In the past six months a number of high-profile personalities and producers, in addition to O’Donnell, have left NBC, including: CNBC/NBC News star Erin Burnett left for CNN, Meredith Vieira apparently retired from her role as cohost at TODAY but is staying within the NBC family), CNBC anchor Trish Regan appears to have quit to take another gig and is currently sitting out a mandatory contractual period, MSNBC Morning Joe Executive Producer Chris Licht left for CBS, NBC’s respected Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker bid farewell for a high level CNN gig, (and our own Mediaite founder Dan Abrams left NBC/MSNBC for ABC News.) Throw in whatever happened with Keith Olbermann and at the very least you have a suspicious trend. No question, the days of loyalty to one network are long gone.

But since Comcast leaders have made clear that they are allowing NBC News and CNBC to make their own editorial decisions, why are top NBC producers and talent are fleeing for the greener pastures of other networks? Insiders speculate that it could be the absence of recently departed NBC Universal Chief Jeff Zucker. While Steve Capus has long held the official title of President, NBC News, it was no secret that Zucker, a long time Today Show Executive Producer, made many, if not most, of the big picture decisions for NBC News and MSNBC. Now with Zucker out, Capus has taken on more responsibility but some NBC insiders fear (and his competitors hope) Capus may lack the relationships and/or power to woo and keep and talent the way Zucker did. CNBC Chief Mark Hoffman, on the other hand, has long had more autonomy than Capus, but one has to wonder why he too is suddenly having a tougher time holding on to his network’s stars?

An NBC News spokesperson tells Mediaite “NBC News has the deepest bench in all of TV News, we have the greatest number of platforms and opportunities, the greatest on air and off air teams and our unmatched audience size reflects that.” A valid point to be sure.

We asked our founder Dan Abrams to weigh in and he seems to side with NBC on this one: “I think in a lot of these cases another network just has more to offer. There’s no question that Jeff was terrific with talent, but I am not sure anyone, no matter how persuasive, can combat a better package.”

This may be so, but NBC should have a distinct advantage since they have much greater reach. With a cable arm (CNBC and/or MSNBC) as well as the NBC News network they should be better able to keep top talent, on air and off, busy and happy. It seems the recent exodus strays from what might or should be considered the norm.

Furthermore, these moves are different than, say, the resignation of someone like longtime NBC Sports Chief Dick Ebersol which has more to do with the normal shift in power after Comcast took control of the executive suites.

With Current TV preparing to challenge MSNBC, CBS trying to compete in the evenings and on Sunday morning and major changes afoot at the network morning shows, no matter why it’s happening, it has got to be an issue that both NBC and its competitors are watching closely.

Note – this post was updated with a comment from an NBC News spokesperson.

Fear not, America: your concerns over the fate of Katie Couric‘s television career will be addressed today. And she’s going to be fine, really, truly fine. In The New York Times, Bill Carter writes the deal, expected to include a syndicated talk show and a role for Couric on ABC News shows, will be worth millions. “One of the chief negotiators in pursuit of Ms. Couric, speaking anonymously last week because of the confidential nature of the talks, said, “We all know what we’re looking at with a successful syndicated show — $100 million to $300 million a year” in revenue. As host and co-owner, Ms. Couric’s own take each year could be tens of millions of dollars.

For Couric, the ABC move means getting back to a more relaxed format–and a wider range of topics. It also reunites her with Jeff Zucker:

From the start, Ms. Couric made clear that her full partner in the syndicated show, both on the production and business side, would be Jeff Zucker, the former chief executive of NBC, who wanted to make his return to television in a control room as executive producer of the talk show. That was his role on “Today,” when he and Ms. Couric, along with Matt Lauer, steered the NBC program to ratings dominance that continues unabated.

In a fascinating twist revealed by Carter, NBC’s bid to land Couric and her new show got off to an bizarre start back in February, when the network’s team, gathered for a low-profile meeting with Couric and her agent, chose the very same hotel where Keith Olbermann had arrived to meet with Al Gore and the Current team, a revelation that caught NBC off guard:

Mr. Olbermann, the one-time star of MSNBC, had left the network acrimoniously just two weeks earlier, and he and the Current retinue were in the meeting room directly next to the one NBC had rented for the Couric negotiations.

“It was awkward,” a senior NBC executive said.

Technically, Katie Couric‘s out of work this morning. But don’t worry, she’s going to be just fine. The now former anchor of the CBS Evening News, who wrapped up five years in that role Thursday night, is reportedly close to inking a new contract that with ABC as host of an afternoon talk show. According to a report this morning in the Los Angeles Times, citing “people familiar with the negotiations,” Couric’s syndicated show would launch in the fall of 2012.

Couric’s contract with CBS ends June 6, and the Times notes CBS has the right to match any offer Couric receives before the contract expires:

Disney Chief Executive Robert A. Iger has been “very involved” in the deal, the people said. He has been particularly interested in bringing Couric to ABC, in part, to fill the programming void that will be created by the departure of the queen of daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey. Disney’s ABC-owned stations carrry “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which will broadcast its last episode Wednesday.

“Speculation around Katie is exciting, but there is no new deal to announce,” said Couric’s spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik.

Joining her in the new venture would be Jeff Zucker, former chief executive of NBC Universal, who started working with Couric in the late 1980s when he was a producer with NBC’s morning show, “Today.” Zucker is credited with building “Today” into a financial and ratings juggernaut, and his and Couric’s career trajectories were closely tied for more than a decade.

The Times reports the new Couric show is expected to cost about $40 million a year to produce, with both Couric and Zucker having a financial stake in the show.

These days the Today Show has alternated primarily between two male substitute hosts: Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla. So what happened to Gregory? In 2008, Gregory was given the prestigious job hosting the Sunday political powerhouse Meet The Press. No small job to fill Tim Russert‘s shoes at the number one weekend political program. But a New York Times piece covering his move made it clear the Today Show was still part of the deal and part of Gregory’s future. Bill Carter wrote: “Under his new contract, he will continue to have a presence on “Today,” serving as the regular substitute host for Matt Lauer.” The Today Show clearly intended to have Gregory move from Meet The Press to the Today Show ala George Stephanopoulos if Lauer ever left.

With speculation now rampant that Lauer might actually pack his bags at the end of his contract, insiders are speculating publicly about Geist. Quintanilla, Lester Holt, Al Roker even ABC‘s Chris Cuomo but very little mention of Gregory. While Gregory has been thrown the occasional fill-in bone as of late, he has been far from a regular host on the show, the way he once was.

Did Jeff Zucker‘s departure shift Gregory’s star trajectory? We contacted NBC for comment and a spokesperson told Mediaite “Matt Lauer is under contract and has a long time left at the TODAY show. We prefer not to comment on speculation.” That’s probably true, but that doesn’t mean that the media soothsayers haven’t noticed the shifting narrative of what “insiders” have been speculating. One has to wonder if that is a source of frustration for the multi-talented Gregory. Stay tuned.

