'The Biggest Loser'?: NBC Isn't Happy That Jay Leno Has Been Making Jokes at the Network's Expense

In the world of pop culture, NBC and Jay Leno are probably two of the most despised entities around. Among its many crimes against pop culture, NBC has lately been known for destroying Community, chasing away show creator Dan Harmon and attempting to reduce the series to lowest-common-denominator humor. When it comes to Leno, it doesn't matter how old you are, you've seen the late-night host take down one of your favorite pop culture icons, whether it was David Letterman or Conan O'Brien.

It looks like there might be a chance the two parties can just finish each other off now. The New York Times is reporting that NBC executive Robert Greenblatt emailed Leno to express displeasure at shots the Tonight Show host was taking at NBC during several of his monologues.

Three executives close to the situation reported this week that Mr. Greenblatt had taken offense to monologue jokes Mr. Leno made last month in the wake of news stories about NBC’s ratings struggles and how the network had fallen into fifth place in the sweeps month of February — behind the Spanish-language network Univision. 

Specifically, on the night of Feb. 28, Mr. Leno referenced the news about NBC’s falling into fifth place by telling a series of jokes: 

“For the first time in history NBC is going to finish fifth in the ratings period,” Mr. Leno said. “We are behind the Spanish-language network Univision — or as we call it here in Los Angeles: Cinco de Ratings.” He added a series of rapid-fire jokes about how bad off NBC is including: “It’s so bad, ‘The Biggest Loser’ isn’t just a TV show anymore; it’s our new motto.” And: “It’s so bad, NBC called Manti Te’o and asked him to bring in some imaginary viewers.”

Things haven't been good for NBC for a long time now. The network has shown little faith in its Thursday night comedy lineup, airing show after show against CBS's The Big Bang Theory, allowing quirky, creative and smart sitcoms to get crushed in the ratings. What the network did to Community is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how clueless NBC is when it comes to finding a solution to its ratings problems.

I don't like to defend Leno, but making fun of network ratings have typically been fair game for late-night hosts. It's not Leno's fault that NBC has now sunk so low, they can't afford any bad press.

At the beginning of March, the news broke that NBC was beginning the process of winding down Leno's time as The Tonight Show host, prepping Jimmy Fallon for the role. Fallon has long been a good NBC soldier, coming up through Lorne Michael's Saturday Night Live and even serving as the voice of Universal Studios' tram tour in Los Angeles. Could this feud between Leno and Greenblatt make it more likely that NBC will send Leno to his retirement?

The network should be careful, though, as Leno is still one of their few bright spots in the ratings, with SNL and the nightly news being the other two. When NBC last tried to retire Leno, they gave him an ill-advised 10 p.m. show in order to keep him from jumping to another network. If Leno leaves NBC on a bad note, he'll only be more driven to stick it to the network by finding a new late-night show on another network. So basically, NBC — in classic NBC fashion — is screwed no matter what they do here.