The ripples of NBC's decision to replace Conan O'Brien with Jay Leno — because let's face it, that's what it was — aren't just being felt on the TV schedule. Displays in 30 Rockefeller Plaza will be taken down. The NBC website will have to be scrubbed. And the NBC store will have to figure out just what merchandise featuring the former 17-year late-night staple they can still get away with selling. (more...)

If you missed it, here it is, and shall live in perpetuity, thanks to the wonder of the Internet. Starring: Tom Hanks, Neil Young, Steve Carrell, Will Ferrell, Cheap Trick, Andy Richter and, of course — Conan O'Brien. (more...)

"Walking away from the Tonight Show is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," said Conan at the close of his run of the Tonight Show, for seven months of zaniness and fun. It was not a moment of punchlines — it was his last to address his staff, his fans, and the company where he spent his career: NBC. (more...)

Has watching a man crash through a plate of glass, french kiss a bear and tip over a row of Domino's pizza guys ever made you misty? It will tonight. Conan O'Brien has delivered his final Tonight Show monologue on his final Tonight Show — and it delivered right back. (more...)

Sources on Team Conan in L.A. found out two weeks ago that NBC might want to make changes to its late-night schedule — and the flagship program that has anchored the lineup for decades. Yesterday, they officially know that that that flagship program will continue to air at 11:35 p.m. as it always has. They just won't be working there anymore. Tonight is their last night. (more...)

"This is very hard for me though, you know I've been with NBC for a really long time. A really long time." It doesn't matter that it's followed by a punchline, as are all the sentimental moments in tonight's Tonight Show. By now, we all know that he thinks that it sucks. (more...)

Sure, it was nice watching Conan stick it to his bosses, spending boatloads of NBC's cash on a Bugatti Veyron and licensing fees for The Rolling Stones song "Satisfaction." And when NBC pulled the Conan clip, likely to save money on the insane price tag they would incur if the Stones song streamed online, it seemed like Conan really showed them. But now it's being reported that he borrowed the car. (more...)

Last night I was on the Joy Behar Show to discuss the Conan-Leno-NBC-Late-Night kerfuffle. Joy spoke first with Bill Carter of the New York Times, pretty much the go-to expert on all things late night thanks to his seminal — and still relevant! — book The Late Shift. Following Carter's comments (he thinks NBC and Leno will be just fine, by the way), Joy discussed the brou-ha-ha with her panel, which consisted of me, Rachelle Carson of "Living With Ed" (her show with husband Ed Begley) and comedian-actor-musician-pop-culture-expert Hal Sparks, who made me crack up on the air with a lube joke. Well done, Hal. Lube jokes are never rendered obsolete by breaking news stories. (more...)

It's — finally — official: Conan O'Brien is leaving NBC. The fifth host of the Tonight Show will have that title until 12:35 a.m. early Saturday morning EST, when his final tonight show will end and he will officially be done at the network. (more...)

As Conan and NBC were sealing their final agreement of separation in some sad, awkward signing ceremony in an L.A. conference room, this clip was airing on NBC: Conan proudly announcing that he'd spent $1.5 million on a Bugatti Veyron Mouse and put whiskers and ears on it — "There it is ladies and gentlemen - the most expensive car in the world dressed up like a mouse" — and soundtracked it with the Rolling Stones classic, "Satisfaction," complete with ridiculously expensive licensing fees. Hey man, art isn't easy. Neither, apparently, is revenge. (more...)

"My name is Conan O'Brien, and I am just three days away from the biggest drinking binge in history." Conan O'Brien has taken to opening his monologues with self-deprecating references making light of his situation — that is to say, the situation of being kicked out of the Tonight Show after just seven months in specific violation of his contract that he signed five years ago thinking Jay Leno was retiring but instead NBC gave Leno a 10 p.m. show that tanked which screwed up Conan's lead-in and caused an affiliate revolt which meant The Jay Leno Show had to be canceled which led to NBC's brilliant plan to give him a show at 11:35 that would bump The Tonight Show back a half hour which essentially meant giving him back the Tonight Show which Conan refused to do so he's out and now Jay Leno is taking back the Tonight Show which was the one thing that Conan's contract was meant to protect against. Yes, that situation. (more...)