Writing for the NY Times, Carter reports:

Any such move would be intensely complicated. Mr. Lauer’s contract extends to the end of 2012, while the new show would be expected to start in September. And NBC can be counted on to make perhaps the biggest offer in television news history to keep him at “Today.”

But some people close to the participants conceded the notion had been “thrown around” between the former hosts — and is under serious consideration.

The linchpin in any new show pairing Ms. Couric and Mr. Lauer is Jeff Zucker, who before he was NBC’s chief executive put the two hosts together as executive producer of “Today.” Mr. Zucker had already been expected to be the main creative force behind a talk show with Ms. Couric.

“I think the three of them think it would be awesome to get together again,” one person close to the negotiations said. “It still seems more likely NBC will keep Matt. But it’s not out of the question.”

Even if a reunion with Mr. Lauer does not happen, Ms. Couric is all but certain to commit to the syndicated talk show and leave CBS.

Carter’s lengthy piece primarily focuses on Couric’s “rocky” stint at CBS, and confirms what has already been reported elsewhere many times over — Couric is leaving the anchor chair soon. Read the entire article here.

Because of an existing friendship with Silva, Zucker agreed to serve as producer, although sources familiar with the project said that the former NBC Uni head, who has yet to announce his further plans, is not looking at a full-time career as a film producer. Silva will be involved as exec producer on the film adaptations.

As The Wall Street Journal reports this morning, Zucker says he hasn’t finalized his next step, but has been approached by private equity firms–though he hasn’t ruled out a whole host of other options, including a return to news, going into digital media, or even politics:

Zucker has been approached by several, according to people familiar with the matter. Which ones couldn’t be learned, but the people said the idea is one of many the executive, who has spent the past 24 years at NBCU, is considering. Wednesday, at a media conference in New York, Zucker said he hasn’t decided what he’ll do next. When asked to ruminate on some possibilities, he ticked off his interests – business, news, journalism, producing, sports and digital media. “I think somewhere in all that is the intersection of what I’d like do,” he said, laughing that answering the question felt like putting out an “I’m available” sign.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that a move into private equity wouldn’t be a first for a top media honcho:

Among media veterans moving into private equity, former Time Warner boss Dick Parsons became a senior adviser to Providence Equity Partners after leaving his role and before becoming Citigroup chairman. Former Viacom and Time Warner top executive Rich Bressler has worked for Thomas H. Lee Partners since 2006.

How did Hulu turn $108 million into $240 million? As the AP reports, Kilar told the conference that his company has “attracted 352 advertisers in the last three months, including all of the country’s top 25.” That, combined with the Hulu Plus paid subscription plan introduced this year, has given television networks about 240 million reasons to start thinking harder about their own futures.

The video offers a quick summary of Team Coco’s high-profile battles with Zucker, NBC, and Jay Leno, whose ratings, the video reminds us, have since “tanked.” The fiasco ends with Zucker, whom they say was fired for creating NBC’s late-night mess, getting hit by a Comcast-branded truck. Perhaps he’ll be checked into the same hospital as President Obama, whom NMA almost ran over with the ‘Tea Party Express’ train.

In a rather unusual twist, the video directs the attention of its international audience toward a domestic issue of grave importance to the Taiwanese people: their inability to watch Conan on TBS. Thankfully, the citizens (and Panda bears) of Taiwan “can watch Conan on his website.” Perhaps a future NMA-Team Coco collaboration is in order?

Until then, enjoy the hard work of Taiwan’s top animated news specialists with the NMA video below:

The whole thing is pretty funny and we have to join in Kimmel’s amusement that anyone would greenlight something called Baby Borrowers, a show that (like a few on the list) was a remake of a British series that failed on this side of the pond. Speaking of which, as entertaining as the spoof is, there’s a horrible error in it that completely pulled me out. The Kimmel used an image from the miniseries Merlin which earned NBC 15 Emmy nominations in 1998 when they probably meant the 2008 British series that bombed on NBC before being moved to Syfy where it is still airing. Isn’t that an awful mistake? Right? Right? What, I’m the only one who cares? Oh, okay then.

Unlike Jeff who was widely regarded in Hollywood and NYC as a pretender to the throne, Steve is true showbiz royalty by blood. He’s the son of Dan Burke, the former president of Capital Cities/ABC before it was bought by Disney. The younger Burke graduated with an MBA from Harvard Business School joined Disney in 1986 and founded Disney Stores, then served as president of Euro Disney. He kept rising and became ABC broadcasting president. But left 10 years ago to join Comcast, where Steve was the architect of the largest cable company’s 2004 hostile takeover attempt of Disney.

Read the official announcement below.

COMCAST AND GE NAME STEVE BURKE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF
NBC UNIVERSAL

PHILADELPHIA, PA and FAIRFIELD, CT – SEPTEMBER 26, 2010 – Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) announced today that Stephen B. Burke will become chief executive officer of NBC Universal (NBCU) upon the close of Comcast’s acquisition of 51% of NBCU from GE.

Burke, 52, would succeed NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker, who will continue to serve in his position until the close of the transaction and will work with Mr. Burke to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Comcast and GE also said that there will be no additional structural or personnel announcements until the deal closing process and timing is certain.

Comcast Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Brian L. Roberts said, “Steve Burke is an experienced, talented and visionary leader with over 25 years in the media and entertainment industry. Steve is one of the most well-respected executives in the industry, and I am confident that he will lead NBCU forward to a new era of growth.”

GE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt said, “I have known Steve Burke for many years and greatly respect him. He has deep expertise in this industry and I am very confident that he will be a strong leader for NBC Universal.”

Writing for the wildly connected NY Times Media Decoder blog, Carter writes:

Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told the company’s employees in an email Friday morning that he will step down from his position upon the completion of the takeover of NBC by Comcast.

The fate of Mr. Zucker, the longest-serving senior manager at NBC, has been the subject of widespread speculation since Comcast agreed last December to purchase 51 per cent of NBCU from its long-time corporate owner, General Electric. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year, following regulatory approval.

In an interview in NBC’s executive offices, Mr. Zucker, who is 45, said the decision to leave the only employer he has ever worked for — a decision he acknowledged he was not his own choice — became inevitable after a meeting two weeks ago with Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer.

Read the full report at the NY Times. You can also watch CNBC’s report on Zucker’s departure below.

As “The Apprentice” begins its 10th season on Thursday night, it’s embarking on new territory: the tough economy. Since the show’s past few seasons have been “celebrity” versions, the show hasn’t had the same focus on ambitious, hardworking professionals trying to push forward their careers. At times like these, however, that’s even more critical especially with so few opportunities available to the business-oriented. So Donald Trump and producer Mark Burnett are returning the show to its roots in hopes of helping one person turn his or her career around during hard times.

Messages about overcoming adversity, Trump said, are programmed into this season’s makeup. He used the words “sad” and “inspiring” when outlining what to expect. Trump speculates that this could be the best season the show’s ever done, if only because it resonates more with Americans than previous seasons have. There’s a difference between seeing someone fight for a job they need to support a family than one they have always hoped for. Burnett says that the “fighting back mentality” that we’ll see on this season’s “Apprentice” is matched by the intensity that Trump himself relies on in his business approach.

