ludwin: dave beat our brains out for two years. and there were certainly questions on the part of my colleagues at nbc-- "what are we gonna do about jay leno?" macks: i was really worried that the show was not gonna make it. leno: let me ask you a question here. when prisoners watch shows like "cops," do you think they root for the criminal? i mean, do they go, "come on, get over the fence! "oh man, aw!" [applause] leno: on the worst day of the tonight show, in the worst, horrible conditions, you're still writing jokes, and you're laughing, and i said, "alright, let's see what we have to do "to bring this thing out of the hole." coen: jay has this ability to plough forward, like nobody i've ever seen. ludwin: i have to hand it to jay leno that he is the one who said, "we're going to... "we're gonna win this thing, and i'm gonna work harder." at that point, helen kushnick had been fired. littlefield: and we promoted debbie vickers. carter: it's another example of a woman behind the scenes, who really is the formative person in a sho