Leno at 10 p.m.

I hate Jay Leno with a passion, but I don't think he should shoulder much of the blame for this current debacle.

It was one of the worst ideas of all-time and I think the only reason Leno agreed to it is because he thought it would fail and would result in him getting his old job back.

I predict Conan will be out of a job very soon. I think they'll offer him the 12:30 spot back knowing he will decline and will eventually wind up elsewhere.

 

They did. A friend of mine was hired to help produce a "Making of Top Gear" promotional piece for it, but it appears the show was axed.

Not only did Leno turn down an American "Top Gear", he wrote an open letter to the network not to attempt the show because they could only screw it up.

 

There is some truth to that. NBC offered to give Leno a syndicated show, which could have made Leno millions and millions. Affiliates would have been able to put it any slot -- the hour before the 5 pm news would have been perfect -- and it probably would have worked. This is what Leno wanted. If it is a success, then great. If it isn't, he goes back to 11:30 and all is good again.

 

The sad truth is - Nightline (a show ABC was willing to chuck to get Leno) has been beating Letterman and Conan.
I think the addition of Leno at 10 has really diluted the late night shows. I'm surprised no one has tried to do something other than monologue/comedy bit/guest/guest/music.
One of the reasons I like the Daily Show and Colbert is that they tend to try and have a point and execute their shows a lot more creatively. The bit The Daily Show did last night on the Douchebag Olympics between New York and Philly fans on Sunday had me in tears it was so funny.

 

Nightline's success would make one think that ABC would not go after Leno or Conan if one of them is cut loose.

Right now, Kimmel's show on a day-to-day basis is superior to Leno, Letterman, and Conan. He doesn't get the ratings, but he's not really supposed to since he has a 12:05 start time.

I would bet that the Nightline-Kimmel combination beats Conan/Fallon and Letterman/Ferguson pretty regularly.