Jay Leno vs. Conan O'Brien: Stars Take Sides

YES, I remember that show when he cheerfully "handed" the tonight show to Conan. LOL, guess he has mud on his face now. He probably "regifts" too!

Jay Lame-o is a pathetic and monumentally boring jerk. I will not watch any NBC programming & eagerly await Conan's next project. It was bad enough the cancelled the entire 9pm line-up for this disaster of a show, but the fact that Lame-o took the tonight show back revealed that all of his "i got screwed by nbc too" statements were staged. Jay Leno's treachous nature has been well documented & the fact that he refused to have guest hosts or co-hosts speaks volumes. Go team Conan!

Dear Gary: I'm afraid that you are the one who needs the history lesson. Carson's retirement date was not of his choosing. Leno's agent, Helen Kushnick, made sure he retired when she leaked a story to the New York Times. This was one of the reasons that Carson chose Letterman as his replacement over Leno. It took Leno almost 3 years to take the ratings lead in Late Night. This happened when Hugh Grant came on his show on July 10, 1995. Seventeen months into his run as host, Jay was almost replaced when NBC offered Letterman The Tonight Show (this was when Jay Leno hid in the NBC exec's closet so he could listen in on the conversation regarding his future ... classy). Jay Leno could have been on the air in November 2009 with a new network (not over 18 months later like he claims) as reported in Time Magazine. This was because his contract ended, of course. Come on, people, think about this. NBC would not sign a contract with a new host five years ago that forced them to pay out the current one. They're stupid but not that bad! Finally, Jay knew all along he would take over The Tonight Show in a heartbeat. He said yes, sure, he would take it if it were offered to him in an interview back in November. The reason people are so angry at Jay is because he has gone along with NBC in treating Conan O'Brien and all the families that moved with him in a very shoddy manner. He could have done the right thing (as David Letterman did back in 1993) and said no to NBC but he didn't. He had an ironclad contract for two years with a guarantee of $150 million if they cancelled The Jay Leno Show (as reported in Time Magazine and acknowledged by Jay himself). NBC could not have "forced" him to do anything. Oh, ya, before anyone goes off on a rant about poor ratings .... as noted, Jay Leno had a LOT longer than 7 months (more than 3 times that, actually) to build his audience. Conan never had a chance!

I am not going to watch Leno any more no matter what time he is on TV. I think he and NBC have been HORRIBLE with the way they treated Conan O'Brien. BOYCOTT LENO!!!!!!

Wow, what a mess! I can see why this topic commands more attention than 200K dead and 2M homeless in Haiti!

I'm on Leno's Side.

The day I worry about two wealthy multi-millionaires and their work problems is the day hell freezes over. Any other person given the options Conan O'Brien was offered would be happy to change their work hours. Jay Leno is the typical backstabbing guy at the office who does whatever he cans to get ahead. It happens every single day.

I watched both Jay and Conan and really liked each of them for different reasons. Conan makes me laugh. He's just hilarious plain and simple. Jay is not really funny, per say, but can tell a good joke and do a great interview. I no longer have any respect for Jay and will not ever watch him again. Jay and NBC just cut off their nose to spite their face. They will go down in flames, I can guarantee it.

Wow some people really need a history lesson. First off Jay Leno did not "retire" or "push" Carson out. Carson was the man and if he wanted to stay no one but God himself would keep Carson off the air. Leno at the time was trying to land with CBS who wanted to get into the Late Night arena. He was Johnny's top and most popular guest host. He won out over Letterman because of the negotiations of his cut-throat agent at the time. It took him 18 months (not 2, 3, or even 4 years) to get the show back to #1 after Letterman moved to CBS. The only reason Letterman was ever number one was because of the pity party many felt for him for being "screwed" out of the Tonight Show and Jay's agent Helen Kirshner(sp?) being such a control freak he had to fire her to save his behind. Once Jay got to #1, he never relinquished it. As for this retire nonsense, Jay never said he would retire. He told everyone in 2004 that by then he may retire, but that Conan would take over the Tonight Show because NBC did not want to lose him back then. Now everyone who says Jay is being the bad guy or that he only caters to the elderly need to check the demos from his 17 years on the Tonight Show. Jay pulled in the top ratings in all demos and those younger than 30 like his show as well. Once he turned over the show to Conan, he asked to be let out of his contract so he could pursue options at other networks. NBC said no, lets try putting on a show in prime time so we could save a few million dollars. Conan had 4 months of bad rating before Jay's show even premiered. They have not gotten any better since and only recently because of this fiasco. What I am saying is the fault does not lie with Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien. The fault lies with NBC and their decisions as far back as 2004. They should have let Conan go then and establish an audience somewhere else and then bring him back when Jay decided to retire. If Jay doesn't want to retire, he doesn't have too. He was #1 when he left late night and with the viewership he pulls in for his 10pm show(which is the same as the avg number of those who watched his Tonight Show) then Jay would instantly be back at #1.

jay leno had to think of the 175 working for him. if he didnt move they would have all lost their jobs, too. conan will be fine where ever he goes. he should think about his staff too.