Visitors to West Hollywood's posh Soho House on March 21 could be forgiven for craning their necks. Amid a dining room filled with the usual mix of actors and agents on the 14th floor of the private club, two unlikely dinner companions commanded attention: NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt and Jay Leno, the Tonight Show host whose status at the network had become a running joke of its own.

Leno's on-air ribbing of NBC and its ratings struggles had drawn the ire of Greenblatt, who had fired off an angry after-midnight email to Leno. The missive, which blind cc'd several NBC executives, led to a terse electronic exchange between Greenblatt and the longtime host. Shortly thereafter, on March 1, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that NBC was planning an exit strategy for Leno, 62.