Home > Blogs > Celebrity Worship > Archives > 2010 > January > 28 > Entry
Jay Leno to Oprah: “I felt really bad for Conan,” but…
On a show set to air today, Jay Leno tells Oprah Winfrey that he “felt really” bad Conan O’Brien got kicked off the “Tonight Show,” but Leno said he wasn’t to blame.
“I think it’s unfair, but TV is not fair,” Leno told the TV queen.
Leno said that he regrets the Tonight Show flip-flop disaster wasn’t handled better, but he said he doesn’t know what he would do differently.
He said he couldn’t leave his staff high and dry.
“By walking away that is an ego decision,” Leno said. “‘You all fend for yourselves. Good luck finding job. I am out of here.’”
Oprah didn’t let him off easily, asking why he didn’t quit like Conan did.
“I could have done that, but I didn’t,” he said. “They offered me my old job back which is a dream job. I said OK.”
Leno said the key to this whole thing is not to be bitter.
“I think Conan said it best when he said ‘don’t be cynical’,” Leno said.
Leno said that he hasn’t spoken to Conan because the time has not been right.
He said he would like to have O’Brien on his show in the future, but doesn’t know if O’Brien would be willing .
He said he thought O’Brien would have a successful show on FOX or where ever he ends up.
We will all compete again,” he said. “May the best man win.”
What do you think?
Get a juicy dose of celebrity news daily in the Dayton Daily News’ Celebriefly page found in the Life section. Twitter with me at DDNSmartmouth .
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Jay and Conan
Tweet
Comments
By Bill
January 28, 2010 5:27 PM | Link to this
Why should Leno be blamed. NBC told him he would be replaced by Conan then when the time came they got nervous because they knew if Leno went to another network he would bury Conan. Then Conan couldn’t pull the numbers. Blame NBC. The job was Jay’s to start with!
By Normas
January 28, 2010 6:16 PM | Link to this
Well, Conan was going to leave NBC if he didn’t get the Tonight show, remember that? Well he got it and what would a half hour later to begin his show matter. No he was being stubborn and decided to leave like a spoiled child would if he didn’t get his way. Don’t blame Jay, he is being a gentleman all the way and NBC asked him to take the show back and he has some hard work to do, and I’m sure he will put his heart right back into it. As for me, I will be glad to have him back, I never watched Conan and have watched the Tonight Show ever since Johnny Carson had it.Don’t ruin good people with all this bad mouthing.
By All Nighter
January 28, 2010 9:37 PM | Link to this
Jay was lame at 10 PM (as he has been for the last 5 years at 11:30, too), which hurt the local 11 PM News, which in turn, hurt the lead-in to Conan. Zuckerman’s an idiot, and he’s letting Jay take the heat as payment for getting his spot back on the Tonight show. The only thing worse than all this is that I’ll probably have to watch @#$% FOX to see Conan.
By jacob
January 28, 2010 11:28 PM | Link to this
Poor Conan, he only has like 10 million from this whole thing as his only solace…
By rick
January 29, 2010 8:13 AM | Link to this
It was a business decision. NBC’s ratings stink all the way around. A change had to be made before affiliates and advertisers jump ship. I have no “appointment/must see” tv programs on NBC. There are shows I will schedule to watch or DVR on the other networks. A change HAD to be made!
By Kristi
January 29, 2010 10:23 AM | Link to this
Jay moved to prime time because his ratings sucked, then when his prime time ratings were worse than his late night ratings, he decided he was king of the mountain and booted Conan. I always liked Conan better, Jay is like the dirty old man down the street that you avoid contact with at all cost!
By Sky Mall
January 29, 2010 11:12 AM | Link to this
You are misinformed Kristi. Leno was in first place when his show was moved.
By 2112
January 29, 2010 4:21 PM | Link to this
NBC bungled this whole thing, if whiny a*s Conan was going to leave if not put in Jay’s chair, so be it.. Jimmy Fallon is the best host of all three, and the cheapest by far. Jay was indeed No. 1 by a big margin when he “volunteered” to move to 10pm ET. Kristi is not a math major I’ll wager.
By klockwerk
January 29, 2010 4:42 PM | Link to this
Well I’ll be getting more sleep now. I can’t stand Leno, even before this mess happened.
By big Bob
January 29, 2010 5:56 PM | Link to this
Nobody’s to blame in this except the NBC idiots that think they know what real viewers watch. They shouldn’t have made promises they weren’t willing to keep. Ratings aren’t the only thing to measuring a show’s viewership..look at “LOST” for instance. Jay’s been a little off in the last few years because he tends to try and get a lot in to 1 show, but if he slows down a little and gives more spoofs to guest to do..he’ll be back in form. That’s the 1 thing that we liked about Conan..a lot of spoofs and less joke telling. Conan will be missed for a while, but the 1 to really replace now is Jimmy Fallon…YUCK!
By don't like either
January 30, 2010 9:48 AM | Link to this
Personally, I don’t care for Conan OR Jay. Guess I can’t forget Steve Allen, or Jack Paar, or Johnny - THEY were great nite-time hosts.
By Ann
January 30, 2010 12:43 PM | Link to this
I like Conan, but I do think he’s getting off to easily in all of this. He forced NBC’s handing by demanding the Tonight Show several years. I think NBC should have let him leave. He’s good, but he’s not good enough to have created all of this mess for.
By scott
January 30, 2010 3:35 PM | Link to this
LETTERMAN RULES!!!!
By village idiot
January 31, 2010 3:28 PM | Link to this
NBC is to blame for this whole fiasco. They screwed Letterman over and did the same to O’Brien. I don’t care if other stations have dead air on against NBC; I’ll watch it as opposed to Leno.
By Brooke
February 1, 2010 11:30 AM | Link to this
Jay Leno stopped being funny about ten years ago, and it was time to hand the reins to Conan and retire. Instead, he demanded this prime time show that was a total failure, and then demanded to go back to his old spot. I don’t blame Conan for sticking to his guns, and I’m officially done with the Tonight Show. I’ll stick with Letterman.
By CoCo
February 1, 2010 3:27 PM | Link to this
Conan received better offers from other networks, but NBC promised to give Conan The Tonight Show or a $45 million buyout. Rumor is NBC really wanted to fire Leno, but he’s sneaked a $100 million buyout into his contract when he moved to 10pm.
By Happy With the Change.
February 2, 2010 8:44 AM | Link to this
Face it: If you like low-level gutter nastyhumor, you like Conan. If you like clever, intellectual, spoofy, and silly stuff that is politically balanced, then you like Leno. I’m very happy to see the dirt go, which brings me back to NBC.
By DREW
February 2, 2010 9:55 AM | Link to this
It’s all about ratings. Had Conan had Leno’s ratings, there would have been no controversy and Leno would have been sent packing.
By T , Hasty
March 16, 2011 11:52 PM | Link to this
Come on people Jay was pushed into leaving the show when Conan threaten to leave NBC if he didn’t get the tonight show and thats a fact Jack. So anybody who thinks jay should have given up his job is fricken nuts!