To further help the candidates get back on their feet, “The Apprentice” this year will pair up departing contestants with well-known CEOs to provide counsel and resources. In addition, the show will update viewers about the current whereabouts of all of the contestants. Burnett says the goal is to give some out-of-work and out-of-hope  individuals the motivation, energy, and momentum to move forward with their careers and their lives, even after they’ve left the show.

“Apprentice” contestants typically sleep only a handful of hours during the competition, but with a $250,000 job on the line, there’s added desperation this season, the panel said. Usually it takes a couple of days before real personalities – and the inevitable bickering – start to show. But from the looks of this season’s premiere, the hostility and competitiveness is in full swing from the opening moments.

Trump revealed that he and Mark Burnett disagree about some of the structure of the show: Trump insists that America (based on ratings) wants to see more board room and less time spent on the weekly tasks. Burnett, on the other hand, believes that without the task footage, there’s not enough drama to the board room. After all these years, they’re still working to reconfigure the show to give viewers more of what they want.

What They Said
“Everyone’s getting something of the show, not just the winner.”
- Donald Trump, Jr. says that this year’s show provides new opportunities

“Everything in the decision-making of the show is Donald. Do you think Donald’s going to listen to me?”
- Mark Burnett describes who’s really in charge behind the scenes

“Omarosa’s made her living as a villain.”
- Donald Trump gives an example of someone who’s achieved fame after leaving the show

“Right out of the gate you could see the hunger and the passion.”
– Ivanka Trump believes this year’s contestants are more driven than other years’

“I wish I knew [NBC chief Jeff] Zucker could be that generous.”
- Erin Burnett jokes about the network’s allowance of funds for weekly panoramic images taken by helicopter

What We Thought

• Erin Burnett (no relation to Mark) ran a superb panel, keeping Trump’s kids involved in spite of their being overshadowed by more famous and revered panelists. She not only asked good questions, but she directed them specifically to the parties who could answer those questions best.
• We liked hearing about how much work goes into filming just one episode of the show. Believe it or not, there are 32 cameras in total, and they shoot 300 hours of footage for every hour that’s aired. A production team stakes out an entire floor of Trump Tower, according to Erin Burnett.
• There’s a “task department” in charge of coming up with and planning the projects that the teams perform each week. Fans know these can range from dog grooming to flipping burgers to remodeling a room. We admire those with the creativity to brainstorm new and creative ideas year after year.

PANEL RULES!
Some audience behavior seems to repeat itself panel after panel. We’ll be updating a running list of “PANEL RULES!” that will help ensure that you are not the dweeb of the Panel Nerds.

Panel Nerds don’t have anyone to pick on from this engaged and informed audience. They served nine on-the-ball questions, each leading to intriguing responses and discussions. A job well done.

This week it’s looking even more probable – and now NBCU President and CEO Jeff Zucker is weighing in on Morning Joe.

Joe Scarborough caught his boss’ boss’ boss off-guard this morning, saying, “Jeff, let me ask you about Larry King going away, apparently an NBC talent is going over to replace Larry King, maybe.”

After some awkward chuckling, here was Zucker’s response (our emphasis added):

Piers Morgan is an incredibly important talent who is one of the judges on America’s Got Talent, which is the most successful television show in America right now, has been for several summers. Piers will continue on America’s Got Talent for the next three years, so that I can tell you. Having said that, I can also tell you he has approached us about asking us to do another job as well and those conversations are continuing. I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive.

So, a couple things. First, we’ve got to give some dap to Scarborough for asking the question and putting Zucker on the hot seat. Secondly, Zucker’s implication is that Morgan will definitely remain on America’s Got Talent but is interested in the CNN job and is now in, what sounds like, negotiation for how to shuffle both roles. They are not “mutually exclusive” – so he can, and might, do both.

More on that in a second. The reason this story has bubbled up again is because of a series of stories yesterday about the imminent nature of Morgan’s CNN deal, with it potentially coming by the end of the week. The New York Times reports these details:

NBC signaled that it was willing to share Mr. Morgan with CNN. That decision frees Mr. Morgan to negotiate directly with CNN, and according to three people involved in the delicate maneuvering between the companies, a contract could be signed within a few days…The main action has not directly involved CNN. It is taking place quietly between executives from NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner. These talks centered on whether Turner had something to offer NBC Universal…One protection NBC secured in the apparent deal is that “America’s Got Talent” would be the priority for Mr. Morgan in any potential scheduling conflict with his role on CNN.

I’ve written here that Morgan has the potential to be a great choice for CNN – he’s a strong interviewer, who asks tough questions, and British imports have generally been hugely successful when brought to American TV. It worked for American Idol and The Office – why not Larry King and CNN? But the idea that Morgan will be ‘shared’ by CNN and NBC adds a new wrinkle to the potential move. And if the NYT is right, that Morgan’s “priority” would be America’s Got Talent over, say, a news-making, breaking news interview, that should weaken the appeal for CNN.

We’ll have more on Morgan this week, regardless of whether an offer is in place or not. Here’s Zucker on MSNBC this morning:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Need proof? The first quarter reports came out for NBC-Universal and the results were mixed. The biggest loss was the Olympics broadcasts which accounted for $782 million in revenue and a $223 million loss. That IS a big loss, but one late night executive close to the situation tells Mediaite “that was the best $223 million loss ever, because NBC was able to use that as a huge promotional platform. I shudder to think where we’d be without that loss.”

The bright news for NBC-Universal’s financial statement is in fact their cable growth. Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, George Szalai reports:

GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt reiterated that GE expects NBC Uni’s bottom line for the full year 2010 to be down, even though things should look up from here. “Our worst quarter is behind us,” he said. “Cable continues to be strong. The ad markets…have real strength. Film remains challenged, but we should see growth at NBCU for the balance of the year.”

In the first quarter, cable networks remained the big growth engine at NBC Uni thanks to strong ratings across the channel portfolio. Cable networks revenue climbed 3% to $1.2 billion, and profit rose 4%, led by entertainment channels.

USA had its 15th straight quarter as the top network, Bravo posted its 18th consecutive quarter of ratings growth, and Oxygen had its highest ratings quarter ever, according to Sherin.

The broadcast business results were driven by the Olympics with revenue up to $2 billion, but profit down in the first quarter. Sherin highlighted “some really good recovery” in the advertising market, with local ad revenue up 15% in the latest period. He also said scatter advertising is up over 20% in both cable and the broadcast network, boding well for the nearing upfront ad market.

And its not just the ad market for the NBC’s cablers that has been strong. A cursory glance at the highest rated shows on cable in the last week reveals six of the top 25. Take away sports and children’s programming from the slate, and its all USA Network.

And speaking of USA Network, we’d be remiss in not giving proper credit where its due to USA head Bonnie Hammer. And Lauren Zalaznick at Bravo and Oxygen. And Dave Howe at SyFy. Truth be told, the cable presidents are an impressive lot.

