News Corp.'s Carey and Ailes need to see the numbers before jumping on Conan bandwagon

News Corp. executives Chase Carey and Roger Ailes, both of whom will have a strong say over whether Fox goes after Conan O'Brien for a late-night show if he leaves NBC, will wait to see the numbers on what such a move would cost before weighing in on a decision.

O'Brien is currently at war with NBC over its decision to move "The Tonight Show" from 11:35 p.m. to 12:05 a.m. to make room for Jay Leno's return to late night from prime time. O'Brien has said he is not interested in moving his show but has not quit yet.

While Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly have been open about his interest in O'Brien, this is the first time Carey and Ailes have spoken publicly on the subject,

"We should always be evaluating opportunities," Carey said, adding that he would for now leave it to Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice and Reilly to make a preliminary evaluation.

Ailes, who oversees the Fox's television stations as well as the Fox News Channel, thought that a move into late night would not be without a financial hit.

"It's a tough time period," Ailes said, The Fox stations, which include KTTV-TV Los Angeles and WNYW-TV New York, carry expensive reruns at 11 p.m., which is probably where the network would want to put O'Brien if they were to land him. Ailes said the stations' contracts for programming would have to be written off. Ailes declined to discuss the late-night situation further, saying, "I don't want to influence discussions."

Clearing the time periods with the Fox stations and the network's affiliates is just one hurdle. Fox would also have to build or lease a studio, spend millions promoting O'Brien and probably have to pay NBC to get the network to release him from his deal there.

In other words, it's not as easy as walking off NBC one night and popping up on Fox the next night. The earliest O'Brien could land on Fox would be September and more likely would be January 2011, if not later.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: Conan O'Brien. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[rushlimpd]

And for this we have Jay to thank.
With the karma Jay is bringing on himself
his show will tank badly.
America wants Jay walking? Really?

[Ben]

why is everyone blaming jay?
conan's terrible ratings are more surprising than jay's

[davegood57]

God spare us another round of juvenile, talentless, sophomoric, need I add soporific "humor" from this no talent Massachusetts Irishman who is also ugly to look at.

[Bernd Hamann]

I am not sure Conan will be in a good place at Fox. Ailes is one of the strangest characters in all media, with his ultra-rightwing agenda going on at Fox News, it seems impossible they would allow Conan to do a show even remotely as edgy and reaching as Late Night, or even the current Tonight Show.

[JohnRJ08]

If Conan O'Brien moves to FOX, which may be his only viable alternative, he will slip into obscurity forever. The lead-in to his show would be FOX News. The people who watch that just wouldn't get his jokes.

[Roy Hobbs]

I read that Conan was reluctant to "Take one for the team," and move his show to a later spot.

Get real.

Leno's appeal is broader, and ratings better.

NBC made you a multimillionaire, correct?

Show your gratitude.

[JAKE]

First: Part of the settlement with NBC could be that Conan can stay on the Universal Lot. It is one of the few things that can dovetail nicely with their tour stuff.
Otherwise there's always that space on Sunset that FOX spent zillions on upgrading it for Chevy Chase's ill conceived shot.
Either way finding space for Conan's show is not a big deal.
The bigger deal is this: if Conan does not work out at Fox, what then?
Take over 'The Daily Show'?
Follow Craig Ferguson after he replaces Letterman?
Replace Letterman and then face off against Leno? Or eventually Jon Stewart?

Conan's brand is not anywhere near as strong and here's why: He never took the time to become a real performer. He got cut to the head of the line by Lorne Michaels because he was the funniest guy in the room. But now he's out of his protected late-late night time slot (where ratings wise folks are happy if anyone tunes in) and he's finding out (the hard way) that all those things your learn over the years in dozens of crappy comedy clubs can actually have some real value. Yes he's very funny. But he still extremely nervous and uncomfortable in front of the audience. Folks may not understand exactly why they don't like/watch Conan, but I'm betting his lack of comedy survival training is a large part of that. You rarely feel like he's a master performer in control of his stage. Differences aside, Jay, Dave, the two Jimmy's and Craig all have this going for them. They've all done their time on a lonely stage with just a mic and the opportunity to bomb and learn from it.
Honestly Conan has never had that experience. He's always been "good enough". Which is amazing for a writer tossed out in front of a camera.
I wish him well. I've always enjoyed his humor (if not his stagecraft in delivering it). The real star that FOX should put their $$$ behind is Stephen Colbert. His character plays nicely with both sides of the aisle and could bring a Left/Right late night audience to FOX. Plus, he's had that icky, hard, live comedy club training.

[George]

While I honestly hate Ailes' pseudo-conservative crap at Faux News, he seems like a guy always willing to take some risks and go all out. Plus, he isn't afraid of going outside the mainstream (note Glenn Beck or Red Eye). So I wouldn't doubt if Ailes had the final say, he'd find a way to get Conan on the network. I really hope it can be done. Another issue though is Conan's deal with NBC. As far as I've most recently read, Conan's pay will be based on how long he stays away from other stations. So if it does happen, it may not be for a few years.