Is Jay Leno the Big Villain?
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: Big news breaking right now on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT - s Jay Leno the big villain? Tonight, the Conan-Leno fight takes a super- nasty turn today. Jay conks Conan. Conan jabs Jay.</s>CONAN O`BRIEN, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH CONAN O`BRIEN": You can do anything you want in life unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too.</s>HAMMER: Plus, Rosie`s new Leno slam.</s>ROSIE O`DONNELL, TELEVISION AND RADIO PERSONALITY: I just thought he was a selfish guy.</s>HAMMER: But is Jay really the bad guy here? Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT asks, team Conan, team Leno, whose side are you on? Brand-new Jon and Kate bombshells today. Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT reveals surprising details about Kate`s new TV show. The real story behind Jon`s new girlfriend and Kate`s do disaster. Does Kate really hate her new hair? And the explosive Hollywood reaction to Heidi Montag`s 10 - count them - 10 plastic surgeries. Tonight, Heidi`s "Hills" co-star is speaking out.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER: Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer, broadcasting tonight and every night from New York City.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: Hi there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson coming to you tonight from Hollywood.</s>HAMMER: Tonight, Leno, the villain? I have got to tell you this whole "Tonight Show" debacle is just getting nastier than I ever imagine it could get, Brooke.</s>ANDERSON: And A.J., the hits keep on coming. We`ve got Jay Leno and Conan O`Brien trading unbelievable jabs with each other and they`re even taking on the bigwigs at their own network. And then, as if a battle among the titans of late night TV isn`t shocking enough, enter Rosie O`Donnell with the mother of all lashings aimed squarely at Jay Leno himself. Her words, "Shame on you, Jay." So has Leno become the bad guy in this mess? No matter who`s side you`re on, there`s no doubt this "Tonight Show" showdown has made for big news breaking today.</s>JAY LENO, HOST, "THE JAY LENO SHOW": Ever order anything off the TV?</s>JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": Like NBC ordered your show off TV?</s>LENO: Yes. No, no -</s>ANDERSON (voice-over): Leno, is finding out the hard way the only thing worse than being mocked is being mocked on your own show. During a segment on last night`s "Jay Leno Show" on NBC, ABC`s late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel repeatedly went after Leno for taking back "The Tonight Show" from Conan O`Brien.</s>LENO: What`s the best prank you ever pulled?</s>KIMMEL: I think the best prank I ever pulled was I told a guy that five years from now, I`m going to give me my show. And then, when the five years came, I gave it to him and then took it back almost instantly.</s>LENO: Wow.</s>ANDERSON: Kimmel is not alone in his Leno bashing. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you ever since NBC announced that it`s ending Jay`s primetime show and planning to move him back to "The Tonight Show," squeezing out current host Conan O`Brien, it`s been open season on Jay.</s>O`DONNELL: It just seems like classless, in my opinion.</s>ANDERSON: In her interview with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, an angry Rosie O`Donnell is bashing Jay`s moves.</s>O`DONNELL: I`m hoping that he reconsiders, but I don`t think he will.</s>DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Our good friend, Ricky Gervais, will be hosting the Golden Globes if Jay lets him.</s>ANDERSON: David Letterman who had his own "Tonight Show" battle with Leno in the early `90s, is now gleefully roasting his formal rival.</s>LETTERMAN: Jay just loves to be the center of attention. As a matter of fact, did you take the harbor tour today? Here`s what I`m talking about. Take a look at this. See, there he is.</s>ANDERSON: And of course, Conan is also going after Leno.</s>O`BRIEN: Hosting "The Tonight Show" has been a fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. And I just want to say to the kids out there watching, you can do anything you want in life. Yes, unless Jay Leno wants to do it, too.</s>ANDERSON: The Leno hate has even gone online. On Facebook, a pro-Conan fan page called Team Coco calls Leno the un-funniest host on TV. The site has thousands of fans already. As Howard Stern said this morning on his Sirius XM radio show -</s>HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Everybody hates Jay now.</s>ANDERSON: Of all of Jay bashing going on right now, perhaps the harshest perpetrator has been Rosie O`Donnell.</s>O`DONNELL: To hold on so pathetically, so desperately and to think that you have the right to do that in a franchise that`s been on for 60 years to a guy like Conan who, for 17 years, worked for that company - I don`t know, man. I think he`s got balls and not in a good way.</s>ANDERSON: Comedienne Jessica Kirson tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT people are flocking to Conan`s side because they see him as the underdog in the late show wars.</s>JESSICA KIRSON, COMEDIENNE: I think that people really think that Leno has made a ton of money. He`s had, you know, a show that he should kind of, you know, back down and say, "No. I`m going to let Conan keep his time slot."</s>ANDERSON: And Jessica has her own take on the Leno-Conan war and how it should be settled.</s>KIRSON: This is about ego and about, you know, size to be honest with you. I think they should measure them and whoever the biggest should get the time slot.</s>ANDERSON: Jessica is probably talking about audience size. But it`s clear as long as the talk show wars wage on, everyone will not only take sides -</s>KIMMEL: You`ve got $800 million, for god`s sakes, leave our shows alone.</s>ANDERSON: They`ll take shots at Leno.