Handicapping Leno

I've never been much of a Jay Leno fan. If I'm watching late night talk show television, I prefer the anarchy of David Letterman to the safety net of Jay Leno, but then I always preferred the Marx Brothers to Laurel & Hardy as well. So there you have it.

But I also realize that, when it comes to ratings, Leno beats the worldwide plants off Letterman, so there's a lot of head scratching going on about Leno's retirement from "The Tonight Show" next year. Of course, retirement may not be exactly the right word for it. It seems the suits at NBC are not-quite-gently shoving Leno aside to make room for Conan O'Brien to move into the hall0wed chair once occupied by the legendary Johnny Carson and, before him, Jack Paar.

So what becomes of Leno? Funny, I should ask because a pair of Chicago Sun-Times reporters speculated on just that question today, listing, in descending order of likelihood, what Jay might do next. I found it an interesting read and, in case you hadn't heard, I've never been much of a Jay Leno fan.