alternatehistory.com

In the fall of 2009, Jay Leno's show at 10 pm was a complete disaster and was on the way to getting cancelled. Meanwhile Conan O'Brien was not doing so hot taking over the Tonight Show, getting clobbered in the ratings nightly by Letterman. NBC CEO Jeff Zucker ultimately decided on a convaluted formula that would move Leno's show to 11:35 PM and have The Tonight Show start at midnight. However there were many high ranking execs who were just as adamant about paying off Leno and pulling the plug on his show. Ultimately Conan decided The Tonight Show would have no meaning if it started the next day so he left for TBS. But what if Leno had been the one to leave, could he have bounced back on another network, say FOX or ABC? and if Conan's numbers continued to slide who ends up replacing him?
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