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January 28, 2010

Jay Leno tells his side of the story on Oprah

Screen shot of Oprah Winfrey's interview with Jay Leno.

Jay Leno appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" this morning to tell his side of the story in the recent late-night war. (UPDATE: Aaron Barnhart, the TV critic for the Kansas City Star and a late-night expert, has written a brilliant deconstruction of what Leno said -- and didn't say -- in the Oprah interview here. I highly recommend it.)

Leno's been castigated for appearing unfeeling, disingenuous and even manipulative throughout the brouhaha. The biggest mistake he made during the last month was to portray himself as a victim in the whole affair, but he used much of the same language Thursday (he spoke of being "fired" twice). On Winfrey's show he did admit to telling a "white lie" in 2004, when the transition was first announced. 

When asked by Winfrey what his reaction was when NBC executives came to him in 2004 and asked him to step aside in five years so that Conan O'Brien could take over "The Tonight Show," he was "devastated," he said. 


What follows is a transcript of much of what Leno said on Winfrey's show. A shorter summary of the hourlong Leno interview is here.

"I'm not a person who carries my emotions on my sleeve," he added. "But you know something, I'm happy with what I had. ['The Tonight Show'] was a tremendous success up to that point."

What had he planned to do when the five years was up, Winfrey asked?

"Well, I did tell a white lie on the air," Leno said. "I said, 'I'm going to retire.'" It was just maybe easier that way." He added that he "assumed" in 2004 he'd get another job on a different network. But to go to another network would have been "a lot of work," he said.

Did he feel disrespected by NBC executives, Oprah asked.

"Oh yeah. I most certainly did," he answered.

As for his 10 p.m. show, which was not a success, Leno said, "Well, I chose to do it. So I take full responsibility."

Is there a part of you that hates to say goodbye to television, Oprah asked.

"I did it because it's an interesting challenge," he replied.

Were he and Conan friends?

"Yes," Leno said. "We talked many times" after those transition talks in 2004.

As for competing in the prime-time arena, it was difficult, Leno said, especially given that other networks banned their actors from going on Leno's new show.

"It's a lot more competitive. If I'm in late night, I know I'm competing with Dave [Letterman] every night. … We could book against [other late-night shows]. To book [guests] against the 'CSI' evil twin episode, that's going to be very hard to do."

"Why do you think the show failed?" Oprah asked.


Was his prime-time show given enough time?

"I was given enough time. It didn't work," Leno said. "It's a TV show that got canceled. I am actually surprised that this got this much attention."

"America has taken sides," Oprah said. "And a lot of people are not on your side. And they're not on your side because they think that you have been selfish in this. Do you see in any way how you've been selfish? They think that you took the job away from Conan."


"I never expected this to happen. People think you're behind the scenes, pulling strings," he added. "There's no strings to pull. I have a show that's been canceled. So why would I have any power to go, 'Oh, I want that.'"

NBC came to him and talked about the ratings for Conan and Leno both being down. He said he asked to be let out of the contract for his prime-time show -- "maybe a day" after his prime-time show got canceled. He said he was told by NBC that he was still a "valuable asset."

"You fired me twice. How valuable can I be?" was his response, he said.

"OK, stop right there. Why didn't you then just say, 'You fired me twice, I'm out of here, guys?' Because that seems like the ultimate in disrespect to me," Oprah said.

"My show was not winning its time period. That's a perfectly valid reason to go, 'Pack your bags," Leno said. 

NBC executives assured him that they were "75 percent sure" Conan would go for the revised plan, which would have had Leno doing a 30-minute show at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Oprah asked Leno if he thought about thinking about the half-hour show and consulting Conan before agreeing to the new plan.

"It wasn't my place to call Conan," Leno said. "They made this offer to me. And I said, 'Do you think Conan will go for this?' And they said, 'We'll ask him tomorrow.' 'OK, let me know what happens.' And then thing you know, I guess Conan had his article in the paper and that was that."

Oprah: "Conan said he thought it would be destructive to the franchise, and…"

Leno: "Well, if you look at where the [Conan 'Tonight Show'] ratings were [long pause], it was already destructive to the franchise." 

