Jay Leno was fired by NBC?

Back in 2004 Jay Leno renewed his contract with NBC for an additional 5 years. A few months later it was announced that Jay had decided to retire at the end of his contract and that Conan would be taking over the Tonight Show.

I guess Howard is suggesting that Jay was really fired back in 2004. But if NBC wanted him gone back in 2004, why would they have renewed his contract for 5 YEARS? And why would they force out Jay, who had great ratings, in favor of Conan, who had a fraction of the audience? The official story seems more likely, that Jay thought at the time that he'd want to retire in 5 years. Hell maybe NBC wanted a 10 year contract and Jay just wasn't willing to commit.

I guess it's possible to imagine some scenario where Jay Leno was both renewed for 5 years and forced out at the same time. But unless there's a good reason to think that it doesn't seem likely.

Of course all of Howard's points about Jay being an ass and unfunny are right on.

Thanks, fixed.

In reply to this comment by SlipperyPete:
*dead

>> ^Mcboinkens:
>> ^Sigh:
He will be missed by the 100 or so people who were still watching before this whole debate boosted his ratings 100 fold.

Yes, because Jay Leno is definately funnier and more popular. Letterman too. Both really sharp with quick wit and funny jokes....10 years ago.


I'm not saying they are great but Conan was alot better when he was on later. He calmed down for the tonight show and it took away from his style.

Coco > Leno

RIP Tonight Show.

Great idea, but I don't have the skills to do what you suggest . I did however replace the video with a YT embed.

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
You could use the hulu embed (blocked of course) by picking the start and end point of the embed.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/122598/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-fri-jan-22-2010

I consider it dupe because I already gave a Chinese link in my comment. *dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Tonight-Show-Battle-in-CG-Animation

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by ant. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

You could use the hulu embed (blocked of course) by picking the start and end point of the embed.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/122598/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-fri-jan-22-2010

This video has seconded as a duplicate; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof seconded with isdupe by burdturgler.

*isdupe=http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Tonight-Show-with-Conan-O-Brien-Conan-s-Options

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Tonight-Show-with-Conan-O-Brien-Conan-s-Options

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by thinker247. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

This video has been nominated as a duplicate of this video by ant. If this nomination is seconded with *isdupe, the video will be killed and its votes transferred to the original.

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Conan-O-Brien-Tonight-Show-7-month-compilation

Conan O'Brien Tonight Show 7 month compilation