The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (partially found unaired episode of NBC talk show; 2009)
Title card.
Status: Partially Found
In 2004, Conan O'Brien was facing a renewal of his contract with NBC for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As part of the renewal he signed, it stated that when Jay Leno left The Tonight Show that Conan would become the next host. In that same year, Leno announced he would retire in 2009.
Leno eventually leaves "The Tonight Show" in 2009 and the show goes over to Conan. At this point though Leno realizes he doesn't want to retire anymore but he could not receive The Tonight Show back because Conan had it, so he creates The Jay Leno Show that would air right before The Tonight Show. This cannibalized Conan's viewership and led to his ratings to flounder. NBC then decided to push the The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien from 11pm to 12am. A move that Conan refused. NBC gave Conan two options: either push back the show an hour or leave. Conan chose to leave NBC after 20+ years with the company spanning Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
NBC would end up giving the show back to Jay Leno, who would host the show for another four years before handing it off to Jimmy Fallon (the successor to Conan on Late Night). Conan's Tonight Show was the shortest incarnation of The Tonight Show spanning 145 episodes and lasting from 6/1/09 to 1/22/10 before being cancelled.
Conan would then go on to host Conan on TBS for 11 seasons before ending in 2021. It is generally considered that if NBC gave Conan more time that his show would be a ratings success. The problem just was that Leno's audience was much older than Conan's and that the migration of those viewers would take time. As shown with Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show.
On September 25, 2009, he was performing a skit with Teri Hatcher of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Desperate Housewives fame when he slipped and hit his head on the floor, resulting in a mild concussion followed by an examination at a local hospital, where he was later released. Due to the incident, the episode set to air that night was left unfinished, with a rerun airing in its place. O'Brien joked about the incident and played a clip from the abandoned show the following night, this clip is the only footage of the episode that has surfaced to this day.