Jay Leno returned to his 11:35pm spot on the Tonight Show with the words “It’s good to be home.  I’m Jay Leno your host, at least for a while“.

It’s not going to be easy for Jay, he’s got some damage control to do, a brand to rebuild and a new band leader to hire However, since he only fell a place or two in a recent poll of most popular celebs, these aren’t impossible tasks.

Jay’s first guests were Jaimie Fox, Olympian Lindsay Von and singer/songwriter Brad Paisley.  Sounds kind of dull, but that seems to be Jay’s shtick, which up until last year worked well for him.

I’ve always been more of a Letterman fan myself, who was back to poking fun at his arch-rival by starting his show with ”My name is David Letterman, same time, same host.”

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And so the Jay Leno Show Deathwatch ended not with a bang or a whimper, but a “Your Fired!” from none other than wildy entertaining yet pompous gas-bag Donald Trump (there to promote the 80th season of his show, Celebrity Apprentice)

Fitting, although it could be argued that the Donald should have said that to some NBC execs for creating this situation in the first place.  Yes, Jeff Zucker, we’re looking mostly at you.  

Leno will have some image rebuilding to do as rumours are flying that he pressured NBC to get his old job back (which he sort of admitted to Oprah he never really wanted to leave in the first place) and hasn’t been particularly honest about it.

Should be interesting to see if Leno’s ratings suffer after inital curiosity abates or if he had trouble booking guests.  Guess all will be answered in about three weeks.  

Leno returns to The Tonight Show March 1st.

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Oprah’s made it pretty clear during her interview with Jay Leno today that she’s neutral in the whole Team CoCo vs Team Leno debate.  The mighty Opes explained that she found it amazing what a polarizing issue this has become for people and requested interviews with both Leno and O’Brien (O’Brien’s team deferred, saying the time wasn’t right.  Oprah says her offer still stands).

During her show Oprah indicated to Jay that she found some of  his behavior during the mess perplexing and beneath him, referring to his taking shots back at David Lettermen on his show (the two have always feuded with one another) and not washing his hands of NBC saying that being fired twice by the network “seems like the ultimate in disrespect to me“.

Given Leno’s explanations in context, it’s easier to understand where he’s coming from.  He’s certainly an example of grace under pressure, given some of the things that are being said about him at water-coolers and the media (and yes, here too). 

Is he being somewhat disingenuous with some of his answers?  Probably.  Staying with NBC instead of actually retireing and taking a 10pm late night talk show was almost guaranteed to cut into The Tonight Shows ratings.

Is he egotistical?  Jay’s a successful comedian in television, it’s almost a given. 

If anything, the Oprah interview confirmed that NBC created a total cluster-f*ck by asking Leno to give up The Tonight Show to O’Brien in five years back in 2004 as a bargaining chip when they were deep in negotiations with him to renew his contract with them.  This all probably could have been avoided if NBC execs instead promised The Tonight Show to O’Brien when Jay decided to retire or if the ratings started to go downhill. 

Jay told Oprah he hopes that he’ll be able to get back on top once The Tonight Show reverts back to him starting in March.  Considering that he’s number 3 on a list of top TV personalities in a recent poll, he’ll probably get his wish.

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