He talked about when Jimmy Kimmel came on his show and delivered a cutting commentary on the mess Leno was in.

"Yeah, I got sucker punched," Leno said. "It's my show, I could have edited it. But I said, 'No, no, put it out there.' I walked into it."

Oprah: "Did you know he was going that far?"

Leno: "No, I didn't. But when you get sucker punched, you just get right back up again. You don't whine or complain -- 'Oh, I'm going to take that out, he said something bad about me.' That's all right."

Oprah asked if he'd talked to Conan, or if he'd wanted to "pick up the phone."

They hadn't talked, Leno said. He had wanted to call but "it didn't seem appropriate."

Oprah: "Why?"

Leno: "I don't know. I think, let things cool down and maybe we'll talk."

Oprah: "Were any of the things that he said about you hurtful?"

Leno: "No, they were jokes. And that's OK."

Oprah: "So jokes don't hurt you?"

Leno: "It's what we do, you know. It's like being a fighter and say, 'When you got punched in the head, did it hurt?' Well, yeah, but you're a fighter. That's what you do."

Oprah: "So when you, in the privacy of your own thoughts, your own home, you go home with Mavis at the end of the day -- you didn't say, 'You know, I thought that was kind of rotten. I thought that went a little too far.'"

Leno: "Well, you know the odd thing is, it's all your conscience. If you think you played a role in it somehow, then you get a guilty conscience and you feel bad. But nowhere in my wildest dreams did I think they'd ask me to go back. It just didn't seem logical."

By going back to "The Tonight Show," did he ever think that he was "taking away Conan's dream?"

Leno: "No. Because, again, this is an affiliate decision. Affiliates felt that the ratings were low. This was the first time in the 60-year history of 'The Tonight Show' that 'The Tonight Show' would have lost money. And that's what it comes down to. It's really just a matter of dollars and cents. If the numbers had been there, they wouldn't have asked me. And they only asked me after Conan turned down moving ['The Tonight Show'] back half an hour."

Oprah: "No part of you thought, 'Enough already. I've done it.'"

Leno: "You know, if you're a gunfighter, you like to die in the street."

He compared his wish to hang on to the 'Tonight Show' to Oprah's long run as host of her own syndicated run (she's said she'll end that run next year). Leno said neither of them was "going anywhere."

Oprah: "I'm asking you this question as somebody who has made the decision that for this show, 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' as it is -- done with that. Twenty-five years. Done with that."

Leno: "We'll see."

Oprah: "You don't believe that?"

Leno: "I believe you believe it." 

Oprah said it had been challenging to come to grips with who she is "without a television show." "This is the real question here … Who are you without a television show?" she asked.

Leno: "I am a standup comedian who happens to have a television show. This is the thing people have asked me for years, and I always tell them, I live on the money I make as a standup comedian" and he saves the rest.

How will he rebuild the "Tonight Show" audience?

Leno: "You find out what the elements are that worked on the show and you try to bring those elements to it. It's really the idea of servicing the audience. The reason I work a lot on the road is, you tell a joke -- if a joke works in Boston and Oklahoma City and Des Moines Iowa and L.A., it'll work on TV."

It's a matter of finding "that fine balance" between gentle zingers and more pointed humor, he said.

Oprah: "Talking about fine balance, do you think your fellow comedians lost that balance and maybe you did too, because David Letterman called you, I think, the 'big jawed' Leno [who] should just walk away, and you hit back by talking about his infidelity?"

Leno: "Well, I did a joke about that, yes."

Oprah: "Even the audience went, 'Ooooh!'"

Leno: "But it was a good joke. Did you laugh when you heard it?"

Oprah: "No, I did not. I did not laugh. You know what, I thought that was beneath you, actually."


Oprah: "So you thought one cheap shot deserves another?"

Leno: "Yeah, it's OK."

Oprah: "Do you feel you're being unfairly portrayed by the media?"

Leno: "Yeah, I think so. But I think you have to look for a bad guy. I mean, I think it's funny that they have a picture of me and Roman Polanski. Somehow these are quite similar. You have a TV show, he had sex with a 13-year old girl with Quaaludes. Yeah, that's about equal."

