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NBC is finally confirming publicly that Jay Leno took a 50% pay cut — or $15 million on his $30 million salary. That helped NBC slash the Tonight Show‘s $100M budget by about 20%. Deadline scooped first news of Leno’s pay cut to prevent more than 20 staff layoffs on the show. Now NBC’s entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt confirms that number to the Wall Street Journal. At the same time, Leno extended his contract for another 2 years to May 2014. So much for Leno taking swipes at Comcast/NBCU over the layoffs. Greenblatt told WSJ there’s no date yet for Leno to leave. ”That’s a conversation we’ll have as we look down the road. I’m sure there will be a day when these guys — Letterman and Leno — wake up and say, ‘It’s time for us to exit gracefully.’”
Related: ‘Tonight Show’ Lays Off 20; Leno Takes Pay Cut To Save Jobs
Greenblatt also confirmed the Tonight Show cuts were aimed at reversing tens of millions of dollars in budget increases implemented in 2009 when Leno’s show was moved to primetime briefly and kept when it moved back to late night. Greenblatt said that when he noticed the bulge in Tonight’s budget last spring, ”I went to [Leno's] office and we sat down and I said, ‘We have to be smart about how we do this show. We are in a difficult place at the network’…He understood.”
Greenblatt claimed the Tonight Show is “not the cash cow it was in the Johnny Carson days” although it’s still profitable. “Everything is less profitable these days, including the prime-time schedule.”
Related: ‘Tonight’ Cuts Latest NBC Layoffs & Cost Trims By Comcast
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Wow that was rather candid; no spin there.
I thought Leno agreed to “exit gracefully” in 2004.
So $15 million only saved 20 jobs? Man those Tonight Show staffers must make great wages.
That’s an average of $750k each for 20 people. How can I get hired on the Tonight Show? lol
15 of 20 mil cut came from leno’s salary. so 20 jobs = 5 mil. still 250k a job tho.
I mean Regis got his pay cut in half and he decided to walk. Jay Leno gets his pay cut in half and he stays?!?!?
Kenny, you remember wrong. Conan O’Brien decided to ‘exit’ Leno in 2004. The only reason he couldn’t pull it off is because Leno was smarter than everyone on Team CoCo when it came to writing a contract.
But I am not a fan of either of them. O’Brien pulled a dirty one on Leno when he was strong and Leno looked weak…and Leno returned the favour when their roles were reversed.
I don’t think Conan pulled a fast one on Leno…remember, Jeff Zucker was the one who proposed the original deal to both hosts. I think he created a terrible situation that was going to mess over one of them regardless. Conan is now on basic cable and Leno’s ratings aren’t what they once were…it ended up damaging them both. And that’s Jeff Zucker’s doing.
Greenblatt should learn to shut up. Love him or hate him, Leno’s been the network of ineptitude’s cash cow for years now.
Karma
Now is the time for the WGA to show solidarity and rally behind Leno and — oh.
And to think all of NBC’s problems were caused by Jeff Zucker. He destroyed a once great network with his arrogance and his stupidity. He lost at least $2 billion of NBC’s money and he walked away with a rich golden parachute. He flushed billions of dollars down the toilet because he had no clue about what primetime programming required.
They compounded their stupidity they could have put Conan on at 10:35 all they had to do was end their primetime at 10 pm then local news then Tonight Show with Conan. Tonight Show airs at 10:35 all the time in central and mountain time zones. Conan would have gone along with this he would not have been able to object to it. Jay could have stayed at 11:35 against Dave. All problems would have been avoided.
Leno should have gone on strike over the 50% pay cut he should have told Greenblatt screw you my staff and I are now on strike when you want us back on the air let me know until then you can show re-runs for as long as you want to. Greenblatt would have caved in right away. But then that would have required Jay to have something known as a backbone. He’s a spineless wimpy jellyfish.
Leno took the pay cut to save jobs, not because he had to.
Zuckeriffic, “the tonight show” airs at 1035 in central and mountain time zones because prime starts at 7 in those areas.
Prime in Eastern and pacific starts at 8, so your proposed solution isn’t really a solution because then late news and the first half of late night would still be prime time in those areas.
The solution was for jay to say no and/or for conan to walk (or wait it out) back in 2004 instead of both agreeing to zucker’s idiotic plan.
Conan and Leno were best where they were. It’s where their shows worked. Can’t last forever. I imagine after Leno leaves and Conan gets tired of his TBS stuff, then Dave retires, that will be the end of late night.
Gavin Polone’s greedy ineptitude was the reason Conan bolted NBC. Jay did nothing wrong. I hope he stays for years more.
“I’m sure there will be a day when these guys — Letterman and Leno — wake up and say, ‘It’s time for us to exit gracefully.’”
It’s a little too late for Leno.
Wow…. Conan was the one to make threats against jay… Saying he was going to leave NBC unless he got the tonight show…..the only mistake made was allowing obrien to bully them……
Remember this is also the frugality of the Philly Kabletown suits that now own the network. They haven’t exhibited the smartest of moves since they bought NBC. That includes overpaying for Olympic coverage, green lighting craptastic prime time programming, and slashing the budget of one of their few money-making shows.
No one should feel sorry for Jay in this. How on earth can he possibly get by on $15 million a year? Please! Jay, count your blessings that you made it this far on a highly inflated salary. Maybe you can have a garage sale – literally – and scrounge up a few bucks to make up the difference in your 50% pay cut.
