I am – Hercules!! Find more on the Leno campaign here. The Fox network, which launched in 1986 with the late-night “Joan Rivers Show” and held on to the right to program the 11 p.m. hour for almost two decades, apparently surrendered that right to its affiliates sometime within the last five years – and that’s what sank Fox’s quest to bring Conan O’Brien to the network. That’s the story Michael Schneider is reporting in Variety:

Some Fox execs, unaware that they no longer had the ability to take back 11 p.m., were optimistic that an O'Brien deal might happen -- until they realized an O'Brien show would have to be cleared market-by-market.

Quite the blunder on Fox’s part I say, especially with all the talk now of how O’Brien’s new TBS show is expected to bolster Time Warner’s bottom line. Find all of Variety’s story on the matter here. Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!

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