Conan O’Brien and his NBC employers have reached a separation agreement, after an embarrassingly public feud that lasted over a week. Mr. O’Brien walks away with a large settlement, and NBC has assurances that he will no longer disparage the network, nor go to a competing network before Sept. 1.
It has been widely reported that the settlement is $45 million, with $12.5 million of the total earmarked as severance for O’Brien’s staff, many who uprooted their families from New York to California just seven months ago.
The situation began when NBC attempted to reinstate former late night ratings king Jay Leno to his original 11:35 p.m. time slot after the network’s failed experiment to air his show at 10:00 p.m. earned low ratings, affecting the lead-in to the nightly news.
In an effort to keep Leno, O’Brien, and Jimmy Fallon in their late night arsenal, the plan called for O’Brien’s Tonight Show to be bumped back to 12:05 a.m.
However, in a publicly released statement addressed to “People of Earth,” O’Brien rejected the proposal, forcing NBC to pick between himself and Leno. The network executives sided with Leno, leaving an awkward situation in which a disgruntled O’Brien used his nightly “Tonight Show” appearance as a platform to ridicule NBC.
For example, in one bit O’Brien procured the world’s most expensive car, the Bugatti Veyron and the expensive rights to The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” in a sarcastic ploy “to introduce new comedy bits that aren’t so much funny as they are crazy expensive.”
O’Brien’s final show will air today, Friday, Jan. 22, where he will host Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell.
NBC will air Tonight Show reruns until the Vancouver Winter Olympics kick off in February. Leno will return to his original Tonight Show spot following the Olympics, and O’Brien is embargoed from appearing as a guest on a competing show per the terms of the severance agreement.
O’Brien’s next move is cause for speculation, with industry watchers claiming that FOX network is the most logical next step because the network doesn’t currently have a late night comedy show. Joining a cable network is also speculated to be a logical outcome.
