From the Wires: Gone From 'Tonight,' Conan O'Brien Still Produces for NBC

NEW YORK -- NBC says it has a deal with Conan O'Brien to produce a possible series, only days after his rancorous exit as host of the network's "Tonight Show."

NBC is picking up a pilot from O'Brien's production company, Conaco. The drama, as yet untitled, focuses on a Supreme Court justice who leaves the bench to start his own practice.

Casting has yet to be announced for the pilot, which is bucking for a series slot on NBC's fall schedule.

Despite O'Brien's recent split from NBC as an on-camera star, he retains a development deal with the network.

Past series produced by Conaco include the comedy "Andy Barker, P.I.," which featured O'Brien's longtime talk-show sidekick Andy Richter.

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Source: The Associated Press

Director's Cut Alert: Conan Says "No" To NBC

LOS ANGELES -- Conan O'Brien says he's rejecting NBC's attempt to move "The Tonight Show" to a post-midnight slot to accommodate Jay Leno's return to late-night.

In a statement Tuesday, O'Brien says that NBC has given him a scant seven months to try to establish himself as host of "Tonight."

NBC wants to move "The Jay Leno Show" out of prime-time and to the 11:35 p.m. EST daily slot, bumping "Tonight" to 12:05 p.m. EST.

O'Brien said he hoped he and NBC could resolve the issue quickly so he could do a show of which he and his crew could be proud -- "for a company that values our work" -- raising the possibility he might go to another network. But he said he has no such offer.

In a statement released by Conan:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I've been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I've been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I've been absurdly lucky. That said, I've been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

USA Today: 'The Jay Leno Show' Could Be On The Way Out

Special to the Director's Cut Blog
By Gary Levin

Jay Leno's prime-time "experiment" may be cut short.

The former Tonight Show host, who spent 15 years atop the late-night ratings race, hasn't worked out at 10 p.m. ET/PT, hurting both NBC's overall ratings and the local newscasts that follow it on the network's affiliates.

Now NBC is weighing scenarios that would lead The Jay Leno Showto end its run as early as Feb. 11, on the eve of the Winter Olympics, according to network executives involved in the discussions.

In statements Thursday, NBC said the Leno Show has not yet been canceled, adding that while Leno's average audience of 5.8 million viewers has met expectations, the show has "presented some issues for our affiliates," who have complained about sharp declines for late local newscasts.

A meeting with stations is set for Jan. 21 in New York, in part to discuss a plan that could include shifting Leno back to late night or letting him walk away and paying out the remainder of his two-year contract.

NBC's decision to air the Leno Show at 10 five nights a week resulted from its promise five years ago to hand The Tonight Show to Conan O'Brien and the network's need to prevent Leno from moving his show to ABC or Fox. But programmers acknowledge it also stemmed from the fourth-place network's prime-time woes and the lack of enough shows to fill its 22-hour weekly schedule.

Still, the network characterized the move as a bold experiment for recessionary times, and last summer newly installed NBC TV chief Jeff Gaspin called it a "smart risk," since the show is produced at a fraction of the cost of a typical prime-time drama.

"Going into the season, it was going to be a seminal shift in how to approach prime time," says analyst John Rash at ad firm Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis. "And yet by any objective quantitative standard it failed."

And ratings for The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien are half those claimed by Leno in that late-night slot.

In prime time, NBC could replace Leno starting March 1 by shifting top-rated The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: SVU to later time slots and adding more reality shows and Dateline NBC to the schedule until the TV season ends in May.

For next fall, the network is developing 18 pilots for potential new series, the most in several years, that could be used to help fill the time.

Promo: Romona & Conan in Late Night

Here's our new on-air promo for Channel 3 News at 11 PM with Romona Robinson and the new "Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

It's worth staying up late for!

Director's Cut Alert: Conan Interview on Channel 3 News Tonight

Update: We have added the exclusive interview Romona did with Conan on Thursday at the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. Watch the video below.

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Conan O'Brien, the new host of the "Tonight Show" was in town and stopped by the studios of WKYC this afternoon.

