Leno vs. Coco

This is not the first time NBC has been accused of destroying their prime time television schedule, and it probably won’t be the last. Executives at NBC have decided to push “The Jay Leno Show” to 11:35 p.m. due to poor ratings at the 10:00 p.m. slot. This decision would have pushed back “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” to 12:05 a.m. However, O’Brien refused and openly claimed that he would not host “The Tonight Show” past midnight. O’Brien stated, “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.” O’Brien was promised the position as host of the show five years prior.


Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, Jeff Gaspin, seems to be siding with Leno on the issue, “We’re pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helped brilliantly and successfully for many years. He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.”

While many are openly siding with O’Brien or Leno in the media and on the internet, students at The University of Tampa don’t feel compelled to side with either comedian. Before knowing the fate of “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien,” sophomore, Margaret Haff, commented, “Yes, Conan leaving NBC would be strange. He’s been with the network for so long and people don’t like change. Change is okay though, Conan won’t lose his following. Thing’s will just be different.” UT sophomore, Eric Kuczynski, did not think much of the controversy, “What happened again? Jay Leno took over Conan’s spot because he’s an ass**** right?” While UT Senior, Darren Anderson, also showed little interest in the conflict, “To tell you the truth I don’t like either of them. I don’t watch either of their shows so it doesn’t matter much to me.” The controversy apparently does not have the UT community talking.

With all of the drama this past week, both Leno and O’Brien have been able to make light of the situation by doing what they do best, making people laugh. This has brought much needed comic relief to late night television after all of the tension that has been rising. Leno had joked, “NBC stands for: Never Believe your Contract.” And while trying to manipulate his contract, which states he cannot say anything mean spirited about NBC, O’Brien told his audience -in Spanish- that, “NBC is run by brainless sons of goats who eat money and crap trouble.”

Due to other contract complications, O’Brien is prohibited to host a show on any program at least until September of this year. While nothing has been set in stone, however, Kevin Reilly, FOX Entertainment president, has spoken of FOX’s interest in O’Brien, “He would be a very compatible fit for our brand. He is one of the few guys on the planet that has demonstrated he can do one of these shows every night.” This may be a possible lead to O’Brien’s next step in his career.

During his final episode, O’Brien respectfully said to his audience, with all jokes aside, “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen." O’Brien’s last episode aired Friday, January 22, 2010.