Welcome Back Jay!

Since I have declared myself the quarterback of Team Leno, I felt it was my sworn duty to stay up last night and watch Jay’s return to late night.

And in all honesty, it felt like he never left…

Jay wisely kicked off the show with a taped spoof of “The Wizard of Oz” as he declared to Kevin, Ross and John that it was all a bad dream. And you can never go wrong with Betty White…

Then it was business as usual with the monologue as Jay took some shots at NBC, and even one at Letterman (It was a nice one, though.). Instead of his Monday night staple, Headlines, Jay went on a search for the perfect desk in a hilarious taped piece that invaded people’s living rooms. When the one family started taking pictures of themselves with Jay’s guest Randy Jackson in the background I almost started crying I was laughing so hard.

Jamie Foxx showed a little too much enthusiasm for Jay’s return, but he was still a great guest. And you couldn’t help but laugh when Foxx took over Jay’s interview with Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn.

I just wish I had an explanation for that hideous theme song. And I have never liked that announcer (The same one he used for “The Jay Leno Show.”). And “The Jay Leno Show” set didn’t get enough tweaks to satisfy me. But I guess since NBC spent all that money on it, they feel like they have to use it. But those are things I’m willing to put up with as long as Jay is back where he belongs.

Not surprisingly, Jay won the ratings last night handily over Letterman, but he did not top the ratings of Conan O’Brien’s debut on “The Tonight Show.” I would argue that Conan’s high ratings were due to the curiosity of seeing what we were going to get. With Jay, you know what you’re going to get. And what you get is something I’ve been missing for nearly a year…

Welcome back, Jay! I now happily return to my regularly scheduled bedtime…

You can see Jay's open here.