With the probable acquisition by cable provider giant Comcast looming, there is no question that NBC-Universal is soon to enter a rather major phase of transition. And while its easy to take potshots at Zucker because decisions that have informed the prime time slate (passing over Katherine Pope?) there are is still many reasons to appreciate the larger picture.

Considering how many cable channels have succeeded at NBC Universal, Zucker deserves his share of credit for that success.

While the first can be traumatic (particularly without a good makeup artist), it was the second which brought emotions to the surface in the crowd gathered to mark the occasion. Host David Gregory, executive producer Betsy Fischer and NBC had invited media and guests to attend a live taping of the show, followed by a reception marking the event. Present were NBC President and CEO Jeff Zucker, NBC News President Steve Capus, NBC News SVP Alexandra Wallace and NBC Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker. But it was, of course, the one who was absent who was felt most keenly.

That person, of course, is Tim Russert — former moderator of Meet the Press and Gregory’s predecessor in the chair. It was the same chair Russert sat in until his sudden death in June 2008, at the same desk and on the same set. With this new set, that link to Russert’s tenure on the program was broken and in yet another way since his passing, the broadcast was moving on.

And even though the mood was light and the event celebratory, it didn’t take long for Gregory to get choked up about this step. “This is a big moment for me, because it’s really the next step for me and for the program,” Gregory said, his voice catching, “It has not been an easy transition, but I’ve always felt like I’m never alone in that.”

Gregory also paid tribute to Fischer, MTP’s longtime EP, who worked closely with Russert and whom Gregory called “the brains of this operation.” Gregory thanked his bosses Zucker and Capus (thanking Capus for letting them “spend all this money!”), and inviting him up to address the crowd, which included Governors Jennifer Granholm and Bill Richardson, Rep. Mike Pence and various members of the media. “We all miss our friend Tim. And we miss having him in this home,” said Capus, detailing how the staff and the bureau had come together after Russert’s death to discuss how to move forward and continue the tradition. “And that brings us to today.”

Gregory emphasized Meet the Press as a public good (something that has been a recent topic of discussion), saying, “If there’s something that this set really represents it’s how important the program is to this country, and how it’s much bigger than whoever sits in this chair.” Watch the full speech below (Gregory gets choked up at about 1:30); photos from the event are below the video.

Despite the bittersweet nature of yet another rite of passage for this show and this bureau, the set-unveiling was an upbeat and fun affair, with Gregory inviting everyone to stay and chat over a light brunch and free-flowing mimosas. To their credit, the politicians lingered for a few moments after, chatting with those present and posing agreeably for photos. For some of those, see below.

Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen make chit-chat with Indiana congressman Rep. Mike Pence (R). Too bad they didn’t invite Scott Brown. Wait, did I just say that out loud?

“Please to enjoy this lovely set!” Gregory welcomes the group to the new set as EP Betsy Fischer looks on.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson may not be sure if he wants a beard, but he is sure that he wants this photo taken with Mediaite’s Nisha Chittal.

Meet the Set

NBC President Steve Capus: “This is a very tight family — and it’s been a family that has had a lot of challenges over the last couple of years…we all miss our friend Tim. And we miss having him in this home.”

If you think this looks good, you should have tried the goat cheese pepper-puffs. If it’s Sunday, it’s goat cheese pepper-puffs.

Rep. Mike Pence gets snapped with a youngster on the MTP set.

NBC Senior Vice-President and D.C. Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker looks very interested in this conversation, but I saw him at the MSNBC party at around 1 a.m. the night before, so he must have been feelin’ it. Nice game face, though.

Gregory enjoys a latke (delicious Chanukah snack of the Jews)  topped with lox and cream cheese (delicious every-time snack of the Jews) with Mediaite’s Nisha Chittal. “That’s my influence,” he said to me, gesturing to the plate. As far as I can tell, Gregory is the only MTP host who has wished his viewers a happy Chanukah from the chair. Point being, he knows from his latkes.

NBC’s Jenny Tartikoff lifts a mimosa to her boss. (We did, too.)

David Gregory chats with Michigan governor (and possible Supreme Court nominee?) Jennifer Granholm, who wore the color of the weekend in a bright blue (like Hillary Clinton and Janet Napolitano earlier on MTP).

Governor Granholm gives the thumbs up, with a purpose: Sending a birthday greeting to her former senior staffer (and Friend of Mediaite), Jalopnik editor Ray Wert. With Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar and Nisha Chittal.

Mike Allen knows what you’re up to, punk, and he doesn’t like it.

Meet the Mediaite: Gregory poses with Nisha Chittal and Rachel Sklar, who can now say they’ve appeared on Meet The Press. Sort of.

The flag flies high over NBC’s Washington Bureau.

The original comments were made when Zucker and Scarborough were discussing businessmen in political positions. Zucker had the following to say:

Jeff: “I do think that there would be a benefit to having people who have run businesses in office — who have a sense of how to how to get something across the finish line, make hard decisions that actually everybody can get behind … I think we just have to get the cynicism behind us and we have to get some things accomplished and I think people who can do that would be very helpful and beneficial.’ ”
Joe: “Would you ever do it?”
Jeff: “Well, it’s something that I would certainly look at.”

When Kurtz asked him if he’d “looked at it”, Zucker was even more positive in his response.

That’s true, Zucker said: “It’s funny how much attention that’s gotten. It’s no different than what I’ve said all along.” He said he would run in New York and that, if he were to take the plunge, “it’s all about the timing.”

Whether the choice to switch to politics will work out well for Zucker is just something we’ll have to wait to find out. We have to give him credit for one thing though. In “politician” he’s found the one job that will make him more controversial than his role as “the guy who took Conan off the air”. However, until the day his campaign starts running, it seems he’ll continue to do pretty well for himself over at NBC.

(h/t Huffington Post)

After a little initial awkwardness (“I used to work there,” he said), he got to the negative news for NBC – and positive news for NBC CEO Jeff Zucker.

“Looks like the Leno-Conan debacle and the Winter Olympics cost them a lot of money,” said anchor Liz MacDonald at the beginning of the segment. Gasparino’s report found that Zucker could make up to $23 million (with bonuses and salary), and he found some more details about the contract (up in 2013). If this was his former home, CNBC, he probably wouldn’t have heard the audible gasps of surprise and questions about “why?” from the anchors he was talking to. He also detailed the $223 million lost by the network last year.

That number had been reported widely earlier this month, but the reason why had not been – and Gasparino’s report got some pick-up.

Here’s yesterday’s Gasparino segment:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Well, the show has gone four weeks in a row where African American men were featured on the show. This week’s show will actually go one better: an African American guest and an African American journalist on the roundtable.

On Feb. 28, the show featured National Urban League president Marc Morial and Nancy-Ann DeParle. The next week, March 7, the show featured former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.).  Ford has a contract with NBC to do commentary and it was his first week back after ending speculation that he was running for the Senate.

This past Sunday featured House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and on tap for this week are Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele and Public Broadcasting System‘s Tavis Smiley.

