Jay Leno has had a few weeks to settle back into his old 'Tonight Show' digs and the ratings show that he's already beaten David Letterman in overall viewership and the prized 18-34 demo. But we wondered whether any old fans decided not to go along for the ride. Were there any former Leno fans who were so turned off by January's late night drama that they suddenly found Jay hard to take? We asked readers to join our Pop Chorus. Here are two of their stories.


A Late-Night Letdown by Richard Todd Aguayo

Jay Leno made a career for himself as a safe, make-no-waves, blue-collar comedian and as such, he tickled the funny bone of most of America for over sixteen years as 'The Tonight Show' host. But there's one thing Americans, especially in Jay's demographic, demand: courage and honor.

It was bad enough that NBC seemed to cave in to their affiliates by pulling the plug on Conan after only eight months, but what made matters worse was that Jay was seen as an accessory for going along with the whole thing.

What would have happened had Jay done the honorable thing, i.e. standing up for a fellow comedian, and refusing to return to 'The Tonight Show' if NBC pulled Conan off the air? NBC would have been forced to show some courage and keep Conan on the air just as it did with Jay when he started, until the ratings improved. However, NBC had no such courage, because Jay had no such honor.

It's not like Jay Leno needed the money -- the man has more cars than most people have socks. With all of that drama, I was still ready to give this re-engagement a chance. >>>

Give Jay His Walking Papers by Dominique Lewis

As a teenager, there was something I did not like about Jay Leno, but I could never put my finger on it. Maybe it was his chin; I don't know. But in my twenties, I had a baby, and as I stayed up most nights trying to rock him to sleep, I was forced to watch 'The Tonight Show' and, surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Soon, I was trying to watch 'Tonight' as much as possible. I liked Jay Leno's monologues and I absolutely loved 'Jaywalking.' When I learned that NBC executives were planning to give Conan O'Brien the show, I thought it was a bad idea because both of their shows were doing extremely well. Why make such a drastic change? Why fix what isn't broken?

I accepted the new change. I figured I would be able to stay up and watch both Jay and Conan. But when they aired in their new time slots, I thought they were terrible compared to the shows I was used to. Once Letterman was the new late night leader, I knew NBC executives were going to try to bring Jay Leno back to 11:35. It didn't make a difference to me, because I wanted the shows to be exactly like they were. I should have known Conan would not go for such a cruel demotion. >>>