Conan O'Brien will be leaving the Tonight Show on Jan 22nd, a full 3 weeks before NBC had slated him to be removed.
I respect Conan for taking a stand during this whole fiasco. If Leno does indeed take his spot back behind the Tonight Show desk, I hope his ratings reflect the disgust most late night TV watchers are feeling.
According to the New York Post:
"Conan does not currently plan on doing any more new shows after next week," a source told People magazine's Web site this afternoon.
If Jan. 22 is O'Brien's final live broadcast, the show will have ended two weeks before NBC's scheduled preemption for its 2010 Winter Olympics coverage.
NBC has declined comment.
While there has been no word on if Conan will still receive the reported millions he is owed for breach of contract, Finke has reported that NBC CEO Jeff Zucker was threatening to “ice” Conan O’Brien, by holding him to a three-and-a-half-year no-compete clause in his contract.
Coco said it best in his monologue last night:
"Hosting The Tonight Show has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me - and I just want to say to the kids out there watching: You can do anything you want in life.
Unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too."
Photo: Mike Mitchell
