In addition to forcing 1,000 of its least employees to ride the Bauer bus of shame every morning, NBC is also struggling with another potentially sticky situation, namely how to placate the longtime host of The Tonight Show after his semi-voluntary retirement in 2009.

And so far, NBC's ideas about how to retain their hold on the late night mainstay (and prevent him from jumping to a rival network) are about as creative as their primetime Fall schedule, which is to say underwhelming.

Meanwhile, while network execs wrestle with the problem of keeping Leno happy (after "prodding" him to step down before he was entirely ready) they also have to ensure that his replacement, Conan O'Brien makes a smooth transition, meaning they'll need to devise a way for O'Brien to attract a wider audience (Leno's median viewer is 52 years young) while still retaining his firm hold on the "unmotivated twenty-something year old pothead" demographic.

All of which could, unfortunately, mean seeing a variety of unwelcome changes, including—but not limited to—Jay Leno starring in an unfunny 8pm sitcom (like Seinfeld, only crappy!) a whole lot less of raunchy O'Brien mainstays (i.e. "the masturbating bear" and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) and a whole lot more of neutered Tonight Show band leader Kevin Eubanks, and "the most annoying chuckle ever."

Badum-bum-ching!