Jay Leno Shares His Side of Late-Night Story With Oprah
Jay Leno tells Oprah Winfrey that he hasn’t spoken to Conan O’Brien throughout the recent contentious negotiations over “The Tonight Show.”
In quotes provided Wednesday by Harpo Productions, Leno tells Winfrey that “it didn’t seem appropriate” to speak to O’Brien. But Leno says the two comedians might talk when “things cool down.”
NBC unseated O’Brien and moved Leno back to the program he had hosted for 17 years. Leno is scheduled to return to “Tonight” on March 1.
In a video previewing “The Oprah Winfrey Show” interview, Leno says: “This whole thing was a huge mess.”
Leno’s interview is slated to air Thursday.
Harpo Productions made an offer for O’Brien to appear on her show, but it hasn’t been confirmed.
Public date: January 28th, 2010
January 29, 2010
Unfortunately for Mr. Leno and his bosses at NBC, the story of their recent programming debacle just won’t go away. And their endless explanations don’t seem to be helping much, either.
For any readers too young to recall – or maybe just not interested in late night TV, at the time – it might help your perspective on the current Leno vs O’Brien mess to read some background on the original Leno vs Letterman feud. Here’s the full story of how Jay Leno took over the ‘The Tonight Show’ hosting gig from long-time host Johnny Carson, way back in 1993.
.
http://bit.ly/6FjAQq (complete article – NY Times; 1994)