Here's the text of an e-mail sent out today by Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment. It was addressed to the staff but was obviously intended for public dissemination…
Today, we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of our late night franchise "The Tonight Show."
Today also marks another important milestone in our great late night history. In a few moments, we will be issuing a press release announcing our succession plan for this important television institution.
Jay Leno will continue to be at the helm of "The Tonight Show" for another five years, well into 2009, after which time Conan O'Brien will become the host of "The Tonight Show." Jay will officially make the announcement on his show tonight.
After that, it's back to work as usual for Jay, Conan and their teams, who will continue to provide us laughs for many more years.
I can't say enough about this late night team and these two men – especially Jay Leno – who worked tirelessly with us to help us find the appropriate time to make this announcement.
Thanks to both men we have a very bright future in late night!
This is quite amazing, especially when one remembers that Conan O'Brien is the guy NBC renewed in 13-week increments (and actually cancelled at one point) during his rocky first year or two. Now, the network has given him an unprecedented long-range commitment even if, as one expects, NBC has left themselves some sort of "out" clause…say, if O'Brien's Late Night ratings plunge before 2009. Even leaving aside however they may feel about Leno, they had to be pretty scared of O'Brien leaving NBC, either to replace Letterman or to compete in another venue.
Most outward signs suggest that Letterman isn't going anywhere for the forseeable future. Then again, a few hours ago, everyone would have said that of Mr. Leno. This change may prompt some response on the CBS front. Letterman may commit to staying until 2010, just so he can say he out-lasted Jay.
There are all sorts of questions here, and we may or may not get answers to them soon. Is Leno receiving a huge payoff and some sort of long-term deal to do other things for NBC? The folks I'm talking to this morning over at NBC are still triple-checking that today isn't April 1.