Who doesn't know the drama going on at NBC? Seriously, who doesn't know?

This is a short synopsis of events, as I have heard them:

• Jay Leno's show was losing the ratings wars with drama shows on at the same time as his show, so NBC decided they would cancel Jay's (current) show (letting it run until the Winter Olympics start) and putting him in a half-hour time slot beginning at 11:35, the Tonight Show's starting time. This would push back the Tonight Show to 12:05 and Late Night back to 1:05 (all times Eastern, of course).
• Jay Leno was unwilling to comment on it. At least, that's what I got out of a quick interview I saw of him. If he did anything "behind the scenes," I don't know about it.
• Conan O'Brien refused to have the Tonight Show moved back half an hour, stating that it wouldn't be fair to the franchise of to the Late Night franchise.
• The latest news is that Jay Leno has renegotiated his contract to resume hosting the Tonight Show, leaving O'Brien without a job come mid-February. To move his show to 11:35 to begin with would have been a breach of contract on NBC's part.

I applaud Conan O'Brien for his statement. I was never really of fan of his, but I didn't dislike the man. His statement gave me a greater appreciation for him. But, I can't help but feel it didn't help his cause with NBC.

After hearing and reading his statement, I felt that there were only two outcomes: Jay Leno would be out of a job with NBC or Conan O'Brien would be out of a job with NBC. Now, I can't say that Leno masterminded this whole thing. I can't say that he didn't, either. But, O'Brien's monologues that were harshly critical of NBC the past couple of nights might have been the dagger in his short-lived tenure as host of the Tonight Show.

Up until a few minutes ago, I thought of both Leno and O'Brien as victims of the circumstances (and Jimmy Fallon as something of an innocent bystander). That Leno renegotiated his contract, as it is being reported, in order to resume hosting the Tonight Show makes it seem like he had this planned all along. At the same time, he might simply have been taking advantage of the situation. Following his statement and monologues, O'Brien was out, no matter what Leno did, with the exception of retiring (which many are saying he should have done in the first place); that left a one-hour vacancy at 11:35 on NBC (a vacancy at the Tonight Show). At the very least, Leno was there like a vulture, ready to swoop in and eat of the mess that has been created.

If Leno is to be blamed for anything in this, as far as what he has ever done or said publicly, it's that he didn't completely leave NBC when he relinquished the Tonight Show to Conan O'Brien. That he insisted on having his own show still, apart from the Tonight Show or Late Night was the impetus that created this whole mess. Two's company, three's a crowd. Ultimately, NBC is to be blamed for all of it. First of all, they allowed Leno to have his own show; they agreed to air a third variety show in one night. They're also the ones who decided that the current schedule wasn't working and wanted to force a new schedule on the three men.

The shining light in all of this is Conan O'Brien who stood up to NBC's demands on principle. He had a contract to back him, of course, but I admire that he took a stand based on what he believed in: that to make changes to a tried and true franchise is doing it a disservice.

Now that we got that out of the way, we have more important things to worry about, not the least of which is the turmoil in Haiti.