He sat down with our very own Romona Robinson to talk about his new gig and what he hopes to bring to the "Tonight Show" when he takes over June 1st.

Parts of the interview will air at 6, 7 & 11 PM tonight on Channel 3 News.

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Director's Alert: Andy Richter Reunites with Conan O'Brien on the new "Tonight Show"

The Director's Cut blog has learned that Andy Richter, former sidekick for Conan O'Brien when he launched as host of "Late Night," will reunite with Conan as the announcer on "The Tonight Show."

Conan O'Brien will have a familiar face when he begins his new "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" on NBC where he will reunite with Andy Richter ("Late Night with Conan O'Brien") -- for the first time on a daily basis in almost nine years -- as the network announced that Richter will return to its late-night lineup as the announcer for the new show that begins June 1. In addition to his announcing duties, Richter will participate in comedic pieces.

Few performers enjoy the chemistry that Richter and O'Brien developed over their seven years together on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Richter will join O'Brien for the first time on a daily basis since May 26, 2000.

"Andy is one of the funniest people I know and we've maintained a close friendship since he left "Late Night," said O'Brien. "We have a proven chemistry that will be an incredible asset to "The Tonight Show." I'm looking forward to working with Andy on a daily basis again, particularly since he owes me $300."

Actor and writer Andy Richter rose to fame while having the best seat in the house on NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" as O'Brien's sidekick since its premiere on September 13, 1993. Since his departure from the show in 2000, Richter starred in the Emmy nominated "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" for the Fox network, and most recently starred in the series "Andy Barker, P.I." for NBC. Richter has been very active in the feature film world as well. His many appearances include such films as Robert Altman's "Dr. T and the Women" and "Scary Movie 2", "Elf" and "Madagascar: (both 1 and 2), "Talladega Nights", "Blades of Glory" and "Semi-Pro". This summer, he can be seen in the Fox feature "They Came From Upstairs". Richter attended the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign and Columbia College, where he studied film and video.

"The Tonight Show" continues to be the most dominant late-night institution in television history. Since it first premiered on September 27, 1954 with Steve Allen, "The Tonight Show" has had just four permanent hosts, including Leno. Allen, host of the then titled "Tonight," eventually left late night to start his own primetime variety series on NBC. Jack Paar premiered on July 29, 1957. On October 1, 1962, Johnny Carson stepped on stage for day one of his tenure as host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." Leno, who began guest-hosting "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in September 1987, became host of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on May 25, 1992. O'Brien joined NBC as a writer on "Saturday Night Live" in 1988 and premiered as host of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" on September 13, 1993. O'Brien becomes the fifth host of "The Tonight Show" on June 1, 2009.

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" will originate from Stage 1 at Universal Studios and will be produced by Universal Media Studios. Jeff Ross is the executive producer.

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Source: NBC

Spotlight Feature: So Long Conan, We'll See You Soon

The expectations were high on day one for NBC: Replace Dave Letterman with someone that could keep the momentum of the show going while building it into their own. The choosen one: Conan O'Brien.

Now Conan O'Brien is promising not to cry tonight as he ends his 16-year run at "Late Night." O'Brien joked on NBC's "Today" show that he's gotten injections and has had a lot of therapy to do away with his emotions. Seriously, though, O'Brien says he doesn't know how he'll react when his final show ends tonight.

He takes over the "Tonight Show" June 1.

Jimmy Fallon replaces O'Brien March 2.

On April 25, 1993, Lorne Michaels suggested O'Brien try out to be David Letterman's successor as host of Late Night with David Letterman, with Andy Richter signed on to be his sidekick. O'Brien auditioned on the set of The Tonight Show, where he interviewed Mimi Rogers and Jason Alexander. O'Brien resigned his position on "The Simpsons", despite his contract not having expired.