Leno had been seen as the good guy, but now he's seen as the bad guy, Oprah said. Did he think that was unfair?

Leno: "Yeah, I think it's a little unfair. And I'm going to work hard to rehabilitate that image."

So what comes next?

Leno: "I hope Conan gets a job somewhere else. I hope he gets on at Fox or somewhere. And we all compete together. And it raises the level of interest. And you know what happens, the best one wins. Maybe I'll get my butt kicked, maybe we'll win."

Oprah: "Did your gut ever tell you that the right thing to do would have been to say no to NBC's offer to go back?"

Leno: "No."

A bit later, Oprah asked if NBC could have handled the situation better.

Leno: "Anything they did would have been better than this.,,, If they had come in and shot everybody. It would have been 'Oh, people were murdered,' but at least it would have been a two-day story. NBC could not have handled it worse. From 2004 onward, this whole thing was a huge mess."

He thought his prime-time show might get cut down to two or three days a week, but he asserted again that it never occurred to him that he'd be asked to host "The Tonight Show" once more.

Leno on Conan's last show: "Great show. Good performer and good comic and a good guy. There's no animosity there."

Oprah: "Do you feel it's going to be humbling to go back?"

Leno: "Yeah, I think we have our work cut out for us. There's a lot of damage control that has to be done. The only way you can fix these things is to try and do good shows, not be bitter. Not be angry or upset about whatever."

Was he embarrassed by what happened?

Leno: "Yeah, it's hugely embarrassing. Not that I'm glad my parents are gone, I don't mean it that way, but I'm like, the last one left, so I don't have to explain to the relatives how all this works."

As for how he felt or how his "heartbreak" showed itself in his life, Leno said, "I always thought, 'You're doing the right thing.' I always felt I was doing the right thing. How can you do the right thing and just have it go so wrong? Maybe I'm not doing the right thing, I would think. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. This many people are angry and upset over a television show. I mean, I had a show. My show got canceled. They weren't happy with the other guy's show. They said, 'We want you to go back,' and I said, 'OK.' And this seemed to make a lot of people really upset. And I go, 'Well, who wouldn't take that job though? Who wouldn't do that?' It was really agonizing. I would spend a lot of time just thinking about it, going, 'I think I'm a good guy. Am I a good guy? Maybe I'm one of these guys who thinks I see everything with rose-colored glasses and the world is falling around you.' Yeah, it was a real agonizing time."

Oprah: "Did you ever ask yourself, Well, am I being selfish?"

Leno: "Sure, yeah, you ask yourself that every day.

Oprah: "And your answer was…is?"

Leno: "I don't think so. I mean, I like the job, I like all that goes with it. I fight for the people who work here. I fight to keep the jobs here. OK, is that selfish? Maybe it is, because it's self-aggrandizing, maybe because it's pumping me up."

Oprah asked if celebrities would still come on his show.

Leno: "I think they will. I don't know why they would refuse. Based on what?"

Leno said that the controversy had helped him understand what other public figures go through when they're in the news. He asked if the situation had affected Oprah's perception of him.

Oprah: "One of the reasons I wanted to do the interview is because I'm really surprised that so many people are against you. Because I think that people don't understand how television works. I could understand people thinking that you were selfish if you owned the show and controlled the show. It's a little surprising to me that people think you stole the show when in fact it wasn't your show to steal. It's owned by NBC."

Oprah: "Is there a part of you that feels that you should have just retired?"

Leno: "To me, being retired seemed like the selfish thing to do. You walk out and say to the 170 other people who work here, 'Listen, I don't want to get my reputation ruined, I don't want anyone talking bad about me. I've got enough money, I'm going to leave. You people can all fend for yourself.' … As long as I'm working, they're working. That seems to make sense to me. Is it a little selfish in that I still like being on TV? Oh sure. But the minute you can't do your job, they tap you on the shoulder and tell you to leave."

Oprah: "Did you feel bad for Conan at any point?"

Leno: "I did. I felt really bad for Conan. I think it's unfair but TV is not fair. I thought it was unfair for me."

Oprah: "You felt bad for Conan, but you don't think you were the reason" for the situation?

