We need another Johnny Carson

Lisa de Moraes has an article in The Washington Post about the whole late-night kerfluffle:

Jay Leno is set to return to The Tonight Show, unless Conan O'Brien has a last-minute change of heart about hosting the show in a later time period, according to an NBC source. The source, who has knowledge of the state of negotiations, was not authorized to speak publicly about the fluid situation.
On Tuesday, Conan announced he would refuse to host The Tonight Show at 12:05 a.m., which is where NBC said it's moving the franchise when its coverage of the Olympic Games concludes at the end of February. "There's a rumor that NBC is so upset with me, they want to keep me off the air for three years. My response to that is if NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC," Conan said at the top of his show Thursday.
On Sunday, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin had told a couple hundred members of the press that the network was bailing on its Leno-hosted 10 p.m. weeknight program after TV station executives started threatening to preempt the show in large numbers. Their rebellion was stoked by the November sweeps ratings, which showed how much damage Leno's show had done to their late local newscasts. It was then decided that Leno would be moved back to 11:35 p.m. to host a half-hour show, followed by the Conan-hosted Tonight at 12:05 a.m. and Jimmy Fallon's show Late Night at 1:05 a.m. At that time, Gaspin said he fully expected all negotiations to be wrapped up by 12 February, when NBC's coverage of the Games begins. "I can't imagine we won't have everything in place before that," he said.
But NBC started talking to Leno about Plan B when Conan put out his statement (addressed to "People of Earth") Tuesday, in which he said "The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't The Tonight Show... I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction."
Now, ironically, it looks like The Tonight Show at 11:35 p.m. may have been saved. NBC denied that a deal with Leno to return to The Tonight Show at 11:35 p.m. had been signed.
Meanwhile, if you haven't yet caught Conan hosting The Tonight Show, you won't want to miss next week, which will probably be your last chance. Tonight was already scheduled to go on hiatus the following week when Olympics coverage begins.
Conan's pulling out all the stops to book A-list talent for next week's show. He's already landed Tom Hanks for Tuesday; very symbolic and kumbaya-ish, in that Hanks was Conan's first real big "get" when he took over Tonight seven months ago. (Hanks appeared on Conan's second show; his first night, Conan was saddled with guest Will Ferrell, who came on to plug NBC Universal's latest bad flick idea, Land of the Lost.)
"I received a letter from the adult-film company Pink Visual offering me a role in one of their porn movies," Conan said Thursday in his opening monologe. "In the movie, I'd be having sex with a beautiful woman and, just as we're about to climax, I get replaced by Jay Leno."
Meanwhile, NBC is maximizing its prime-time assets as it plugs the gaping holes in its schedule left in the wake of the demise of its Jay Leno Experiment. Jay's best night was usually Tuesday, following the two-hour The Biggest Loser. NBC has given that plum 10 p.m. slot to its new drama series Parenthood from Ron Howard and now starring Lauren Graham, among others.
Law & Order: The Mothership will take on CBS's CSI: Miami and ABC's Castle on Mondays, which was usually Leno's weakest night. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit takes 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, against ABC's Ugly Betty and CBS's CSI: NY; neither series the biggest gun in those networks' arsenals. Jerry Seinfeld is returning to NBC's Thursday lineup, this time as executive producer and occasional celebrity on his comedy-reality series The Marriage Ref. And an expanded Dateline absorbs the 10 p.m. hour Fridays. All these prime-time moves will occur after NBC's coverage of the Winter Games in Vancouver.