Culture

Conan O'Brien Leaves NBC After Jay Leno Takes Tonight Show @11:35

by Albert Milliron | January 12, 2010 at 12:40 pm

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Conan O'Brien released a statement that says he will not stay at NBC. This move comes following NBC's announcement that Jay Leno's show in prime time would be canceled and his show was being moved to 11:35 pm.

NBC said that Conan would follow Leno at 12:05 for one hour. For the last several days both Leno and O'Brien have been taking shots at the low-rated network. NBC has two areas where they are making money. One is news and the other is their late night programing.

Following Jay going to 10:00 pm, ratings have dropped significantly for both comedians. O'Brien's audience tends to be younger then Leno's demographics. Leno's audience has turned to other networks. There is some talk that O'Brien's demographics are better for Fox and this network may make an attempt to pick him up for its nighttime line-up.

... since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both. But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule....

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