"...They Call It A One Way Street For A Reason..."

First, the obvious disclaimer.

Tens of thousands of people are dead, dying and/or suffering in Haiti as the world rallies to try and help them recover from the devastation.

And, in that light, the problems of Jay Leno and the Benny Hill bunch disguised as a television network calling themselves NBC are about as unimportant as the definition of the word allows.

That said...

I said on the air yesterday morning that, for me, after a couple of weeks of hearing the hype and processing the propaganda, the issue of who should be on where and at what time boils down to a simple matter of principle.

Jay Leno left The Tonight Show for another job.

The Jay Leno Show.

Conan O'Brien was "promoted" to Jay's job hosting The Tonight Show.

The Jay Leno Show failed.

That, right there, should be the end of the story.

Because if you take all the show biz glitz, glamour, drama and bullshit out of the equation, the aforementioned simple matter of principle is all that remains.

And for those who can't seem to find how to take all the show biz glitz, glamour, drama and bullshit out of the equation, allow me to assist with the following scenario.

You are offered another job.

You accept the offer.

You resign your present job.

You move on to your new job.

Someone is hired to take your place at your old job.

For whatever reason, the new job doesn't work out.

Would it cross your mind, for even a second, to expect your previous employer to fire the person who replaced you and welcome you back to your old job as if none of it had ever happened?

Of course not.

The exception, of course, being you were classless, self centered and unprofessional.

Jay Leno's "fans" are blathering that "Jay is funnier, so he should come back" or "Conan just isn't as good as Jay"..yada, yada.

The respective abilities of the employees are irrelevant.

Whether their job is to shuffle papers...

Or entertain millions of people every night.

In a world of professional courtesy, leaving for greener pastures is a time honored and mutually respected path that we are all free to travel.

One way.

NBC needs to wish Jay well in his future endeavors.

Jay needs to man up and move on to the next challenge.

And we all need to hit "off" on the remote and get back to packing clothes and canned goods to send to Port Au Prince.