The month is a good showing for MTP, which has and up-and-down history with diversity on its shows.  While the shows have mixed it up–a little–in terms of race, the show is overwhelmingly male in terms of guests. DeParle, who has Chinese ancestry, was the only Asian-American.  There were no Latinos. Katty Kay of the British Broadcasting System is the only female journalist who has been featured.

MTP’s diversity pledge came after NBC’s Jeff Zucker was beat up in Congress over diversity issues at the network.  Following the criticism, an NBC spokeswoman declared the network was  “committed to having a more diverse group of voices on the show whose opinions and expertise reflect, not just the news of the day, but the cultural, economical and political landscape of our country.”

As for the rest of the Sunday shows, Fox News Sunday continues to outshine the competition largely because of regular panelist Juan Williams from National Public Radio.  On a Sunday when Williams was gone, Fox had no non-white guests of panelists.

For this week, Face the Nation will feature Clyburn.  CNN will have Donna Brazile. ABC This Week–which just announced the addition of Christiane Amanpour as host–will have no non-white guests or analysts.

Diversity media watchdog Richard Prince is reporting at his Maynard Institute column that NBC suggests it wants greater diversity at Meet the Press, with an NBC spokeswoman telling Prince the show is “committed to having a more diverse group of voices on the show whose opinions and expertise reflect, not just the news of the day, but the cultural, economical and political landscape of our country.”

The comment comes after Zucker was grilled by African American and Latino members of Congress during a hearing over the NBC Universal/Comcast deal. Reps. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), and Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) repeatedly asked Zucker and Comcast chair Brian Roberts about the lack of diversity on their corporate boards and on both prime-time and Sunday morning shows, with Jackson-Lee telling Zucker, “[t]here is no diversity on the Sunday morning talk shows,” the blog Main Justice reported.

Looking at the schedule for Feb. 28 Sunday news shows, the complexion of guests and journalists is still very white.  MTP will have the Urban League’s Marc Morial and the Obama administration’s Nancy-Ann DeParle (who is Asian American) as guests and ABC’s This Week will have Elizabeth Vargas as host.  Face the Nation and CNN’s State of the Union will have no non-white guests or panelists (or hosts).  Only Fox News Sunday comes close to having good consistent representation, with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J) as a guest and regular panelist Juan Williams of National Public Radio.

If this all sounds familiar, it should.  In 2005, the National Urban League issued its Sunday Morning Apartheid report which criticized the Sunday morning news shows for lack of racial diversity in guests and journalists. Since the report, things haven’t changed much.

After the Urban League issued its report, MTP’s Tim Russert and executive producer Betsy Fischer about the lack of diversity on MTP, which traditionally had the largest panels on Sunday mornings.  Russert was famously supportive of greater diversity and was comfortable dealing with race, as Gwen Ifill related after Russert’s death. Ifill–who was mentioned as a possible Russert replacement and who hosts her own show on public television–said that Russert tried to increase the number of African American journalists featured on the show. Ifill, along with National Public Radio’s Michele Norris and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson were often panelists during the Russert era after the Urban League report.

But the number of African American and Latino guests and journalists featured on the broadcast and cable news shows is still an issue of significant controversy, as Keith Olbermann’s recent defensiveness demonstrates. While Ifill often shows up on various panels and ABC This Week includes pundit Donna Brazile in their regular rotation of panelists, only NPR’s Williams is a Sunday morning regular.  There are no Latinos or Asian Americans who routinely show up on Sunday morning news shows.

MTP deserves credit for, again, voicing its desire to increase the diversity on its show.  But it shouldn’t take a testy Congressional hearing for the pledge to be made and, hopefully, this time there will be some tangible results.

For the first time in six years, American Idol did not finish #1 in the ratings – losing last night to NBC’s Olympics coverage that featured some big name Americans winning gold. The win had NBCU President Jeff Zucker bragging early this morning.

NBC’s press release called it “the greatest single day in Winter Olympics history,” as Team USA brought home more medals than any other day in Olympic history. But the big victory for NBC was in the ratings. For the first time since May 17, 2004, FOX’s ratings juggernaut, American Idol lost. That’s 222 straight episodes finishing #1.

And it wasn’t that close. NBC drew an estimated 29.4 million viewers during the 9pm hour, compared to just 18.4 million viewers for FOX. The Olympics won in 53 out of the 55 metered markets, compared to just 5 out of 55 the night before in the head-to-head competition. It’s a big victory for NBC – and despite Davis winning gold, the real stars this year for USA proved to be on the snow.

This morning NBCU President Zucker made a cameo appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, when he showed up next to Willie Geist who was hosting from Vancouver. It was just 5:30am local time, and Zucker joked, “I was just on my way home from last night.”

But the big topic of excitement was what had potentially just happened. “Perhaps for the first time in maybe six years a program looks like it may have beat American Idol,” he said. “A big night, and we’re very excited.”

Zucker also said this about broadcast TV in general:

People are really still coming to these major events, broadcasting. I talk about the great success of MSNBC, all of our cable networks, what we also see is that broadcating still works. The pipes still work, you put on programming that’s compelling and the people want to watch, and the people are there.

(image via Vonn’s Twitter feed)

Here’s Zucker on Morning Joe:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

As had been widely reported, NBC was counting on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to defibrillate its faltering ratings and, perhaps more pressingly, break the pattern of myopia and ineptitude, culminating in the Late Night Wars, that has marked Jeff Zucker’s tenure as CEO.  NBC is, needless to say, still counting on this.  But what is now also being reported is that NBC is doing a lot of highly public throat-clearing, preparatory to a helplessly public admission that it’s in the tall grass yet again.

The latest installment in the NBC tragicomedy (actually, more than anything, operations at NBC resemble a zombie flick, in that the corpses of old awful decisions keep rearing up from their graves to savage the still living) goes as follows.  In 2003, Ebersol orchestrated the network’s triumphant, $2 billion campaign for the broadcast rights to the 2010 Olympics and 2012 London Summer Olympics.  ”I don’t believe we’re overpaying,” Ebersol told the NYT at the time.  “We made a bid based on conservative figures. We have much more knowledge about what’s available in advertising, in affiliate fees and cable subscriber fees. We had a base beyond the others.”  Of his second-place bid of $1.3 billion, David Hill, the chairman of the Fox Sports Television Group, could only offer the wimpy truism that it’s hard enough to anticipate the economy in “seven months, let alone seven years.”

Evolution of the fittest.  The gutless econ-geeks at FOX never stood a chance against Ebersol, naturally, who as well as a programming Napoleon also happens to be NBC’s ranking clairvoyant – “a visionary,” in the words of media professor Dennis Mazzocco.  Ebersol wasn’t indulging in gratuitous risk, outspending his competitors by $700 mil.  He wasn’t being incautious, a cowboy.  He hadn’t developed a swagger at odds with fiscal sanity.  Oh no.  Ebersol was just underscoring, to the tune of over 50% of FOX’s bid, the righteousness of NBC’s relationship with the IOC — the financial equivalent of a husky backslap to follow a strictly-business handshake.  Having secured the bid, Ebersol ignited “a fat cigar,” in the observation of the NYT’s Richard Sandomir.  Then he doffed his game-face and, for a brief moment, allowed us a glimpse into the daedalian intricacies of his success.  As the NYT reported, “‘We came to play,’ Ebersol said, ‘and we came to win.’”

