Team Coco Emerges Victorious
After a long-awaited yet ill-fated turn as the host of The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien left NBC in January. Jay Leno, the show's previous host, had been given his old spot back when his new, earlier slot hadn't fared so well. It was the equivalent of a boy finally being given keys to the family car, only to have them snatched back and returned to his older brother. Viewers and critics generally rallied behind O'Brien, and it turned out the Academy was on the side of Team Coco as well. Following a campaign by TBS (O'Brien's new employer), the seven months of Conan's Tonight Show scored a nomination, while Leno's name was conspicuously absent. And if that wasn't vindication enough, David Letterman, who had been O'Brien's main competition during his short stint, was also missing from the list for the first time since The Late Show debuted in 1993.