I don't speak this language (as in, I have no idea what language this is) but everyone speaks the primal language of pride, pain and betrayal that is the Conan-Leno-NBC mess. I don't really understand what's happening at the end, but God I hope it foretells the future, because Conan-as-Hulk would be awesome. ("You wouldn't like me when I'm angry....") Also, I am pretty sure they took artistic license with this because the Jeff Zucker character really, really looks like he has feelings. Anyhow. Enjoy. (more...)

video Jeff Zucker was on Charlie Rose last night, somewhere between Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on the clock — though clearly not between them in allegiance. Lest anyone think that an 11th hour reprieve for Conan is possible — dressing in orange for rallies can only do so much — It seems clear that Zucker has moved on. (more...)

"Hello there, I'm Conan O'Brien and I need all of you to write me a letter of recommendation." For those who were worried that erstwhile Tonight Show Conan O'Brien's late-night hating on NBC was over, those fears were laid to rest by this reassurance at the top:

"A lot of papers are now reporting that I am now legally prohibited from saying anything negative about NBC. So goodnight ladies and gentlemen, it's been a great show!"

I’m no Carnac the Magnificent, but I think it’s safe to say that digital video will be around for some time. And it’s clear that social video sites are not only cutting into the culture of television, but also redefining how TV is watched for the digital generation. In the realm of late-night television, there are certain pros and cons that come with material showing up online. Video sharing allows for a greater distribution of content beyond the smaller crowd of bedtime watchers; however, that also makes it non-centralized from the broadcast, and normal measurements used for popularity or courting advertisers may be impossible to show. (more...)

I haven't practiced law for about six years. I left the profession because I hated working in a big law firm and anyway, I wanted to write. But I loved law school, and one of my favorite subjects was Contracts, with the inestimable Professor Trebilcock. (Yes, we did make jokes. But we loved him.) What I remember from class is the why of contracts — yes the law should keep people from murdering each other, but why should the law care about your business deal? Or your bait and switch? Or your Carbolic Smoke Ball? Well, society can't function on the basis of broken promises and reneged-on deals, otherwise no one would ever do anything before they were paid, and no one else would ever pay before anyone had done anything, so nothing would get done. In order for life to move briskly along, distributors needed to know they would be paid for bringing you food and contractors needed to know they would get paid for building you buildings, etc. etc. etc. Making deals means not making other deals — making a deal over here means giving something up over there. You can't be on NBC if you've accepted an offer from, say, Fox — so in order to turn down Fox, you need to be able to rely on NBC. Which brings us to Conan. (more...)

Saturday Night Live opened with their take on NBC's late-night wars between current Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien and the network-backed Jay Leno — all of which are pretty closely tied with SNL. Not only is SNL an NBC staple, it's Conan O'Brien's alma mater, and SNL founder and exec producer is Lorne Michaels, who anointed Conan Late Show host in 1993 and is the exec producer of that show which now stars former SNL alum Jimmy Fallon. So it was a safe bet that an SNL sketch about NBC's embarrassing late-night wars would play it a little safe. This sketch, however, played it a lot safe, though at the very least it framed the issue pretty neatly at the top (an arrangement made in 2004 in one set of circumstances came to fruition in an unanticipated new set of circumstances, which contributed to the failure of said arrangement). The setup: Fred Armisen as Larry King talking it through with Darrell Hammond as Leno, Bill Hader as Conan, Jason Sudeikis as a manic David Letterman, and, briefly, Will Forte as Carson Daly. (No Jimmy Fallon though, which might have been an easy get!) Hader and Hammond, usually wickedly sharp at impressions, were weak here, as was the thin material. Actually, here was the best line: "Coming up, Snoop Dogg tells us why he wants to work with Susan Boyle." But, nonetheless, it is now part of the story, so here you go — Sigourney Weaver is hosting so presumably we'll have some fun with giant blue kitties coming up. (But interesting note: her father, Pat Weaver, used to be president of NBC...and created the Tonight Show. A-mazing.)

