conan may have just been fired. and replaced by leno.

Just about a month ago there was a rumor that NBC was trying to replace Conan O Brien with Jerry Seinfeld. The good news for Conan is that he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. The bad news is everything else, beginning with the very next sentence.

Jay Leno is going back to his 11:30 PM time slot, and it’s looking like Conan O’Brien is the odd man out
We’ve learned Jay’s 10:00 PM show will go on hiatus February 1. After the Olympics, Jay will take back his 11:30 PM time slot. What has not been decided — whether Jay’s show will be a half hour, followed by Conan, or whether Jay’s show will be an hour and NBC says sayonara to Mr. O’Brien.

One of the reasons Conans numbers are down is because Leno is in last place by a mile at 10:00, giving The Tonight Show no lead-in. Now Leno will move to 11:30 and benefit from a better lead-in at 10, because no matter what they replace him with it will do better than he did. So Leno will be seen as a savior at 11:30 because he sucked so bad at 10.

None of which is Conans fault of course, yet he’s the one who will be made to look like an asshole. I’m surprised NBC even had the decency to tell him before leaking it. I thought they’d just let him find out online, or better yet, print out a copy of the story then roll it around an arrow and shoot him in the chest with it.