Kimmel on Leno: "F--- him!"

Jimmy Kimmel is moving to the same time slot as Leno and Letterman and had that choice, four-letter word to offer Jay when asked about competing with him in that time slot. Clearly Kimmel is still pissed off about the whole Tonight Show debacle from 3 years ago.

Now I'm about to go on a rant and I'm sure I will be in the minority with this opinion because of the high regard a lot of you hold Conan. I will go ahead and say that I have watched Leno in the past but, overall, I've never been the biggest fan of late night comedy.

Everyone calls Jay Leno a backstabber for what happened between him and Conan O'Brien three years ago. Leno stole Conan's show right out from under him. He makes the perfect villain, especially for our age group. Conan owns the 18-35 demographic. But I think we really need to look back through the history of this whole mess to find out who the real villain is. The battle for The Tonight Show didn't begin in 2009, it began in 2004, and it was started by none other than Conan O'Brien.

Conan's ultimate dream was to host The Tonight Show. That's the reason he came to work for NBC in the first place. He wanted that particular gig more than anything. The only problem with that, however, was that Leno occupied that position. Not only did he occupy it, but he was dominating the competition in the ratings. Conan was viewed as the hip up-and-comer and O'Brien bought into this. He felt that it was his time to shine. He began pushing for The Tonight Show gig and did so by threatening to leave the network after his contract expired. NBC didn't want a big name like Conan O'Brien working against them in the same time slot as Jay Leno. So they compromised. Leno would get the boot in 2009 and Conan would take over. Leno announced on his show that he would be "retiring" from The Tonight Show but in reality he had been forced out because Conan O'Brien had the NBC execs' balls in a vise.

The execs figured that, by 2009, Leno will have lost his touch and be down in the ratings. Problem was, by the time 2009 arrived, Leno's ratings were stronger than ever. Instead of retiring like Leno announced that he would, Leno began to look elsewhere for a new gig. ABC really wanted him in the 11:30 time slot. NBC recoiled at the idea because that would put him in direct competition with their beloved Tonight Show. They had already promised the gig to Conan so they couldn't very well back out of that little deal. So, to keep Leno from competing against them, they decided to appease Leno by giving him his own show in prime time.

Leno wanted to leave the network for ABC but ABC would not guarantee Leno that he could bring his whole staff with him. Because of this, and the huge boost in salary NBC offered him, Leno decided to stay on at NBC and take the prime time slot they had offered him.

Meanwhile, Conan O'Brien had taken over The Tonight Show and, after strong first week ratings, began to tank horribly. In the latter half of the summer of 2009, things got so bad for Conan that Letterman reruns were beating out his all new shows in the ratings department. Leno's variety show premiered in prime time that September but quickly tanked after a strong opening night. With Conan failing in late night and Leno failing in prime time, the execs were forced to make a decision. We all know what that decision was but it wasn't the fault of Leno or Conan. Conan O'Brien's departure was the fault of NBC. They should have let Leno leave the network when he wanted to. Because they didn't, Leno was the one who became the villain.

But it all is of no consequence now. Conan is doing alright for himself on TBS and Leno is once again #1 in late night.