Leno being cast as villain in NBC saga

Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Last year, the Harris Poll crowned Jay Leno America’s favorite TV personality. But amid NBC’s messy late-night drama, the comedian who has painstakingly cultivated a “Mr. Nice Guy” image suddenly has found himself cast as a villain and become a national punch line.

Breaking a long-standing tradition of avoiding personal attacks on one another, TV hosts have been unloading on Leno all week with a fusillade of acerbic potshots and pointed barbs customarily reserved for philandering politicians and bonus-taking bankers. “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien, who notably refused to mock David Letterman months ago after he was the victim of an alleged extortion plot, took aim this week at the man who is poised to retake his current time slot, joking that kids should be inspired to do whatever they want in life “unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too.”

Leno’s other colleagues have been just as unsparing in their attacks. CBS’ David Letterman, Leno’s fabled nemesis for the “Tonight Show” slot back in 1992, proposed a new drama for NBC: “Law & Order: Leno Victims Unit.” Even former daytime talk show host Rosie O’Donnell weighed in: “Shame on Jay Leno.”

Perhaps the most withering attacks came from ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, who struck up a friendship with the NBC host during the 2007-08 writers strike. But any remaining chumminess didn’t stop Kimmel from savaging him Thursday during a remarkable guest appearance the ABC host made on “The Jay Leno Show.”

Kimmel suggested Leno had tricked O’Brien by handing off “The Tonight Show” to him and then taking back the time slot. When Leno, good-naturedly playing along, suggested he might make a move to ABC, Kimmel hit his everyman image: “You’ve got $800 million. For God’s sake, leave our shows alone!”

In moving Leno back to a time slot held by O’Brien, NBC effectively pitted the two hosts against each other and created a situation in which viewers were bound to take sides, said Jeffrey McCall, a communications professor at DePauw University in Indiana. The feud lit up Twitter, where many users labeled themselves “Team Conan” and attacked Leno as a bully.

“Leno’s image has been getting warped in public — and not necessarily because of his own fault — from that of a fun-loving comedian to a guy who ends up looking like he has a more dark, selfish side,” McCall said. “That can’t be good for someone whose gig is to make people laugh.”