I've been trying to wait for something official before I decided to write about Conan's departure from The Tonight Show, but alas, it's pretty much over for Coney. According to Variety an announcement is expected from NBC today announcing Conan's departure and Jay Leno's return to The Tonight Show.
I really despise this whole situation. Conan has always been, and always will be my favorite of the late night talk show hosts, and for him to be treated in such a manner really ticks me off. Jay Leno just can't accept the fact that his contract had expired, and rather than move on he tried to get his old show back, which was never fair to O'Brien. I mean, seriously, NBC didn't even given Conan a full year at the reins of The Tonight Show before their failed experiment with Jay Leno failed at 9 p.m.; really, no matter how NBC tries to spin the numbers, The Jay Leno Show was a failure out the gate. Of course, according to Variety NBC is paying Conan anywhere from $30-$40 million to break his contract, so I don't think Conan will be hurting, but he still was mistreated in all respects by the NBC brass, I've even read from many celebrities that are siding with Conan, which will hurt Leno when he tries to find guests in the future. The main question everyone has, is what's next for Conan?
I doubt Conan will stay with NBC in any regards. The rumors are that Fox is interested in attaching Conan to a late night program, but as of the moment there is nothing official on the table according to Variety other than Fox's vested interested in going into business with Conan. We should know what Conan will do soon, but I actually love the idea of Conan getting his own show on Fox. He can pull a Letterman and finally go toe-to-toe with his biggest enemy at the moment, Jay Leno, then we can see who really deserved The Tonight Show seat. To solidify my comment about celebrity feelings toward this situation, just watch Ricky Gervais's opening speech from the Golden Globes last night:
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