Conan O’Brien made a triumphant exit from NBC Friday night, accompanied by one of the most impressive outpourings of support by younger viewers that any late-night host had ever seen  and Mr. O’Brien was effusive in his thanks for their backing. 
 
 But he might have said: Where were you when I needed you? 
 
 In the tumult that surrounded NBC’s late-night shake-up last week, one thing was certain: If even a small fraction of the additional younger viewers who flocked to Mr. O’Brien’s show last week had turned up regularly in his earlier ratings results, he would almost surely still be hosting “The Tonight Show.” 
 
 Instead, for most of this past fall, Mr. O’Brien struggled to command the young viewers he needed to counter a falloff in overall audience numbers. 
 
 While he began to drop behind his chief late-night competitor, David Letterman on CBS, among total viewers, it was more alarming to NBC that Mr. O’Brien was not consistently beating Mr. Letterman in several important advertising-sales demographic groups  viewers 18 to 49 and 25 to 54. (He did beat Mr. Letterman virtually all the time in the 18-to-34 group.) 
 
 But to NBC’s surprise and disappointment, Mr. O’Brien fell behind his predecessor, Jay Leno, even among those 18-to-34 viewers, the group expected to be his core constituency. (From his start in June through the end of 2009, Mr. O’Brien averaged 716,000 viewers in that age group, down from the 759,000 Mr. Leno averaged the previous six months.) 
 
 Several television researchers said in interviews that this outcome might have been easily predicted, not because Mr. O’Brien does not appeal to younger viewers  he clearly does, as evidenced by the large numbers he attracted for his closing shows  but because regularly assembling those young adult viewers in significant numbers in the late-night hours has become a daunting, if not impossible, task. 
 
 “The 18-to-34 group is so difficult to attract and the lower half, 18 to 25, is the hardest of all,” said Jack MacKenzie, the president of the millennial strategy program for the research firm Frank N. Magid Associates. 
 
 Compounding the problem, said a senior research executive for another company, was the fact that Mr. O’Brien was especially appealing to young men. “And that group doesn’t watch television very regularly,” said the executive, who asked not to be named because his business competes with NBC. 
 
 Instead of watching Mr. O’Brien most nights, Mr. MacKenzie said, those young viewers have been watching everything from similar shows like “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central, to cartoons on the “Adult Swim” franchise on the Cartoon Network, and the ever-present array of sports and sports news on ESPN and its sister channels. 
 
 In comparison with the 719,000 viewers in the 18-to-34 group that Mr. O’Brien had been averaging, Stephen Colbert on his “Colbert Report,” in the same six- month period in 2009, averaged 746,000 viewers ages 18 to 34. The cartoons on “Adult Swim”  mostly “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken”  averaged 619,000 of those viewers. ESPN from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., with varied programs that included both live sports events and editions of the highlights show “Sports Center,” averaged 614,000 viewers in that group. 
 
 And dozens of other cable channels took other slices of the under 35 viewers. 
 
 “What you’ve seen in recent years is increased spending by all these cable channels for original programming,” Mr. MacKenzie said. “And besides having a double revenue stream of subscription fees and advertising, the cable channels have the luxury of targeting specific audiences. Broadcasters don’t.” 
 
 Fans of sports, for example, were watching ESPN many nights instead of Mr. O’Brien; and cartoon lovers were hooked on “Adult Swim.” 
 
 But even all the competition on cable did not represent the total distraction for young viewers that Mr. O’Brien had to contend with. The senior research executive pointed to outside attractions like video games that vie for the attention of young, especially male, viewers. And CBS executives have in the past identified the growing tendency of owners of digital video recorders to use the time after late local newscasts to play back programs recorded earlier that night or on previous nights. 
 
 A spokeswoman for Nielsen Media Research pointed to a study the company released last year that cited the peak hours for DVR playback. The late-night hours showed the highest percentage of playback outside the prime-time hours, with about 7.6 percent of playback taking place from 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. 
 
