Will NBC's Brand Survive Conan O'Brien?

The NBC network is finally getting the late-night ratings it has craved for so long. In fact, ratings for the "Tonight Show" are up almost 100 percent. Too bad this boost is coming at the expense of the network itself. The "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien is airing his grievances with NBC on-air. How much more can "the peacock" take before the broadcast brand suffers irreparable harm?

Knocking the boss has been a staple of evening talk shows for the last few decades. David Letterman was a pioneer. Generally though it has always been good-natured. Not anymore. After releasing a statement refusing to negotiate with the network, Conan O'Brien has been laser-locked on ruining NBC's reputation, devoting his entire monologues (and some of the rest of the shows) to this goal. A sampling:

"There's a rumor NBC is so upset with me they want to keep me off the air for three years. Yeah, my response is that if NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC."

"Good news from Afghanistan. Critics of the war have stopped referring to it as 'another Vietnam.' Bad news, they're now calling it 'another NBC.'"Continue reading...