Today little updates have been coming out about ongoing negotiations between NBC and Conan O'Brien's people — for him to leave the network, and the Tonight Show, where he's been hosting for just seven months after being waiting for it for five years.* At TMZ, reports surfaced that Conan's big payout from NBC was contingent on a non-disparagement clause (which means no more NBC bashing). Page Six reported that Conan was stiffing his staff, and his manager, Gavin Polone, said that was an "outrageous" lie (Which dovetails with what a Conan staffer told me earlier this week: " has repeatedly pledged to take care of everyone and has an excellent track record on loyalty"). The deal is still not official — Polone told The Wrap that "They don’t have to do this...I’ve said it directly to them over and over. ‘Reverse your mistake. Reverse your decision.’” Ouch. (more...)

Conan O'Brien is done at NBC. That much seems obvious from the scorched-earth shows he's delivered over the past week — not to mention from the rumors that Jay Leno has re-upped for that 11:35 p.m. spot and Dick Ebersol trashing him in the New York Times. It's sad, because we all know that this is not what he wants, and you can bet behind closed doors he fought like mad for what he's about to lose. But for those of us who have watched this late-night drama unfold for barely longer than a week, it's pretty obvious that he's gone through the various stages of grief, from anger to denial straight through to just not giving a damn. (more...)

Remember 2004? Could it be that it was all so simple then? Or has time rewritten every line? Yes, yes and yes. Back then, it was very simple — Conan O'Brien was taking over the Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009. Changing of the guard. Passing of the torch. Handing down a treasure from generation to generation. Ah yes. It made all sorts of sense — then. Fast forward to now. Now, it makes a different sort of sense. Then, the Tonight Show aired at 11:35 p.m. after local news that enjoyed a healthy lead in from various 10 p.m. dramas. There was no such thing as online video and Tivo was still what the kids were calling "newfangled." Now, networks are watching the cash drain from their bottom line in a splintering media universe and no longer have the time, patience or money to let a show "find its voice." Oh, and contracts feel...different 5 years later. But — remember then? (more...)

Yesterday we asked "When Will Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show, And NBC Bashing, End?" Well according to a piece today by Kim Masters in The Daily Beast, Conan's days at NBC appear to be over very soon, writing "the late-night nightmare is almost over. Conan O’Brien is leaving NBC and receiving a payout—and he’ll be free to appear on another network before his contract expires." (more...)

video It's official: Conan's bitter. Tonight, again, his monologue was laced with jokes sticking it to NBC — plus the first salvos that seemed intentionally aimed at Jay Leno. Until tonight, Conan's mentions of Leno himself were benign, instead focusing on NBC's plans with respect to both their shows — which Leno has echoed emphatically on his own show. Tonight, that ended. (more...)

video The news yesterday was that Conan O'Brien was not happy about NBC's shenanigans. On his own show, he joked about it, zinging NBC with a much lighter touch than Leno, but still. "Welcome to the show everybody," he greeted the crowd, which seemed to cheer for him extra-long at the start. "We've got a great show tonight - I have no idea what time it will air, but it's gonna be a great show." (more...)

TMZ reported earlier today that, according to unnamed sources; "Jay Leno is going back to his 11:30 PM time slot, and it's looking like Conan O'Brien is the odd man out." This came after rumors hit the Internet earlier in the day that Leno had been canceled. While nothing has been officially announced, Bill Carter reports that NBC executives "did not deny a report posted by the website TMZ that NBC was considering making the switch and replacing Mr. O’Brien at “Tonight” with Mr. Leno." (more...)

VIDEO Last night Mad Men star Jon Hamm was on The Tonight Show, chit-chatting with Conan O'Brien about everything except Mad Men, which was frustrating for those of us wondering if Don Draper knows how to swim. (Yes yes, we all know creator Matt Weiner has put the kibosh on revealing the state secrets, but come on, have you guys not figured out that the rest of us just like talking about it?) In any case, we did learn that Jon Hamm's grandmother isn't a fan of the show. Her feedback: "I don't think you're making very good decisions." Well, frankly, that goes double for Conan. (more...)

Last night, Conan O'Brien ran his fourth Twitter Tracker segment since he took the reins of The Tonight Show. As always, he did not disappoint:

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