Well, seven years later, the econ-geeks at FOX – themselves enveloped, the possibility cannot be ruled out, in the fumes of an even fatter cigar – may confidently retort: you lost, Dick.

Why?  Sports-programming is, in the industry phrase, what’s called a “loss-leader.”  It may score prodigious ratings.  It may draw vast numbers of non-typical viewers to the network who, from an advertiser’s perspective, are an especially desirable quantity.  And by this means, it may also prove a singularly effective vehicle for the promotion of other network programming.  Indeed, when, in the final shakedown, the gains are balanced against the losses, sports programming may be judged to have been a totally worthwhile venture for a network.  That’s why it’s so prevalent.  But on account of the precipitous inflation, in recent years, of licensing fees, it is an extreme rarity that sports-programming ever be profitable in itself.  It is a gambit every time — an exposed position taken in the hope of once-removed collateral gains.

So NBC persists, as it must, in defending its acquisition of the rights to the Olympics in these ways.  It suggests that its Olympic coverage will kickstart its new programming, jolt new life into the old, and cement relationships with advertisers that are imperative to its future prosperity.  Moreover, the Games offer a fine opportunity, NBC insists, to put behind them, with some old-fashioned, luge-based catharsis, all that unpleasantness with Jay and Conan.  And yes, there is surely some truth to this.

Yet if you take the widespread feeling that NBC’s tribulations are less a matter of image and misfortune than vision and content; then couple that with the spasm of hubris that led to the present, $250 mil-in-the-red juncture; multiply that by the fact that even NBC is backpedaling from its earlier predictions of an Olympic ratings coup; then square that with the reality that the economy is still very much reeling and tossing from recession, what you get is a less than pretty picture for NBC.  As broadcastingcable.com reported,

“Promotion doesn’t guarantee success, but it does give NBC the opportunity to get the attention of a very significant audience,” says Neal Pilson, former head of CBS Sports who now runs his own media consulting company. “But if the program is lousy, that’s the end of the story. You get sampling and sometimes the sampling is so efficient that so many people see it’s a terrible show [and] it disappears immediately. It’s a double-edged sword.”

More to come on this.

p.s. We also talk about Tiger. That’s where the lube comes in.

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.

It’s a good attitude — and it’s making for great comedy. Gone is the bitter edge from last week — understandably bitter but it had a shelf-life, especially against the backdrop of the catastrophe in Haiti. Besides, he more than got his low-blow digs in at NBC.

But — there is a weird silver lining to this, that Conan alluded to last night and Monday: He’s never been so beloved. The support O’Brien has enjoyed has been off-the-charts ridiculous — there were nationwide rallies, for God’s sake. Where the PR wars are concerned Conan has won hands down, despite Jeff Zucker‘s attempt to justify his actions on Charlie Rose and Jay Leno’s spin on it on his own show, which WaPo’s Tom Shales called “disingenuous to an intolerable extreme” and David Letterman just gets-personal-hits-jay-leno-where-it-hurts/”>eviscerated last night. Conan now has attack dogs taking the nastier shots for him — an army of Dick Ebersols, if you will — so it’s left him to continue his assault on NBC from a more defensive position (see: joke about visiting the NBC theme park to ride the “The Tunnel of Litigation”) rather than going for the jugular.

Which has left him — and his staff — free to sort of…enjoy this. And why not? They’re out; they know they’re out. But as Shales points out, it’s bigger than that. They’re in this line of work for a reason, and getting to The Tonight Show is the apex, one worth uprooting lives and families for to move from New York to L.A. They may not be able to create a long legacy, but they are certainly creating a lasting one. They’re creating television history right now, every day. That’s a pretty decent silver lining.

It’s also extremely freeing. Conan and his team no longer care, no longer need to care, about pushing back against rumors, standing up to the big guy, or fighting for survival. Now they can just do what Conan has always done best, and what might even have worked at the Tonight Show, given enough time: be goofy. Insulting NBC in Spanish, calling the network execs “brainless sons of goats who eat money and crap trouble” – in Spanish? That’s hilarious. Saying that “NBC’s headed downhill faster than a fat guy chasing a runaway cheese wheel?” That’s also hilarious. Miming an evil executive with a cat and a wheelchair? Hilarious! Ridiculous! And sublime.

At Monday’s rally in L.A., Andy Richter spoke to the crowd gathered in the rain and thanked them for making a weird, sad situation that much better. “It’s been kind of a tough time, but also – a really fun time!” All things considered, it’s not a bad way to go out.

Case in point: “We think that Jay will go back to 11:35 and be successful.”

Broadcasting & Cable’s Marisa Guthrie reported that quote last night after the broadcast, as well as Zucker’s regret that Conan wouldn’t stay in the 12:05 a.m. slot.

He also said that he would have preferred that O’Brien stay at NBC — and, importantly, said he had “no regrets” about the decision that was made in 2004:

That kept our late night franchise of Jay and Conan intact for five and a half additional years — it kept Conan from leaving for a competitor at that point…so I think, actually, that was the right decision at that time and I have no regrets.

Like him or not, which right now has been mostly “not” — Zucker told Charlie that he had received “death threats” which is a little extreme no matter how much you like the masturbating bear — Zucker has a point: He kept NBC’s late-night setup in place for an extra five years.* They were an important five years, seeing as they were the last five years of, essentially, TV as we know it. In Jay Leno’s last five years, everything was still in place, from the lead-in dramas to the same familiar competitors. Yes, things were slowly changing, but when Jay handed off to Conan it might as well have been handing off to a new era. Who knows what would have happened had Conan left in 2004 — as we have seen, when you destabilize the lineup, anything can happen. The point is, Zucker kept his moneymaking machine intact until the very last second. Why should he have regrets about that?

Zucker’s strategy seemed to be, “delay losing one of them for as long as possible” — and mostly seems to have been driven by who was most likely to leave when: “We made a commitment at the time to put Conan in to the slot, we wanted to honor that commitment but at the same time we didn’t want to lose Jay – that’s one of the reasons we looked at putting Jay on at ten o’clock.” Charlie Rose got Zucker to admit that ‘the 10p.m. experiment’ was a mistake, but even then Zucker seemed reluctant to concede any fault: “Obviously in hindsight, perfect information leads you to that conclusion, that it was a mistake. And I think it’s the sign of a leader to step up and have the guts to reverse it. The worst thing to do is to let that mistake…linger. We tried to correct something that didn’t work.”

This is an important statement, because Charlie specifies that there were two things that didn’t work, the Jay Leno Show and the The Tonight Show — but really, the supposed trigger for this whole kerfuffle — the revolt of the affiliates — was just about Jay Leno. The Tonight Show wasn’t working in relation to where Leno left off, but it was working in relation to where Leno had been at the same point in his tenure. To “work,” though, the Conan’s Tonight Show was never supposed to have been Leno-dependent — but in Zucker’s conception, it sounds like Leno and Conan have always been a package deal. And it sounds like the only way Zucker imagined fixing Conan’s problems was by adding Jay Leno, not subtracting him.

