ass when we had the chance.) BUT…well, for a guy in a gas station who probably makes 7 bucks an hour to express dismay on behalf of Conan…well, Conan’s right to be modest about that. Because the truth is, robbed of his show or not, the guy literally never, ever, ever needs to work again. And typically in Hollywood, when you get screwed, your pocketbook gets shafted, as well.
No Fresh … he was not allowed to talk about it until today.
Humble! You gotta be kidding!!
Conan, nobody cares anymore. BTW, wasn’t it Conan who threatened to go to another network if NBC wouldn’t give him The Tonight Show? Then when he sucked on The Tonight Show he refused to play second fiddle to Jay, refused to to a midnight Tonight Show because he felt it tarnished the legacy of the show and would push Jimmy Fallon’s show later. Then he goes to TBS and pushes George Lopez’s show.
I’m not saying Jay is perfect but Conan’s hands aren’t exactly clean. Besides everyone knows that Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert are going to slaughter him in the ratings.
No, Conan was given another opportunity on another network but NBC didn’t want to lose him. They promised him The Tonight Show if he stayed. George Lopez called Conan to persuade him to go over to TBS.
Hurt my neck from repeatedly nodding.
NBC should have never called Conan’s bluff (er, sorry, in the spirit of smug smarminess, I shall refer to him as “CoCo”).
I work in this fetid little s***hole known as Hollywood, where drones and queens alike fret about always appearing hip and “with-it” and–just for example–three years ago, I don’t know of one soul (assuming people in Hollywood have one) who’d come into work the next day gushing about CoCo’s show the previous night. It was always, “Did you catch Colbert?” or “Did you catch Stewart?” or “Did you see ***insert Adult Swim show here***?” or “Did you catch Kimmel?” (HA! fooled you on that last one). Some may say, “Well, CoCo was on at 12:30, you can’t expect people to watch him every night.” Well, I know of no one who made a point of DVRing him either.
The fact is that CoCo latched onto Leno’s Stanley Steamer for years (Stanley Steamer, the classic car, not the carpet cleaner). Leno’s high ratings inflated CoCo’s. It’s not that people were tuning into CoCo. They were like, “meh, I might as well keep it on NBC. Nothing else is on.” Then along comes Craig Ferguson who in two short years starting beating CoCo in the ratings. In other words, many who were watching Leno then turned to CBS because they now had a reason (no one went out of their way to watch the previous host, Craig Kilborn–oh BTW, remember when he wanted more money, then CBS called his bluff, then replaced him to the tune of a better host and higher ratings? Smooth move to inflate your own following Craiggers, wherever you are.).
Anyway, this whole orgy of idiocy by NBC gave CoCo the cachet he never really had. But the too-cool-for-skool set will ditch you once a new fad or trend comes along, and I predict, no, I know, that after a year, they’ll move on and CoCo will be lucky to get over 1 million viewers a night. He will get pummeled by Stewart, Colbert, Adult Swim (essentially Family Guy reruns), and even Letterman among the 18-34 demo.
As for Leno, his muddleheaded decision to stick with NBC and the fallout of this whole blowup has tarnished him. I think his ratings will slowly ebb until they bottom out to the point he will be legitimately competing with Letterman for late night supremacy (not counting Nightline). Leno should’ve gone to ABC which would’ve given him the decapitated frozen head of Walt Disney to have him on at 11:35 and tossed perennial ratings also-ran Jimmy Kimmel onto Hollywood Boulevard. By the way, will someone please tell me why Kimmel is still employed by ABC? Wasn’t he a Wong-influenced hire? Who the hell at ABC is so loyal to Kimmel? Do decision makers at ABC really covet invites to his Sunday barbeque bashes during the NFL season?
Stewart & Colbert will be a strong demographic challenger, but in terms of Conan getting slaughtered, they average between 1.2 to 1.5 million viewers
Yeah Jay, he is still talking about how you screwed him over, and he has every right to. So STFU.
Conan can stop crying anytime now. It’s getting real old. He has his own show elsewhere now where he will have complete freedom, and 1.0 ratings will be a good thing.
People talk about Conan getting screwed, Leno had a #1 show for years and got pushed out anyway. You wanna hate, hate NBC.
