[Lancey Howard]

I seriously doubt that Jay Leno, at that time, would have been able to "force out" the legendary Johnny Carson. In fact, I recall that after Carson decided to call it quits, NBC had to choose between Leno and Letterman to take over. They chose Leno, and Letterman then left NBC and went toe-to-toe in the same time slot on CBS. NBC came up with Conan the Librarian to take over Letterman's Late Show.

[1LongTimeLurker]

I seriously doubt that Jay Leno, at that time, would have been able to "force out" the legendary Johnny Carson. In fact, I recall that after Carson decided to call it quits, NBC had to choose between Leno and Letterman to take over. They chose Leno, and Letterman then left NBC and went toe-to-toe in the same time slot on CBS. NBC came up with Conan the Librarian to take over Letterman's Late Show.

By several accounts Carson was forced out when Leno & his manager went to NBC and convinced them that Jay could draw a younger audience. From John Dvorak:

It was kind of depressing and pathetic to watch Jay Leno do his tribute to Johnny Carson last night since it was Leno and his manager who were responsible for Carson’s forced retirement when Carson still had a number of good years ahead. Worse, the shoddy treatment of Carson by NBC after 30 years of service resulted in Carson’s never returning to public life thus robbing us all of some great humor and who knows what else. Now we see this tribute. The true story of Carson’s ouster is clearly documented in the book, The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night, by Bill Carter. This was made into a made-for-TV movie that featured Cathy Bates as Leno’s creepy scheming manager. Rent the DVD if you can find it.

What I found appalling is the fact that with all these tributes the injustice and underhandedness of NBC is only mentioned by one lone Canadian news outlet. What is the point of glossing it over? Fear? Incompetence? A desire to get on MSNBC? One other outlet – Slate – mentions NBC’s willful and callous destruction of the old Tonight Show tapes and kinoscopes from the early New York era of the show.

[veronica]

There is a book about the whole thing, and I read excerpts way back when. Leno's agent, Helen something-or-other, did quite a bit of backstage manuvering to try and get Carson out and Leno in. There were also stories of Leno hiding in closets when execs were meeting, trying to find out if he or Letterman would get the gig. That's how desperate he was to get the job. Carson wanted Letterman to succeed him. I guess he got back at Leno by feeding jokes to Letterman. :)