Conan O'Brien to Leave NBC

Conan O'Brien and NBC have reached a deal. NBC has said that it reached a 45 million dollar deal with the late night talk show host. O'Brien will get 33 million, while the rest is being given to his staff in severance. O'Brien's manager has said that Conan was appreciative of NBC's steps to take care of his staff and crew, and decided to supplement their severance out of his own pocket. O'Brien's manager also stated that Conan is looking forward to getting back on the air as soon as possible.

That could be as soon as September when he will be free to accept another offer. There has been plenty of speculation as to what network may be entertaining the idea of taking him on as host of a talk show.

Friday January 22nd is reported to be Conan's last day and Leno is to be taking over March 1st. February is dedicated to the Olympics on NBC.

According to Nielsen ratings Conan had an average 2.5 million nightly viewers against David Letterman's 4.2 million. Leno's prime time show was a flop and NBC's affiliate stations saw their late night news audience drop by as much as 25 percent. This cost the stations 22 million collectively over a three month period. Many stations threatened to drop The Jay Leno show and air their own programming.

While I believe that NBC must think that this is a step in the right direction for their network, I myself think it is a mistake. While Jay Leno has done very well and has many fans, I just don't think he is as well liked as Conan O'Brien. Or maybe it's that Conan appeals more to the younger viewing audience, whereas Jay appeals to the older.

I myself have only ever watched Jay when he has a celebrity on that I want to see. Sometimes I would catch his Headlines segment, but lets be honest, headlines is not Jay Leno being funny, it's funny headlines that the general public have found and sent in for him to read. Anyone could do that, you don't have to be a funny guy to pull it off. I find Jay to be dry and boring. Sorry if I offend his fans, but that is just my opinion.

Now as for Conan, I would actually watch him for his monologues and other comedy he did. When he would interview his guests he was funny and engaging. I will definitely miss his late night show.

The only thing NBC has left to draw my attention now is The Office and Saturday Night Live. And lets be honest SNL hasn't been up to par for years now. The only thing saving SNL is the likes of Andy Samburg, Bill Hader and Will Forte. And how long until NBC axes The Office too? Oh I will watch the Olympics as well, but once every two years isn't much to keep a network going. It's like NBC is on a suicide mission.

While I wish you the best of luck NBC, I am saddened that your disappointing choices have forced me to look elsewhere for my late night TV viewing.