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Everyone is quick to blame NBC, but honestly, they got screwed.

They didn't want to move Leno or lose Conan, but they had no choice.  They were in a no-win situation, having to either get rid of Leno or move him up to 10.  Moving him to 10 failed, leaving them with no choice but to pay off Conan.  Realistically, Conan's fanbase doesn't give a crap about the Tonight Show brand, and probably does't care much about that old-school format of monologue, movie star pimping their movie, musical guest, comedian.  Keeping Leno and paying off Conan gives them the best chance to move things back to the way that they were, keeping local affiliates happy.

At the same time, Conan will thrive in a better format.  I'd much rather see him in a smaller, Daily Show type thing each night, than a generic talk show.  There is room for him to grow and be better.  That same room wasn't there for Leno, and I don't think that NBC wants the Tonight Show format to be turned upside down.

So, everyone is pissed and will ride the Conan wave, which can be turned into something else that is better.  Best of luck to them both, I say.  As a fan of Conan, I'm glad this happened.

I'm upset it happened to Conan, but you're right, he'll be better off being able to be "himself" and not trying to conform to The Tonight Show format.

Comedian Louis C.K., who used to write for Conan, expressed the same thing. He said something like "I don't understand why Conan even wanted to host The Tonight Show, which is geared towards baby boomers, when he has Gen X and Gen Y s his following."

He went on to talk about how Letterman, and then Conan had actually built their own "brand awareness" thru Late Night. People would say "did you see Letterman last night?" and then "did you see Conan last night?" They had become the brand.



Edited to add:
I found the article

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Shock+comedian+Louis+says+Conan+Brien+gave+first+break/2472481/story.html