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NEWS FLASH: NBC settles Jay/Conan mess

And so it's official: Jay gets The Tonight Show back, Conan gets gone.

How convenient that NBC late-night's upcoming Olympic hiatus allows the network to make such a clean break.

(See, we can be just as funny as these guys were before this whole situation kicked them into overdrive.)

Here are Thursday's statements from NBC:

Regarding Conan O'Brien's release from his Tonight Show contract --

"NBC and Conan O'Brien have reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

"Under terms of an agreement that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after Sept. 1, 2010.

"O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show on Jan. 22."

(That's the statement in its entirety. NBC is scheduling Conan Tonight repeats until the Olympics in mid-February.)

Regarding Jay Leno's return to The Tonight Show --

"NBC confirmed today that popular late-night host Jay Leno will return to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET beginning March 1, 2010 and that Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will continue to be broadcast from 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET. The announcements were made by Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment.

"'We're pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years,' said Gaspin. 'He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.'

"Leno previously hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from May 1992-May 2009. The program will continue to showcase many of the features that made Leno America's late-night leader for more than a dozen years."

1 Comments

Carol said:

OK.

Now NBC has given Conan money. Conan is satisfied with the check and will move on.

I cannot wait to see how Conan will deal with the next couple of months. When the time is up on the contractual agreement, I wonder what "Late Show" he will become a guest on. I hope it is the "Jay smack-down" of the century.

NBC made a big mistake in this one. I think some folks need to lose their jobs.

January 23, 2010 12:22 PM

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Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.

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