Realized Dreams

Sorry, Tyler, but I have to disagree. This is a celebrity trying to curry public favor after and sympathy after finding themselves on the wrong end of a business deal.

NBC promised Conan the Tonight Show in 2004 to keep him from going anywhere else. And while it might have been a ‘dream’, this is a business. Jay Leno might not be your cup of humor, but he beat Letterman in the ratings; something Leno was able to do regularly. And at the end of the day, Leno’s buyout would’ve cost NBC five times as much, so again, a (relatively easy) business decision. NBC did try to let Conan keep his ‘dream’, albeit with a half-baked scheme.

That being said, if Conan was so concerned, maybe he would’ve done well to look at NBC’s history- they tried to do the same thing to Leno not long after he took the reins from Johnny Carson, throwing feelers out to Letterman after Leno failed to deliver the same ratings as Carson.

If Conan’s so distraught, give me the money. I’ll gladly sit on a beach somewhere, doing NOTHING for 9 months, while I contemplate what to do when my noncompete clause expires. Boo hoo, Conan, your life’s so hard. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who would walk away from their ‘dream’ to trade places with you.

You are wrong. But hey, thanks for writing.

A second thought… Did Conan want the Tonight Show only because of the cachet that it once had?

If you ant something done right, Conan, do it yourself. The Tonight Show didn’t just happen. And it won’t always be. Just like some of the vaunted and once-mighty auto marques that are no longer with us.

If you really want to do something, start from the ground, and build it yourself. He’s young enough to have a run to rival Johnny Carson’s (30 years); and if done right, when he decides to retire in 2040, people will wonder if there’s anyone who could possibly ever replace Conan, because he’s become synonymous with (some might even say integral to) this new, as-yet-unnamed 10:30-11:30 show.

The recent public outpouring should convince Conan AND (at least) a network that the oft-quoted Field of Dreams line is correct- “If you build it, they will come.” So build it, Conan. But learn from the lessons here, and make sure it’s too expensive to buy out your contract.

Then build a late-night talk show that will make people talk about today’s ‘Tonight Show’ the way people talk about once-great margues like Pontiac, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Nash, Packard, Studebaker, Auburn, DeSoto, Hudson, et al. The way NBC is running their network lately, chances are they’ll destroy any cachet the once-vaunted ‘Tonight Show’ name has left anyway.

But NBC is FULLY behind the Tonight Show this time. I mean huge. Take one shot kind of huge.

I could find another dream with 30 million dollars in my pocket.

It really is sad.

The public has a very short memory, so I hope Conan is able to capitalize on the momentum he currently has. if he doesn’t already have a web show in the works, then he better get one up and running fast.

It’s crazy that this whole thing has essentially been caused by NBC’s failure to actually talk to people.
Maybe it’s just a trait of that style of organization, but they promised Conan the Late Night gig with a specific date without really discussing Jay’s future with him. Then they had to scramble and come up with the Jay Leno show, which really kinda screwed both guys. Then they announced that Jay would be moving later without really discussing it with Conan.
So they ignored at least two major opportunities to collaborate with smart, talented guys to reach a decision, instead deeming that they knew what was best. There’s a lesson here.

I’m bummed. I love Conan, and he seems like the nicest guy out of all the late night hosts.

I guess i’ve strayed from the dream theme of the post…

but to connect the two ideas – a dreamer can inspire people (see also: tribes, the I’m with coco movement), but large organizations have a bias toward using dreamers for fuel.

EXACTLY!

You’d give up hunting for $30 million? I doubt it.