You know those parents who put their kid on a leash and, while they’re bragging about how well it works in a crowd, they yank the leash to make the kid come and instead the kid falls down and cries? You know how those parents try to explain how it really does work while they comfort their kid, then the kid runs away, reaches the end of the leash, falls down again? You know how witnessing the whole thing makes you back away slowly, smiling, but deep inside you feel a little bit depressed?

That’s sort of how the world feels about NBC, Leno and Conan right now. NBC is the idiot parents. Conan is the poor kid. Leno? The leash.