<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"The man who trashed &lt;strong&gt;NBC &lt;/strong&gt;in the &lt;strong&gt;NY Times&lt;/strong&gt; for the whole &lt;strong&gt;Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien&lt;/strong&gt; fiasco actually helped hatch the whole thing in the first place ... according to an email obtained by TMZ.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0117_NBC_email_2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"&gt;&lt;img vspace=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2010/01/17/0117_leno_conan_doc_launch3-1.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Former TV exec &lt;strong&gt;Fred Silverman&lt;/strong&gt; was quoted this weekend saying the \"&lt;strong&gt;Tonight Show&lt;/strong&gt;\" shakeup was \"a corporate embarrassment\" and that moving Leno back to 11:35 PM was a \"Mickey Mouse scheme.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But TMZ has obtained &lt;a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0117_NBC_email.pdf\"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;an email&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; sent by Silverman in 2008 to two top NBC execs in which Fred seemingly concocts the entire plan of moving Jay to 10:00 PM. He pitches the idea as, \"Here's a way to solve your Jay Leno problem, improve your primetime ratings, save untold development costs and make a gazillion dollars at the same time.\" Did any of those things actually happen?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For all you TV newbies -- Fred Silverman is the only person to have ever been in charge of programming at three different networks. He was a legend at CBS and ABC ... but, ironically enough, failed miserably at NBC with such memorable disasters as \"Supertrain\" and \"Hello, Larry.\"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's one thing to play Monday Morning Quarterback, but it's a whole other thing when you called the plays.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;\n&lt;div class=\"related\"&gt;\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;span&gt;More Conan and Jay&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;\n&lt;ul&gt;\n&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/16/conan-obrien-nbc-settlement-tonight-show-jay-leno/\"&gt;Conan O'Brien, NBC Settlement -- No Trash Talk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/16/conan-obrien-jay-leno-the-tonight-show-nbc-announcement-settlement/\"&gt;Conan O'Brien Strikes Departure Deal with NBC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=\"http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/15/jay-leno-jimmy-kimmel-tonight-show-video/\"&gt;Kimmel's Brutal Leno Beatdown -- On Jay's Show!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;\n&lt;/ul&gt;\n&lt;/div&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/17/conan-obrien-jay-leno-tonight-show-fred-silverman/>