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Some people think that I have it our for Jay Leno, and really, I don't.

I remember back when Leno would substitute host for Johnny Carson. As much as I loved Carson as a teenager, I had to admit that whenever Leno was behind the desk, he would provide some much-needed youth and energy to the show that Carson was sadly showing less of as he got older.

But now Leno is in that position. Carson may have gone out almost against his will, but at least when he left, he left, as CBS late night host David Letterman reminded us this week. Leno, however, he's like the Brett Favre of television: he doesn't know when to give it up.

And I compare Leno to Favre because like the quarterback, I think Leno still has a lot to give. I just don't think he should be giving it on "The Tonight Show."

Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't Jay Leno's fault that he was pushed to 10 p.m. You can blame that on the so-called NBC braintrust (I hope the first thing Comcast does is clean house at the network). However, Leno agreed to leave "Tonight," and he effectively said good-bye.

Yet now, he seems ready to push himself back into his old spot, and he doesn't seem to care who he tramples.

Conan O'Brien is struggling a bit to find his groove as the new host of "Tonight," but he simply needs the time to find his groove, just as Leno had to do back in 1992 despite spending years as a guest host on Carson's version of the show. NBC seems to have forgotten that, or they simply don't care, and O'Brien will be placed in an embarrassing spot.

It doesn't have to happen. With the cancellation of "The Jay Leno Show," Leno has been effectively released from his contract. As soon as his primetime disaster is over, he's a free man. So why sign a new deal with NBC? Why force someone who has honored their contract out?

Leno should be looking forward, not backward. If he had never left "Tonight," no one would even care about this. But he did leave, we said our good-bye, and we welcomed the new guy. Imagine if part way through Matt Smith's run as the new star of "Doctor Who" if David Tennant changed his mind and decided he wanted to come back after all ... would that be fair for Smith, even if he was struggling out the gate?

We live in a time when television networks want strong numbers now, or you're gone. If we had done that even 10 or 20 years ago, there would never have been a "Cheers," never have been a "Friends," definitely never have been a "Seinfeld." There would be no Conan to talk about, maybe not even a Leno to talk about.

All of these are examples of shows that if they came out now and did the types of relative audience they did then, they wouldn't last half a season. Yet, with a little patience, they all became hits.

There's no guarantee Conan will be a hit with "Tonight." But he deserves the chance to do it. He can only do it if Jay Leno mans up and declines an offer to take back "Tonight." Let Conan have it, and then discover a new way to take over the world.

Because if you go back to "Tonight," you are not going to be viewed as the returning victor. You're going to be nothing more than a big-chinned bully who didn't care who he ran over to get what he wants.