 As an executive from one of NBC’s rival networks put it: “Conan didn’t just have to worry about Letterman; he had to worry about ‘House.’ People are playing back episodes of shows like ‘House’ in late night.” 
 
 Add to all the other issues the fact that Mr. O’Brien’s young fans did not really have to watch television to see him. His shows were made available later on Web sites like Hulu. And his best comedy bits would frequently be posted on other sites  and passed around by fans  shortly after they appeared. 
 
 Mr. MacKenzie added that NBC did Mr. O’Brien no favor by moving Mr. Leno to the 10 p.m. hour this fall. “That meant there was a show very similar in style to his on the air before him,” he said. 
 
 In his run on “The Tonight Show,” Mr. Leno managed to attract the largest audiences in virtually every age group, though his ratings too showed signs of falling off in his later years on the show. But his was always the first show of the late-night talk variety on NBC each night, Mr. MacKenzie. 
 
 That will happen again when Mr. Leno returns to “The Tonight Show” on March 1. But Mr. MacKenzie had some words of caution for NBC. 
 
 “A generational switch is coming,” he said. “The baby boomer audience that has mostly been the Leno audience is going out. The Conan audience is becoming more influential  even if they aren’t watching television the same way the previous generation did.” ||||| stars Sally Field as a beleaguered factory worker who risks her job and everything she’s worked for in order to correct injustices in the workplace. She is everywoman, standing up to The Man to do what’s right. Not just for her, but for the millions just like her all over the country. Those oppressed masses just trying to put food on the table, the ones without health care, the ones struggling to make ends meet. The ones who just want a fair shake. Somebody had to have the courage to take on the Big Baddies running the show. In 1978, that somebody was Norma Rae. In 2010, it’s Conan O’Brien? 
 
 When did Conan O’Brien become Norma Rae? For those of you who don’t remember this 1978 film, Norma Rae 
 
 How did a Harvard-educated, multi-millionaire late night talk show host magically transmogrify into a guy who got laid off at the local car plant? The overreaction to Conan’s departure has been kind of astounding; as a nation, are we really that concerned about who hosts “The Tonight Show,” a television program that stopped being culturally relevant around 1986? 
 
 And let’s not forget, it’s not as if Conan was cancelled. He quit. He walked away from “The Tonight Show” because he rightly or wrongly felt that moving the show half an hour later would destroy the show’s integrity. Okay, fine. But let’s not act as if he’s leading a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. It’s not that big a deal. 
 
 Yes Americans believe in fair play. Fair play means making a deal and sticking to it. Conan got “The Tonight Show,” and therefore he should keep it. I agree with that. But Americans also believe in capitalism, and when fair play bumps up against capitalism, capitalism usually wins. It did this time. 
 
 To my mind, there are two reasons why Leno has come across looking as bad as he has throughout the last few weeks. The first is that he seems like an opportunistic pig for agreeing to move back to 11:30. He should have packed up his funny headlines and gone home. The other reason is that Conan has been much funnier about the whole thing. His letter to the Times was funny, his monologue jokes have been funnier, and whereas Leno has come across as needy and desperate, O’Brien’s departure seems, if not exactly classy, then at least in classy’s neighborhood. Of course it’s easy to be classy-ish when you and your staff are walking away with forty million dollars. 
 
 I think the deeper reason people are so inflamed by this petty war is that Conan in his own way has come to represent the aggrieved, the injured, the wrongly terminated. I think there is a sense in this country that giant corporations are ruining everything, even late night talk shows. Something so insignificant takes on greater importance because I think on some level, “The Tonight Show” actually has become a very flawed stand-in for all the jobs lost to corporate greed, arrogance, and stupidity. We see Conan as a victim because we feel as though, like us, he wasn’t given a fair shot. If a guy like that, a guy who has everything, can be downsized and demoted, what hope do the rest of us have? 
 
 Moreover Leno is installed back in his abdicated throne. It feels like a coup, a particularly unfunny coup. And above him, all the top brass still have their jobs. Just like all the top brass in every other failed or bailed-out corporation. It feels unfair. And it makes people mad. 
 
