Conan and Dave Jump On Leno

Following yesterday's announcement that NBC had cancelled the Jay Leno Show at 10:00 --and moving him back into his old late night slot--the gloves came off. On last night's Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Late Show with David Letterman, large portions of the opening monologue were devoted to the news. Typically, you wouldn't hear so much inside baseball about networks and programming on these shows--that's why it was so great to hear the airing of network dirty laundry--at Leno's expense.

In a perfect world, NBC would love to re-install Jay Leno back into his old 11:35 slot and move the start of the Tonight Show back one half hour to 12:05. Good for Jay, bad for Conan. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would also move back on the schedule.

Conan O'Brien greeted his audience with this quip: "Settle down, everyone. If you keep this up, you won't hear a joke until 12:05." O'Brien, whom everyone predicts will jump to his own show on FOX, was good at portraying the jilted lover. In a skit, O'Brien wondered if NBC will keep him, "If he adds 10 pounds of chin."

David Letterman, who hates Leno, also got into the act. Letterman, playing the role of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," also devoted chunks of his opening monologue to the debacle over at NBC. Reacting to NBC's lineup changes, Letterman quipped: "Don't worry about Jay, he'll land on his chin." Dave even made his old employer the subject of last night's Top Ten, "Top 10 Signs Of Trouble At NBC"

Is it only me or does this Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien thing strike you as an episode of 30 Rock being played out in real life? Only Tina Fey's fictional executives seem smarter.