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The biggest blunder in network television history is getting worse. Believe it or not.

Trying to backpedal from the mistake of putting Jay Leno on primetime five nights a week, NBC used the Television Critics Association winter press tour over the weekend to try and fix it. Instead, they used finger-pointing to try and defend their original decision to move Leno, and simply made more of a mess than they did originally.

Let's get one thing straight from the get-go. NBC made a colossal mistake in moving Leno not only out of late-night television, but into prime real estate. Not only is 10 p.m. important as the home of some high-rated shows, but it also is the key timeslot that could make or break relationships with affiliates -- a relationship that is vital for the very survival of a network to maintain.

By putting Leno, who everyone knew would never attract much more than his late-night audience, in a primetime slot, NBC threatened that very relationship, and it was a near affiliate revolt that forced their hand to remove Leno from primetime just as the Winter Olympics start.

What the hell was NBC thinking anyway? Sure, even if Leno had half the ratings it does now, it would make a boatload of money for the network. But talk about being selfish. That money would come at the expense of affiliates who depend on strong programming from the networks to boost its nightly newscasts. At the same time, NBC is dependent on strong nightly newscasts to help its late-night schedule, which beginning a few months ago, was led for the first time by Conan O'Brien.

Yet Conan has been spanked in the ratings. Not just because he's new, and is going up against a veteran like David Letterman on CBS, but also because he has almost no lead-in support from the network. If people aren't tuning in to your network at all, they are not seeing promos for your other shows, like "The Tonight Show," and they are not thinking about being on your channel to watch news. To cap it off, they are not even considering you for late night.

Leno beat Letterman in the late-night contest for years, a lot of that because CBS had a weak schedule. Some might go back to the whole Hugh Grant thing, because that was the final spark to Leno's takeover, but he also had the support of good ratings coming in from primetime, carrying over to local newscasts, and coming back to him at late-night.

Conan never had a chance to do that. The schedule from NBC was already weak, except when "The Biggest Loser" was on (and even then, it was hardly breaking any records). To then have a performance from Leno that gave ratings more akin to show up on The CW rather than a major network, didn't help things at all.

In fact, Leno's primetime folly is a cancer the network should've had remove a long time ago, and not allowed it to drag on all this time. The mistake was evident by the second week, and was proven then week after week after week after week. Day after day after day after day. And the rest of the schedule suffered, because no one was looking at 10 p.m. at NBC, thus they would not tune in early to catch other shows. And they didn't stick around for the later shows either.

It's sad that Conan is going to be the one who has to suffer because of this. Seriously, it's not even Leno's fault that all this happened. The idea to put him in primetime was shortsighted and selfish by NBC to begin with. But to now victimize Conan as well? That's unfair.

It took Leno a few years to establish himself as host of "The Tonight Show," and when Letterman jumped to CBS, even longer to gain that crown. But NBC stuck by him. Gave him a chance. Like what networks used to do before the whole "Perform strong now or die" attitude that networks have.

Conan hasn't even had months to prove himself. It's been weeks. Yet, now he's being upstaged by Leno again, who was supposed to just go and do something else? How classy is that? When Johnny Carson stepped down to let Leno take over, he didn't convince NBC to give him another show, or even ask for his old timeslot back. He let Leno make it or break it, and Leno really did make it.

Conan used to joke when he was the lead-out for Leno following Letterman's departure that his contract was day-to-day. While it wasn't that bad, it was close. His original contract was reportedly just for a few months, with pickups of the same length going on for years. While Conan was a nobody at the beginning, over time, he was able to build an audience and become strong for NBC. So strong, they gave him "The Tonight Show."

What if NBC had done to Conan then what they are doing now? The answer is simple: "Conan O'Brien on Fox at 11 p.m."

And that might be a scenario that still plays out today.