The War for Late Night_ When Leno Went Early and Television Went Crazy - Bill Carter [173]
Overall, the talk lasted about a half hour. Zucker concluded by urging Conan to take his time, think it over, go over things with his representatives. Then Conan stood up, tossed off some parting words, and left the room.
Zucker remained with Jeff Ross. Despite the tension, their closeness opened the door to a more honest conversation, at least from Zucker’s perspective. He went back over his assurances that NBC really did want them to stay, to continue producing The Tonight Show. But he pointed to what he said were mistakes the show had been making—the bookings, the nichey comedy. He told Ross that Lorne Michaels was on board with this idea, even though it was hardly going to be advantageous to Jimmy Fallon.
As always Jeff Ross remained calm, stoic to a point that Zucker, as he had so frequently in the past, wondered if he should check for Jeff’s pulse. Ross seemed a bit shell-shocked by the events of the day, but he did not overtly dispute Zucker’s analysis. Instead he sat quietly behind his desk, listening, taking it all in.
Finally Zucker stood to leave. “I’m supposed to fly home tomorrow,” he told Ross. “But if you need me to fly back out here to talk to Conan, to talk to you, whatever you need me to do, you just tell me and I’ll be here in one minute.”
Ross nodded. Zucker started for the door. Ross stopped him. “Hey . . . me and you,” Ross said. “Whatever happens, we’re all right.”
When Marc Graboff woke around six the next morning, Friday, January 8, he immediately checked his BlackBerry, as was his custom. He found a message from Zucker, which he noticed had also been sent to Jeff Gaspin, Rebecca Marks, and Allison Gollust. The message said that Ari Emanuel had called and roused Zucker from his bed at the Four Seasons at five thirty a.m. (the same time he called Zucker on most mornings, though that usually meant eight thirty in the east). In the e-mail, Zucker summarized the conversation: Ari said he hated the decision about Conan, but he got it. He understood NBC’s thinking and why NBC thought it was the right thing to do. They would all talk it over and he was sure Conan was going to do it.
Graboff was not overly surprised by Emanuel’s reaction. He thought of Ari as levelheaded and businesslike, though mainly by reputation. Ari tended to deal exclusively with the top guys like Zucker, not next-level deal makers like Marc.
When Allison Gollust awoke to the same message, she was relieved, thinking this might spell a quick and reasonable end to this little drama, which would calm the roiling press waters. Rebecca Marks, her West Coast counterpart, had a similar reaction.
Jeff Gaspin appreciated this bit of promising news from Zucker even more than the other NBC executives, not only because the revamp had been his idea, but also because he had the press tour appearance facing him in two days. If Conan’s assent could be secured by then, handling questions from the reporters might turn into an unexpected breeze. But he had little time to digest fully Zucker’s message, because Jay checked in first thing that morning, interested in hearing about the discussion between Zucker and O’Brien the previous evening.
Jay asked Gaspin what he thought was going to happen with Conan now. Gaspin told Jay that Conan was truly upset. But he said there were some indications that an agreement might be possible.
“Should I call him?” Jay asked.
Gaspin, recalling the edge Conan had revealed when talking about Leno in their meeting the day before, and how personal it seemed to be getting, said, “You know what—don’t call him.”
On Friday morning Jeff Ross arrived at his office still offended and no warmer to NBCʹs plan. The night before he had engaged in a long conversation with Polone that left him even more concerned about whether the network could even be serious about this proposal.
Polone had cited the current Tonight budget—about $80 million—and told Ross, “Wait a second. You’re telling me they’re going to put on