Killtacular
01-27-2002, 12:11 PM
This is quite a disconcerting article. DON'T DO IT, HAMMER! .. I mean, Conan.
Remember the Keenan Ivory Wayans show? That only lasted 3 weeks..
Hopefully Conan knows that at NBC he has a future, but at FOX, he wouldn't last very long.. and then he wouldn't be able to go back to NBC either. I doubt he'll take the offer.
FOX wants Conan O'Brien to host a late-night talk show, according to TV
Guide. Fox execs are "all over" the 38-year-old O'Brien, whose "Late Night"
deal reportedly ends in September, the magazine quotes an NBC exec.
The TV Guide report that Fox is trying again to push into late-night TV
will be published in its issue on newsstands Monday.
Fox hasn't had a late-night talk show since the expensive "Chevy Chase
Show" crashed and burned in 1993.
Fox, which reportedly settled on Chase after pursuing then-"Late Night"
host David Letterman - who bolted for CBS instead - feels that it's in a
better position now than it was nine years ago.
And it also knows the financial windfall from a successful late night talk
show. CBS' "Late Show," for instance, earned $150 million in ad revenue in
the first nine months of '01.
"We're an infinitely stronger network than we were when we went after
Letterman," a senior Fox exec tells TV Guide. "It's no secret that we want
a piece of the late-night action.
"And CBS has surely shown that the way to get in the game is to pay a lot
of money to somebody who is already a success."
"Negotiations haven't heated up yet, but we know Fox is all over (O'Brien),
" an NBC exec told TV Guide's Max Robins, who dishes about his scoop on
tonight's "Extra."
TV Guide reports that Fox could offer O'Brien far more than the $2 million
a year he's reportedly making at NBC.
And Fox could also offer O'Brien an 11 p.m. timeslot - virtually
guaranteeing him a larger audience than he gets in his current 12:35 a.m.
timeslot on NBC.
"NBC is committed to Jay Leno hosting 'The Tonight Show' for at least four
years," one insider tells TV Guide.
"With us, Conan gets out of the after-midnight ghetto and potentially
(draws) a much larger audience."
O'Brien is at the top of Fox's wish list, but other names being bandied
about are "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and "Politically Incorrect" host
Bill Maher. Their contracts are up by the end of the year.
Letterman, whose "Late Show" contract reportedly expires in May, is
considered a longshot possibility.
"The Chevy Chase Show" was Fox's second stab at a late-night talk show,
following "The Late Show starring Joan Rivers Show," which aired on Fox
beginning in 1986.
Remember the Keenan Ivory Wayans show? That only lasted 3 weeks..
Hopefully Conan knows that at NBC he has a future, but at FOX, he wouldn't last very long.. and then he wouldn't be able to go back to NBC either. I doubt he'll take the offer.
FOX wants Conan O'Brien to host a late-night talk show, according to TV
Guide. Fox execs are "all over" the 38-year-old O'Brien, whose "Late Night"
deal reportedly ends in September, the magazine quotes an NBC exec.
The TV Guide report that Fox is trying again to push into late-night TV
will be published in its issue on newsstands Monday.
Fox hasn't had a late-night talk show since the expensive "Chevy Chase
Show" crashed and burned in 1993.
Fox, which reportedly settled on Chase after pursuing then-"Late Night"
host David Letterman - who bolted for CBS instead - feels that it's in a
better position now than it was nine years ago.
And it also knows the financial windfall from a successful late night talk
show. CBS' "Late Show," for instance, earned $150 million in ad revenue in
the first nine months of '01.
"We're an infinitely stronger network than we were when we went after
Letterman," a senior Fox exec tells TV Guide. "It's no secret that we want
a piece of the late-night action.
"And CBS has surely shown that the way to get in the game is to pay a lot
of money to somebody who is already a success."
"Negotiations haven't heated up yet, but we know Fox is all over (O'Brien),
" an NBC exec told TV Guide's Max Robins, who dishes about his scoop on
tonight's "Extra."
TV Guide reports that Fox could offer O'Brien far more than the $2 million
a year he's reportedly making at NBC.
And Fox could also offer O'Brien an 11 p.m. timeslot - virtually
guaranteeing him a larger audience than he gets in his current 12:35 a.m.
timeslot on NBC.
"NBC is committed to Jay Leno hosting 'The Tonight Show' for at least four
years," one insider tells TV Guide.
"With us, Conan gets out of the after-midnight ghetto and potentially
(draws) a much larger audience."
O'Brien is at the top of Fox's wish list, but other names being bandied
about are "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart and "Politically Incorrect" host
Bill Maher. Their contracts are up by the end of the year.
Letterman, whose "Late Show" contract reportedly expires in May, is
considered a longshot possibility.
"The Chevy Chase Show" was Fox's second stab at a late-night talk show,
following "The Late Show starring Joan Rivers Show," which aired on Fox
beginning in 1986.