NBC No Trash Talk Rule Could Violate Conan O'Brien 1st Amendment Rights

The news came yesterday that NBC had reached an agreement with late night host Conan O'Brien to give up his slot on The Tonight Show to Jay Leno for an amount ranging from 25 to 40- million dollars.. The media brouhaha, which has been going on for weeks, has boosted the ratings of both shows. Leno and O'Brien have been opening their shows before an audience grown accustomed to the zings and arrows of celebrity misfortune. All TV shows of this type (including Jay Leno's earlier show) open with the standard monologue in which a variety of topics get toasted. But mainly the famous hosts were ribbing each other as the contest heated up. It was good stuff, all the more enjoyable because it wasn't characterized by the viciousness which often permeates public jousting when big egos and large sums of money are concerned.

I like both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien so I don't have a dog in the hunt. This is one time when I hope for a photogenic "Kumbaya" moment and a big settlement for Conan O'Brien.

There's some talk that Conan O'Brien could get picked up by Fox and that would be great coup for Fox, if true. Meanwhile, the fun continues as a Conan O'Brien show recently opened with a filmed sequence showing what Conan and his sidekick had to go through to get to the NBC studios. It looked like a "24" TV series gunfight as O'Brien fired a pistol, ducked, and moved through the streets of New York like an action hero with "enemy fire" raining down on both of them.

But the most hilarious thing about the media flap is the reported terms of the settlement-if there is a settlement. To compensate for the millions which NBC will spend to smooth things over with O'Brien's contract, most of which might have been spent in litigation anyway, the NBC network is reported to be pushing for a "no trash talk clause" in the parting contract. That should keep an audience laughing for a long time.

Hello, NBC. How can a comedian not make fun of where he's been for the last decade? By pretending he's dead, and if he's dead, didn't he die on NBC? Is that likely to escape media coverage somehow? I can see O'Brien now, lips pressed together and eyes bulging.

"I'm not saying anything, folks. I'm not!"

Meanwhile, a well-lit marquee revolves in the background continuously flashing the repeating disclaimer: "Conan has a no trash-talk rule and can't say a word about NBC." That'll subdue all interest in the terms of O'Brien's departure, I'm sure. But suppose one of O'brien's future guests brings it up-they have no "agreements" with NBC-and O'Brien pulls a face. Will NBC file a lawsuit alleging that O'Brien is in violation of the "trash talking agreement?"

I can't wait until an appeals court gets that one.