What's Going on at The Tonight Show?

I am not a big fan of late night talk shows with their teenage antics, but I often enjoy the evening guests who may give us some insight into their craft.  Of course, whereas years ago The Tonight Show was the only game in town, now you have quite a few:

-- ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!,
-- CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, 
-- CBS's Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson,
-- NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, 
-- NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, 
-- MTV's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and 
-- TBS's Conan.

I am sure I am missing a few, but you get the point.  Late night television has more options before you even consider the Internet and DVR, so I would expect the profits may also be thinning.  This seems to be the case when you look at Jay Leno, who recently took a 50 percent pay cut.  The Wall Street Journal reports that NBC cut Leno's salary from $30 million to $15 million, while also reducing the shows staff from 220 to about 200.  As a result, the $100 Million budget for the show will be reduced by about 20 percent.  What I find amazing is that $100 million dollars produced such a thin show, and anyone thought Leno was worth $30 million.  To Jay's credit, he is said to have asked for a reduction in his pay rather than more layoffs. 

I am not sure how much the other talk show hosts make, but you may get an idea from Forbes' The World's Most Powerful Celebrities list.  As of earlier this year, David Letterman was listed with $45 million in pay (#41 among all celebrities).  I could not even find the other late night hosts one the list. Of course, Donald Trump was #14, so it is clear that social value of the product is not a deciding factor in salary rankings.