Oh Late Night...

 Well... here we go again. It's the late night wars starring Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. Isn't it amusing how Jay Leno always finds himself involved in a battle for the Tonight Show. I think it's funny. Jay was able to maneuver his way into the Tonight Show right around 1993, sending David Letterman off to CBS to play with his harem of women, and also host a talk show. The battle prompted Bill Carter of the New York Times to write a book called 'The Late Shift' which subsequently became an HBO movie of the same name.

 Good stuff. So everyone had the last two decades to settle into their roles. Jay had Tonight, Conan had Late Night and Dave had the Late Show. Perfect, everyone goes home happy. Not so fast, Conan's contract was up in 2009 and it was decided that in order to keep him on board, he should get the Tonight Show, and then to placate Mr. Leno, Jay would retire. But that's not really true. Do you smell a problem coming on?

 Jay retires (not really), Conan moves his operation to L.A. to take over the reigns of the Tonight Show, and NBC gives up ad dollars by not producing new dramas at 10pm. By the way, absolutely no one in the industry thought this idea would work, and surprise, surprise, they were right. It didn't work, Jay is coming back to the Tonight Show, and Conan is pissed.

 The beauty of this saga is that there are so many more outlets involved. Now Mr. Letterman, sensing vindication, can spend half of his show harping on how stupid and incompetent the suites at NBC are, something he's been waiting to do since Hugh Grant gave Leno a ratings lead that one night. You have to love when he impersonates Leno in his high squeaky voice, and then even goes after Carson Daly as the kid waving his hand at the end of the dinner table. No one sees him, no one hears him, no one really cares. He used to be on TRL, you know.

Even Jimmy Kimmel decided to join the fun. He dressed as Jay Leno, with gray wig and fake chin and did his entire show with a lisp and squeaky voice.  It was one of the funnier things I've seen on his show. And Craig Ferguson, who does his show more like a stand-up routine than a talk show, I think he summed up it all when he said 'this is about a bunch of rich white guys in suits deciding who should get more money... who gives a F$#*?"

And that's the beauty of it, it's just a great opportunity for a bunch of comedy talk show hosts to go after each other - I sort of wish Sarah Palin was involved in this.

I hope Conan goes to Fox.

I hope Dave continues to make fun of Carson Daly and Jay Leno on a nightly basis.

I hope the Patriots hire a new defensive coordinator.