Leno: "No, I wasn't the reason. The reason was the ratings."

Oprah: "Do you have regrets?"

Leno: "Oh yeah, I do have regrets. I have regrets that it wasn't handled better. I'm just not sure what I could have done differently."


Leno: "But by walking away, that is an ego decision. That is me going, 'Goodbye everybody, I'm fed up with this. You all fend for yourselves. Good luck finding jobs. I'm out of here.' That's the ego decision."

Why not just retire and do as Conan did and get his staff healthy severance package, Oprah asked?

Leno: "Could have done that, but I didn't. They offered me my old job back."

What's the bigger lesson in all this, Oprah asked.

Leno: "The key is not to be bitter and I think Conan said it best when he said, 'Don't be cynical.'"

He'd love to have Conan on his show some time, Leno added.

NOTE: Please do not reprint the entirety of this post on your site. Excerpting and linking is fine. Thanks.


Our favorite Conan O'Brien on NBC moments

Celebs take sides: Team Conan vs. Team Jay

Conan O'Brien's classy farewell to "The Tonight Show"


Leno is a fink. Howard Stern was right about him.

Bah Humbug. I have no respect for Leno now. He has his stand up he does in Vegas, he chose to go with the decision in 2004 to leave, and yet, because he was the better deal for the NBC officials who make the rules and pay the bills. I had tickets to his program this week and don't care to see him, in person or on the air. He had his chance to change his life and help everyone; instead, he chose to backtrack and take away some one else's dream. I don't like OBrien and never watch him, but fair is fair, and Leno wasn't/is't. It's all about "I want what I want when I want it". Leno is not Carson. Carson had class!

Go away Leno.

These recent events have put an exclamation point on Leno's character. Jay isn't genuine. Isn't he the guy who bought anecdotes for his autobiography? Who does that? I prefer my comedy to come from a person who isn't so desperate to be loved, and more from a place of irony which stems from a place of truth. That seems impossible for Leno as his comedy must be watered down considerably to appeal to everybody. His goal appears not to be entertainment, but more to be appreciated.

Like so many of my generation--Baby Boomers--we struggle with knowing when it's time to move on. Jay Leno is not unlike many entertainers, in that the limelight is to be only for them.

That he's gone back to a program on a network that has done this sort of stupidity is proof that he has no self-respect, only an outsided ego.

It was time for him to go. It still is.

To say Conan was destructive to the franchise is in poor taste. The reason his ratings were low was Jay's Crappy Show as a lead in.

What a hack.

If this interview was supposed to make me feel sorry for Leno, it didn't work. The amount of backstabbing and glad-handing Leno did to get the Tonight Show in the first place is well-documented. Why should I believe he was an innocent dupe this time? Apparently Conan had no problem walking away from NBC when he felt he was being treated poorly, so why was it so hard for Leno to do the same thing, especially when - if you believe his side of the story - NBC had so little respect for him that they "fired" him twice?

Leno could have stood his ground and kept the Tonight Show, but he went along with NBC's plan. He could have ended his contract with NBC after they canceled his prime-time show, but he didn't. Does NBC have his wife tied up in a closet or something?

Leno is so quick to point out that Conan didn't have good numbers, and even admits that he was doing a latenight show at 10p... but he never seems to see the correlation: LENO fragmented the 11:30 audience by giving people a chance to see the tonight show format at 10!!

"If Conan's numbers had been a little bit higher, it wouldn't even be an issue."
I get it Jay... your show had already tanked (and cancelled!) but none of this would be happening if CONAN'S numbers had been better. Y'know, maybe the fault IS with the $%^&heads at NBC (as it surely is) but siding with them only shows your stupidity, your lack of critical thinking, your lack of consideration ("It wasn't my place to call Conan," please! A little common courtesy, schmuck), and finally shows us why you are not a friend to your fellow comics. Enjoy your filthy relationship with NBC. Lie down with dogs...



Like the 18 months when Leno took over and his numbers were down? So apparently he was destroying the franchise way before Conan came along.

This just disgusts me.

