'The Tonight Show' Experiences Dark Days

The NBC program starring Jay Leno suffers a ratings slide and layoffs amid instability in the TV business — and after network missteps. And the stakes are rising.

Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times writes:

As the No. 1 late-night show for most of the past half-century, "The Tonight Show" has been vital to NBC's fortunes. It was the network's most profitable entertainment program during its 1990s peak, kicking an estimated $100 million to the bottom line annually. 

 And today? "Tonight" is in trouble. This month, the show saw wide layoffs for only the second time in its 58-year history, with about 20 people losing their jobs and host Jay Leno taking a pay cut that lopped off more than 10% from his estimated $26-million annual salary. 

 Leno even offered to work for free to save more jobs, according to people familiar with the matter, who said the offer was rejected because executives believed it would set a bad precedent. These people said "Tonight" was now barely breaking even.

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Howard Stern Lashes Out At NBC

Howard Stern is embroiled in a dispute with NBC centering on Jay Leno. The America's Got Talent host told his radio listeners that his TV bosses sent him "a threatening kind of comment" after he recently dissed Leno.

Howard's response?

"I said, 'Do not tell me to not talk about Jay Leno -- I will (bleeping) talk about Jay Leno for four hours if you tell me not to. I was done with Jay, now I'm all fired up again: (Bleep) Jay! Take my job away from me. Who cares? Don't threaten me. I don't answer to anybody."