January 11, 2010 BY BILL ZWECKER Chicago Sun-Times Columnist While on the face of it, Conan O'Brien's professional future may look very challenged, several broadcast sources said Sunday that the late-night host and comic could end up having the last laugh.
O'Brien has yet to weigh in on the peacock network's announcement it was canceling Jay Leno's prime-time program and hoping O'Brien would accept being bumped back to follow Leno's return to the 10:35 p.m. time slot. However, a major NBC player said Sunday, ''If Conan plays ball, swallows his pride -- which certainly is not easy -- and accepts a return to the later slot, he stands to be paid a very hefty bonus in return.'' >From the network's standpoint, paying O'Brien several million more dollars >annually still would be preferable to being forced to pay the TV personality >an estimated $20 million per year for the remaining four years on his >contract, and have him do nothing. Reportedly, even if O'Brien did agree to jump to Fox or ABC -- as have been floated as serious possibilities -- NBC still would have to shell out any differential that might remain between O'Brien's new contract and his old NBC deal. For example, if Fox or ABC paid him $15 million annually, NBC reportedly would still be obligated to pay him an added $5 million to fulfill the terms of his NBC contract. A source very close to O'Brien, who requested anonymity Sunday, said, ''Conan is extremely upset about all this, and how the news leaked out and how it has been handled by NBC -- so far. While he understands Jay's show hasn't worked, he thinks he's being made the fall guy,'' even though O'Brien's own ratings performance in the "Tonight Show" time slot has been very disappointing. Regards, KGB ----- Kevin G. Barkes Email: kgbar...@yahoo.com KGB Report: http://www.kgbreport.com Commentwear by KGB: http://www.commentwear.com National Temperature Index: http://nationaltemperatureindex.com DCL Dialogue on line: http://www.dcldialogue.com Random Quotations Generator: http://www.goodquotations.com Over 13,000 searchable quotations.
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