Does Jay Leno Deserve All This Late-Night Backlash?

Picture this: You're sitting in your office at work, and you're feeling on top of the world. Your production is bringing in by far the most money for the company, hands down. Sure, you're not winning any awards for business creativity, but what's an award mean anyway when you're winning the bottom line? In other words: You're the alpha dog and everyone knows it. One day your boss walks in your office. He tells you he appreciates the job you're doing -- no question, you bring in the most money and eyeballs -- but, sadly, he has to let you go because there's a younger guy that wants your job, and they're afraid to lose him. The younger guy is great at what he does but has no proven track record doing your job. Regardless, you're told that in five years he's getting your position and to not let the door hit you in the a** on the way out. This is what it was like to be Jay Leno in 2004.

Now, instead of sulking, or, even more impressive, not just outright tanking the job, therefore sabotaging the position for his younger, more hip replacement ... Leno excels. He brings in around 5.7 million viewers a night (compared with his eventual replacement O'Brien's roughly 2.9 million viewers). The five years go quickly but, it was agreed upon, even though his rating are the best, he's still losing his job. How is that at all fair to Leno? All he did was host the highest-rated late night talk show and, for his efforts, he was let go. And he hands the show over while still on top. But wait! The NBC executives woke up at the last minute. What if Leno goes to another network and dominates there, too? So, they offer him a 10 p.m. variety show in order to avoid that scenario. This is like, paraphrasing our previous scenario, a top dog sausage employee being given a new job, but instead of in bratwurst-craving Milwaukee, the new position makes him relocate to San Francisco -- one of the healthiest cities in America. There is no way he can match his prior production thanks to different demand. Not only that, his lack of production directly affects his replacement back in Milwaukee, which is bringing the entire company down. It was a no-win situation for everyone involved. Yes, it's the Kobayashi Maru -- and Leno is no James T. Kirk.

From most accounts (i.e. people not named Conan O'Brien or David Letterman) Jay Leno is a pretty nice guy. And, yes, the man completely dumbed down his comedy for the sake of ratings -- no question. But can you look at yourself in the mirror and honestly say that you've never compromised -- even a little bit -- for the sake of your job? Even Letterman and Conan dumbed down their respective shows when they moved to an earlier time slot, just not to the extent that Leno did. In the end, who got the highest ratings? Leno.

There are a lot of rumblings that Leno is behind the scenes of this NBC debacle, pulling the strings like a master puppeteer in order to get his old job back; fair enough, he's done this before in the early 1990s. But, really, that was his former manager Helen Kushnick's doing, who he fired shortly after that debacle. It's hard not to think Leno learned his lesson from that experience. And now we're hearing that Leno might leave NBC, too. Is this posturing? Maybe. But let's assume for a second that he is behind the scenes pulling the strings. Well, what would you be doing right now? That was your show and you loved it. You never wanted to leave, you had the highest ratings and you were forced out by a guy that is now losing to a competitor (Letterman) that you used to mop the floor with. And now YOU'RE the one taking a beating in the press? How is this fair? In your mind, that show is still rightfully yours. You wouldn't at least put up a little bit of a fight for it? Really, it's hard to blame him for having an eff you, I told you so attitude.

No one is ever going to confuse Leno's brand of comedy with anything even bordering on highbrow and he's never going to be the media darling, but, it's undeniable that he pulled in the ratings and, when at 'The Tonight Show,' kept the affiliates happy -- something Conan was not doing and Letterman, when at NBC, didn't care about. He dumbed his show down to reach the wider audience; which, ironically, as the ratings proved, was the smart move. Leno played the game. Leno was winning the game. Who can really blame him for wanting to collect his prize?

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