Poor NBC has admitted what everyone else working in the television industry in 2009 already knew. The Jay Leno Show stripped 5 nights a week at 10PM was a complete disaster. It literally helped drive down the valuation of the entire NBC Entertainment unit in this Fall's negotitation with Comcast. I'm glad new owners Comcast acted quickly to rectify this situation.
For Warner Bros., this could not be better news. Now there are 5 additional hours of prime time programming available that we were not previously counting on. This is a great way to start off January 2010 for our company. We will definitely pick up at least 2 of those 5 time slots. And we need those hours, so goodbye Jay!
And poor NBC. Their entire late night talent line up has all got to be upset. The current plan calls for Jay Leno to go on at 11:35PM for a half hour show (Jay is used to an hour long show); Conan doesn't want to go back to 12:05AM. And as Saturday Night Live so aptly put it this on Weekend Update, who wants a show called The Tonight Show on what is really tomorrow morning. And even though no one's even asking Jimmy Fallon what his views are, I'm sure Jimmy Fallon is upset that no one's paying him any attention. This is a talent meltdown of the highest caliber that NBC was originally hoping to avoid in the first place when they announced this dumb move. How this all shakes out will be very interesting in the week's to come.
You know who has to loving this more than Howard Stern is David Letterman. He must be chuckling all day at the news of this debacle. This is pretty much a textbook case in how not to handle talent, an entertainment business, primetime or a network. The collateral damage and fall out will be felt for all of 2010 throughout the entertainment industry.
Bottom line, what went wrong - pure greed. Leno was #1 by a comfortable margin in late night with The Tonight Show. Rule #1 - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. NBC had to risk losing Conan O'Brien or push him back a couple of years. But you don't put down your show horse when he's winning the derby like Leno was. Hey, as much as you would like to as a network, you can't keep all of your talent happy, and someone's got to lose. NBC wanted to have their cake and eat it too. And now instead of just losing Conan, now you've got Jay, Conan and Jimmy all upset with you. This has been a poorly managed project with a completed foibled transition planning, a lack of strategy and vision. Just another day at NBC....the network is in fourth place and falling for a reason.
And don't even get me started on how for the first time in broadcast history, NBC will LOSE, that right, LOSE money on an Olympics. How do you lose money on an Olympics? Hundreds of millions of dollars will be lost by NBC. More bad news for new owner Comcast, but good news for the network that becomes the new home of the Olympics. The loss will drive the bidding price down by a significant margin. My early prediction (drum roll please) ESPN & ABC as the new home of the Olympics. That's right, the Olympics brought to you by the Walt Disney Company. I can't wait to see how Disney synergizes the Olympics.
David Carr of the New York Times has a much better worded article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11carr.html
UPDATE: Conan O'Brien will leave The Tonight Show, which is a real shame, because he's playing right into NBC's hand. NBC wanted to embarrass him out of the job so they could give TNS back to Jay Leno entirely. Conan is such a talent though, look for him to land on his feet.
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