"He just wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible." Conan O'Brien's manager after the $44 mil deal was sealed.  NYDN's Richard Huff's spin.

Conan ramped up his NBC attacks in his final days.  Wednesday night:  "I’ve been having a hard time explaining this whole situation to my kids – because they’re still very young. So I had a doll made of myself – and now I can show my kids EXACTLY where NBC touched daddy."

Read the monologue transcript here.

Now that Conan's out, Jay Leno is taking it on the chin from late night competitor David Letterman. Wednesday night:



Leno's late shit shift snipe at Letterman: "Letterman has been hammering me every night. Going after me… hey kev, you know the best way to get letterman to ignore you? Marry him. He will not bother you. He won’t look you in the eye…"

Fox TV's "Family Guy" and $100 mil a year man Seth McFarlane took a shot at NBC during "Star Trek's" departed-to-another-galaxy genius Gene Roddenberry's induction into the TV Hall of Fame Wednesday night:  “NBC, which was not known for good programming decisions even back then, cancelled Star Trek after three seasons.”  NBC canceled "Star Trek" in 1969.

The public brawl has boosted Conan's ratings big time...

An aside:  Leno was spot-on Wednesday night on Scott Brown's mind-blowing Senate victory in Kennedy Massachusetts:

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS NOW BEEN IN OFFICE FOR A YEAR AND IT'S INCREDIBLE; HE TOOK SOMETHING THAT WAS IN TERRIBLE SHAPE AND BROUGHT IT BACK FROM THE BRINK OF DISASTER. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

YOU KNOW THAT QUESTION "WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?" APPARENTLY HE CAN STOP THE DEMOCRATS' HEALTH CARE PLAN.

BIG UPSET VICTORY, REPUBLICAN SCOTT BROWN DEFEATED DEMOCRAT MARTHA CHOKE-LEY…I MEAN COAKLEY…FOR TED KENNEDY’S SEAT IN MASSACHUSETTS. IN FACT, PRESIDENT OBAMA CALLED COAKLEY AND SAID, “WELL, WE CAN’T WIN THEM ALL.” SAME THINGS HE SAID AFTER THE NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S RACE, THE VIRGINIA GOVERNOR’S RACE, THE 2016 OLYMPIC BID, AND THE COPENHAGEN CLIMATE SUMMIT. BETWEEN ALL OF THEM IT’S BEEN A ROUGH COUPLE OF WEEKS.

THE DEMOCRATS HAD A NUMBER OF EXPLANATIONS AS TO WHY THEY LOST TED KENNEDY’S SEAT. THE WHITE HOUSE SAID TODAY THAT SCOTT BROWN WON BECAUSE HE WON A CLEAVER CAMPAIGN. HARRY REID SAID HE WON BECAUSE HE WAS A LIGHT SKINNED BROWN WITH NO NEGRO ACCENT. THAT’S WHAT HARRY REID SAID.