Quote Originally Posted by English Mobster View Post
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Sorry, but you're the one who is terribly mistaken.

Leno was approached by NBC in 2004. He asked if he would consider leaving The Tonight Show in 5 more years because they didn't want to lose Conan to another network. Jay said sure, he probably will be ready in 5 years. You can't predict what your life is going to be like in one year, how the hell are you supposed to predict what it's going to be like in 5 years? They should have never done the deal at that time. The future of The Tonight Show shouldn't have been decided until a month in advance of when Conan would be planned take over. Yeah, sure, they had to promise Conan the show in 2004 so he wouldn't leave, but they probably could have approached it in a way that would allow the agreement to be nulled if the Leno's show still met a certain standard. Yes, he agreed to leave in 2009, but the reason I say he was "forced out" was because it was dependent on a deal finalized 5 years prior to his departure!

The CoCo-nuts are always coming back to calling Leno a douchebag for ruining Conan. If you were kicked out of your top rated spot and you were offered it back, would you not want it? He said he would take it back if they offered. NBC offered after Conan said he was leaving. Leno took it. Leno's acceptance had no influence on Conan because it came AFTER Conan said he would leave if his show was pushed back. Had Conan not left, the offer would have been void.

NBC giving Jay a new show hurt everyone. Some might claim that his lower ratings were because he sucks, but if that was true he wouldn't have held the top spot in late night before he moved. Although his show format was a little different, it was mostly the same. The logical reason for the lower ratings, and the one that explains Conan's lower ratings as well, is that each show had its own individual audience. The Leno fans tried to catch his show at 10, leaving Conan's show at 11:35. Conan's fans stayed to watch him, but he lost a good deal of his viewers to Leno's earlier time slot. Leno also had it hard in his 10 PM time slot because there's other shows on competing with him. I'd much rather watch something like CSI at 10 than Leno. If Conan and Leno swapped times, the ratings would probably remain unchanged.

NBC was absolutely not in breach. In a legal contract, everything is black and white. There is nothing implied in a contract. Unless stated explicitly that The Tonight Show was bound to its 11:35 PM time, it is not ever assumed that The Tonight Show must be at 11:35 because it has been for so long. That's all that matters. All this circumstantial bullshit that dumbass dyke blogger is spewing at that link you posted is nonsense, and even Conan is full of shit. If NBC was so stubborn, it would be no contest in court because there is NOTHING to support Conan in the contract. The reason NBC paid off Conan is all in good faith. NBC knew they fucked up huge and screwed Conan over. They knew they were wrong for putting Conan through hell and back again and didn't want to go legal with a lawsuit Conan would walk out completely empty-handed on. It was just a way for NBC to save face, because a headline of NBC screwing over Conan and then winning a lawsuit against him would have hurt them more in reputation and financially.