Agree. No one mentions that Conan stole Leno’s show in the first place.
Cry me a river. Get over it Conan. The fact is…we just weren’t that into you.
Unfortunately, Conan’s version of The Tonight Show pretty much sucked. His bits weren’t funny and went on for far too long. Andy Richter has lost his fire as a sidekick. He had a weak announcer – I guess his New York announcer had sense enough not to move to LA. I liked Conan’s 12:30 show (although Craig Ferguson is better), but his version of The Tonight Show was pretty lame.
In my view, they should have preserved the cherished Tonight Show theme music and set. That franchise would be immediately familiar to viewers and would have helped with the transition.
This is an inconvenient truth for most of Team Conan. Conan’s version of The Tonight Show did indeed suck. If most of Team Conan had actually watched his 12:30 show, they would know how much the 11:30 sucked.
Conan really needed to stop whining and move on. Hey, it’s like he wasn’t compensated for his loss. Most “mistreated” employees who are fired for underperforming don’t walk away with $40 million. Most are lucky to get a crappy unemployment check for a few months. So stop playing the victim. Stop blaming Jay. It wasn’t his fault. Blame Zucker. Get a hobby. Like counting your money in one dollar bill at a time. And I’m sorry. Anybody who walks away with $40 million for six months work…isn’t Everyman. He’s a self-entitled rich kid. Like, there isn’t enough of those people in L.A.
Yeah, right. Like NBC decided, wow, let’s lose money. Let’s dump Conan because he’s making us so much money and hire Leno because we want to make less. Does anyone really believe that’s what they did? Does anyone really think that any corporation would make a decision that didn’t benefit the bottom line? Conan’s gone because… read our lips: He didn’t work.
Actually, the money decision NBC made was very straightforward:
1. Leno’s ratings were *awful*, and had a chilling effect on the affiliate’s news broadcasts. In every possible way, Leno’s primetime show was a complete disaster.
2. Leno’s lawyers had made sure that the buyout clause for his contract was HUGE. (Despite Leno’s frequent statements about how he makes “handshake deals,” the guy has excellent lawyers who write fantastic contracts on his behalf.)
3. Conan O’Brien’s buyout clause on his Tonight Show contract was actually *less* than what it would cost NBC to cut Leno loose.
4. The only deal that Leno would accept was to either get the Tonight Show back or to at least get back the Tonight Show timeslot (and thus become the Tonight Show in all but name).
5. NBC looked in their (mostly empty) wallet, did the math, and realized that it would cost them less to buy out Conan’s contract, so that’s the decision they made. In the long run, I expect that this decision will hurt them, but NBC under Zucker seems hell-bent on making *only* decisions that will drive them out of business, so…
Guy the energy on this topic, team Jay team Coco ((sigh)). Some of these quotes by Conan… the words his reps have been massaging into his ears all these years seem to have finally taken. Not saying he wasn’t SLIGHTLY screwed, Zucker/NBC handled it poorly or that Jay is the better talent (trust me, I should be on team Jay but never will be); at the same time… the entire story… is true Hollywood-agenty-manager-Kool-Aid. And Conan is drinking from his reps. Look, many of us wouldn’t have taken the Tonight Show back – fine. But Jay doesn’t have the extreme multiple reps talking into his ear anymore, nor even the slight business savvy, to even come close to comprehending all of this – so Jay will never understand his move not to take a hard line way back when and keep the show which he didn’t want to leave was a DUMB MISTAKE. So he was offered it back in 2010 and took it. He’s a sweet guy but doesn’t GET IT. So with these quotes Conan has A) a distorted view of his own worth because of his reps and what he deserved in 2004/05 and 2010 and B) still has a distorted view of the situation because of his reps bullying in 2004/05. Knowing Conan’s reps they are a pushy bunch and VERY good at what they do. All parties are at fault here. ALL. Mostly NBC. Then Jay for being dumb in ’04/’05 (can’t recall), then Conan. But Conan, wake up ‘pal you had your hand in this as well. And your turn at 11 30 — was not good — I 100% believe the rumors you didn’t take notes. To hear you say the show wasn’t losing money? Sounds like spin to me – those are cold hard numbers. Look, nothing would please me more to watch Zucker vanish; but damn Conan you had a hand in all this too.
as an accounting major, you probably don’t understand how easily “cold hard number” can be altered to saying what you want them to.