The Jay bashing in this case is bizarre. There is nobody in this town -NOBODY – with his piles of FU money that would take a 15 mil hit for his show. There was a long running series recently canceled where the star was asked to take a very modest cut to keep the show going, response, go f yourselves, and 100 people who contributed to making this person fabulously wealthy (and who tolerated years of their diva bullshit) were out of work overnight. Whatever your thoughts on Jay creatively, this is unheard of.
They are stuck with Leno now they have to keep him until Letterman retires. They’d love to be able to get rid of Jay but Fallon isn’t ready and it serves NBC right for being so idiotic. They should have let Jay go to ABC or to syndication and Jay should have gone happily to ABC they were willing to give him the Nightline slot they were going to cancel Nightline for Leno. Jay is a coward he was afraid to leave NBC. As for Conan he would have caught up with Dave in the ratings but they were too afraid to give Conan the time required the way they gave Jay enough time it took Leno 3 years to surpass Letterman. I’ll be glad when both Dave and Jay shuffle off the stage both of them have been on too long now. Conan has to pray that he can get out of his TBS deal so he can replace Letterman in 2 or 3 years.
Everyone is replaceable. …And Jay needs to be replaced.
A very human thing to do.
I guess Jay realizes what many of his generation do not – you can’t take a dime with you!
In the end, Jay can live on fifteen million. I and most Americans are not shedding a tear for him.
I agree totally with notsureigetit. Nobody but Leno would have gracefully accepted a pay cut- especially such an enormous pay cut-to stay and save jobs. When you’re making that kind of cashola, it’s not about ‘I need ot to live’ anyway, usually…… it’s about your comparative worth in the market.
Certain of my family members carp and cry every time Jay or Dave’s salaries are discussed in the news. “NO one is worth THAT much!” Well, yes, yes they are- and you can bet they would not be getting it if they were not reaping $$ for the network, even at that salary.
I know nothing of the insiders in TV- but from what I’ve learned by following the latenight wars, I still cannot see how Jay was constantly made out as the bad guy. I like nearly all the latenight personalities to some degree, and Jay has had his heyday already- but again, I don’t see where Jay was a bad guy; he was shuffled and screwed as much as anyone.
I’ll also say, one brief meeting does not tell anything really, of course, but I had the pleasure of meeting Jay about 15 years agao when he was out of town doing a standup date. TO this day I cannot get over how common, decent and genuine he was to me and every other ‘commoner’ he interacted with there, and we were just behind-the-scenes people, not fan-contest winners or the like. He was like an everyday Joe, just like he comes across on some of his car shows. I’d love him as a neighbor.
—-LENO was the among the first of that ‘new’
generation of comedians who —–weren’t funny.
I think what Jay did was admirable. I think he’s a nice guy too. Hell of a lot nicer than that Dbag Letterman. NBC just put Jay in a sticky situation and I don’t think he ever wanted to leave The Tonight Show they just backed him into a corner he couldn’t get out of. But honestly I’m kind of really happy this whole situation happened because now Jimmy Fallon hosts Late Night and he is absolutely hilarious! Way funnier than any Late Night host nowadays. Also, I think Lorne Michaels should produce the tonight show and if the torch gets passed to Jimmy they should have him stay put in New York. Carson did the show in New York. Why’d the move Conan all the way to Cali anyways? They threw off his groove.
Jay Leno is the only late night host since Johnny Carson who has class and who truly cares about people. Taking a pay cut and saving people’s jobs proves what kind of person Jay is. David Letterman has never been funny and has an air about himself that shows an attitude of not caring about anyone but himself; they should have gotten rid of him when he admitted having an affair with a staff member; how professional is that!! David had been married before and had two sons with his previous wife and I remember when he had his wife and boys on the show one Christmas and had a look of disgust that his wife was there! I have no respect for David Letterman and how on earth did he ever get chosen for an achievement award at the Kennedy Center; he has shown disrespect to guests on his show and he should take a hike. Most of the time he sits behind his desk with a look like he’s lost. Time for the home Dave!!
As for Conan, he’s just a screwball and does not have a funny bone in his body and that’s why he did not make it in the 10;30 slot; they should have asked me because I would have told them Conan does not have what it takes to be successful on Late Night. He caused a big scene and acted like a big baby regarding the situation with Jay Leno; Conan is a bad loser; he knew what his contract was when he signed it. Conan isn’t successful on cable either.
Jimmy Kimmel is the biggest goof ever!! He’s not funny and acts like an obnoxious a__! He’s not going to last on late night; all he knows how to do is make fun of people and he thinks that’s funny. He hasn’t got a clue as to the proper way of interviewing people. He speaks like someone with no education.
Now is the time for people to rally round and support Jay Leno; he’s getting a bad rap from the other late night wanna be’s; they’re all jealous of what Jay has accomplished with his life. Jay Leno, you are the best and don’t let anyone or anything get in your way. Hope you will be on for many more years.
Let jay Leno retire when he’s ready stop forcing him out u should of learned from the last screw up . If u let him go again I’m switching to letterman. No wonder ur ratings r bad u let the good ones go . Fallen is better than Cohen.but jay kicks both their asses. He’s no 1 keep him their. I know a lot of others who feel the same way .
Love Jay – best night show host since Carson. Hope he doesn’t retire until he drops over. You can tell he loves what he is doing!!! People should stay at their job if they enjoy it, because then it really isn’t work!! My opinion no other night show host comes close to the quality and showmanship of Jay Leno.