Note: I think it would just be plain wrong to write about a trivial issue like this without mentioning the Haiti earthquake yet. So I’d like to recommend you donate to Catholic Relief Services.

Now, to the post:

“No matter how I look at this I am in the wrong. And I’ve looked at this thing, like, a hundred different ways. From my point of view, from their point of view … 98 others … and bottom line, I’m in the wrong. I’m the bad guy.”

-Michael Scott in “The Office”

Let’s get it straight first.

Jay Leno keeps the Tonight Show at #1 for over a decade. Conan O’Brien follows him strongly for over a decade. NBC – making a poor decision, yes – approaches Jay Leno and basically wants him to make way for Conan. So he says, in 2004, that he will retire in 2009 and make way for Conan.

2009 inevitably arrives, and suddenly Jay doesn’t want to leave. So NBC, not wanting to ditch a popular guy and cash cow, bumps him into an experiment in primetime, allowing Conan to take over the Tonight Show as planned. Jay’s ratings in the new slot tank, the affiliates get angry, and both NBC and Jay want him to take over at 11:35 EST, bumping Conan into what would then be the “Tomorrow Show,” since it would be airing at 12:05 EST.

From what I can gather from this, Jay Leno is some sort of jerk. Why? Consider:

In 2004, Jay told Conan the show would be his. In 2004, Jay literally said, on the Tonight Show in fact, “Conan, it’s yours – see you in five years, buddy.” He also said “When I took this show over, boy there was a lot of animosity between me and Dave…and I don’t want to see anybody ever have to go through that again…this show is like a dynasty…you hold it and then you hand it off to the next person.” Jay had five years to come to terms with a decision he had already made, and yet is ultimately returning to the Tonight Show via NBC’s booting of Conan.

When asked to comment, Jay said “You hold it and then you hand it off to the next person, who you boot out so he hands it off to you again.” Okay, I made that one up.

He asked us not to blame Conan…when no one was blaming Conan. When Jay made a statement on his show about all of this, he asked us not to blame Conan. Okay, we’re not blaming Conan. Got anything else to say?

Jay portrays himself as some sort of unwitting non-participant. To hear Jay Leno explain it, you’d think NBC and a bunch of suits are to blame for all of this. And they largely are, sure. But at any point, isn’t Leno free to say “You know what, you can cancel me…but I gave Conan the Tonight Show, and I’m not going to take it away from him now”? With millions upon millions of dollars of wealth, you’d think this would be a no-brainer classy move, right? Especially if you had around five years to come to terms with not being at the Tonight Show anymore. But it doesn’t look like Jay made that move.

NBC is in the wrong, obviously – because they stink – but so is Jay. It’s one thing to hang on too long; it’s another to go back on your word five years after agreeing to turn the show over.