I don’t generally cover entertainment news on my blog, but for whatever reason, I’ve been obsessed lately with the whole Tonight Show debacle on NBC.

As you probably know, Jay Leno left The Tonight Show last year and Conan O’Brien took over. Then NBC tried putting Jay Leno on a comedy show at 9 p.m. leading into the news — and it bombed. It was so cheap to produce that NBC was still able to make money even though the ratings were terrible. However, the terrible ratings hurt local affiliates because if people aren’t watching Jay at 9, they don’t watch that station’s news at 10. So affiliates demanded that NBC cancel The Jay Leno Show and go back to scripted programming that will bring in more viewers who will carry over to the late local news.

That got me wondering: how has this affected our local NBC affiliate, WEEK-TV 25? I asked the station’s general manager Mark DeSantis. He said local Peoria stations don’t subscribe to Nielsen, but they’re able to gauge viewership by information they receive from national advertising firms. DeSantis says that “while the average national decline in prime and late newscasts for NBC affiliates was in the 30% range, WEEK sustained less than a 10% decline with Leno at 9pm.” In short, “The effect on our late news was minimal.”

Unlike other affiliates who complained to NBC about the 9 o’clock programming, “WEEK made no demand of the network that Leno be cancelled.” But like many observers, DeSantis felt it was a “serious mistake” for the network to take Leno off The Tonight Show in the first place. Now, of course, NBC is trying to put the genie back in the bottle — that is, they’re trying to put Leno back at 10:35, much to Conan’s displeasure. DeSantis believes NBC has “mishandled the announcement” of that decision, “making this issue a real mess for all concerned.”

But he isn’t taking sides. He says he also sympathizes with O’Brien. “[Conan] is getting the short end of the stick after doing what he was asked and contracted to do.” The latest rumor is that Conan’s last Tonight Show will be next Friday, and that Jay Leno will be reinstated as host after the Winter Olympics. Many speculate Conan will get his own late show on the Fox network.

“At this point, my preference is to get through this change quickly so we can move on and stabilize late night once again,” DeSantis concluded. In the meantime, it’s hilarious to hear all the late-night comedians ridicule NBC executives for their dismal handling of the situation.

As for me, I’m on Team Conan.