Premiering on September 13 of that same year, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally unfavorable critical reviews for the first 2 to 3 years after its debut. O'Brien himself, a total unknown among the general public before being named host, was seen by many as not being worthy of the program. NBC even poked fun at this perception in a radio ad which aired shortly before the show's debut and had O'Brien relaying an anecdote where someone recognized him on the street and said, "Look, honey, there's the guy who doesn't deserve his own show!" Another source of criticism was the fact that O'Brien himself appeared to be very nervous and awkward during the show's early days. As a self-deprecating nod to this, the original opening sequence for Late Night With Conan O'Brien was animated and featured a caricature of O'Brien who sweated and pulled at his collar nervously.

The show remained on multi-week renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate. By 1996-97, O'Brien's writing and comedic style was thought to have improved, and he began to develop a growing fan base, especially with high school and college students, as well as the respect of critics and his peers. O'Brien would later poke fun at the first three years of the show when on his 10th Anniversary Special, Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he's actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool...but you've only been funny for seven!"

Since then, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team have consistently been nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, and finally won in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 he and the Late Night writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series.

In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which has since shared in the production credits for Late Night.

On the first episode after the September 11th attacks, O'Brien told a story of how he went to pray for the first time since just after he had been announced as the host of Late Night, eight years prior. O'Brien was reported to have been shaken up and talked about a need to have faith.

O'Brien in Helsinki, Finland in February 2006. After meeting Finnish actor/director Lauri Nurkse on October 11, 2005, O'Brien discovered that he was popular in Finland and began a long-running joke that he resembles the first female President of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland" and his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland and appeared on several television shows, and met President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.

O'Brien ad libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate web-cam site. NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that someone might register the domain name and post content with which NBC would not wish to be associated, or that people would get upset and sue NBC when they found out the website is fictional. NBC now owns the rights to www.hornymanatee.com for 10 years, as per Conan O'Brien. According to O'Brien, it was decided that, since NBC owned the name, they might as well create the website. Late Night has since developed an actual website, which now has received millions of hits, reaching 4 million page views in four days. People send in "horny manatee" artwork, poems, and other content. According to the Alexa website ranking system, Hornymanatee.com has had over 10 million web hits.

A popular recurring bit on the show is Pale Force, a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness." As Gaffigan introduces each new episode, O'Brien protests the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak and impotent.

As of October 2005[update], Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers.

In 2004, O'Brien was named as Jay Leno's replacement when he leaves the Tonight Show in 2009. Leno stated on the show that he wanted to avoid a repeat of the controversy and hard feelings that resulted when he was chosen by NBC to host the Tonight Show over David Letterman.

O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as a musical guest, O'Brien joined the 17 piece band along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon & Thomas Haden Church and played acoustic guitar and contributed backup vocals for the song, "Pay Me My Money Down".

In 2008, Conan O'Brien staged a feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee a "bump." This fight crossed over among all three shows.

On the June 13, 2008 episode of Late Night, O'Brien simply walked out at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent Late Night guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert Late Night moments.

On July 21, 2008, NBC announced that O'Brien will take over the Tonight Show on June 1, 2009 and will post reruns of "Late Night" until Jimmy Fallon takes over.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

*The Late Night Final Day Twitter Pix - CLICK HERE
*Late Night Web Site - CLICK HERE

Biography Source: Wikipedia.org

Director's Alert: Jay Leno to Stay at NBC; Launch new 10 p.m. show in Fall 2009

Update: 12/9/08 - It's Now Official!

NEW YORK -- Jay Leno is staying at NBC, and he's moving to prime time.

The network announced on the "Today" show Tuesday that Leno will host a show on weeknights at 10 p.m. Eastern, after he leaves the "Tonight" show. The network had announced earlier that Conan O'Brien would move to the "Tonight" show and succeed Leno.

The deal not only prevents Leno from moving to another network and competing with O'Brien, it also has the potential to be a big cost savings for NBC.

Dramas at 10 p.m. Eastern used to be a mainstay of network schedules, but they have been fading -- particularly on NBC. One reason is digital video recorders; more people are watching shows they taped earlier than the live 10 p.m. shows.

The deal was first reported Tuesday in The New York Times.

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Our Original Posting from 12/8/08

Things at NBC are moving fast and we have learned another piece of the puzzle which seems to be coming together quickly.

