Does time and a fresh host cure all wounds? After Jay Leno's comeback to “The Tonight Show” 14 years ago, Conan O'Brien is back. On April 9, O'Brien will discuss his new Max travel series "Conan O'Brien Must Go" with Jimmy Fallon, who replaced Leno in 2014.
In 2009, after Leno was granted a new prime-time show on NBC, O'Brien was promoted to host the network's flagship late-night show after more than 15 years presenting “Late Night with Conan O'Brien”.
After seven months of declining “Tonight Show” ratings and pressure from affiliates who said “The Jay Leno Show” wasn’t a strong enough lead-in to their nightly newscasts, NBC decided to shorten the show to a half-hour and move it to 11:35 p.m., bumping “The Tonight Show” to 12:05 a.m.
It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule,” O'Brien stated. After rejecting the offer, O'Brien and his team received a multimillion-dollar compensation to leave NBC in early 2010.
And to the kids watching: You can do anything in life. In his final monologue, O'Brien called “The Tonight Show” the fulfillment of a longtime goal, unless Jay Leno wants to do it too. Late-night host O'Brien returned to TBS in November 2010. “Conan” aired for over 11 years. (The first episode outrated Leno's “Tonight Show”.)
O'Brien told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that he still harbored anger but acknowledged a “amazing partnership with NBC.” “There are moments of 'What the hell happened? They did or said that—why? But there's also a lot of, ‘OK, let's file this under There's A Lot I Can't Control,’” he told the trade publication, adding that he and Leno no longer spoke.
After Fallon took over “The Tonight Show” from Southern California to New York, O'Brien returned. Fallon has previously used his show to reach out. Joan Rivers briefly appeared in a segment where celebs wagered money Fallon would never host on his first night as host. Rivers was notoriously excluded from Johnny Carson's show after she obtained her own Fox late-night show. After his contentious departure from NBC, O'Brien surprised “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” viewers.
Conan O'Brien broadcasts the podcast “Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend.” His new show takes him to Ireland, Thailand, Argentina, and Norway. After years of fierce competition between Leno and CBS' David Letterman, late-night talk show hosts now get along and even become friends. To help their workers during the writers strike, Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Kimmel created “Strike Force Five” last summer.
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