Leno returned to 11:30pm time slot

' I thought maybe I should address this. At least give you my view of what has been going on here at NBC.

Oh, lets start in 2004 2004, Im sitting in my office, an NBC executive comes in and says to me, Listen, Conan OBrien has gotten offers from other networks. We dont want him to go, so were going to give him The Tonight Show. I said, Well, Ive been number one for 12 years. They said, We know that, but we dont think you can sustain that. I said, OK. How about until I fall to number two, then you fire me? No, we made this decision. I said, Thats fine.

Dont blame Conan OBrien. Nice guy, good family guy, great guy. He and I have talked and not a problem since then. Thats what managers and people do, they try to get something for their clients. I said, Ill retire just to avoid what happened the last time. OK.

So time goes by, and we stay number one up until the day we leave. We hand [applause] no, no. OK, but Im leaving before my contract is out. About six to eight months early. So before I could go anywhere else, it would be at least a year or 18 months before I could go and do a show somewhere else.

I said to NBC, Would you release me from my contract? They said, We want to keep you here. OK.

What are your ideas? They said, How about prime time? I said, That will never work. No, no, we want to put you on at 10. We have done focus groups. People will love you at 10. . . . Four months go by, we dont make it. Meanwhile, Conans show during the summer were not on was not doing well. The great hope was that we would help him. Well, we didnt help him any. OK.

They come and go, This show isnt working. We want to let you go. Can you let me out of my contract? No, youre still a valuable asset to this company. How valuable can I be? You fired me twice. How valuable can I be? OK.

So then, the affiliates are not happy. The affiliates are the ones that own the TV stations. Theyre the ones that sort of make the decisions. Theyre not happy with your performance, and Conan is not doing well at 11:30. I said, Whats your idea? They said, Well, look, how about you do a half-hour show at 11:30? Now, where I come from, when your boss gives you a job and you dont do it well I think we did a good job here, but we didnt get the ratings, so you get humbled. I said, OK, Im not crazy about doing a half-hour, but OK. What do you want to do with Conan? Well put him on at midnight, or 12:05, keeps The Tonight Show does all that, he gets the whole hour. I said, OK. You think Conan will go for that? Yes, yes. [Laughter.] Almost guarantee you. I said OK. Shake hands, thats it. I dont have a manager, I dont have an agent, thats my handshake deal.

Next thing, I see Conan . . . saying he doesnt want to do that. They come back to me and they say, If he decides to walk and doesnt want to do it, do you want the show back? I go, Yeah, Ill take the show back. If thats what he wants to do. This way, we keep our people working, fine.

So thats pretty much where we are. It looks like we might be back at 11:30, Im not sure. I dont know. [Applause.] I dont know. But through all of this through all of this, Conan OBrien has been a gentleman. Hes a good guy. I have no animosity towards him.

This is all business. If you dont get the ratings, they take you off the air . . . You can do almost anything. You get ratings, they keep you. I dont get ratings he wants. That was NBCs solution. It didnt work, so we might have an answer for you tomorrow.

So, well see. Thats basically where it is.'