Seriously - "Howard Stern was right about him." Howard Stern's a moron. Jay Leno has given us good, clean humor and fun for decades. Give the guy a break. He didn't ask for this and in my opinion, he's dealing with it graciously. Go pick on someone who deserves it - like Tiger.

He's still playing the victim.
And I still don't feel sorry for him.

Screw Leno...what a fake and a phoney. He couldn't just pick up the phone and call Conan?? I hope his show fails!

Oh wow, he's still a douche. He's a big boy and can make big boy decisions. No sympathy.

does Jay realize that one of the reasons that The Tonight Show was doing so poorly in ratings was because people just did not have the desire to sit and watch a primetime talkshow for an hour, then the news, and then another talkshow for another hour?

alot of people probably watched his show, caught the news, and then went off to bed or did something else. his show was a re-hash of the tonight show except with more gimmicks. most people can enjoy watching one talkshow each night, but most will not want to sit there and watch 2 hours of talkshows.....this is an obivious reason that The Tonight Show numbers were tanking that no one is mentioning and i find that surprising.

Conan: "If you work hard and are kind to people, amazing things will happen."

Jay: "Hey, at least I'm not Roman Polanski."

Says it all.

Leno is not funny any more. What drives him is his huge ego. Watch his body language.

The only fink is the NBC brains that made a decision five years in advance.
If Conan's show would of stayed in the same format that he had in New York, I think it would of worked. He went into the tonight's show format and it did not work.
Conan had a very unique show in New York.
If he came back on another Network with the old format, I would watch that instead of Leno.

I won't bother watching Oprah until she has Conan on as a guest I couldn't care less about Jay Leno.

When Leno's Tonight Show fails... who gets the blame?


Even though he publicly lobbied for his job in November 2009 by telling the press he wanted to stay on at 11:30?

I have lost alot of respect for Leno, he admits no wrong doing whatsoever. Its pathetic. Letterman said it best this is Jay being Jay..

Leno doesn't have an inch of kindness in him. He's the one responsible for destroying the Tonight Show and the evidence is going to be in his ratings this March. I grew up watching Conan he's so original and isn't mainstream like Leno. I don't know who the hell watches Leno but his jokes are lame and his delivery is horrible.

Leno is the most intelligent comic on TV. The others too often resort to goofy faces, penquin walking, toilet talk, and throwing pencils. I grant that Johny Carson was best -- he actually listened to the answers from the people he interviewed, instead of being so anxious to get to the punchline, but still there isn't a comedian on TV that holds a candle to Leno today. The rest is all politics, ratings, and ad revenues. Leno was brilliant in his old timespot, he stunk in the new one, and Conan did too. It makes sense to put Leno back in the Tonight Show; either that or cancel them all. Every time I see Conan doing his 6'4" red-headed penquin to eke out a laugh, I want to puke.

I'm appalled at the photo the trib has chosen for this article. IS this a picture of a TV screen? Were their no photos taken on set? This reads as so cheap.

Jay did the right thing. Conan's show failed because of Andy Richter. If he had only used Max Wienberg as second banana things could have been different. Jay's show failed because of Jeff Zucker's idioic notion that a talk show could compete in prime-time. Conan will be hired by FOX and compete head-to-head with Jay and Dave, as it should be.

I guess Leno is planning on starting his rehabilitation of his "good guy" image AFTER this interview, because this? Did not help.

He's still laying all the blame at Conan's feet - claiming that the affiliates were mad about Conan's ratings, when it was Leno's ratings they were upset about because they lowered their 11:00 news audience. And then claiming that Conan's ratings were destroying the franchise, when his own ratings were so bad when he took over the Tonight Show that NBC offered his job to Letterman (yet somehow that isn't "destroying" the franchise). Whatever, dude.

I know my opinion doesn't amount to a hill of beans with him, because I never watched his show and will continue to not watch it. But every time he opens his mouth my opinion of him lowers. He and I clearly have a very different definition of "good guy."

It never occurred to Leno that the reason why The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien failed is because he had a terrible lead in as himself (The Jay Leno Show)? Conan did great for the few months that he had before Jay came back to do the prime time show.

Leno doesn't have a heart and proved in the interview that he's nothing without The Tonight Show; Oprah, even came to the realization that there's more out there than what you already know and are comfortable with when admitting that she'll end her show (but possibly end up on her own network).