</s>HAMMER: All right. Everybody clearly having a lot of fun there. But is Jay Leno the villain in this late night disaster? Joining me tonight from Hollywood, Jerry Penacoli, who is a correspondent for "Extra." Also tonight in Hollywood is Kim Serafin who is a senior editor for "In Touch Weekly." Let`s begin with Rosie O`Donnell. Wow, what scathing words she had for Jay Leno on her radio show this morning. You`ve got to listen to why she says Leno is a villain.</s>O`DONNELL: To hold on so pathetically and so desperately and to think that you have a right to do that in a franchise on for 60 years to a guy like Conan, who for 17 years worked, for that company. I don`t know, man - I think he`s got balls and not in a good way.</s>HAMMER: And I`ve got to say I do think that Leno, to extent he has any say in this, should leave Conan alone at 11:35. But Jerry, are you with Rosie on this? Is Jay the big villain in the late night battle?</s>JERRY PENACOLI, CORRESPONDENT, "EXTRA": Well, I was with Rosie last night, actually, and the always opinionated Rosie O`Donnell obviously thinks Jay is the villain. I think he`s more of a - I mean, there`s a backlash here, obviously. I think he`s a fall guy at this point and the ratings for both Jay`s show at 10:000 and "The Tonight Show with Conan" at 11:35 are proving that. Since this late show debacle has occurred, Jay`s numbers are pretty average. They`re pretty flat. They haven`t spiked up. Conan`s numbers, on the other hand - 70 percent increase - 70 percent.</s>HAMMER: Yes.</s>PENACOLI: That`s a lot in the last three days. So I think that tells the story right there.</s>HAMMER: I think it really shows people are obviously interested in what`s going on. And now, maybe, people will gravitate towards Conan even more that they`ve been checking him out. Obviously, Rosie O`Donnell has Jay squarely in her crosshairs. In fact, Rosie`s spokesperson confirmed today to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT that Rosie is canceling her appearance on "The Jay Leno Show" at the end of the month. Kim, do you think Rosie is speaking for a lot of people when she says Leno is the bad guy here?</s>KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": No, I don`t think so. You know, obviously, Rosie also has a personal issue with Jay. She blogged about how she had been approached back in `90s to fill in, to kind of be the Joan - like Carson to his Jay - to Jay, rather. And she said that Jay rejected this kind of scenario. So she has some issues. But I think a lot of people see Jay as the nice guy. This is not who he is. He`s a guy who spends his weekends going to comedy clubs and working really hard and worked himself from the ground up, who has been with NBC for a really long time. So I think there are young people who are very vocal, obviously. But I think Jay has people in his corner. He will have an audience when he comes back to 11:35.</s>HAMMER: You know, Jerry, we`re seeing a lot of - even Jay Leno starting to make fun of himself, a lot of self-effacing humor, which is all well and good, I think, to a point. But now, I`m starting to think that Jay is actually starting to make himself look kind of bad and at some point, it`s going to damage his own brand. I mean, what do you think about that? Is it time to let off on himself of what`s happened here?</s>PENACOLI: Well, I mean, Jay Leno is a comedian, first and foremost, obviously. So he`s got to make light of this whole thing. Otherwise - you know, that`s his job. And if it means poking fun at himself or poking fun at his network and certainly Conan is doing the same thing, this is what`s - you know, this is what`s happening. And I think it`s healthy. They are getting a lot of frustration, whatever - tension off their chest. But you know, there`s speculation out there and, of course, NBC is denying this at this point. But there`s speculation that the deal is already done, that Jay Leno is, in fact, coming back to "The Tonight Show" for the full hour at 11:35, which would of course free up Conan to go to Fox without any contractual restriction to keep Conan off of another network, because, usually, there`s a lot of, you know, contractual - you know -</s>HAMMER: Can you even imagine the legal mess that`s going on right now? All right. Quick vote. Jerry, first to you - team Jay, team Conan? I`m forcing you to choose.</s>PENACOLI: You are - I`m not an idiot. I have to interview both of these people.</s>HAMMER: Oh, boy.</s>PENACOLI: So I`m going to stay right in the middle, but -</s>HAMMER: Right. Then, I`ll refer to Kim Serafin. I have to get Kim`s vote.</s>SERAFIN: Oh, no, no. Don`t go to me. They are both great and I think they are both victims in this. Obviously, NBC is the enemy. NBC is the one that made the decision. Jay didn`t want to leave "The Tonight Show." He didn`t want to go to 10:00.</s>HAMMER: Yes.</s>SERAFIN: This is the sort of circumstance -</s>PENACOLI: Kim, I don`t think they are victims, guys.</s>HAMMER: I`ve got to wrap it up, Jerry -</s>PENACOLI: I think they are both winners. They are both winners.</s>HAMMER: Here`s what think. I think</s>ANDERSON: Hey, A.J., don`t forget about these two teams - team "I love Kate`s new hair and team "Oh my. What has she done?" There are brand-new Jon and Kate Gosselin bombshells today like Kate`s do disaster? Does Kate herself really hate her new do? Also, we`re revealing surprising details about Kate`s new TV show. And the real story behind Jon`s new girlfriend. And it`s Friday - that means it`s time for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT to name the most provocative celebrity of the week. Lots of people doing very controversial things this week. And the unbelievable brand-new fallout today over Heidi Montag`s startling confession that she`s addicted to plastic surgery at the age of just 23. Scary. Tonight, one of the "Hills" co-stars is speaking out. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN. Now, the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" - more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news right now.</s>TEXT: George Clooney organizing Haiti relief telethon airing January 22 on Networks including CNN. Conan O`Brien gets offer to appear on FX`s "Sons of Anarchy."