14 DAY TRIAL // After many days of speculation and public spats, NBC has finally reached an agreement with Conan O’Brien, who will be leaving The Tonight Show. A deal has already been signed, the New York Times informs, but the official announcement is yet to be made. However, it too should drop later today.
It all began when NBC announced that, due to poor ratings, it was taking Jay Leno out of primetime and moving his show up in the night, to be followed by O’Brien’s The Tonight Show. Later on, it emerged that the network was actually killing Leno’s show because it wanted him back on The Tonight, but that could only be achieved if O’Brien agreed to get out of his contract with the network early. All problems have been ironed out now and the ink is fresh on the paper of the new agreement.
“After a last long night of negotiations, the deal to end Mr. O’Brien’s short term as host of The Tonight Show was concluded with an agreement that will pay him about $32 million and free him up to return to television in eight months. The deal is expected to be announced formally later Thursday. NBC confirmed early Thursday morning only that a deal was signed,” the publication says after speaking with reps of both parties involved.
“After Mr. O’Brien’s manager, Gavin Polone, told the Web site The Wrap that a deal was signed late last night West Coast time, NBC itself had brief reports this morning that the deal had been concluded. Mr. O’Brien has been pointing to Friday as his last night in the job during a week of special appearances and walk-ons by many of the biggest stars who have been regular guests on the show. He will now have an official farewell show Friday night with two of late-night television’s most sought-after guests, Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell, and with Neil Young as the final musical guest,” the NY Times goes on to say.
As we were also telling you earlier today, in one of his most recent monologues, O’Brien said he was just three days away from serious binge drinking. At the same time, he also took advantage of the opportunity and slammed NBC for its treatment of him, calling network bosses “brainless sons of goats.”