Conan O....

          The newest form of the "foxtrot" between yes.... the  Fox network and NBC's lambasted late night host, Conan O'Brien, has gotten a little bit more interesting lately when the president of Fox laid "it" out in much detail about how interested Fox would be in starting a late-night show with the former king of Late late night O’Brien. All of this could happen only if he found a way to remove himself from his NBC contract.

         That of course will be a difficult removal, at least as some senior NBC executives see it. Even though he is being removed  from the 11:35 p.m. time period he was given in June and pushed to after midnight to make room for.... Jay Leno, NBC officials are expressing confidence that the network has not breached Mr. O’Brien’s contract. The reason you may ask is because of the contract, NBC is arguing, guaranteed Mr. O’Brien would be installed as host of “The Tonight Show” and never specifically included a time in the contract. Basically if they decided to move the show to 5pm, they could with no problems due to the wording of the multi-year deal. All of this occur's as long as Tonight show name and franchise follows the show.

          The contractual terms could affect Fox’s pursuit of Mr. O’Brien in several ways. Fox acknowledged that even if Mr. O’Brien found a home with them NBC could insist that it had the right to keep Mr. O’Brien from starting a show for an extended period of time which could be as long as a year or more.
          Conan's people and I dont mean Max and Andy have a very different interpretation of whether NBC’s actions constitute a breach of his contract. Both sides predicted that the issue would not end up in a legal battle. The Fox network also stated that they can not speak to any of the contractual issues that Mr. O’Brien may face. He said it was up to Mr. O’Brien to “make the decision about his future.”
           But even if Conan was to jump ship to FOX, it would defiantly cost FOX a tremendous amount of the green, How much you may ask? Well considering FOX could lay out a nice deal  for Conan but it wouldn't come close to the $45 million left on his current NBC deal (which would be voided of course) but their still would be some settlement required for NBC to release Conan. Another NBC executive said that Mr. O’Brien was making considerably less than the $20 million a year previously reported and put the figure at “closer to $10 million a year than $20 million.”
         The Fox network has also disputed the notion that Mr. O’Brien’s reputation might have suffered from NBC’s apparent conclusion that his ratings on “The Tonight Show” were unimpressive. “I don’t think he is damaged goods in the least,” said Fox offical Kevin Reilly. “I think his show is working.” Several NBC executives suggested Fox might be more interested in tweaking NBC than seriously pursuing Mr. O’Brien, citing the costs of starting a late-night franchise — which the NBC executive estimated at $70 million — and issues the network might have with getting its local affiliates to give up lucrative syndicated programs, like reruns of “Seinfeld,” to make room.
          As the days move forward im sure everything will work out. I would seriously like to see Conan on FOX. He can return to his late night roots but at 11:35. Conan was forced to change his style due to his changed fan base. It was unfair toward Conan for NBC to basically tell him what to do. When Carson left the Tonight Show everyone thought that it would be David Letterman and not Jay Leno to be the successor, but NBC stabbed its own and didnt choose Letterman. Letterman jumped the CBS over 15 years ago and he is doing fine and making his own legacy. His show is at the standard that when David plans to retire it will be a tremendous honor to take his place similar to what Jay did after Johnny and Conan did after Jay. But like Letterman, Conan is being stabbed in the back .... by yes NBC once again.

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