For the way that they did Conan over on The Tonight Show? I mean, Conan should still be hosting The Tonight Show on NBC now, not an alleged alcoholic, womanizing (or down-low gay man depending on what rumors you believe), wife beating, coke-headed, hack comedian like Jimmy Fallon:
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/946937-He-s-a-mess-Insiders-say-NBC-is-worried-Jimmy-Fallon-s-drinking-may-be-getting-out-of-control
I imagine they're concerned, but in the long run NBC probably doesn't care all that much as long as the ratings indicate this:
from TV By The Numbers:
The late-night ratings for the week of Oct. 26-30: “The Tonight Show” led in both adults 18-49 and viewers, and “The Late Show” held off “Jimmy Kimmel Live” for second.
Beyond that, though, “Tonight” had its best week in a month with a 0.97 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.76 million viewers. It also recorded its biggest margin of victory over “The Late Show” since Stephen Colbert took over.
Even if those rumors were true. It wouldn't be very fair if the karma that NBC were getting. Was that a father of two, husband, son, and brother was that damaged. Zucker's termination, NBC shoving Leno out for Fallon, and NBC's craptastic ratings over the past five years is the karma IMO.
Next time I'll just die on the river so Sam can see a waterfall.
Zucker's termination, NBC shoving Leno out for Fallon, and NBC's craptastic ratings over the past five years is the karma IMO.
Conan wasn't "done over". His ratings stunk. And before you drag out the "that's because Leno's 10:00 show did so poorly" argument, go look at the ratings for the month prior to Jay starting at 10:00. After three months in the Tonight chair, Conan had lost 45% of Leno's audience. That is just mind-boggling. By contrast, the first year after Leno took over from Carson, his ratings were down 10% (if Leno had been down 45%, he would have been booted in favor of Letterman so fast his head would have spun).
NBC shouldn't have been surprised. Conan's ratings were actually declining during his last couple of years on "Late Night", and Craig Ferguson had begun to occasionally tie or beat him, despite the fact that Ferguson had a much weaker lead-in with Letterman than Conan did with Leno. NBC never should have proceeded with their ill-conceived succession plan. They should have paid the penalty and started grooming another host when it was clear that Conan wasn't mainstream enough for Tonight.