What does linger here, though, is the branding of Conan’s Tonight Show as a failure, and Leno’s show as an experiment that didn’t pan out, but worth it, ultimately, to keep Jay Leno at NBC — whatever the cost. Stripping out the emotion here, and the questions of fairness and decency, he may actually be right — that of all the possible outcomes for NBC, between losing Leno and losing Conan, pushing it ’til the very end and then picking Jay may end up being the one that worked best for the bottom line, looking back five years and looking forward who knows how many. It is, of course, hard to know — and in the reports I’ve seen I’ve not heard Zucker talk at all about the Internet, or how an old Jay Leno Tonight Show might fare in a new media world, especially after this bruising. But maybe that’s the point — in a world where nothing is reliable, sticking with the one thing you know might be the safest bet.

Related:
Jeff Zucker: I’ve Received Death Threats [NYMag]
Jeff Zucker Addresses Late-Night Controversy on ‘Charlie Rose’ [B&C]
Jeff Zucker makes NBC TV execs look like Shakespearean cannibals [True/Slant]

Via Vulture at NYMag.

*I’m not giving him credit for the last half year. Like, come on.

Blaming NBC/Universal for the bottom line of the Broadcast Television Network would be akin to blaming Verizon for the revenues coming from the their income from corner pay-phones. It may be that the cell phone had something to do with the decline in the phone booth. For NBC, a little thing called cable may have played a part.

NBC’s network business is built on an old business model. A model that required over the air signals, rabbit ears on tube TV’s and local affiliates. And that model has been clearly on its way out for the past 25 years (CNN’s first broadcast was June 1, 1980). The unfortunate thing about the NBC story is that overall, they got it right. They saw cable coming, launched a number of channels – grew the cable side of the business effectively, and created a ton of value in MSNBC, CNBC, SyFy, Oxygen, USA Network, Bravo, and The Weather Channel.

What they didn’t do right was evolve the core brand into a twentieth century model that could survive the inevitable shift from over the air broadcast to cable. And along the way – their ownership of the 14 O&O’s (owned and operated stations, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Raleigh-Durham, Miami, Washington D.C., Birmingham, Columbus, Hartford, Providence and San Diego).

The writing was on the wall. Local had been driven by a feed of national programming from the network. Now the audience was being carved up in to smaller and smaller slivers as cable, DVDs, satellite and VOD all offered folks new and different ways to get programming. The launch of NY1 in 1992 could well have been the loudest warning shot – with cable painting a target on locals last point of differentiation – local news.

But NBC continued to soldier on – trying to compete both with quality programs and low-cost newsmagazines, and fighting for a piece of a diminishing pie of both viewers and ad dollars, even as cable continued to make in-roads. For example, in 1992 NBC had not one but two prime-time newsmagazines on the air, Dateline NBC (Tuesday at 10pm) and Here and Now (Saturday at 8pm). By 1994, NBC had 2 hours of Dateline on the air, Tuesday at 10 and Friday at 8pm. The 1995 season had three hours of Dateline – Tuesday at 10, Wednesday at 9 and Friday at 9.

With a 30-year head start, and a clear danger to the network business, NBC continued to manage the business season to season, putting out fires and trying to stunt with old hit shows (as Fred Silverman rightly points out in the Times article). But NBC ducked the hard choice. That would have been investing in local – turning the freestanding O&O’s into vibrant local news operations no longer shackled to the programming feed that came from the mothership. NBC could have been the ‘big tent’ event engine that drove content to the cable nets, shifting from a programming service to, in essence, what USA network was – and event driven cable network. But to do this NBC would have had to significantly shift its relationship with both its affiliates and its O&O’s. Instead, NBC is being forced to make prime time programming decisions based on a potential mutiny by its O&O’s, unthinkable in the days when the Network treated its affiliates like serfs and created a virtual money machine for the stations that were able to re-broadcast the network feed. Those days are now long gone.

Which brings us to Leno.

Jay Leno and NBC together made a fatal decision. In a world of time shifting, on-demand content and audience empowerment, they misread the ratings and believed that Jay’s audience was loyal to him and his show.

They thought that Jay’s audience would simply change habits. They were wrong. On all counts.

The TiVo, it turns out, doesn’t so much make audiences proactive as it makes them flexible. Sure, I’ll watch the 6pm news at 6:30 (timeshift) but certain things that appear ‘live’ like Leno just don’t make sense in the Drama Slot. Ouch, that’s a tough lesson to learn with so much at stake. Clearly the guys at Comcast know the score – they know that NBC was never the core value of the transaction – but they can’t be happy about seeing this much negative press around what was supposed to be a ‘crowned jewel’ acquisition. The math may not change, but perceptions do matter.

So here we are. Below the public perception – NBC is a strong collection of assets, and Comcast is right to see it as a good fit. The Leno situation is the legacy result of NBC Network not making hard choices about its role as broadcast TV network, and while not material, certainly isn’t the story that NBC wants to have out right now.

That’s the thing about soap operas – you can make good money on them with show’s like The Biggest Loser, it’s just no fun when the media decides to make your internal issues into the soap opera of the day. Those of us in glass houses better not have a TV camera pointed at them.

Steve Rosenbaum is the CEO of the video platform Magnify a former magician, and an innovator in the new media space.

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?

September 27, 2004
Conan O’Brien to Succeed Jay Leno in 2009, NBC Announces
By BILL CARTER

NBC announced today that Conan O’Brien will succeed Jay Leno as host of the “Tonight” show when Mr. Leno’s contract expires in 2009, cutting off early efforts by competitors to steal away Mr. O’Brien.

Mr. O’Brien, the host of NBC’s “Late Night” for more than 11 years, signed a new contract early today at NBC’s headquarters in Rockefeller Center. The deal guarantees Mr. O’Brien will serve at least two years as host of “Tonight,” still the leading show in late-night television, when he takes over from Mr. Leno at a yet-to-be-determined date in 2009.

NBC made the news official in a press release this afternoon, after it was announced to the staffs of both shows early in the morning. Mr. Leno planned to tell his own television audience tonight on his program, already billed as a special edition because it is the official 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of “Tonight,” with Steve Allen as host. Mr. O’Brien will become the fifth host in the show’s history.

Because of a desire to allow Mr. Leno the first public comment on the decision, the hosts and NBC executives declined on-the-record interviews today. But several people involved in the negotiations said they had been conducted in an amicable fashion, even though Mr. O’Brien has been surprised and disappointed earlier this year when NBC announced it had signed Mr Leno to a five-year extension.

Mr. O’Brien, with his own contract set to expire in January of 2006, had made it plain in interviews that his goal was to be the host of an 11:35 p.m. late-night show soon.

NBC executives said today that Mr. Leno was instrumental in making the new arrangement, having agreed when he signed his latest deal in March that he would be willing to step aside for Mr. O’Brien in 2009. He will be 59 at that point, while Mr. O’Brien will be 46.