Come back soon Conan!

The affiliates didn't want Conan off the air because his ratings were so bad, they wanted Jay off the air because their local news had no lead-in, (which made Conan's lead-in even worse.) I also hope Conan goes to Fox and 'the best man wins.'

C'mon, people, it's business. Leno doesn't owe Conan a single thing. Leno's an absolute pro at what he does, whether his brand of comedy suits your own taste or not. I love Conan, but he lacked that universal quality that would continue to make the Tonight Show a hit. NBC just should have backed out of their contract with Conan before building the new studio, relocating Conan's staff and replacing Jay. It would have cost them a lot less, especially considering the damage this debacle has done to their reputation.

How about they put Conan at 10 and Leno at 11:35 and see how bad his own ratings will drop? To blame Conan for poor ratings when he was the reason for them tells everyone exactly the type of person he is.

Cracks me up that people think that they have the authority and expertise to say when a person needs to go... There is only 1 person/entity that has that authority and expertise and that is his employer! We all have jobs we work very hard at and how would you feel if people (outside your business and even your industry) told you that it was time for you to go even though you produced better than anyone.

Bottom line - Jay was #1 when he left and his employer felt that he was the best option to get that back. I don't watch late night shows very often but I ate my words (as did many many others) saying that Brett Favre had to go. Ummm... yeah.... I think he made a lot of people look foolish there as well. I'm sure Vikings Mgmt is very glad they didn't listen to numskulls like many on here and pass on what was clearly the best talent even if there was baggage.

People - it's a job just like you and I have! We all compete for jobs every day.

Conan's ratings were in the toilet before Leno's show aired in September. And if people really want to watch a show, a bad lead-in is not going to kill it. People did not want to watch Conan's version of the Tonight Show.

Awwwwwwwwwww, poor Jay!
Do you want some cheese with that whine; you arrogant pompous @$$!

Hey news flash, Conan was on the air 3 months prior to Jay's return and had already lost 2.5 million viewers. Stop blaming Jay.

quote from elena: "Like the 18 months when Leno took over and his numbers were down? So apparently he was destroying the franchise way before Conan came along"

Jay was new to television when he took over. Conan had 13 years. Not hard to figure out...

Why would the affiliates be upset with the show that comes AFTER their newscasts? The problem was that the lead in TO the newscasts--Leno--was so awful that they had lost 30-40% of their viewership. They didn't lose viewers because of the show that aired after the news--Conan. Leno's poor ratings caused the mess; he doesn't see that moving back into another position with the network that fired him, not once, but twice, is like the abused wife going back to the husband that knocks her around--it'll be different this time, really.

Conan worked with what he had, but when the hour and a half before your show hasn't any viewership, you start off with a much lower number of people watching, so of course he didn't get higher ratings. Given a decent 10pm slot, viewership may have improved, and Conan's numbers would have eventually improved as well.

Once again Leno sees himself as a victim rather than an active participant in this mess. None of this would have happened if he hadn't said he would quit 5 years ago in the first place. It all goes back to him refusing to stand up for himself. He should have not signed the 5 year contract and gone to another network. Too bad that would have been "a lot of work."

It's a good thing Leno likes the Tonight Show, because you can bet no one is going to trust an contract that says they'll have it when he's done with it. He'll be on that show till he's dead.

I dont think people understand...Conan was doing bad even before Leos show had started. So it was not the bad Leno lead in Conan just did not have it to make it in the Tonight show. in 2004 everyone should have just stayed and been happy with were they where. If Conan had to pushed so hard to get the tonight show then it would have all worked out for the better.

Wow I think Jay rocks - thanks for staying Jay! You didn't quit in a fit and you don't seem to be having sex with your staff---we're talking TV here and not turning down a job offer...is that really so wrong ?

Why wasn't Conan portrayed as "stealing" Jay's show, but when Jay gets it back he is "stealing" it from Conan?

Wow, Jay Leno might be the first person to ever go on Oprah and not earn an ounce of sympathy. What a pathetic and small man.

