O'Brien, NBC back in business - sort of (THR, VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione

Just days after the network severed ties with Conan O'Brien as host of "The Tonight Show," NBC has picked up an hour-long pilot from O'Brien's production company, Conaco. The untitled O'Brien project, known as "Justice," was written by John Eisendrath.

Described as a new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center, it follows an ex-Supreme Court justice who quits the Court to start his own legal practice, The Hollywood Reporter explains.

Eisendrath is executive producing, with O'Brien, Jeff Ross and Conaco's David Kissinger also expected to serve as exec producers.

As Variety notes, execs-turned-producers frequently sell projects to the networks they once worked at (and frequently exited under ugly circumstances). David Letterman's Worldwide Pants shingle, for example, was behind NBC's "Ed" - despite the fact that he left the network under difficult circumstances as well.

As part of O'Brien's $33 million settlement with NBC, his NBC-based company was to continue to operate at NBC Universal through the end of the development season.