CBS makes David Letterman a very attractive offer to leave NBC—a move he’s very willing to make—but his long-time network is desperate to keep him. So desperate they dangle the prize that Letterman felt he deserved all along—the Tonight Show. 

That doesn’t sit well with Tonight host Jay Leno, who takes a major defensive stance to hang on to the position he worked so hard to get. 

And in the wake of the Letterman struggle, an unknown talent emerges into the late night stratosphere—Conan O’Brien. He brings a unique, fresh appeal and his own set of rules as the networks battle for ratings, and audiences get finicky.

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