In Defense of Jay Leno

Everyone including The Big 'O" has been bashing Jay Leno. I rise to his defense.

NBC is the real culprit of this disaster. The Idea by NBC President Jeff Zuker to keep Coco in the stable and cut costs by putting The Chin on Monday thru Friday at 10PM was insane. Pushing Leno 5 years ago to allow NBC to annoint O'Brien as The Tonight Show was a mistake. Moving both hosts when they were #1 in their time slots was a bigger mistake. How Zucker tried to fix all those mistakes is a complete screw up.

Conan made the right decision refusing to let NBC move the Tonight Show to 12:05. He said the Tonight Show starting at 12:05 is NOT the Tonight Show. He acted with class when he demanded NBC provide severence to his entire staff. He is a good guy and deserved better. But bottom line, he was in 3rd place behing Letterman and Nightline. How long it would have taken him to hit the #1 spot we'll never know.

Leno has been the the star of 2 Tonight Show Dramas. In 1992, Letterman took for granted he would be given the Tonight Show but Guest Host Leno out maneuvered Letterman and NBC awarded Leno the show. NBC had second thoughts and offered Letterman a "chance" to take over the Tonight Show when it looked like Leno was faltering. Dave decided to go to CBS and the rest of history.

Now we rocket to the present: Conan is free to move to Fox, with 32 million as a lovely parting gift and made NBC take care of his staff. Leno goes back to the Tonight Show and this will eventually all blow over.

Here is the bottom line. Conan's Tonight Show didn't get the numbers. Leno's show was in the dumper. NBC affiliates complained about his lead in to their 11:00PM Newscasts. Leno gets cancelled. Conan refuses to move the Tonight Show to 12:05. NBC needs a solution. Bring Leno back. They do. He was #1 before, he can do it again. Bye Bye Conan.

Conan O'Brien got screwed. No doubt. Leno didn't do it. NBC did. They called all the shots and in the process, shot themselves in the foot, AGAIN. They learned nothing from the 1992 Tonight Show debacle. Jay Leno did. Want a villan, start making your Jeff Zuker Voodo Dolls.

Good Luck Conan. You'll do fine at Fox.