In a statement, Mr. Leno said: “When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor, and there is no one more qualified than Conan. Plus, I promised my wife Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60.”

The deal to secure Mr. O’Brien and to set a date for the end of Mr. Leno’s tenure was put in place by Jeff Zucker, the president of the NBC Universal Television Group. Mr. Zucker had conducted complicated negotiations over a period of months with representatives of the two stars, trying to work out a plan that would keep Mr. O’Brien at NBC. Mr. O’Brien was expected to be heavily sought after by other networks had NBC not managed to re-sign him. Mr. O’Brien’s representatives had already received some preliminary indications of interest from at least two other television companies.

One of the main inspirations for concluding the deal this early was NBC’s conviction that it could not go through the painful and at times embarrassing process that attended the last decision to turn over the host job on “Tonight.” In 1991, after Johnny Carson announced he was stepping down, NBC first handed the job to Mr. Leno, then a substitute host for the program. And then, as the contract of its other late-night star, David Letterman, was expiring, the network offered to give him the show at the end of Mr. Leno’s first contract.

Mr. Letterman saw that as a ploy to keep him inside NBC and was not convinced that NBC would have gone through with that commitment, so he declined and joined CBS.

Some of the people who were involved in how that scenario played out wondered today about whether NBC might be employing a similar tactic, offering Mr. O’Brien what he most wanted, the “Tonight” show, in order to secure his services and keep him away from another network, while essentially postponing a real decision on Mr. Leno’s future for five years.

But the people involved in the negotiations said that Mr. O’Brien’s representatives had been completely satisfied that NBC’s commitment was real. They said that the contract Mr. O’Brien signed today included a multimillion dollar financial penalty if he did not get the “Tonight” show, a penalty payment so substantial that the network surely had no intention of ever having to pay it, according to people involved in the deal.

For NBC, the “Tonight” show remains one of its biggest moneymakers. After Mr. Leno became the host in 1992, CBS lured away Mr. Letterman, and his competing show on CBS for a time beat Mr. Leno’s in the ratings.

But Mr. Leno zoomed past Mr. Letterman in 1995 and has dominated the late-night ratings ever since.

Emphasis added. Jay Leno will be 60 in April.

First, there was the “I’m A Victim Too” Leno staple: “Welcome to the new show, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Off NBC!” This after reports emerged today – unconfirmed – that Leno had re-signed with NBC for the 11:35 – 12:35 hour.

But then came the pushback, and a one-two punch, starting with “Sarah Palin is signed with Fox News to be a correspondent. In a statement today, Fox said if Ms. Palin does a good job they’ll sign her to a long-term contract; if she doesn’t work out, they’ll just blame Leno.” Zing! Did you get that? It’s Conan’s own damn fault that his show didn’t work out. Next was Leno’s observation that “actually, the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien’s ratings have gone up. They’ve gone up! So – you’re welcome!” Zing again! Let’s not forget the reason behind all this: Conan’s ratings. And as Leno has been sure to remind again and again, he went out on top.

He probably shouldn’t have invited Jimmy Kimmel on the show if he just wanted to leave it there, but oh well. Clip of monologue below.

Related:
Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Jay Leno – On The Jay Leno Show [Mediaite]

How long can this last? If reports are true, it may be all over by next week. But what are the implications for O’Brien and NBC?

ESPN’s Bill Simmons tweeted that January 22 would be Conan’s final show, and People is reporting that date now as well. But can NBC afford to have another seven shows of unbridled attacks by O’Brien?

Ever since Conan announced he would not host the Tonight Show at 12:05am, fellow late night hosts, other comedians and, in large part, the Internet, have rushed to pledge allegiance to Team Conan.

But Conan O’Brien’s nightly destruction of NBC, while funny, may start to sound like whining. It’s a fine line – even for hardcore fans of Coco, it may become at best awkward, and and worst, embarrassing. It’s not yet – last night was hilarious. But when is the expiration date?

There are other issues as well. Business Insider’s Henry Blodget says the constant shots at the mothership may come back to hurt O’Brien in the end.

We also suspect there’s a clause in Conan’s contract that allows NBC to fire him “for cause,” which probably includes a term about intentionally damaging the network’s reputation (or somesuch).

Usually getting fired for cause means that you forfeit any severance you would otherwise be entitled to. Which, in Conan’s case, could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

Nikki Finke is reporting Jeff Zucker may try to keep O’Brien off the air for an extended amount of time – maybe three years or more. Either way, there will be a legal battle, and it will get ugly (or, uglier).

And Broadcasting & Cable reports there may be several hang-ups to O’Brien’s rumored next, best option – FOX. The Los Angeles Times explores similar issues.

If O’Brien is done this week, maybe Friday things settle down and he takes the bittersweet route. If this drags on through next week, there will be a choice for O’Brien – go hard or kick up the feet and enjoy the end of an era (albeit a very short era). If for some reason this meanders until the Olympics in February, O’Brien will have a month to figure out how he wants his legacy at NBC to conclude.

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

This piece by the New York Times’ Bill Carter suggested an NBC windfall:

Retaining Mr. Leno will undoubtedly be seen as a coup for Mr. Zucker, who has faced some serious questions about the wisdom of guaranteeing “The Tonight Show” to Mr. O’Brien and possibly losing Mr. Leno to another network.

Via a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, here’s what Carter is saying now:

The question, really, is Conan. What they’re doing to Conan, you could really say is kind of a stab in the back because he was promised ‘The Tonight Show’ and he didn’t really get it clean because they moved Jay in front of him anyway.

The Huffington Post AP’s David Bauder noted (rightly) the low cost of the show, but didn’t foresee the high cost in credibility:

Leno’s deal also has the potential to be a big cost savings for NBC. A talk show is considerably cheaper to produce than the dramas that usually air at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Entertainment Weekly praised the network for holding on to Leno:

Most important for NBC, though, it keeps Leno, a proven ratings earner, in its stable at a time when it needs him…

Boston.com’s TV blog was more effusive in its praise of the decision (and only the decision; writer Matthew Gilbert said he’s “not a big fan” of Leno):

This is the kind of bold, experimental move that network TV needs right now. Is there a rule somewhere that says a nightly talk show won’t work at 10 p.m.?

Now, Gilbert says O’Brien should ditch NBC (and any other network that might want to bring him in):

Network TV is no longer the only game in town. I’d love to see what he’d do on Comedy Central, in the company of talents like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the “South Park” guys.

Perhaps the most glowing initial review of the Leno-to-primetime move came from the Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart, whose opinion was made clear by the headline on his first post on the issue:

Jay Leno in prime time: This is a win-win-win situation

So what does Barnhart think now?

After insisting for all of 2009 that its “revolutionary” plan to put “The Jay Leno Show” in prime time was a two-year experiment and that it was reinventing the 9 o’clock hour of network TV, top executives for NBC admitted today that the experiment was over.

Barnhart’s latter piece has a much more formal, “traditional” tone than his glowing blog post, but putting “revolutionary” in quotes there suggests a touch of snark.

Additional reporting for this post was brilliantly provided by Glenn Davis.