The Director's Cut Blog has learned that Jay Leno will stay with NBC and launch a new 10 p.m. broadcast in the Fall of 2009.

TV Week.com reports this evening that Jay has apparently signed a multi-year deal to do a Monday through Friday talk/variety show at 10 p.m. weeknights, leaving the network with 5 less additional hours to program each week.

The announcement is expected on Tuesday, with NBC declining comment.

This new program would keep Jay at the network, give him a substantial pay increase and keep Conan O'Brien happy as the new host of "The Tonight Show" starting this summer.

Jay had been expected to jump to ABC or FOX.

Director's Alert: Leno to sign off May 29th

NBC announced this morning that Jay Leno's last day as host of the "Tonight Show" will be on Friday, May 29th.

Conan O'Brien will take over the following Monday, June 1st, for a smoothless transition according to NBC Entertainment Co-Chairs Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff.

Speculation continues to have Leno going to ABC as host of a new show at 11:35 p.m. that will displace Nightline.

Still, we scratch our head as to why NBC would jeopardize losing their late night leading position with a move at this time. While Conan does well, he isn't Leno.

Your thoughts...post them under "comments" below.

Director's Alert: It's Official - Jimmy Fallon taking over "Late Night"

As we first told you on the Director's Blog 2 weeks ago, NBC has indeed tapped Jimmy Fallon to replace Conan O'Brien on "Late Night."

Here was the offical announcement made today by NBC:

NBC has identified the last piece in its late night succession plan, naming Jimmy Fallon as the new host of "Late Night" when Conan O'Brien moves to "The Tonight Show" in 2009.

The announcement was made today by Marc Graboff and Ben Silverman, Co-Chairmen, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, at a press conference at the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center.

"We couldn't be happier to have Jimmy back on NBC and to have our number one-rated late night team fully in place for the future," said Silverman, "Jimmy is more than just a likeable guy and a great comedian, he is genuinely interested in what people have to say."

"Jimmy's proven track record and personality make him a natural for this important role that will bring a new generation of fans to "Late Night," said Graboff. "He will put his own distinct mark on late night humor just as he did on "SNL" and in his other creative endeavors."

Added Rick Ludwin, Executive Vice President, Late Night and Primetime Series, NBC Entertainment, "Simply put, Jimmy has all of the qualities for a late night host -- in addition to being funny, he loves talking to people on and off camera, he's a talented comedy writer and his time at "SNL" demonstrated not only his ability to entertain, but also the work ethic and dedication it takes to succeed at hosting a nightly show."

A recognized comic talent, Fallon has demonstrated an ability to deliver versatile, standout performances while always staying grounded in his stand-up roots.

Fallon first garnered attention in 1998 when he joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" and quickly became an audience favorite for his memorable recurring characters and spot-on impressions and in 2000, Fallon became the co-anchor of the "SNL's" signature segment "Weekend Update" alongside Tina Fey.

Fallon ventured off into other television roles, including Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's Emmy award-winning miniseries "Band of Brothers." A favorite among the MTV audience, Fallon hosted the MTV Movie Awards twice and hosted the MTV Video Music Awards in 2002. Fallon made an impressive turn guest hosting "The Late Show" for an ailing David Letterman in 2003.

Fallon made his feature film debut in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" and went on to appear in numerous films including Woody Allen's "Anything Else," "Fever Pitch" opposite Drew Barrymore and the indie "Factory Girl."

The premiere date for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" will be announced at a later date. Lorne Michaels is executive producer. "Late Night" is a production of Universal Media Studios in association with Broadway Video. NBC is America's Late Night Leader with the number one-rated "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Last Call with Carson Daly" and "Saturday Night Live."

News: NBC Streaming Conan O'Brien

NBC began streaming full-length episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the first late night talk show host to officially stream on the web. Episodes will be made available on NBC.com at 9 am ET/ 12 noon PT the morning after each telecast.

Conan has been one of TV's more web-savvy comedians; his animated series Pale Force was one of the first original series featured on NBC.com.