Good for him. Glad to see a celeb with some balls.

Leno is a fucking scumbag.

Mars23 said:

I have not been following this charade like I should've,,,,but what does Leno have to do with this beside the rivalry factor?

Harlepolis said:

Leno agreed to the Tonight Show deal years ago, but when it came time to make good on his word, he didn't want to give up the show, he fought turning it over to Conan, eventually ending up with the 10 P.M. show.

Now that Leno had driven NBC primetime into the ground with the lowest rated show on TV, he want's his old slot back, leading us to the disaster that is unfolding now.

Check out an old TV movie called "The Late Shift" it gives a taste of what Leno is really like and has been widely confirmed to be extremely accurate by those that were involved.

Leno is a MEGA-DOUCHEBAG.
He bullied his way into the Tonight Show gig, when Johnny Carson wanted it to go to Letterman.
Then when he did his last contract, he said he'd leave in 2009 and let Conan have his fair shot.
He went back on his word, and didn't want to give the show up and then pressured the network into giving him a nightly show before Conan every night, knowing that would sabotage Conan's chances of succeeding and in the process bringing the entire network's ratings down.

Conan by leaving is not only standing up for himself, but for Jimmy Fallon who he does not want to screw over.

FUCK JAY LENO.

ButterscotchPimp said:

But how is this Leno's fault when it's all of the local affiliates complaining that his low ratings are dragging down the news ratings? All that other Leno stuff really doesn't have much to do with what's happening now since it's the affiliates that are raising hell and it wasn't initiated by Leno.

SCNDLS said:

It was initiated by Leno by NOT RETIRING.
HE AGREED TO LEAVE, AND THEN WENT BACK ON HIS WORD.
It was LENO that pressured NBC into the whole 10pm "Jay Leno Show" debacle.
DUH!!!! it was NEVER GOING TO WORK at the time slot and LENO (and anyone with half a brain) knew that. He wanted to be on at 10pm every night, because it would make it that harder for Conan to win over the Tonight Show crowd.

LENO IS A FUCKING DOUCHEBAG.

Leno is a fucking scumbag.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2010/01/conan_obrien_forces_nbcs_tonig.html


If you push a man long enough, he is going to push back. Tuesday, Conan O'Brien pushed back against the treatment NBC has been giving him for days - really, for months - in a forceful but elegant way that will hopefully bring NBC's late night fiasco to a abrupt and vaguely dignified end.

Conan has always been a good soldier for NBC. He didn't complain when there were rumors the network wanted to replace him with Greg Kinnear only months into his role as neophyte host of "Late Night."

He never angled, either in public or private, to take Jay Leno's job on "The Tonight Show" (as compared to the way Jay's camp worked to nudge Johnny Carson out of the chair in the '90s).

When NBC offered him "Tonight" five years in the future back in 2004, he agreed to wait patiently for the gig.

He didn't object when NBC started to realize they had made a mistake in getting rid of Leno and came up with a plan to put Jay in primetime five nights a week, even if "The Jay Leno Show" would undermine the primacy of Conan's "Tonight."

And ever since news broke late last week that NBC realized Jay-in-primetime was an even bigger fiasco, and that they wanted to move Jay back to 11:35, and push Conan's "Tonight" to 12:05, Conan remained quiet.


continued.

Leno is a fucking scumbag.

People of Earth:
In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over the Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of the Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Holy crap. That is the most mature and honest statement I have read from the entertainment industry in... like forever!!!!!