 Sure it’s a shame it didn’t work out for Conan, the most creative talk show host since David Letterman, and I think it’s great he took a principled stand against NBC, but is this really the stuff of rallies? Is this really where we want to spend our political capital? If you have the energy to protest Conan O’Brien’s departure in Burbank, shouldn’t you maybe think about spending some time chanting outside General Motors or Goldman Sachs? Or Congress? This is the cause you want to get involved with? Instead of holding up placards with the Masturbating Bear on them, maybe donate a pint of blood. It’ll be a lot more helpful to somebody. 
 
 Conan is an unlikely hero of the working man but at this point, when heroes are far more likely to be squashed than celebrated like Norma Rae, as sad as it sounds, he might actually be the closest thing we’ve got. ||||| Associated Press In this combo made from file photos, NBC talk show personalities, from left, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon are shown. 
 
 PASADENA, Calif.—NBC is going "back to basics" in a bid to fix its struggling evening lineup. 
 
 News Hub: What's Next for Conan? 5:27 Jay Leno's 10 p.m. show is officially canceled. WSJ's Sam Schechner and MarketWatch's Jon Friedman weigh in on the NBC shake-up and whether Conan O'Brien will accept a later time slot or leave. 
 
 The television network confirmed Sunday it was abandoning its prime-time experiment with "The Jay Leno Show" after tepid ratings and a backlash from local-TV stations, and plans to move the comedian back to the 11:35 p.m. slot. In his place, the network will return in part to more costly scripted shows. 
 
 "I think you have to take chances. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't," Jeff Gaspin, chairman of television entertainment at NBC Universal, the joint venture that owns NBC, said at a conference here. "We might have been too early on this one." 
 
 The abrupt midseason shift shines a spotlight on the mountain NBC has left to climb to turn around its prime-time schedule, after years of decline. The move will leave a five-hour hole—on weeknights at 10 p.m.—when it takes effect after February's Olympic Winter Games. Adding to the woes, the network confirmed Sunday that its coverage of the Games is likely to lose money because of enormous rights fees. 
 
 NBC executives said they will use the slot Mr. Leno had occupied to broadcast at least two more hours of original scripted television shows. Existing dramas like "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," a new reality series, reruns or an extended hour of NBC News's "Dateline" program could be among the fill-ins. 
 
 "I would have preferred to wait until September when we'd have more pilots to choose from, but we'll make do," Mr. Gaspin said in an interview. 
 
 NBC executives don't expect a quick prime-time turnaround, according to a person familiar with their thinking. "It's going to take a lot of investment, and some luck," the person said. 
 
 Mr. Leno's inexpensive one-hour nightly series had been billed, in part, as a way to cope with rising costs to create TV shows as broadcast networks' viewership dwindled. "Instead of trying to reinvent, going back to basics is probably the smartest play," Mr. Gaspin said. 
 
 Detractors had slammed the Leno experiment as a quick fix for NBC's failure to develop new hits in several years. In the end, it was doomed by the ripple effects of low viewership, especially at the local level. 
 
 The decision to return Mr. Leno to late night comes after Comcast Corp. announced a deal last month to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. Mr. Gaspin said Comcast isn't involved in business decisions while the deal awaits regulatory approval 
 
 Meanwhile, the fate of NBC's once-dominant late-night slate remains in the air. Mr. Gaspin said the network hopes to move Conan O'Brien, who has hosted "The Tonight Show" since June, back half an hour to 12:05 a.m. to make room for Mr. Leno. Mr. O'Brien would be followed an hour later by "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." 
 
 Those arrangements haven't been finalized and talks with the hosts and their management teams are continuing, Mr. Gaspin said. He added that Messrs. Fallon and O'Brien were "incredibly gracious and professional" when told about the changes. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien's advisers huddled over the weekend to determine his options, possibly including leaving NBC, according to a person familiar with their thinking. The person said that NBC executives had conversations with members of Mr. O'Brien's camp, but that Mr. O'Brien had neither agreed to nor declined the move to 12:05 a.m. 
 
