passthemike:

Conan’s contract has 80 million left on it, 20 million a year for 4 years. He can take the money and leave NBC, he can go to another network and NBC has to pay the difference of his salary. So FOX gives him 15 mil a year and NBC has to kick in the extra 5.

So no matter what happens, if he never is on the air again, he will make 80 mil. I wish NBC screwed me like that.

You’re missing the point. The outpouring of sympathy has nothing at all to do with the money. People feel bad for him because he’s getting screwed out of an extremely prestigious job that he had to bust his ass to earn. This wouldn’t be happening if Jay Leno didn’t pull a Favre and say “actually, I don’t want to retire. Give me a show that airs before the night lineup so I can snipe the best guests and jokes”, and if NBC didn’t say “yes sir, but first let’s get our collective fist up our ass”.

Conan’s ratings may not be on par with Leno’s for the 11:35 timeslot, but Jay had a 16-year head start, and a good lineup leading into his show. This is not a fair baseline for Conan, who is still building an audience and has fewer viewers already watching the network due to Jay’s failed experiment leading into local news.

Conan is taking punishment for NBC/Leno’s greed and failures, and that’s why everybody is so pissed off.