I have to confess I was completely unaware that Leno was in a different time slot.

Is Saturday Night Live still on?

Isn't it time they put the old horse down already?

Leno's not really all that old- that's the part of this I never understood, they pushed Leno out of his seat to keep Conan at the network, ignoring the fact that neither Leno nor his audience was ready to see him go.

He sounds a little full of himself in that article, but they are cutting him down to a half hour. That's not much of a victory.

I used to watch Letterman when he was on NBC and a little bit on CBS but he got pretty boring after a while. I've only ever seen Conan a few times and didn't really warm to it and Leno's just lame. If I'm going to stay up until midnight, I'll watch Stewart/Colbert (but usually just Tivo it and watch them the next day).

Leno's not really all that old

I didn't mean old in the chronological sense.

Yawn. Streeeeeeeetch. *Walks away from screen.*

To be "wronged" like this could be the best thing to happen to Conan.

This NYT blog suggests that Conan isn't cool with this and there's the possibility he'd jump to Fox. Of course, we don't know the details of his contract, but in a way would make life easier for NBC. Like Heather at Salon said, this really isn't a Jay or Conan thing, it is NBC's stupidity. They wanted Leno @ 10PM so they could save a boatload of money by not having to produce scripted shows like CBS, ABC and even Fox have in that time slot.

I don't really have a dog in this race. I'm a Stewart/Colbert fan but find Conan's humor close to mine and "hipper" than Dave is now. I had the misfortune of sitting through a Jay Leno Show episode while visiting my mom over the holidays. It was the most unfunny show I've ever seen. Mom seemed to like the show and in the interest of family unity I kept my mouth shut.

NBC is not doing well at all, and this reads as ridiculous desperation.
They counted on Conan bringing his younger viewers with him and beating Letterman, but now that Letterman is consistently winning the ratings war (which Leno had won in the same time slot) and Leno's audience didn't follow him to the 10pm slot, they want to play it safe, try to regain some territory, and go back to what they had before.
They are in fact launching some new scripted dramas in the 10 slot now, but my guess maybe 1 will take and the rest will end up being more (safe and cheap) reality shows and stuff ported over from their Bravo friends (i.e. launch my line, biggest loser etc).

Conan was promised this slot 8 years ago when it seemed like Leno would want to retire by now, but as TPS said, when the time came, Leno didn't want to go and didn't feel done, esp because Letterman was still around and on his game. Instead of letting people get used to Conan and ignoring Leno's complaining, NBC is trying to just go back to the way things were and give both hosts "what they want" which neither of them actually want--Leno is unhappy with 30 min even if it is at his preferred slot, and Conan doesn't want to follow Leno anymore or be pushed later.

I understand NBC is the lowest rated network, but this just seems like a pathetic play to recapture any audience. I wish they would go the opposite route while cornered and put on some fresh, interesting, different material and take some chances while they're down to reinvent themselves instead of grasping at old, played out straws.

Anyway, TEAM CONAN!

Not a Leno fan and generally bored with the format that Leno, Letterman, Conan et al. use.

It would be so so great to have a music show in the US on network TV like Later with Jools Holland, where it's a mix of current darlings and newcomers and old-timers, and all live performances with a few interviews mixed in. I would so love that.