What’s the fuss with Leno? Another shrewd move from the not so nice guy.

Posted on May 29th, 2009 by Mark.
Categories: Entertainment.

I’ve never been a fan of Jay Leno.  Let’s just get that out in the open.  I think the record shows quite accurately that Jay got the “Tonight Show” gig by screwing over a good friend (David Letterman).  I don’t have much respect for people that go to such lengths.  Leno likes to blame it all on his deceased manager Helen Kushnick but the fact is, Jay had to know what she was up to and the game she was playing in his name.  What did Helen get for her efforts?  She got fired and thrown under the bus.  Jay made it like every lousy thing ever done in his name was something Helen did unilaterally.  Uh huh.

Jay isn’t the most original guy in the world either, Howard Stern has maintained that Leno stole the “Jaywalking” segment from him.  Let’s just say, I think Stern has a legitimate beef.  Leno even went so far as to hire Stuttering John Melendez from Stern’s show, once again going through the back door rather than being upfront and discussing it with Stern.

Now we have NBC going through this whole charade of saying goodbye to Jay… but the guy isn’t really going anywhere.  In another shrewd move Leno has managed to wrestle an hour of primetime each night from the network.  How did he do it?  He did it by acting like he was interested in offers from other networks, namely ABC.  Jay Leno is not a nice guy.  I seriously hope that his prime time show goes down in flames and that he trashes his already flimsy legacy by making this move.  Instead of being classy and handing over the reins in the manner of Carson, Jay has just gone and made it all about him again.

I never watched Jay at 11:30PM and I sure as heck can guarantee I won’t be watching him at 10:00PM either.  What NBC has done, is to basically insured that I won’t be watching an hour of their primetime lineup for the forseeable future.  I will however, give Conan a chance as the new host of the “Tonight Show”.  Conan is a funny and genuinely likeable guy… and I wish him much luck in his new gig.  I’m sure he’s just as baffled by Leno’s latest antics, he just can’t say anything about it… yet.  Sorry folks, I’m just not buying that Jay is just this kindly funny man.  If anything, I think that’s the image he likes to cultivate while stomping on people and getting what he wants.

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