Late Night Talk Show Drama

ABC News reports:

NBC confirmed it will yank the comic's 10 p.m. nightly hour once the Winter Olympics begin, and it hopes he will accept a half-hour version of his show at his old time -- 11:35 p.m. -- instead.

NBC has spoken to Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon about moving their shows to later start times, Gaspin said. Under the proposal, O'Brien, the man who replaced Leno as host of "The Tonight Show," would move to 12:05 a.m., and Fallon to 1:05 a.m.

"My goal right now is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as part of our late-night lineup," Gaspin said. "As much as I would like to tell you we have a done deal, we know that's not true. The talks are still ongoing."

NBC said its stars were given the weekend to think about it. The network doesn't know whether O'Brien will accept a half-hour demotion or bolt to another network.

"What we're hearing from inside the Conan camp is they're kind of 50-50 right now with what they're going to do," said Mike Schneider, TV editor for Variety. "I mean, this obviously is a big smack in the face."

Last week, amid a firestorm of speculation that NBC might can O'Brien altogether, the network released a statement this week declaring its loyalty to the late-night comic.

"We remain committed to keeping Conan O'Brien on NBC," the network said in a statement Thursday evening. "He is a valued part of our late-night lineup, as he has been for more than 16 years, and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."

It remains to be seen if O'Brien will stay with the network that made him a star of if he'll fly the coop. He could potentially move his schtick to a competing network or leave the late-night game altogether. According to The Wall Street Journal, O'Brien is exploring his options with Fox.

Of course all the jokes on the talkshows surrounded this issue and it was quite amusing to see them all poke fun at the situation.

Mandys Mind - Leno has to go - keep Fallon and Conan as is. Leno retires. The End.