Favre/Leno revisited

I'll begin with a link today...Czabe's friend Skip Oliva does a great job of expanding my initial snap comparison of Jay Leno to Brett Favre.

Also today, after hearing from my good friend Andrew, I'm starting to lean towards thinking a lot of this feud, among Conan, Leno, and NBC, is planned. If I can go heavy on wrestling terms now - as after all, I do believe life imitates wrestling almost as much as it imitates Seinfeld, which is an awful lot - this whole thing could be a work. (Originally, I was 90% sure it was a shoot.)

In really thinking about it, who benefits the most from the fued? NBC. They're playing the heel here, yet they're in charge and making the most money off of the situation. Both shows' ratings are up since the controversy began. And with all the sniping from Conan and Leno, both at each other and at NBC, wouldn't NBC be able to silence them if they wanted to? Take them off the air completely, stop them from making any jokes at NBC's expense, or at the very least, have final edit of what jokes/skits make air? This thing is starting to smell.

Or maybe it started out as a shoot, and NBC is turning it into a work after the fact. At this point wouldn't that be their best move? Maybe they'll call the whole musical chairs thing off and keep Conan and Leno where they are. It takes more intelligence and guts to reverse-field on a terrible idea than to go through with it...and with the bump in ratings Conan and Leno have been experiencing since the controversy started, they could really be turning a negavite into a positive. Plus, NBC could pretend it was a work all along even if it wasn't, and not look so stupid.

I'm not convinced of any of this...I'm maybe 60% sure at best that it's all a work. But this thing could get interesting. Stay tuned!