Personally, I like Jay Leno alot, as a person. But for entertainment, Conan was better. Kicked to the curb? I think not, he was offered a later time slot, which was in violation of his contract, and he elected to be bought out to the tune of 45 million. By the way, his entire staff and crew were compensated in the millions as well. In 7 months expect him to show up on another network. NBC IMO placed the 7 month limit, to re-establish Leno in that time slot. If Conan went to another network, IMO Leno would fail in that timeslot.
No wonder the dinosaur media is the dinosaur media. Imagine pissing away that much money to pay somebody NOT to do a show for 7 months!
My prediction is that Conan and his crew end up on a web-based network (like Hulu or YouTube) that will feature new technology that will allow you to watch on your television set. The faster these web-based media outlets start offering original content, all the faster the dinosaur media will die. You heard it here first.