 A person close to NBC Universal said Mr. O'Brien's contract doesn't restrict NBC to a particular start time for "Tonight." The person familiar with the thinking in Mr. O'Brien's camp wouldn't comment on Mr. O'Brien's contract. 
 
 One O'Brien suitor is News Corp.'s Fox network, which has had early talks with Mr. O'Brien, according to people familiar with the matter. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal. Fox declined to comment on NBC's latest announcement. 
 
 Mr. Gaspin said NBC couldn't meet all of Mr. O'Brien's needs but tried to meet him halfway by allowing his show to retain the "Tonight Show" title. "What's important to Jay is telling jokes at 11:30. What was really important to Conan beyond that was having the franchise of 'The Tonight Show,' " Mr. Gaspin said. 
 
 NBC Chief Executive Jeff Zucker had promised Mr. O'Brien he would become the host of "The Tonight Show" more than five years ago, as part of a bid to keep the comedian from leaving the network for a rival. As the handoff approached, it was Mr. Zucker who decided to put Mr. Leno in prime time to keep him from departing as well. 
 
 Mr. Gaspin said Mr. Leno's comedy-talk series was profitable for the NBC network, but that local NBC stations had complained it didn't provide a strong enough lead into their local news broadcasts, a key revenue source. 
 
 "['The Jay Leno Show'] did not meet our affiliates' needs and we realized we had to make a change," said Mr. Gaspin. 
 
 Local stations welcomed the change. "It has been devastating for a number of late newscasts across the country," said Michael Fiorile, chief executive of Dispatch Broadcast Group and chairman of NBC's affiliate board. Mr. Fiorile's own WTHR in Indianapolis saw its late news fall to No. 2. 
 
 Mr. O'Brien's slumping performance at "Tonight" also had raised alarms. Since Sept. 21, Mr. O'Brien has averaged about half the number of viewers that Mr. Leno averaged a year earlier, according to Nielsen Co., though his declines are far less steep among younger viewers. 
 
 "We're very supportive of Jay and glad he's going to be back at 11:35," said Dave Lougee, president of the broadcast division at Gannett Co., which owns a dozen local TV stations that air NBC programming. 
 
 NBC's move to replace 10 p.m. dramas with Mr. Leno also had been criticized by TV producers and executives who saw the move as a retreat from spending money to develop new shows. Some NBC executives have said the perception of Mr. Leno's show as a cut-rate failure became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy by alienating viewers. 
 
 Competitors have used Mr. Leno's show to bash NBC and tout their own schedules. "ABC, CBS, and Fox, we've all fared, I think, very well during this experimental phase for NBC," Nina Tassler, entertainment president at CBS Corp.'s eponymous network, said Saturday. 
 
 Ms. Tassler said she thought the creative community was "bruised" by NBC airing a live comedy show at 10 p.m., because it employs fewer cast and crew than pricey original dramas. 
 
 Angela Bromstad, president of prime-time entertainment at NBC, said on Sunday NBC was bringing writers and producers back to the network. She announced several new NBC pilots in development including a series by "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams and a drama from "CSI" creator Jerry Bruckheimer. 
 
 — Shira Ovide 
 
 contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Amy Chozick at amy.chozick@wsj.com and Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com
– Conan O’Brien joins the ranks of the unemployed today, so the ousted Tonight Show host now has plenty of time to track the backlash and second-guessing about the TV shell game. Jay Leno remains the villain of the piece, but the hard truth is that O’Brien never drew the numbers of young viewers to his time slot that NBC had hoped for. “The 18-to-34 group is so difficult to attract and the lower half, 18 to 25, is the hardest of all,” a strategist told the New York Times. The increasingly fractured TV landscape didn’t help. Competition is now fierce for the audience Tonight Show producers once took for granted. O'Brien has been buffetted by the same economic realities most American are grappling with, making him a "Harvard-educated, multi-millionaire late night talk show host" who was "magically transmogrified into a guy who got laid off at the local car plant," blogs Michael Ian Black.