Steve Allen

It's been quite an amazing time at NBC the past ten days. The Jay Leno exit from prime time. The proposed 11:35-12:05-1:05 juggle. Conan's manifesto to the people of the earth. NBC executives lashing out and labeling Conan a failure and chicken-hearted. Jeff Zucker threatening Conan and his intellectual properties. And then the subsiding tide that will have The Tonight Show regressing, possibly becoming less an American television institution and more an American artifact of a time gone by.

Lost amid all this wrangling and back and forth is one fact that is undeniable. When NBC came up with the idea of all-Leno, all the time at 10 p.m. prime time, the network was giving him a precious gift. Jay Leno had been given Aladdin's lamp. NBC handed him an hour -- five hours -- of prime time television with an open invitation to create a new show. Imagine if that offer were made to another performer.

Pioneers of Television (in stores today) is a pretty big title for a documentary series, especially one that lasts only four episodes. You wonder, what are they going to mention and what are they going to leave out? This PBS show isn't the most comprehensive look I've seen on each of its subjects, but for one miniseries in one package, it's actually well put together, and you're going to see some TV footage, photos, and interviews I bet you've never seen before.

Jay Leno is currently celebrating his 15th anniversary on that late night talk show that I refuse to name because I hate associating the show that Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson once hosted with Leno. I won't go into all the reasons why (I've talked about it before), but let's just say the guy is incredibly lame and unfunny.