Conan is not funny – simple.
Conan acts as if he is the first person in the world to be held back from a promotion because someone decided not to retire after all. Geez Conan, stop whining and get over it. Its not up to Conan to decide when Leno retires. Its up to Leno. Nor is it up to Leno to insure Conan moves up the ladder in the timeline Conan wants. Conan had the same choice we all have – wait your turn or go elsewhere. If he works for stupid employer that can’t handle the issue properly (ie, NBC) because the executive in charge is a big dope (ie, Zucker), put the blame where it belongs. Leno didn’t do anything to Conan, Zucker and NBC did.
NBC went to Jay and presented an idea of retiring in 5 years so that they could gracefully give Conan the show and avoid replaying the Carson-Leno-Letterman debacle. JAY AGREED TO IT! Then NBC offered Conan the job, and he agreed to it only because Jay was on board with the idea. If Leno didn’t like the plan, he should have said so then. Leno’s show was a big enough cash cow for NBC that if he had said “no” to the idea, they network would have stood by him. Leno said “yes.” Then publicly “passed the torch” to Conan on several occasions.
NBC’s only bonehead moves in this whole mess was giving Leno a primetime show and re-instating Leno as the Tonight Show host. The idea behind the 5 year plan was a good one: Leno goes out on top and we put Conan on the Tonight Show and give him time to grow into the powerhouse he’s capable of becoming. But the plan was put in place before NBC was in ratings the toilet… now that they are, they operate out of fear (of losing viewers and money), and rather than stick to the plan, they tried to change it mid-course by offering Leno a 10pm show. BONEHEAD MOVE.
In his lifetime effort to be liked by everyone, Leno has become passive aggressive, and now his every move is starting to blow up in his face.
How exactly did Conan get “screwed”? The fact is he was given a shot at the premier late night show in the country, and he didn’t get ratings. He didn’t get screwed. He simply wasn’t good.
Then he got a HUGE severance package. And then he got a HUGE new deal on cable.
So again, how exactly did he get screwed?
Jay Leno didn’t get ratings for 18 months during his opening days. It was getting so bad that they talked about ripping him off of THE TONIGHT SHOW and giving it to David Letterman.
But he got 18 months to prove himself. Conan got 7. Also, during the first few months of the summer (prior to THE JAY LENO SHOW), Conan’s ratings were solid.
Look, I understand that people have picked sides based on who they think is funnier. But you should be really picking sides based on… what are they called… they’re those things… oh, facts.
That’s a lie. The first three months of Conan’s TTS ratings were low. He was getting sub 2.0 ratings in the first month of TTS. Leno was averaging over 3.5 in overall ratings.
During the September and October months Conan sank even further to a 1.5 rating, but the week before Leno show started he was getting a 1.8 overall rating. And the proof is that Conan was already getting stumped by Letterman, a guy Leno put away over a decade ago.
And I like how Conan apologists say that it’s a constitutional right that Conan get 18 months. No. NBC obviously felt that they’d lose less money by giving Conan 40 million than to keep him on the air.
Conan already was on the air for 17 years, it’s not like he was an unknown product. The only unknown was if he could carry a show without being given a huge lead-in by Leno. Obviously Conan couldn’t cut it.
Conan was losing the Letterman twenty or more weeks in a row in overall audience. Since Leno has returned Leno has beaten Letterman in the ratings, end of story. The key demos have been higher. That means NBC is making more money. Just because they weren’t technically losing money with Conan, they were not making as much as the could have(and were making in the past) with Leno.
The fact is Leno is three years younger than Letterman. Why isn’t anyone asking for Letterman to retire and give his job to Conan, since it is supposedly Conan’s birthright to have a late night talk show.
“If I had surrendered The Tonight Show and handed it over to somebody publicly”
Interesting choice of words, Conan. Surrendered. That’s right you never mention how you pushed and pushed to get Jay out the door. You did what was best for Conan. And Jay did what was best for Jay.
Sure maybe you wouldn’t have taken back the show. And maybe Jay wouldn’t have tried to push you out the door.
You’re still trying to win the argument Conan, but the truth is neither you or Jay are perfect or saints et cetera.