I was going to comment on the "Conan's numbers" thing but I see several people already did. So let me just say that I don't think that comment is going to help his effort to be likable. Revolting.

I liked Leno's show much better than Conan's before and after Conan took over for Leno. I don't think Leno fragmented anything. Conan reallly isn't that funny in my opinion. A lot of times, he is just doing stupid antics and is very hyper. Yes, I think Jay should have probably called Conan, but what is he going to say? I'm sorry that I don't want to retire, never really did want to retire and that you are losing the job you really wanted that I really didn't want to leave in the first place?. Conan didn't have any problem taking Jay's spot when Jay was asked to leave. Did he ask Jay if that was okay? No, NBC told Leno he was done. They then retracted and gave him another show. It's business. If Jay can get a job, I say take it. It isn't our job to judge if he has enough money or fame and should retire. How many people retire because they have enough money and then are miserable? That's a highly personal decision. I don't think it has that much to do with ego as it has to do with loving what you do and not knowing how to replace that with something else. Carson was the best anyway....Letterman, Leno nor Conan will ever take his place. We need to find another Carson.


Oh well, that explains it. It would have been "a lot of work". God forbid he should have to do actual hard work, the poor thing.

Jay really is like a grown up baby.

Seriously...this BS drama-for-ratings has got to stop. Conan was given 45 million dollars as a good-bye present - so why are we being fed this sob story???

DAVID LETTERMAN IS THE REAL DEAL. No, he's not perfect, nor does he pretend to be. In fact he revels in it. Turn to CBS when you can't sleep People!

I watched all three shows, and Letterman is hit and miss, Leno was better and Conan, well, he just didn't have the "it" factor. So, is it wrong, what Leno did? I don't think so. If you work at the office and you don't do the job well, and someone else (who has done the job before) is there to do it, then you, as the manager, are obliged to put the better person in the job. Leno wasn't soliticiting the job, it was OFFERED to him. Conan will have a revived career now and Leno will probably go down hill, because of the bad press. I will still watch all three of them, but it seems that my remote control gets less use when Leno is on.

Just a few thoughts (and I can't believe I care):

1. Jay's show caused the affiliate's newscasts ratings to plummet which also meant that Conan lost the affiliate's lead-in to The Tonight Show. It seems to me that Jay started the dominoes game.

2. No one said Jay had to come back with a prime-time program. He could have spent more time on his stand-up if he needed something to do.

3. I can't believe he thinks he was fired from the The Tonight Show. If he was that unhappy with the 2004 deal then he should have just quit.

4. I'm glad Oprah called him out on the personal attacks on David Letterman, especially when he used Dave's relationship with his wife as a punch-line. I guess he's never heard of the high road. What in the world was he talking about with the Roman Polanski reference?

5. The Jimmey Kimmel bits were hilarious, especially the spoof Ken Burns-type documentary about the whole mess.

6. Weren't his ratings in the tank when he took over The Tonight Show? As I recall from the book and movie "The Late Shift," he was dangerously close to losing the show because of the behind the scenes problems and low ratings. I think he was given a lot longer than seven months to turn it around. Also, him saying it wasn't his place to call Conan is ridiculous. I remember that he didn't think it was his place to publicly thank Johnny when he took over the show.

7. Finally, I am sure Jay will rebound and will lead in the ratings since his demographic just doesn't get the cutting-edge type of humor that appeals to fans of Dave, Conan, and even Jimmy Kimmel.

It is so weird to me that Jay Leno insists that he has nothing to do with the controversy. If I had not heard it before (Jay v. Dave), he might seem credible, but the fact is that when someone goes down on late-night TV at NBC, Jay is always standing over the corpse with a smoking gun. I agree with him about NBC, though. They screwed up. But so did he.

Let me tell you a short story: I was offered a promotion at a former job by my best friend's boss. Technically, the boss should have offered the spot to my best friend first. The offer put a rift between my friend and I. I chose to decline the offer, because I valued my friendship more than power. Years later, my friend helped me out with a big problem, and it made a huge difference in my life. I am so glad I picked friendship first, and I've never once regretted my decision. I found a better job, with better pay, and kept my pal. Conan was right - if you're good to people, amazing things can happen.

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