On Friday, O’Brien to say farewell to NBC

CHICAGO — Sometime early Friday evening in Los Angeles, Conan O’Brien will say goodbye to his viewers as he concludes taping his final edition of “The Tonight Show” just 236 nights after his first.

O’Brien will remain something of an apparition on
the network that finalized its formal exit agreement with the host in
the wee hours of Thursday morning. NBC plans to air his “Tonight” reruns for the next few weeks as a segue to the Winter Olympics and then Jay Leno’s March 1 return to the late-night institution he fronted for the previous 17 years.

The $45 million “Tonight” settlement that enables NBC to reinstate Leno on “Tonight” in hopes of returning it to No. 1 in late-night reportedly will pay O’Brien more than $32 million to go away, with the remainder earmarked for his displaced staff.

More significant for O’Brien’s legion of fans, who
sought to demonstrate their support for “Coco” in recent days as it
became clear his nights on NBC were numbered, the severance deal also allows him back on television on Sept. 1.
That hiatus, just 15 days shorter than his entire “Tonight” tenure,
makes his sign-off Friday less a finale than a “to be continued.”

Where’s Coco going to go?

And what kind of revenge might the former “Late Night” host wreak on Leno and NBC, which kept him from bolting with the promise of “Tonight,” but lost confidence in the face of declining ratings?

Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, said in an interview that it’s impossible to know what impact O’Brien will have as a competitor.

“There are too many variables,” he said, such as
“what time does he go on with another competitor” and “to which other
competitor.”

Gaspin had floated a compromise rejected by O’Brien
that would have wedged a half-hour Leno show after late local news but
before a delayed “Tonight.” Leno’s aborted NBC prime-time talk show was cost-effective for the network, but its low ratings proved too costly to affiliates’ late newscasts.

Still, Gaspin expects Leno to be competitive immediately upon his return to late night.

“Over time, his ratings will grow, and he will be
dominant again,” Gaspin said. “The late-night landscape is very
competitive. … Another new player just increases that competition,
although I believe the Leno audience is quite different than the Conan
audience.”

Much of the speculation for O’Brien’s destination
has centered on Fox, which has failed in previous attempts to launch a
weeknight late-night franchise. Hiring O’Brien, who spent 16 years
building a following as host of NBC’s “Late Night” before “Tonight,” might be its last best chance.

There remain the scars at Fox of “The Wilton North
Report,” on which O’Brien was once a writer, and “The Chevy Chase
Show,” each of which lasted just a few weeks, as well as Joan Rivers’ “Late Show.”

Not everyone at Fox thinks O’Brien has broad enough
appeal to be a viable late-night host. Some affiliates who have shelled
out for syndicated off-network reruns to air in the time slot likely to
be usurped by such a program also have voiced concern, sources said.
But it’s possible those affiliates are looking to strengthen their
bargaining position.

Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, owns seven Fox affiliates.

Cable networks, who don’t need broadcast numbers for
a hit, may be inclined to step up, sources indicated. Comedy Central
might be looking to build on what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have established in late-night. For a channel such as Fox cousin FX, it
would be the opportunity to stake a claim to new original programming.

Although O’Brien’s fans were vocal in dismay at how NBC treated him, Gaspin cited fourth-quarter ratings he said showed that while NBC
stations’ late local newscasts were down from the same period a year
earlier, O’Brien’s ratings were down even more versus Leno’s “Tonight”
ratings in 2008.

“On top of that, the show was going to lose money,
and I had a problem (in Leno’s prime-time slot),” he said. “So I made a
business decision.”

Gaspin said he doubted the chaos of the past few
weeks will scar “Tonight” or Leno, who has taken his lumps in the press
and on-air, chiefly from O’Brien, Letterman and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.

“There’s a big fan base out there for Jay,” he said.
“Jay keeps doing his stand-up shows out there across the country to
standing ovations and sellout crowds. The public is used to (TV) shows
coming and going …so I do not think there’s damage long lasting from
this.”

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